Video Movie Review: BOCA CHICA – Tough Themes in a Powerful Story of Growing Up in a Toxic Environment [Tribeca 2023]

Boca Chica Review Video

Boca Chica (2023) Video Movie Review from the 22nd Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Gabriella A. Moses, written by Mariana Rondón and Marité Ugas, and starring Scarlet Camilo, Jean Cruz, Lia Chapman, Xiomara Rodriguez, Richardson Diaz, Cindy Lou Howards, and Charles Mendoza.

Crew

Simon Franglen created the music for the film. Russell Carpenter crafted the cinematography for the film. James Cameron and Josh Friedman produced this film.

Plot Synopsis

Boca Chica (2023)’s plot synopsis: “Dominican twelve-year-old Desi has musical aspirations and performs with a local all-girls choir, but her ambitions are much bigger. Desi yearns to one day leave her beachside community of Boca Chica behind and achieve fame and recognition as a singer.

She keeps this yearning a secret from her family, specifically the women in her life who have raised her. Her occasional confidante is her older brother, Fran, who lives a facade of his own in New York City as a struggling musician who sheepishly works as a food delivery worker.

When news arrives that the siblings’ cousin, Elvis, is coming to Boca Chica to marry his wealthy, older, American fiancée, it opens up past tensions and latent trauma in their family. Meanwhile, a restless Desi meets a group of Dominican teens — also aspiring singers and rappers — that lights a spark in her artistic pursuit.”

On Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, brings artists and diverse audiences together to celebrate storytelling in all its forms, including film, TV, music, audio storytelling, games, and XR. With strong roots in independent film, Tribeca is synonymous with creative expression and entertainment.

Tribeca champions emerging and established voices, discovers award-winning talent, curates innovative experiences, and introduces new ideas through exclusive premieres, exhibitions, conversations, and live performances.

The Festival was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2001 to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan following the attacks on the World Trade Center.

The annual Tribeca Festival will celebrate its 22nd year from June 7–18, 2023 in New York City. In 2019, James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems bought a majority stake in Tribeca Enterprises, bringing together Rosenthal, De Niro, and Murdoch to grow the enterprise.

The 2023 features program includes 109 feature films from 127 filmmakers across 36 countries. The lineup includes 93 world premieres, one international premiere, eight North American premieres, one U.S. premiere, and six New York premieres.

There are 43 first-time directors and 29 directors returning to Tribeca with their latest projects. 41% (45) of all feature films are directed by women and, for the first time, more than half of competition feature films are directed by women at 68% (19).

Additionally, 36% (39) of feature films are directed by BIPOC filmmakers, including two indigenous filmmakers.

On Movie Reviews and Film Critics

“Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories:

journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets; and academic criticism by film scholars who are informed by film theory and are published in academic journals.

Academic film criticism rarely takes the form of a review; instead it is more likely to analyze the film and its place in the history of its genre or in the whole of film history.

Film critics working for newspapers, magazines, broadcast media, and online publications mainly review new releases, although they also review older films.

An important task for these reviews is to help readers decide whether they want to see a particular film. A film review will typically explain the premise of the film before discussing its merits or flaws.

The verdict is often summarized using a rating system, such as 5- or 4-star scales, academic-style grades, and pictograms.”

On this Review Video

The review for this video movie review was written by FilmBookCast host Chris Banks and put together by FilmBook Editor-in-chief Rollo Tomasi.

The Review Video

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Boca Chica Review Video