I Like It Like That (film)


I Like It Like That is a 1994 American comedy-drama film about the trials and tribulations of a young Puerto Rican man and a half Jamaican Puerto Rican American woman living in a poverty-stricken New York City neighborhood in the South Bronx. The film stars Lauren Velez, Jon Seda, Lisa Vidal, Griffin Dunne, Jesse Borrego and Rita Moreno, and was written and directed by Darnell Martin who, in her filmmaking debut, became the first African-American female filmmaker to take helm of a film produced by a major film studio.
The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

Lisette Linares is a young mother of three children, married to Chino, a bicycle messenger. Although he is always reliable as the breadwinner of the family, Chino is having an affair with neighbor Magdalena. One summer evening as a blackout sweeps the neighborhood, Chino gets arrested for looting.
Faced now with the reality of keeping her family together while the main breadwinner is in jail, Lisette, with the encouragement of her transgender sister Alexis, decides to give her dream of becoming a print model a chance. As she happens to be in the right place at the right time, Lisette lands a job as the personal assistant to a major record label producer, who is trying to sign a major Latin music group. Chino is then released from prison by Magdalena and her father, who reveals that she has a son named Richie, whom she claims was fathered by Chino. This causes Lissette to hit rock bottom and move in with Alexis. At her new job while having sex with her boss, he answers a number of phone calls, which frustrates Lisette. The next day, Chino tries to go back to his job, but is fired due to his criminal record. Lisette then confronts Chino to prove that she had sex with another man to get even with him.
While Chino is taking the kids out for ice cream, his extremely rebellious son, Lil' Chino, asks if he could buy ice cream, but Chino tells him that he needs to work in order to buy things. His son then shows him money so Chino allows him to buy the ice cream, but when his younger daughter notices that he is wearing new sneakers and pants, Chino realizes that his son has become a drug dealer. Chino furiously lashes out at his son, pushes him towards a mural with a picture of his uncle on it, who was a police officer killed by a drug dealer. He whips his son in front of the whole block while his sons friends laugh at him. Alexis notices the commotion and tries to stop him.
Alexis then points out that he's just a little boy and pulls him away, but his son runs away. The kids are still laughing and still insult Lil Chino that he's weak. Chino, infuriated, then beats a kid from the crowd and whips him, the and the drug dealer attempts to draw a gun but Chino manages to disarm him while fellow neighbors help Chino whip the boy. Lil Chino is then found sitting in front of Alexis' apartment door. He tells Lisette that he wants to stay with her but she rejects him, believing that he will still be disrespectful towards her. Chino then finds Lil Chino and takes him home. Back at the apartment, Chino and his friend place Richie to bed, and the friend reveals to Chino that he is the actual father of Richie which infuriates Chino, as he been played by Magdalena the whole time. Alexis and Lisette have a discussion about the kids, as Alexis points out to Lisette that she is just like their own estranged mother. She denies this and Alexis changes and leaves to visit their mother.
When Alexis arrives over there, her mother opens the door, she reacts disgusted by Alexis' appearance. Alexis tries her hardest to make amends with her mother but when her father comes out of his room to check on the noise, he reacts with an aggressive look on his face. Back at Alexis' apartment, Lisette hears the door open and notices that Alexis came back. When Lisette comes to check on Alexis she notices her face all beaten up and asks what happen, but Alexis tell her that she was right about their mother, that she has not accepted Alexis for being transgender.
The next day at work, Lisette's boss wants to have sex again, but she tries to reject him. He stops when Lisette tells him he's “not a sexual person”, and the two begin to argue, which results in her nearly quitting. They resolve to continue their working relationship. Lisette arrives back at the apartment, she tries to talk to her children and asks for their forgiveness, mostly from Lil Chino, which he does finally. Chino arrives later, back from his new job as a security officer. Both discuss the many flaws in their marriage, and Chino finally tells Lisette the truth about Magdalena's baby. The scene ends with Lisette pointing out to Chino that he never thinks about the “other person”, which he then replies, “Good night, other person”, despite that it's morning already. Lisette lays on the sofa with a smile on her face.

Cast

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 80% based on 10 reviews.
Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and said of the film "I Like It Like That looks more unconventional than it is, but Martin puts a spin on the material with lots of human color and high energy."

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