My TV does this picture-in-picture thing where I can see a what’s on other channels in a small box while I watching another. That’s how I came across this movie.
I’m a fan of Jennifer Lopez movies from the early aughts. I feel like she had a ton during that time, though the only two I can think of right now are Maid in Manhattan and The Wedding Planner. Anyway, that’s why I was surprised to see her in this movie. I was like what’s this Jennifer Lopez movie that I don’t know about. That’s when I flipped to it and was immediately mesmerized by the artistry of the filmmaking – like just the look of the film was captivating to me.
If you’ve read any of my other Movie Scenes I Love posts, you know I have a thing for movies set in New York. It dawned on me that literally every movie I’ve picked so far have all been set in New York. Even when I think about movies I’m considering for future posts, many are set in New York. It’s funny because though I love New York, I’m a West Coast girl all the way, but there’s just something about these movies set in New York.
And it was the New York setting that got me. It was that setting that made El Cantante go from this movie I’d never heard of, chillin’ in a little box in the corner of my TV to the full screen. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a clip of my favorite scene. But it’s the one where JLo, Marc Anthony, and they onscreen kid is walking down a crowded Big Apple street – a quintessential New York scene that we see so often, and one that I love so much I even had to incorporate that motif into one of my movie scripts even though it’s mainly set in L.A. Her 70s wardrobe, with the long-belted coat and the scarf – I loved the style. All that got me.
I also loved the chemistry between JLo and Marc Anthony. While he may not exactly be considered a heartthrob, after watching this movie, I can see why she married him. They were actually married when it was filmed.
While JLo and the New York City backdrop is what drew me in, it was the artistry of the director’s filmmaking and Mark Anthony’s performance that made me stay.
Mark Anthony’s performance was pretty incredible. I thought definitely Oscar-worthy. Who knew he had acting chops? I did get a glimpse of it from his small role in In the Heights, but in this movie, I thought he was amazing.
The thing that really made me decide I was going to watch the whole movie was a scene where Marc Anthony’s character is singing. This type of music isn’t really my thing. I mean it has a great beat, and it’s definitely something you can move to, but hey, I don’t even know what he’s saying. Then the director went and put the words in English on the screen in such an unusual way. It wasn’t the typical subtitles, it came in bursts and shared the same space on the screen with the actor, almost as artful as the lyrics themselves. And just discovering what he was singing in such a beautiful way, made everything more interesting, more relatable to me. All of a sudden I wanted to know more about this Hector LaVoe. I wanted to know who this man was and what he did for the salsa genre of music.
Whenever I see a new movie from years gone by, I often try and read the reviews, see what it means or meant to the culture, or society in general. From what I gathered, the movie wasn’t so well received by many, including people of the Latin culture, and people who were close to LaVoe. They didn’t like the fact that the movie focused on his drug use, more so than the barrier he broke in the music industry. But as someone, who didn’t know who this man was, or much about the music, I was happy to learn about him. Other’s thought there was too much Jennifer Lopez in a movie that was supposed to be about her character’s husband. Okay, I’ll agree with that one. She was in practically every scene from beginning to end. We see her before we see him. But hey, she produced it, so there you go. Plus, in 2007, she was an even bigger star than she is now.
Ultimately, I really liked this movie for how it told a tragic story in a beautiful way, and its ability to draw me in with just one scene.
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