Women Is Losers

By: Jennifer Vintzileos

For women the struggle is real, but not impossible to overcome. Lissette Feliciano brings a story of love, loss and perseverance in the film Women Is Losers. Set in the era of pre-Roe v. Wade we follow the story of Celina Guerrera (Lorenza Izzo) as she navigates teenage pregnancy, an overbearing and abusive father and the tenacity to rise above the obstacles that her life decisions and gender have afforded her.

Set and starting in San Francisco 1967, Celina Guerrera and her bestie Marty Guzman (Chrissie Fit) are students at an all-girls Catholic high school. Marty convinces Celina to sneak out to a party one night to welcome home the object of Celina’s affection, Mateo Valencio (Bryan Craig). While Mateo’s friend Carlos (Shalim Ortiz) tries to steer Mateo towards toying with Celina to entice her, the games are not needed as Mateo and Celina end up sharing one night of passion that leads to a surprise pregnancy. As Celina cannot tell her mother Carolina (Alejandra Miranda) and father Juan (Steven Bauer) what has happened since she snuck out to see Mateo, Marty comforts her and admits that she is also pregnant—with Carlos’s baby.

Even though abortion is not yet legal during this time, Carlos helps Celina and Marty secure appointments with a doctor he knows that can perform the procedures. Unfortunately, when Marty goes first she ends up getting severely hurt and dies in the hospital with Celina by her bedside. Celina ends up having her baby and securing two jobs to cover her expenses in the household. But being a single mother with no high school diploma leaves Celina navigating through obstacle after obstacle to provide a stable home for her son Christian (Lincoln Bonilla). It isn’t until Celina’s employer Gilbert Lee (Simu Liu) provides Celina with important advice that he learned from his own family struggling to pursue the American Dream—advice that Celina takes to heart even as she decides to give Mateo a chance to step up as a father and husband and find her own path towards that American Dream within the constraints of her gender barriers and heritage.

Feliciano’s ability to draw us into the story of Celina and her struggle in Women Is Losers” paints a bleak but hopeful message: when opportunity does not always present itself, you make the opportunity happen—despite all the things that may try to drag you down in the process. Celina may have made a string of bad decisions, yet her heart is always in the right place. Her brief working relationship with Gilbert is beautiful to watch, especially when he teaches Celina the ways to invest in her future for her family. Unfortunately, his help comes with caveats and (like most of the men in Celina’s life) he shuns her for making decisions that don’t jive with his own. And even when she knows that her father will never approve of anything she does, Celina tries to convince him that she can make smart decisions despite his refusal to help her rise.

Aside from Mateo and her family, the relationship I am most interested in comes from Celina’s friendship with Calvin (Cranston Johnson) and former employer Minerva (Liza Weil). Facing backlash from their own interracial relationship, Calvin and Minerva offer Celina that safe haven that she has desperately needed for years. They support her work ethic and even encourage her to pursue what she desires most—a future for Christian. Johnson and Weil execute their roles with such grace and ease that you forget that they are just playing the characters. They’re the couple you always want in your corner and I love the way that they support Celina and Christian through the darker moments.

While today women have been afforded more rights and amenities than ever before, the fight to be heard continues. That is what many of us dream for, our voices making a difference and being able to support ourselves without needing to rely on others to give us a boost. And for Celina, she’s willing to take on the challenge.