Quinceañera

Glatzer and Westmoreland live in Echo Park, and they have given their film a remarkable sense of place.

What Quinceañera does offer is charm, sensitivity and intelligence.

The film is suffused with the generous, nonjudgmental spirit of Uncle Tomas, whose live-and-let-live attitude warms like the sun and who helps Magdalena and Carlos make the safe passage from adolescence to maturity.

Quinceañera sketches its characters and conflicts with warmth and empathy.

It's an engaging, sweet-yet-sad neighborhood slice of life, anchored by pretty cinematography and a couple of nice performances.

It's all such a throwback, and yet there's something rather sweet about the way this pot boils.

Tthis isn't just any setup, is it: It's suds being sold as ethno-sensitive reality, a case of coveting thy neighbor's fiesta.