{"id":42787,"date":"2024-03-09T09:30:54","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T14:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=42787"},"modified":"2024-02-21T10:19:07","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T15:19:07","slug":"el-halcon-2023-cinequest-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/09\/el-halcon-2023-cinequest-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"El Halc\u00f3n (2023) [Cinequest 2024]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/el-halcon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42788\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/el-halcon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/el-halcon.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/el-halcon-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/el-halcon-2x1.jpg 2w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a>I appreciate what director Arlene Torres was going for with \u201cEl Halc\u00f3n,\u201d but her short drama is something I just couldn\u2019t click in to. While there\u2019s a lot of interesting potential in stories revolving around Latinos in lower class Los Angeles, \u201cEl Halc\u00f3n\u201d is tough to watch mainly because it\u2019s so centered on trite story beats and over schmaltzy melodrama. I could never really empathize with or connect with any of the characters, as everything in \u201cEl Halc\u00f3n\u201d felt so disingenuous and forced. Everyone feels over rehearsed or struggling to build this friction that could enhance the narrative\u2019s whole sense of tragedy.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Set in the streets of Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, Fernando De La Cruz is an ex-gang member and aspiring tattoo artist, who is trying to turn his life around and help his immigrant mother return to the United States. When he meets a young boy named JP and his abusive, racist father, Fern is faced with a difficult decision. Will he risk everything to help the young boy and stand up to the abusive father, or will he choose to stay out of trouble and focus on his own goals?<\/p>\n<p>Elements from the dialogue to the acting felt stilted while the performers never lose themselves in their characters. While Hector Gomez Jr. is fine in his lead role as Fernando, \u201cEl Halc\u00f3n\u201d gets lost in so much saccharine and silly TV movie of the week cliches that it was often difficult to swallow. There isn\u2019t a ton of substance to take away from the entire narrative except a pretty dusty, and musty tale about a grizzled old man with a big heart who opens his heart to a young child. There isn\u2019t a whole lot of emphases on Fernando or on JP\u2019s back story save for the usual plot beats to derive melodrama.<\/p>\n<p>I just didn\u2019t care enough for the characters to really engage with the tension, and the final scene felt so contrived. I commend Arlene Torres for finishing a film, but \u201cEl Halc\u00f3n\u201d never brought anything interesting or unique to the table for audiences.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cinequest Film &amp; Creativity Festival occurs in San Jose March 7<sup>th<\/sup> \u2013 March 17<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I appreciate what director Arlene Torres was going for with \u201cEl Halc\u00f3n,\u201d but her short drama is something I just couldn\u2019t click in to. While there\u2019s a lot of interesting potential in stories revolving around Latinos in lower class Los Angeles, \u201cEl Halc\u00f3n\u201d is tough to watch mainly because it\u2019s so centered on trite story [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[302,501,938],"class_list":["post-42787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-drama","tag-indie-film","tag-short-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42789,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42787\/revisions\/42789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}