A moment of silence for Cruz (Kuno Becker) and Shae (Persia White). Photo Credit: Lorey Sebastian/Luminaria.
By John Esther
Now living in San Francisco, Cruz Montoya (Kuno Becker) left his land of Santa Fe, New Mexico, to become one of the hottest poets on the West Coast poetry circuit. When he is not telling adoring audiences how he “wants to get shot,” Cruz teaches poetry to the kind of young troubled men Cruz was back in the day.
Struggling with his bipolar condition, Cruz fights with his inner demons yet he has considerable support by his new artist girlfriend, Shae (Persia White). It looks like he is going to make it until he receives a call from his sister-in-law (Monique Gabriela Curnen) that his father is dying of pancreatic cancer.
Compelled to return to the house he grew up then escaped – located in Chimayo, New Mexico to be exact – Bud Light Cruz looks after his Tecate father (Rubén Blades) through the end of the calendar year and the end of his father’s life.
Unfortunately, during his return Cruz quickly falls back into his old Santa Fe nightclub ways. The lure of easy money and drugs gets to Cruz and it will take more than a few upheavals to save Cruz this time.
Directed by Victor Nunez (Ulee’s Gold), this usually subtle, but sometimes a bit too dramatic --- such as the “dirt” fight, a coincidental overdose of a friend (Maurice Compte) and the funeral “showdown” with the local crime boss, Emilio (Miguel Sandoval) -- look at Latino life in New Mexico is flavored by some above occasionally good poetry, very strong performances and considerable sense of care for the characters by Nunez, director of photography Virgil Mirano and co-screenwriters Joe Ray Sandoval and William T. Conway (Conway also co-produced).
