From Prada To Nada

Cast: Alexa Vega, Camille Belle, Wilmer Valderrama, Nicholas D'AgostStory: The Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne become the Dominguez siblings, Nora (Camille Belle) and Mary (Alexa Vega) in this Latina version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. As in Austen's classic, the sisters are forced to fend for themselves -- and find suitable husbands -- after the sudden death of their rich daddy. The difference however lies in the setting which is all Spanish with splatterings of Frida Kahlo and Garcia Lorca to provide the ethnic flavour.

Movie Review: Don't go looking for Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman and the sensibility of Ang Lee and you might just find this a pleasant watch. But if you are a purist and don't like re-mixes, specially if they are pallid and lack verve, then you might feel disjointed with Nora and Mary's misadventures in East L.A.

More importantly, the sisters' romantic track doesn't roar because the guys aren't hot and happening. Of course, we aren't comparing, but the Edward-Elinor affair isn't classy enough, just as the Marianne-Colonel Brandon relationship isn't as heartwarming as Austen would have wanted it to be. Both Nora and Mary do try and play their parts with sense and sensibility, with Nora essaying the role of the ambitious woman who has no time for love, while Mary prefers to spend her time stocking Prada and seducing her tutor. Of course, there isn't much brand value left in her life after she is forced to move from her mansion in Beverly hills to her more plebeian moorings in downtown Los Angeles. And in case you are wondering what's the Nada bit, it's this: the nothing-of-import upbearing where poor young girls face hell before they can find suitable men. Better be a whore, than die a spinster, declares the pragmatic Mary who has just one mission in life. She wants to move back from Nada to Prada, any which way!