MovieChat Forums > Crónicas (2006) Discussion > Leguizamo's 'spanglish' took me away fro...

Leguizamo's 'spanglish' took me away from the film

posted 18 years ago by LatinoNoir
13 replies | jump to latest

Hey, I think this point of criticism will ring truer for those who are native-Spanish speakers, like me. However, I won't lie. I have a tendency to speak "spanglish" and have more command of English in terms of both speaking and writing it than is the case for my Spanish. Being that I came to the U.S. at age 4, that is expected. Still, I take pride in my Spanish and the "spanglish" Leguizamo uses in this film comes off as quite disjointed and unrealistic in how it is used as opposed as to how people I know use it. I understand Leguizamo was raised here in the U.S. with his parents teaching him very little Spanish whereupon he had to learn it mostly from friends and school. Yet, it is obvious he can carry a conversation in Spanish without having to resort to innapropriate "spanglish." I mean, he has to say "Thank You" instead of just saying the easy, "Gracias" or "Muchas Gracias" that many NON-Spanish-speaking people know how to say! I'm not saying he doesn't know that, I'm saying he forces the "spanglish" in the film despite no character around him speaking any word of english. Yes, his character is from Miami but then none of his two colleagues bother to speak in english in the film. The Manolo character is often breaking into a complicated conversation and all of a sudden, he breaks into english...and it just took me away from the film to the point of annoyance. If you're going to a foreign land and you actually know how to speak the language effectively, then you should know when and when not to mix in another language with that one in front of the natives. I don't know if this was intended in the script or whether the director or Leguizamo decided upon this for the character, but I thought it hurt the film and its authenticity. Otherwise, I thought the film had an engaging plot and a creepy ending that almost saved the film for me. Too bad. I like Leguizamo but I think he wasn't right for this film. Benicio Del Toro would have been a much better choice. He didn't feel the need to do "spanglish" in Traffic. Thoughts?

[–] berztfc 18 years ago

#1 his from miami
#2 speakin splangish is fact of life in any hispanic household
#3 his not the only one that speaks in english in the film
#4 it made him look like an outsider to the town

his acting was great because he knows how to play a complete prick and snake real well

[–] LatinoNoir 18 years ago

You obviously passed over alot of what I wrote. At no point did I mention that spanglish isn't used by Latinos in the U.S. I specifically wrote that his use of spanglish wasn't accurate. Shoot, I use it, tambien! In other words, he didn't present a realistic portrayal of how Latinos use spanglish in social situations. To me, as a Latino, it just looked like a Latino who needs to brush up on his Spanish and his Spanish etiquette. Maybe that was the point but I still feel it came off as awkward and ineffective in some scenes. You have to remember that his two crew members also came from Miami yet spoke no English whatsoever in the film. My point is, I believe his spanglish should've been used more sparsely and carefully than was shown in the finished product.

[–] gravesp 18 years ago

You also have to realize that Leguizamo had a rather difficult time speaking the Spanish that was given to him in the script to begin with. At one time, I used to be fluent, when I constantly had my family around me to talk it. Now that I've moved far away from them, I rarely talk to them, so my Spanish needs a little brushing up as well.

[–] shoobe01 9 years ago

> You obviously passed over alot of what I wrote.

Well, a perfectly good discussion is happening anyway, so don't be offended.

I didn't read it hardly at all it's very hard to read giant blocks of text. Try organizing and then breaking up thoughts into paragraphs. Makes it easier.

[–] ar117 18 years ago

Leguizamo isn't really using "Spanglish".

Usually "Spanglish" (Latino Ebonics)isn't mixing in English phrases in conversation. It's creating a new word (like "exito" for a highway exit or "grocerias" for groceries) for use by bi-linguals in a Spanish language setting. Usually because they don't know the right word. BTW, "exito" means success and "grocerias" means insults. Many households that speak both English and Spanish use it because some family members lack the education (vocabulary) to know the correct word in Spanish.

Plus Leguizamo ad-libs and his forte is English.

DelToro is a great actor but he would be hard to believe as a self-absorbed pretty boy reporter.

[–] dsewell2 18 years ago

i also think if you go back and read stories from when the film came out, you'll find that the director pushed Leguizamo to speak in English at times

[–] IDHere 18 years ago

And in my opinion, Damian Alcazar outperformed Leguizamo big time.

Not to disrespect Leguizamo (I liked a lot in other movies) but here he's just upstaged by the character of Vinicio.

I don't know about Benicio del Toro, he is a better actor, but I don't think he would be so credible as a Miami spanish-speaking tv newscaster.

[–] mhulbert 18 years ago

I noticed the "thank you" as he was leaving at the end . . . and wondered if perhaps that was because he was signifying to himself his departure from the whole mess -- he's back to being the Miami American celeb and not stuck in the sordid situation he has created.

However, I agree the code switching seems awkward here. Could have been more appropriate use. And it did annoy me that they did not all switch to English when it would have made most sense -- when they were being held by the police in the room.

[–] morphogen 18 years ago

I had acutally commented to a friend that the switching between English and Spanish in this movie was very realistic! It's very Miami. My cousins and brothers and I who were all born in Ecuador but grew up in NYC can often switch like this in a conversation. That last "Thank you" was especially convincing as Manolo was at that moment very distracted. I felt it made Manolo more believable.

[–] cengelm 17 years ago

It just made me wonder but disn't take me away from the movie. In place of the scriptwriter I wouldn't have done it.

[–] wolves-6 17 years ago

I felt like the English was being used when Manolo didn't want the locals to understand what he was saying. My husband and I do the same thing at times.
Also, folks in Miami have a tendency to carry on conversations in more than one language. Often one person will speak Spanish (or another language) and the other person will answer in English. I think this happens when both people are bilingual but prefer different languages from each other.

[–] Kinematico 16 years ago

IMHO John Leguizamo and Alfred Molina were poor casted. In the case of Leguizamo not because he constatly switchs from spanish to english but because his spanish is not good enough in order to deliver a credible perfomance.
Alfred Molina's case is even worse.
I know that for non-spanish speakers that might pass unnoticed but for the people who speaks spanish it was very obvious and annoying.

I know that big names sells more tickets, but sometimes is better to rely on lesser known actors who fits better the characters.

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well I have others

[–] tampaMr 16 years ago

"with his parents teaching him very little Spanish whereupon he had to learn it mostly from friends and school"

actually, Leguizamo's parents spoke to him in Spanish, and he replied in English (I'm guilty of that).

plus, not everyone's spanglish is the same. Maybe he wasn't even thinking 'spanish mode' at the time, as someone else put it, he was 'distracted'. I thought it was believable of a man who was out of touch with his spanish, but I do understand what you mean--why not use gracias?

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