Mosquita y Mari, Free Samples, Day at the Pool: Newport Beach Film Fest Picks of the Day
Categories: Film
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First, at 4 p.m. at Island Cinemas, you'll be checking out Mosquita y Mari, a gentle drama about two high school girls in heavily Latino Highland Park developing an unlikely friendship that blossoms into something more.
Aurora Guerrero, who wrote and directed, deserves kudos for the respectful way she treats the community and the budding relationship of her lead characters. Fenessa Pineda and Venecia Troncosco are amazing, each bringing a natural grace to the screen that actors with many more imdb credits should envy.
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Written by Jim Beggarly, the movie is driven by the brutally honest words coming out of deadpan Weixler's mouth as she interacts with a homeless lady (Wendy Shapero), a faded actress (Tippi Hedren), a pal Jillian loves to verbally abuse (Jason Ritter), various customers (who include improv comedians Matt Walsh and Joe Nunez) and a guy named Tex (Mr. Jesse Fucking Eisenberg himself) who is actually interested in the hot mess. Free Samples is all the more amazing when you learn, as Gammill told the Island Cinemas crowd after his flick premiered at NBFF Friday, that he's only five years out of USC and the entire shoot lasted only 13 days.
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The performance of Duane Peters alone is worth the price of admission. Day at the Pool opens for Format Perspective, which explores the work of six European skate photographers.
Also recommended: Guilty at 2:30 p.m. at Island Cinemas; Sunset Strip at 6 p.m. at Island Cinemas; Under African Skies at 6 p.m. at Triangle Square; Behind the Orange Curtain at 8:15 p.m. at Triangle Square.
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