This is your typical indie coming-of-age tale about a teenager, though it’s clearly working with a very tiny budget. Set within a migrant family living in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, the movie digs into how fragile old-school traditions and expectations can be. We follow a teenage son as he goes through the process of coming out and struggles to find acceptance while dealing with homophobia, domestic abuse, and a messy love triangle that involves his own sister. Goyo is seventeen and just about to graduate from high school. Since he’s been a bit more feminine since he was a little kid, he’s always had to deal with emotional and physical transition from his dad, Ramon, who is obsessed with him being "a man." The only real love he gets is from a lady next door who actually respects him for who he is. The family lives in a Mexican community where everyone works on a grape farm, but things get shaken up when a new guy named Lucio arrives. Lucio basically seduces Goyo ...
Daniel and Mateo have been friend since they were little. Daniel has had an abusive father whose always beating his mother and Mateo comes from a broken family where his mother is forever working. The school they study in has a strict principal, who is very partial to her nephew Lucas , who is clearly the biggest bully in the school. Daniel has a crush on Mateo, and when Daniel see Mateo make out with a girl, he cant hold in anymore and tells Mateo about his feelings. Thankfully Mateo feels the same and they are both in a happy space in love. Meanwhile we see issues of Lucas and his friends bullying other students, like a obese girl, who Lucas ends up raping, a guy who likes to dress like girls, etc. Mateo joins a human rights group to protest against the principal but he doesn't get much support. when the girl who liked Mateo finds out about him and Daniel, she goes crazy and makes this information public. Daniel is too scared of his father so refuses to acknowledge his love for Mateo. Mateo eventually cant take rejection anymore and decides to end his life because he feels there is no point in living if you cant live the way you want to.
This could be an interesting study for adults. We need to love our kids, no matter what with unconditional love, unless of course they are rapists. You want Mateo to fight for causes and he does, but when he gets rejected by his ultimate love, he cant take it anymore. And this is not to blame Daniel. A lot of folks live in fear of their families, and this is a sad reflection of the arrogant and intolerant society that we live in. Young teens giving up their lives because of homophobia etc is not new but you feel bad when you see this happening. I wish the end of the film was more on a positive note which would at least give hope to young adults and not leave them in despair. This would be my one issue with the film along with the fact that the film was all over the place. I do feel though, that this could be a good portrayal in a digital series format because most of the issues shown are still quite relevant.
Don't expect a gay love story here. Yes, it is one of the themes, but the film is more about tolerance and high school bullying and discrimination, which of course talks about love between 2 boys at its core. (5/10)
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