If you can ignore the clichés that push along the plot of Under the Same Moon (La misma luna), you’ll find a sometimes-adventurous movie about the challenge of crossing the U.S.-Mexican border. Yet each time Under the Same Moon hints at character development or a unique perspective on immigration, an overdone, blurry camera shot— signifying a lost little boy’s sense of confusion—ruins any semblance of originality.
Director Patricia Riggen’s first feature film could have been outstanding: it tells a fascinating story about nine-year-old Carlitos’ dangerous and solitary entry into the United States. When the film opens, Carlitos (Adrian Alonso) only speaks to his mother Rosario (Kate del Castillo)—who years earlier immigrated to east L.A. sin papeles—for a few minutes each Sunday morning from the community telephone. When his caretaker grandmother passes away, Carlitos decides to pay a few visiting Americans to smuggle him across the border. He soon finds himself scared and alone, hiding from la Migra—the ever-evil U.S. immigration forces—during his seemingly-impossible quest to make his way from El Paso to L.A.
Rosario’s four-year separation from her son while working two jobs under heinous housewives—all while wondering if the money will be worth the missed birthdays and Carlitos’ growing resentment—is tragic in itself. When Riggen insists on pummeling the viewer with swelling sappy music and lingering shots of the moon, it cheapens the situation’s genuine emotions.
Despite Riggen’s overbearing hand, the actors manage to transcend cheesy lines like “my mother tells me to look up at the moon when I miss her because it’s the same one she’s looking at” in their occasionally stellar performances. Under the Same Moon’s saving grace is twelve-year-old Alonso’s near-perfect comedic timing. Carlitos’ wandering includes time spent with fellow undocumented immigrant Enrique, played by the famous Mexican actor Euginio Derbez. Derbez and Alonso have incredible chemistry, and the movie is worth seeing for their performances alone. Bitter, unfriendly Enrique tries to shake Carlitos at every turn, but can’t get rid of the “nine-year-old man,” as Carlitos describes himself. Alonso’s charming portrayal of the astonishingly confident Carlitos enchants strangers along their path—from the popular norteño band Los Tigres del Norte to a diner’s dishwashing staff—as Derbez’s Enrique sulks at his comparatively awful social skills.
Under the Same Moon tries to show viewers the complicated plight of new American immigrants in low-paying jobs. To that end, a mélange of serious situations—from frightening raids at a tomato-picking farm to an arbitrary firing without receiving owed wages—are thrown into the plot. But even though such issues could benefit from intelligent discussion, Under the Same Moon is a mediocre film that tries much too hard to emotionally affect its audience without delving deep enough into the complex problems of undocumented immigration. It seems the production company wants to market the movie to a wider American audience by prominently advertising the presence of America Ferrera—widely recognized here because of her starring role in Ugly Betty—even though she only plays an insignificant role in this film; her irritating addition mirrors the forced artificial sweetness sprinkled throughout the plot that spoils the film as a whole.
