30th Anniversary Screening

Mi Vida Loca
Directed by Allison Anders

“Anders’s zigzagging story line allows her to follow side roads that result in beautiful digressions of the sort you wouldn’t find in a more conventional film.” – Hal Hinson, The Washington Post

Three stories of love and loss are cast with ebullient color and deep pathos in Mi Vida Loca, director Allison Anders’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed Gas Food Lodging. Telling the interweaving stories of a group of Latino women living in the Echo Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, Anders crafts a portrait that captures the contradictory levity and weight of life spent balancing friendship, romance, motherhood, and the quiet yet ever-present threat of violence.

The film features an ensemble cast consisting largely of unknown actors (and the first film appearance of Salma Hayek and Jason Lee) who embody a striking vulnerability as they navigate the rivalries that evolve throughout their neighborhood. Their stories are filmed with a bright energy, lovingly capturing a culture that features dazzling fashion, thumping music, and the gymnastics of lowrider cars. 1994, U.S., 35mm, in English and Spanish with English subtitles, 92 minutes.

Followed by a post-screening discussion between Ashland, KY-born director Allison Anders and LEO Weekly film columnist Tracy Heightchew.