Brownsville

In his sparkling debut, Oscar Casares creates a cast of unforgettable characters confronting everyday possibilities and contradictions: Diego, an eleven-year-old whose job at a fireworks stand teaches him a lesson in defiance; Bony, a young man whose discovery of a monkey’s head on his lawn drives a wedge between him and his parents; Lola, whose stolen bowling ball offers an unlikely chance for change. The achievement of Brownsville lies in its remarkably honest portrayal of these lives — the lives of people whose dreams and yearnings and regrets are at once unique and universal.