The Blue Diner (2001)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Jan Egleson

Writers:

Jan Egleson (screenplay)
Jan Egleson (story)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Eager to become a businesswoman, an immigrant from Puerto Rico tries to adjust to life in the United States.

Plot Keywords:

Spanish | Immigrant | Mother Daughter Relationship | Love Triangle | Love

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Miriam Colon	...	Meche (as Miriam Colón)
Lisa Vidal	...	Elena
Jose Yenque	...	Tito
William Marquez	...	Papo
Virginia Rambal	...	Vika
Jack Mulcahy	...	Brian
Jaime Tirelli	...	Héctor
Fidel Vicioso	...	Patricio
Edouard DeSoto	...	Singer in Club
Gustave Johnson	...	Museum security guard
Teresa Yenque	...	Dog casket shopper
René Sánchez	...	Don Benito
Chuck Brinig	...	Theo
Ken Cheeseman	...	Banker
Lonnie Farmer	...	Lawyer

Also Known As:

La Fonda azul (USA: Spanish title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sensuality.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)

Trivia:

Used excess film stock from the production of James Cameron's Titanic (1997).

Soundtrack:

Añoro

"The Blue Diner" is one wonderful film.

I just had the privilege of seeing "The Blue Diner" in a Rhode Island film festival last night and was treated to one of the warmest surprises of the year. It sported terrific performances from fresh faces, about characters you really cared for. An engaging script was complemented by very colorful cinematography, soothing music, a collection of reflective "insert" scenes and a number of subtleties that really worked well together. Although "The Blue Diner" was billed as a Latino film, it was much more than that. It was a family movie, a community film and a relationship movie all in one. While very different in style and content, it was reminiscent of the surprise movie of 1963: "Lilies of The Field". Standing ovations were clearly in order with kudos to Lisa Vidal, Miriam Colon, Joes Yenque (of the just released "Traffic"), and of course William Marquez (who played the Padre in "the Mask Of Zorro"). In addition, I had the opportunity to meet Natatcha Estabenez and Jan Egleson (both of whom wrote, directed and produced this work) in a Q&A following last night's showing. Both explained how difficult it is to get an independent movie to the viewing public these days. That said, this is a quality effort, and these are people you really want to root for. Hope this one makes it to national distribution....if it does, DON'T MISS IT!!! If it doesn't.... what a shame!!!