Don't Let Me Drown

I've seen this film in a college prep class for film in Borough of Manhattan Community College (bmcc).  We're watching some independent films and learning how a film is set up. From the shots to how the music makes a connection to whats going on in the film, to how each scene plays a big part in the movie. The first film we watched was Don't Let Me Drown. It takes place in brooklyn New York. The stories are centered around two teenagers, during the time of 911. Both of the main characters have there own conflicts at home but when their together they're the highlight of eachothers day. This film basically shows that "the only thing to help them from drowning can be love".

The protagonist is the male character Lalo, he's family struggles with poverty, they're always short on the rent.  The family immigrated from mexico, so Lalo's father was treated with less respect he was a janitor in the twin towers building but then when they collapse they offered him a job cleaning up. his father suffered a lot he was being to cough out blood and being very ill because of his job, Lalo barely got to see him since he was always working. He didn't even get paid enough for it. the people who lived with lalo was his dad, mom and uncle. his uncle seemed to be more like a brother figure to him then an uncle. They had a brother like bond.

The antagonist of the movie was Stefanie. She was a half dominican half black teenage girl who's cousin was lalos best friend that is how they met. during the film her family just moved in her cousins building in brooklyn because her older sister crystal who worked in the twin towers died. Crystal seemed to be a huge part of the film although she wasn't actually there. her family had to move to brooklyn from their apartment in the lower east side that he sister rented. crystal was basically supported her family. so her lose was a tragic thing to the whole family. Crystal is also dealing with her alcoholic father who is always beating on her mother. Stefanie is also antisocial she doesn't have friends in school she's always eating alone at lunch. but she's also a tough girl she doesn't like receiving pity from people.

This film was interesting to watch just because if been where the movie takes place. its not just a sobby love story. It also centered around 911 a lot, its really amusing to see how much new york has changed and recovered since this tragedy. It just shows how new york changed over time in general. For the class one of the assignments was not for entertainment it was to find out the structure of the film and to notice how many shots were in the first scene and what does the music set the tone of each scene. this movie connects with my film because in most of the movie you do see graffiti in the back round it was filmed in new york. They also shot is some of the places we're going to go and take pictures of the graffiti .

Here's the trailer of the independent film.