La Mission is an interesting indy film about an old school cholo father living in the Mission district of SanFrancisco with his teenage son. Not to get all spoilerific on you or anything but his son is homosexual and in a relationship with someone, and is hiding it from his very macho father. The father is played by one of the most delicious actors in the world Benjamin Bratt. They live in a giant victorian house that has been turned into apartments. Their neighbor is a lady Lena played by Erica 'Maxine from Living Single' Alexander. She is an organic, natural haired, bicycle riding earth mama that is trying her best to fit into the predominantly Latin neighborhood.
Benjamin's character Che is an ex con who now drives a bus and works on lowriders in his free time. He belongs to an old school car club that goes crusing to the oldies every Friday night. They meet up with other car clubs under the bridge and chill and listen to music and dance. It's a pretty mello life he lives, until he finds evidence of his son's relationship and confronts him about it. Naturally he cannot cope and father and son are on the outs. Lena gets caught in the middle of the mele' and is a catalyst for Che's understanding of his son. The change takes a long time to happen. Lena and Che begin something very sweet and refreshing to see on screen. I liked that he was genuinely attracted to her though she was nothing like him. There was a sweetness between them that was wonderful to see. Lena holds a mirror to Che to force him to look at himself, and doesn't allow him to bullshit his way out of things. This film has some complex issues that aren't sugar coated or swept under the table. The script does a great job of getting everything out, and showing Che's transformation into an unconditionally loving father. Great film making. More please.
