‘Música’ Review: Rudy Mancuso’s Music-Driven Rom-Com Shines for Its Whimsical Idiosyncrasies and Cultural Specificity
variety.comCarlos Aguilar Key to the ongoing conversations about Latino representation in the U.S. entertainment industry is the need for the diversification of stories, which in turn would breed valuable specificity.
Rather than expecting one production to speak strongly to every single subset of the vast Latino community, projects should reflect the unique microcosms and experiences that speak to groups such as Cuban Americans in Florida, Mexican Americans in Los Angeles, or Dominican Americans in New York City.
Enter the multi-hyphenate Rudy Mancuso, whose charmingly inventive and loosely autobiographical feature directorial debut “Música” highlights the Brazilian American community of New Jersey’s Ironbound neighborhood.
In addition to starring in the film as a fictionalized version of his younger self, the talented Mancuso — who started out making videos on the now-defunct app Vine before moving on to YouTube and live shows — co-wrote the screenplay with Dan Lagana and, fittingly, also created the integral music.
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