LEJA Covers LATINO Releases in SEPTEMBER

From OLD ASSES to WILD ROBOTS that spend time together IN THE SUMMERS, the members of the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association continue to amplify the works of LATINOS in HOLLYWOOD.

MY OLD ASS

In this fresh coming-of-age story, an 18th birthday mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott (Maisy Stella) face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). But when Elliott’s “old ass” starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn’t do, Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about family, love, and what’s becoming a transformative summer.

Kerensa Cadenas
Beautiful! Sentimental! And Just An Easy Film! My Old As, out in theaters September 13 and Amazon Prime on September 27, surprised me.
LEJA Member KERENSA CADENAS moderated a Q&A for MY OLD ASS
Kerensa Cadenas
FREELANCER

IN THE SUMMERS

Siblings Violeta and Eva live in California with their mother, but every summer they travel to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to spend time with their loving but unpredictable father, Vicente (René “Residente” Pérez Joglar). Over the course of four formative summers that span adolescence to early adulthood, Violeta and Eva learn to appreciate their father as a person, his flaws and limitations inseparable from his passion and tenderness. Lovers come and go, the backyard goes to seed, but the idea of home remains knotty and elusive. This powerful and deeply personal directorial debut from Alessandra Lacorazza offers a nuanced study of young people questioning their place within their families, their communities, and their identities. Winner of the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, In The Summers proves both an emotional capsule of growing up within a fragmented family and a love letter to the resilience needed to survive.

ONLINE

"Lacorazza Samudio doesn’t burden her script, inspired by her own history with her father and sister, with the details of the off-screen past that brought this fragmented clan to this present. Her interest is in subtly chaotic scenes that depict recognizable personality flaws, which feel fascinatingly in contrast with the visuals."
CARLOS AGUILAR