Roselyn Sanchez Lights Up the Screen!, August 3, 2007 By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME) YELLOW may be fairly easy to dismiss as a soap opera story of little girl makes good despite a troubling journey, but the presence of Roselyn Sanchez is reason enough to see this little art film, She has what it takes to make a film magic, she acts well, dances well, and creates a credible persona from a rather superficial script.
Based on a story by Nacoma Whobrey about the gifted daughter of a once famous male ballet dancer who leaves her native Puerto Rico in the grief of her father/tutor's death to find a better life in New York - the city where her father found fame. Amaryllis Campos (Roselyn Sanchez) worshiped her famous father (Jaime Tirelli), learned ballet under his tutelage, then grew up in a home after her father's leg crushing accident, with a mother (Erika Michels) and a live-in druggie boyfriend Angelo (Manny Perez), supporting her helpless family by delivering pizzas. When her life falls apart one person befriends her - Hilde (Nancy Millan) - and provides her money to move to New York and a cousin with whom to live.
Once in new York Amaryllis finds the cousin's apartment occupied by a sweet old poet Miles Emory (Bill Duke) who allows her to stay. Finding work proves difficult until she signs on as a pole dancer in a sleazy nightclub. There she meets an emotionally bruised physician (D.B. Sweeney) who befriends her and who with the help of her new found friends finally makes her way back to the legitimate stage.
Yes, the story has been done before, but it is the pacing of director Alfredo De Villa that keeps the film pulsatile, and the shimmering screen presence of Roselyn Sanchez that makes this little film worth watching. Story 5, Performance by Sanchez 10. In Spanish and English with subtitles. The additional features on the DVD are even more interesting than the script! Grady Harp
Based on a story by Nacoma Whobrey about the gifted daughter of a once famous male ballet dancer who leaves her native Puerto Rico in the grief of her father/tutor's death to find a better life in New York - the city where her father found fame. Amaryllis Campos (Roselyn Sanchez) worshiped her famous father (Jaime Tirelli), learned ballet under his tutelage, then grew up in a home after her father's leg crushing accident, with a mother (Erika Michels) and a live-in druggie boyfriend Angelo (Manny Perez), supporting her helpless family by delivering pizzas. When her life falls apart one person befriends her - Hilde (Nancy Millan) - and provides her money to move to New York and a cousin with whom to live.
Once in new York Amaryllis finds the cousin's apartment occupied by a sweet old poet Miles Emory (Bill Duke) who allows her to stay. Finding work proves difficult until she signs on as a pole dancer in a sleazy nightclub. There she meets an emotionally bruised physician (D.B. Sweeney) who befriends her and who with the help of her new found friends finally makes her way back to the legitimate stage.
Yes, the story has been done before, but it is the pacing of director Alfredo De Villa that keeps the film pulsatile, and the shimmering screen presence of Roselyn Sanchez that makes this little film worth watching. Story 5, Performance by Sanchez 10. In Spanish and English with subtitles. The additional features on the DVD are even more interesting than the script! Grady Harp