Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, is a coming-of-age Romantic Drama Film with small aspects of comedy. This film is an adaptation from the book itself originally by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. The movie focuses on Aristotle Mendoza (Max Pelayo), your stereotypical loner. Along with Dante Quintana (Reese Gonzales), a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. Both are Mexican-Americans, exploring their friendship while struggling with racial, ethnic, sexual identity, as well as family relationships in 1987 El Paso, Texas.
In August 2022, they announced that this book was going to be adapted into a film, and I had low expectations, since directors typically don’t do a good job of making a book into a film and capturing all the right moments.
But to my surprise, Aitch Alberto did an amazing job in directing the movie. She made it true to the book, so I really was happy since it holds a special place in my heart. This book helped me a lot with my identity since it helped me realize I am not the only teenager struggling with who I am.
Both of the characters capture different parts of me. Aristotle was extremely relatable to me in the way that he was angry at himself while trying to figure out who he was. I found myself in Dante in his crazy imagination and accepting parents. It was great to see that the parents were not the stereotypical Hispanic parents that make you feel ashamed for who you are. Their support towards Dante, added to the positivity aspect and heart-warming feel of the film.
I connected with the characters a lot, which is why I set my expectations high for this movie. It captured every moment in the movie as I imagined it, such as the part where they introduced themselves to each other and every interaction between them. Specifically, where Dante’s parents invited Aristotle to go out and look at the stars. I found that moment to be very thoughtful since in usual Hispanic homes they don’t really let you go out with friends. Another moment I enjoyed was the ending, where Aristotle and Dante were laying in the back of the red Chevy and looking up at the stars.
Despite these amazing moments between scenes, the pacing of the movie remained fast. It is understandable for most book to movie adaptations to not include every small detail. Some do a good job at leaving out the details and some fail the whole film. But I would say the details that were left out didn’t feel like the end of the world. Everything felt easy to watch and matched to the right part, all the small important parts were there.
Staying true to the book is one thing, but to capture the perfect cast, music, and acting, really made this movie reach the expectations that us fans had. Max and Reese were very great actors to inhabit these characters and matched the characteristics that came with them. I found it interesting to see Eugenio Derbez (Aristotle’s dad, Jaime Mendoza), Isabella Gomez, (Gina Navarro) and Eva Longoria (Dante’s Mom, Soledad Quintana) to be a part of the film. Due to the fact that these actors are considered to be very big in the acting world, I was intrigued to see them be a character in a small indie film. In the film it felt like they had a bigger role and had more dialogue than in the book. I remember them from the book, but they didn’t really have a big role. So I enjoyed seeing the movie, providing them with more dialogue and a bigger part to the overall story.
One thing that can add, or detract, from a movie is the soundtrack. For this film, the soundtrack added to the overall feel of being in the 80s. Throughout the movie, we saw different songs played in the background that were familiar and added to the nostalgia of the time setting. To my surprise, I knew a few of them. Most of the songs were a couple years before the 80s such as La Bamba by Ritchie Valens. It was interesting, however, to hear Tu Casa Nueva by El Último Vecino, because it was released in 2014 while this movie was more set in the 80s. Despite these songs being a bit older than what I’m used to, they did fit into the scenes and the vibes from the movie.
Although it was a bit short, this did nail the wow factor for me because no other movie had done its justice in representing the LGBTQIA+ community and the Latinx community. Usually with other movies they go straight to the stereotypes of Hispanics looking dirty, only appearing to be very dark, and then with the LGBTQIA+ stereotypes they see us just liking female pop artists and being very feminine. And this movie captured none of these stereotypes, making it one of the best I have seen.
You don’t have to be gay or Hispanic to connect with the movie, anyone can connect with the movie and characters. It is a very heartwarming movie and gives this nostalgic feeling since it does take place during the 80s. Waiting a year to watch this movie was worth the wait, despite the length of the film. Overall, it was pretty good and I would recommend it to anyone. I would give this a 10/10. It is an excellent coming-of-age film, and one of my current favorites.
