A movie of epic proportions told on a personal scale, My Family follows three generations of Mexican-Americans living in L.A.’s East Side. Director and cowriter Gregory Nava uses the Sanchez family itself as the movie’s protagonist, and the result is a full-bodied portrait of an entire clan. That said, special notice should go to Jimmy Smits, whose portrayal of the youngest, most troubled son brings to mind the suppressed rage that fueled Richard Wright’s Bigger in Native Son.
