Review of Under the Same Moon (2007) by Irma H — 05 Jun 2012

It feels like ages for me since I last saw a movie from South America since I mostly see Asian and North America releases a majority of the time. While the Under the Same Moon doesn't break any new ground it's still a sweat and heartfelt movie.

Under the Same Moon is about a Mexican boy crossing the Mexico/US Border to reunite with his mother. The story itself is not anything new, but it does it well sometime taking in our characters in a different direction and unfortunately in clichés territory. Sure the clichés could be annoying as we seen them time and time again, but the movie doesn't rely too heavily on them to avoid becoming predictable. This movie does switch between two characters, one being a boy looking for his mother and the other being a mother struggles in America. Both are well written and very believable. Though I will say the son side of the movie does have some filler and the mother side is not as interesting since she primarily an adult who's knows how to take care of herself while her son is not. While it certainly won't captivate everyone the same way, it's certainly a story with a lot of heart between the main characters.

The cast might be unknown to some us, but their performances help elevate the material from being average. Adrian Alonso is actually a good child actor whose performance does outshine most of the adults of the movie and he'll definitely grow on you like he did me. Kate Del Castillo stole the show from pretty much everyone in the movie; it's only unfortunate that her character side of the story wasn't as well written. The direction while it works could have been better, though it's worth complaining since it's still turned out good. If you listen to Spanish music you'll be happy with the selection of music in the movie and appearance by a popular band.

Under the Same Moon is a heartfelt story that's made better with the cast performances. It might not be anything new sure, but it's still worth a watch.