The Blue Diner

A Latina eager to embrace America finds her tongue is a bit more eager to betray her culture than she is in this comedy-drama with elements of both romance and satire. Elena (Lisa Vidal) is an attractive Puerto Rican immigrant who is eager to make a career for herself in business. With that in mind, Elena strives to make herself seem more American, to the annoyance of her mother, Meche (Miriam Colon). Elena has also landed herself an Anglo fiance (Jack Mulcahy), who makes a good living selling coffins, though Elena is still attracted to her former boyfriend Tito (Jose Yenque), an artist and fellow Puerto Rican. One day, Elena's attempts to assimilate into mainstream culture begin to manifest themselves physically and psychologically when she discovers she's lost the ability to speak Spanish, her primary language for most of her life. Can Elena tear herself away from the white-bread culture she's embraced and reconnect with her roots -- and with Tito? While shot in Boston by American independent filmmakers, much of La Fonda Azul's dialogue is delivered in Spanish by a multilingual cast.