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.
The Rudy Mancuso in “Música” is about to graduate college and still lives at home with his endlessly loving, but obliviously overbearing mom. Mancuso’s real-life Brazilian-born mother, Maria Mancuso, plays herself in the film, further extending the ways in which the film plays with metafiction. But while his girlfriend Haley (Francesca Reale) dreams of a life together, traditional careers and a pricy loft in Manhattan, Rudy makes insubstantial money performing his musical puppet show on the subway. That’s his peculiar passion. In moments that casually transcend reality, Rudy has conversations with his opinionated puppet Diego, an alter ego for the artist, about his lack of direction and convoluted love life.
There’s a kinetic energy to “Música” that reflects how the protagonist reinterprets the sounds of the world around him. Musical numbers here rarely feature any lyrics as Mancuso never fully breaks out into song. These sequences instead play out like a whimsical whirlwind that give us insight into Rudy’s inner disarray. In them, quotidian life comes alive as performance pieces where the music is created by kitchenware inside a diner, the sound of a basketball bouncing off the ground in a park or passengers’ belongings on a train ride. The few verses that Mancuso does sing appear written on the walls and ceiling of a subway station, proving that music envelops every space he occupies.
That rhythmic playfulness seeps into cinematographer Shane Hurlbut’s energetic camera movements and unconventional framing, as well as Melissa Kent’s snappy editing. Even if “Música” includes material that may be familiar to those who have followed him for years, it finds freshness conveyed through the cinematic medium. That’s especially true of moments that zero in on the effect that ambient sounds have on Rudy’s musically wired mind. The way Mancuso translates his artistic idiosyncrasies into a delightfully overwhelming symphony of set-pieces and imagery points to a bold imagination brimming with ideas. The project’s fanciful tone and aesthetic calls to mind Salvadoran storyteller Julio Torres’ recent debut, “Problemista” (the two films debuted at SXSW, a year apart).
Riddled with post-breakup woes after Haley temporarily ends their relationship, Rudy meets Isabella (Camila Mendes), a new love interest who encourages his dreams of puppetry, at a local Brazilian fish market. Isabella, also of Brazilian descent, doesn’t feel the restlessness that plagues Rudy, nor Haley’s apprehensions about how a successful existence should unfold. Mendes, an actress best known for her work in the show “Riverdale,” embodies an unbothered coolness, that of someone who is grounded in the present and already comfortable with her station in life. That plays well off Mancuso’s absentmindedness and anxiety about where he’s headed personally and professionally.
A scene halfway through the movie where Haley’s parents — unnervingly manicured status quo-upholding capitalists dressed in white — ask whether Rudy’s mother migrated to the United States legally, confirms that while Latinos are not a monolith, there are certain interactions, misconceptions and loaded questions that resonate with a large segment of the community. Standing nearby is the family’s Guatemalan housekeeper, who offers Rudy earnest solidarity. At the same time, Mancuso doesn’t miss the chance to call out how the fact that Brazilians speak Portuguese (a language present organically throughout “Música”) and not Spanish is often overlooked by mainstream America.
Though a tad saccharine in places, “Música” boasts an “anything goes” spirit that makes it easier to forgive those more formulaic bits. However, it must also be said that in its final moments, contrary to what most viewers might expect, the movie avoids empty triumphalism on the romantic front, forcing its protagonist to reassess his priorities without closing the door on the possibility of a rosier future. Now that Mancuso has gotten his origin story out onto the screen, it’s exciting to wonder what a sophomore effort could entail for him. For now, “Música” has earned him his filmmaking stripes.
