Three intersecting stories set in a Puerto Rican barrio during a police crackdown are at the heart of Angel Manuel Soto's ambitious but too-calculated drama La Granja. The film's once-novel fractured storytelling format (think: Crash) here feels tired and threadbare. A barren midwife (Amneris Morales) suffers the daily irony of delivering the babies of junkies while she herself is unable to conceive with a mystery boyfriend. A mobster (John Gracía) promotes back-alley fights—between roosters on some nights and young boys on others. And a pudgy, much-abused child (Henry Osso) forced to work as a drug mule is aware of a brewing plot that will consume a girl cousin who mistreats him. The walls separating each of these vignettes gradually crumble in sometimes interesting, but not exactly meaningful, ways. In the end, it's Soto's eye for gritty detail that sticks, along with a few key performances. A strong optional purchase. (T. Keogh)
La Granja
Breaking Glass, 100 min., in Spanish w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99 Volume 32, Issue 5
La Granja
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