Real Women Have Curves

The first Latina-directed film to be selected for the National Film Registry, Patricia Cardosa’s Real Women Have Curves is set in East Los Angeles and delivers a sensitive portrayal of a Mexican American family, effectively capturing the intergenerational dynamics with warmth and humor. The film is also the coming-of-age story of its protagonist, Ana García (in a spirited performance by America Ferrera), who is bold, loving, and clairvoyant as a senior graduating from high school. “A culture clash comic melodrama” that is “effervescent and satisfying, a crowd pleaser that does not condescend” (Elvis Mitchell, New York Times).