“Anders's zigzagging story line allows her to follow side roads that result in beautiful digressions of the sort you wouldn't find in a more conventional film.” - Hal Hinson, The Washington Post
Three stories of love and loss are cast with ebullient color and deep pathos in Mi Vida Loca, director Allison Anders’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed Gas Food Lodging. Telling the interweaving stories of a group of Latino women living in the Echo Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, Anders crafts a portrait that captures the contradictory levity and weight of life spent balancing friendship, romance, motherhood, and the quiet yet ever-present threat of violence.
The film features an ensemble cast consisting largely of unknown actors (and the first film appearance of Salma Hayek and Jason Lee) who embody a striking vulnerability as they navigate the rivalries that evolve throughout their neighborhood. Their stories are filmed with a bright energy, lovingly capturing a culture that features dazzling fashion, thumping music, and the gymnastics of lowrider cars. 1994, U.S., 35mm, in English and Spanish with English subtitles, 92 minutes.
Cinema + with a post-screening discussion between Ashland, KY-born director Allison Anders and LEO Weekly film columnist Tracy Heightchew.