People who were in praise for this movie should check out the message boards. There were issues raised by one user and I must say they were valid with regards to how realistic the movie portrayed the immigration system in the US and how the filmmaker disregarded it in excuse for creative license.
Anyways, Im not gonna dwell on that, as a movie I partly enjoyed Under the same moon. There were effective moments in the film and the acting was believable. I commend the direction especially in the scene where Carlitos meets his dad for the first time and they have lunch, nothing was much said, but we get a lot out of the interaction of the two.
The movie was contrived at times and I could feel that the situations and circumstances in the movie were a result of adhering to the rules of how a screenplay works. The appearance of the woman who took in Carlitos when he's about to be sold to the pedophile was an example.
Though it was titled "Under the same moon", there were only a couple of scenes that showed them watching the moon at the same time, I think the filmmaker forgot to take advantage of this very potentially powerful sub plot, because the moon symbolizes loneliness and brightness in the dark. Also, when the movie opened, (as the credits begin to roll) I was kinda expecting some shot of the moon in there when the titles appear, but there's nothing.
I like the ending though, that shot of the "walk" sign lighting up is so powerful. Even though we don't see mother and son embrace as they reunite, we knew that they do and thats enough already. But, the use of the "walk" sign was not organically integrated into the movie, I wish that they used it earlier so when we see it again, we'll appreciate it more.
Anyways, Im not gonna dwell on that, as a movie I partly enjoyed Under the same moon. There were effective moments in the film and the acting was believable. I commend the direction especially in the scene where Carlitos meets his dad for the first time and they have lunch, nothing was much said, but we get a lot out of the interaction of the two.
The movie was contrived at times and I could feel that the situations and circumstances in the movie were a result of adhering to the rules of how a screenplay works. The appearance of the woman who took in Carlitos when he's about to be sold to the pedophile was an example.
Though it was titled "Under the same moon", there were only a couple of scenes that showed them watching the moon at the same time, I think the filmmaker forgot to take advantage of this very potentially powerful sub plot, because the moon symbolizes loneliness and brightness in the dark. Also, when the movie opened, (as the credits begin to roll) I was kinda expecting some shot of the moon in there when the titles appear, but there's nothing.
I like the ending though, that shot of the "walk" sign lighting up is so powerful. Even though we don't see mother and son embrace as they reunite, we knew that they do and thats enough already. But, the use of the "walk" sign was not organically integrated into the movie, I wish that they used it earlier so when we see it again, we'll appreciate it more.