The dramas of a dancer
By Miranda Inganni
A very busy, young lady, Carmen (Aimee Garcia) attends community college, works at a local market, practices her dance by day, then spends some nights dancing competitively at an underground club in Chicago.
Carmen goes to school and work to keep her working class parents happy; dancing is what she really loves. Speaking of love, Carmen begins to date and then fall in love with one of her classmates, Jared (Derrick Denicola), a boy from a rich part of Chicago.
But neither Carmen nor her family is satisfied with her efforts, with the tensions culminating in a nasty fight where Carmen runs away to live with her best friend, Gina (Gina Rodriguez).
Compounding the drama, Carmen is encouraged to pursue her love of dance by her teacher, Mr. Martin (Al Bandiero), who has his own issues of identity, while being forced to face the cruel truth of Gina’s abusive relationship with her guy, Nino (Rene Rosado).
A movie less about dancing than about growing up, facing facts and dealing with life, writer-director-producer Carmen Marron’s debut feature Go for It! is based on Marron’s experiences as a street dancer and one of ten children in a Mexican-American family. It’s a lot of experience to put into one movie, but Marron’s message behind the movie is admirable: follow your dreams and believe in yourself.
The movie should be commended, too, for its stance on education, yet it tries too hard to make Go for It! a “feel good” film. In addition, the character stereotypes, the excessive flying hair in the dance scenes, and Carmen and Gina's adolescent behavior is unoriginal, if not plain annoying. And the direction during the dance scenes is more claustrophobic than energetic. The film’s tagline, “She wasn’t the best…it didn’t matter,” rings true of the movie.
Still, Marron does “go for it,” writing, producing, directing and her first film. She also has a small acting part in the film as the Fancy Store Saleswoman.
(Go for It! screens August 24, 5:30 p.m., Mann Theatre 1)
