Every weekend a tiny nightclub in Union City, New Jersey, called La Esquina Habanera is set ablaze with killer Cuban music. An informal circle of Cuban exiles provides the entertainment as well as the audience. The subjects of Heddy Honigmann's latest film are, as always, ordinary people with an unusual focus, for they are not a typical cross-section of Cuban exiles. For the most part they are black working-class people, and their music is not mainstream salsa; it's the rumba. Not the 1940s big band rumba, but the authentic African rumba, largely improvised music played only with percussion instruments and chant and always accompanied by joyful, passionate dance. The film's subjects-a restaurant owner, a dance instructor, a mechanic, and others-work hard to make ends meet. Like many other immigrants, they seem to embody the so-called American work ethic more firmly than most Americans. But their lives are not about making money. They live for one thing: la musica. They practice their moves and spend hours getting decked out. The style is outrageous-Las Vegas flash displayed with the intensity of a storefront church. They give hope that every one of us who works for a living can live with passion and fulfillment.