Where God Left His Shoes
Year: 2007
Director: Salvatore Stabile
Production Company: Vulcan Productions
Description: A former boxer and family come upon hard times as steady employment eludes Frank Diaz (John Leguizamo). As financial troubles continue, the family finds themselves evicted from their homes, struggling for months finding sparse work while living in a homeless shelter. When money isn’t available, stealing and begging become more common occurrences to get the family by. With the hopes of an apartment in sight, Diaz and step-son Justin (David Castro) look for a job for Diaz while his wife (Leonor Varela) and step-daughter (Samantha M. Rose) wait at the shelter.
The Good: I must say that I am quite a fan of Leguizamo. His movies tend to involve quite unique roles, all of which he tends to portray quite well. This one was a great example of that. While not an amazing movie, there were some definite moments where the feeling of frustration and desperation were in his voice and mannerisms. But not to be forgotten is his character’s step-son, Justin. The combination of the two while on their city-wide trip to find a job really made the movie emotional yet humorous. There are a few one-liners that, while not an all-out laugh, they make you think that even though this situation is difficult on these two, they definitely have love for each other.
I also loved the music. It may not make an impact on many other people, but I felt that it was appropriate for the movie and really set the moods in the different scenes.
The Bad: Nothing really bad about the movie. I felt Diaz’s wife Angela, played by Varela, was a little distracting, but probably for no other reason than she kept reminding me of Jennifer Garner.
The biggest potential fault for viewers with this movie will be the lack of a fully resolved ending. I don’t feel it detracted from the movie at all, but with a movie where you felt like everything has been so depressing up to this point, a lot of people like to have that exhale moment where everything gets wrapped up and you know the future of the characters. In a way, it’s much like The Pursuit of Happyness where much of the movie there wasn’t a whole lot to feel energetic about. But, in both movies, you also know that what you’re watching a solid performance from all the actors.
Overall: An enjoyable movie worth a rent at the very least. With a run time of just about 1:40, it’s a good length movie that lets you feel the ups and downs of their struggles.
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