My Family

My Family is a drama spanning three generations of a Mexican immigrant family in Los Angeles. Jose arrives in California in the 1920s and falls in love with Maria; they marry and start a household in East Los Angeles, but during the Great Depression, with Maria pregnant for the third time, authorities detain her and send her back to Mexico, leaving Jose to raise their children alone. The story follows the children — Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni and Jimmy — as they grow up amid the youth culture and police tensions of 1950s Los Angeles. As the second generation reaches adulthood in the 1960s, attention settles on Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel, a refugee from El Salvador, their son, and his effort to become a responsible parent.

Gregory Nava directed and wrote the screenplay, with Anna Thomas producing. The large cast includes Edward James Olmos as Paco, Jimmy Smits as Jimmy, Esai Morales as Chucho, Jennifer Lopez as the young Maria, Jacob Vargas as the young Jose, and Constance Marie as Toni. Made for about 6 million dollars, the film took roughly 11 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3/10 from around 4,800 votes, and on TMDB 7.4/10 from 88 votes. A critics' rating of 7.3/10 from 58 reviews places it in line with those audience scores. It was released in 1995, the first of three features Nava directed in the chronological listing, ahead of Selena and Bordertown.