Immigration: ‘La Misma Luna’ (‘Under the Same Moon’) shines in U.S., Mexico

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“La Misma Luna” (‘Under the Same Moon’), the new movie that tells the story of a Mexican family separated by borders, is proving popular with audiences both in the United States and Mexico.

Picture, courtesy of Fox Film, of a mural commissioned for the movie.

The first full-length feature from Mexican director Patricia Riggen, which was previewed by The Times’ Mexico City-based arts and culture reporter Reed Johnson, and reviewed by Times movie critic Kenneth Turan, broke the 3-day weekend record for any Spanish-language film in the United States, according to figures provided by Fox, the movie’s distributor.

“La Misma Luna,” which follows the journey of a young Mexican boy (Adrian Alonso) across the border to find his immigrant mother (Kate del Castillo), and features an appearance by Mexican norteño super-group Los Tigres del Norte, has netted more than $9 million at the box office since it launched in mid-March. That’s a lot for a low-budget foreign-language film.

In Mexico, the heartfelt drama, written by Ligiah Villalobos, had the highest opening weekend for any Mexican film for all of 2007 and is holding that record for 2008 so far. On Monday of this week, the film was No. 1 at the box office, according to Fox Films in Mexico.

-- Deborah Bonello