Movie Review :: The Legend of Juan Jose Mundo

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The Legend of Juan Jose Mundo is a charming coming-of-age tale straight out of the ‘80s.

by Jeremy Fogelman

Cast: Anna Mirodin, Alexandro Byrd, Hannah Kepple

Rating: ★★★

Anytime a movie is set in the days of yore, fidelity matters -- doesn’t have to be 100% as long as the spirit is true and thematically it fits. Ideally it should make one feel like you’re back in 1913, 1951, or 1981, etc, without any obvious tells that would stand out and make it feel false. And hopefully the setting is more than just window dressing, that’s there’s an actual point to it, past say “they don’t want to write about smartphones”. I suppose it helps if one is born in the era you’re writing about too.

The Legend of Juan Jose Mundo comes from Michael Walker and co-writer Susan Gomes, and stars Anna Mirodin as Julie Gornick, a young Jewish teen living in the New York suburbs in 1984 -- her best friend is Suzanne (Hannah Kepple), and Julie is neither popular nor unpopular. She’s shy and a bit of a homebody, but she’s in general included in things if never the center of attention.

The movie starts off with watching the kids in Spanish class, as they are participating in an exchange program with Spain -- high school kids come here, others will go there in return, a good way to immersively learn the language and culture. In theory anyway. Immediately all eyes fall on the tall, charismatic Juan Jose Mundo (Alexandro Byrd) -- and due to some chicanery, he ends up staying at Julie’s house (under careful supervision, naturally).

Nearly immediately, Juan becomes the star of the high school parties, immersed in a pure 80s haze -- all of the girls are into him, and his grasp of English is good enough to be charming and only missing enough to not be very important. As Julie keeps seeing, Juan takes every opportunity to hook up with the girls in their class, and they seem to be more than happy with it, if often a bit jealous and sniping about it.

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Julie begins to wonder if she’s developing a crush on him, despite seeing all of this, and considers whether they have a real connection or if it's even worth pursuing, since soon enough he'll be back home in Spain. The two of them have a real, relaxed chemistry here, and newcomer Anna Mirodin is excellent in these small, silent moments, expressing complicated emotions without saying anything at all, and her rapport with her best friend works -- Hannah Kepple has an authentic presence that feels empathetic and friendly.

Alexandro Byrd is quite charming as the charismatic youngster, even if naturally he’s playing much younger -- there are more hints of complexity to his backstory, especially as we meet other Spanish students that arrive. But ultimately this movie is a sort of mild, charming coming of age for Julie, without delving too deeply into cultural differences or complexities, relying instead on the understated performances and engaging chemistry between the cast.

The setting works well here too -- with kids constantly hanging out in public, lack of instant communication, and immersed in the right cultural references and styles. It definitely feels authentic to its setting, and a sweet, indie tale without anything too crazy or dramatic -- but sometimes that’s a balm to the overly melodramatic ones we often see.

The Legend of Juan Jose Mundo has a run time of 1 hour 34 minutes, and is not rated.