Jen's Cottage

The Perez Family
Release Date: May 12th, 1995
Director: Mira Nair
Writer: Christine Bell, Robin Swicord
Starring: Marisa Tomei
Alfred Molina
Anjelica Huston
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Run Time: 115 minutes


On the land of freedom-America, Juan Roul Perez (Alfred Molina) is looking forward to the reunion with his original family, and Dorita Evita Perez (Marisa Tomei) is coming to see John Wane (a movie star), of whom she thought was her true love. Both of them are refugees from Cuba, and they come to America to find their lost freedom, family, and love. However, the story isn’t involved with political issues too much, the director puts the emphasis on exploring affection, which is completely touching and effective.

“The Perez Family,” the title of the movie, has double meanings. Juan has family in America already, however, he hasn’t seen his wife for twenty years, and in order to work with the system of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), he unexpectedly has to pretend to be Dorita Evita Perez’s husband so that they will be able to get an American sponsor soon.

In order to be on the top of the list, Dorita has not only found a fake husband, but also a fake father and a fake son. However, all of them don’t expect that they will have real feelings for each other thereafter. Dorita can be seen as the heroine of this movie. She has no marital experience, but she successfully makes herself a wife, a daughter-in-law, and a mother. When the fake son died, she sheds her tears sincerely and painfully. When Juan really gets the chance to be recognized by his real wife, she doesn’t hesitate to let him go, which is the real expression of love. Unconsciously, the fake family has generated a deep and profound true love that all of them cannot be selfish for themselves.

The plot and the affection of the story are so complicated that the movie cannot be classified into only one kind of genre. If it must, then the story will not give us the feeling so strong. Even though this kind of mixed genre makes this movie a little chaotic, it also makes the audience feel the complex feelings and situations each character has to confront. It may be sad to see that Juan cannot realize his original dream to be with his wife he has longed for so many years, and it’s really heart-broken to see that there are so many accidents happen to him, and his wife’s love for him has faded gradually; nevertheless, the audience will get the most satisfying ending with the development of the plot because the feeling of an audience will also be changed as every character does.

Therefore we can see that the “family” the director really wants to talk about is the fake one but not the real one. However, the part of the original family should not be overlooked, because the director cares very much about the complexity between the real and the fake. This complexity is not only about true and false, but also about imprisonment and freedom. All of those refugees cannot find their freedom on “the land of freedom” until they free their mind to confront themselves with their own true feelings. Except for them, Carmela (Anjelica Huston), the wife of Juan is also in prison when she’s waiting for Juan to get back. She’s actually waiting for a long lost love, which makes her lose her real self. That’s why when she gets the chance to date another man she becomes so happy and so attractive, she knows that she’s freed from the prison she built for herself, and she can really be herself thereafter. There is a classic dialogue said by Juan, which can express this confusion thoroughly, “Cuba is here.” (He's actually in America, the land of freedom.) The real freedom depends on the feeling, not the place.

Marisa Tomei acts wonderfully in the movie. She acts and looks just as a Cuban. People will be surprised when they find that she’s actually an American. This is a real actress-She makes herself totally “unself” in this movie, which is worth our bravo. Except for her, the acting of Anjelica Huston is also impressive. She’s so attractive in this movie that people will easily forget that she acts the mother in the movie of “The Addams Family.” Once again, Mira Nair, the director, does a good job on the way of making movies. She inspires the limitless talent of every actor and actress to make her movie near the ideal of perfection. By the way, you can compare this movie with her latest one-“Vanity Fair,” you will find that Mira is always trying to express some humanism in her movie, and this one is actually better than the new one because “The Perez Family” is less “Hollywood” and more realistic and profound.