Romántico

Mark Becker's extraordinarily moving documentary Romántico examines a hot-button issue in profoundly personal terms, looking at the life of mariachi musician Carmelo Muñiz Sánchez—an “undocumented worker” from Mexico who washes cars by day and performs in San Francisco bars and restaurants by night. Subsisting on meager wages and tips, Sánchez still manages to send money back to the family he left behind: wife, children, and gravely ill mother. Eventually, however, Sánchez ends up returning to Mexico to begin anew the struggle against poverty he initially went north to escape. Romántico expertly delineates the vast differences between both countries and cultures, capturing the yearnings of Sánchez and those like him without resorting to one-sided storytelling or heavy-handed commentary. An inspiring portrait of a humble man struggling to realize his dreams, this is highly recommended. (E. Hulse)