My Family/Mi Familia

It is evocative well-crafted and performed with verve and passion by a first-rate cast of Latino actors.

The warmth of My Family's characters and humor, the lush-ness of its cinematography and local color, and the universality of its family and sibling conflicts, make for pleasurable company.

One of the most satisfying dramas I've ever seen.

The last segment is the best, so much so that one wishes Nava had left out the first two parts and concentrated on fleshing out the third section.

There's a fearlessness about My Family that commands respect. It goes after both big issues and small moments. Most of all, it beats with an unabashed love of family that in the end, becomes admirable, even inspiring.

Mi Familia cannot help but touch the heart and soul of anyone who sees it.

The film is sweet but never cloying. The continuity doesn't break because the actors - all excellent - convincingly resemble the others who played the same characters in the past. [Full review in Spanish]

There are moments in My Family that convey Nava's love for these characters. That warmth makes My Family impossible to dislike despite its flaws.

This Hollywood effort at unspooling this seldom heard American story is long overdue.

Smits gives a wonderful performance in a film that also stars Esai Morales, Edward James Olmos and actors without household names but with equal talent.