''Falling Awake'' (originally titled ''Shine On'') is a 2009 musical drama film directed by Agustín Fernández, who co-wrote it with Michael Baez and Doug Klozzner. Andrew Cisneros stars as a Latino musician in New York City who attempts to overcome the problems of his poor neighborhood. It premiered at the New York International Latino Film Festival and was released in the U.S. on January 29, 2010.

Plot

Jay, a young Latino

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

, attempts to rise above the

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

and violence in his

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

neighborhood.

Cast

* Andrew Cisneros as Jay * Jenna Dewan as Alessandra *

Nestor Serrano Nestor Serrano (born November 5, 1955) is an American film and television actor. He is known for playing Navi Araz in the fourth season of ''24 (TV series), 24''. He also appeared as Emilio Loera in the fourth season of the Cinemax series ''Bans ...

as Jay's Father * Nicholas Gonzalez as Eddie * Julie Carmen as Angela

Release

''Falling Awake'' premiered at the New York International Latino Film Festival on July 24, 2009.

IFC Films Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent fil ...

released it in the US on January 29, 2010, and it grossed $1,978.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

, reports that 25% of eight surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 3.7/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

rated it 24/100 based on four reviews. John Anderson of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote that it "recycles every imaginable trope". Mike Hale of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that it balances "appealing performances" against the cliches of ethnic coming-of-age films. Ben Walters of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' wrote although the story and characters are clichéd, the "performances are engaging, particularly Cisneros".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1043756 2009 films 2000s musical drama films American musical drama films American coming-of-age films Films set in the Bronx 2009 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language musical drama films 2009 musical films