The Resident

Community

San Jose the backdrop for 'Glory Boy' film

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

It's late at night. A group of college-aged males leans against a cluttered wall with an incandescent neon overhead with only the word "Willow" and the letters "GL" lit up.

That scene along Willow Glen's Lincoln Avenue--familiar to many in San Jose--is captured in the screenshot for the Cinequest contender, Glory Boy Days. The film uses scenery from throughout San Jose, including the Willow Glen Liquors at 1110 Lincoln Ave., to tell the story of a generation.

It's filmmaker Paul Encinas' vision.

"It's a movie about real people," says the 23-year-old film student from San Jose State University. "They're people that you see in San Jose, all over the course of 24 hours."

Encinas said he chose San Jose as the backdrop for his film because the city, in spite its size, has been able to retain a suburban feel, unlike other big cities.

The movie is Encinas' first full-length feature, debuting at the 18th annual Cinequest Film Festival. It cost him about $250,000 to produce.

Encinas' urban depiction of life in San Jose's underground scene has garnered comparisons to cult films such as Richard Linklater's 1993 film Dazed and Confused and George Lucas' 1973 film American Graffiti.

"If I'm lucky enough for the movie to be as successful as those that it's compared to," he says, "I hope that our scenes, our lives will be well represented."

Scenes were filmed on Market Street, Third Street and areas of District 6, including Willow Glen.

"In college, we're told, 'Write what you know'," Encinas says. "Aside from Willow Glen Liquors looking really cool, the area is [true to San Jose]."

Encinas grew up loving movies, especially those by his favorite film director Jean-Luc Godard, who filmed Breathless and Masculin, feminin.

"In most movies, it's about these chain of events, big explosions and dramatic story lines like terrorism or something stolen," he says, "but Godard's movies just talk about the characters. He appreciates the ordinary things in a fast-moving way. He's self-reflective."

This appreciation for the everyday was something Encinas wanted to portray in his effort.

"In larger cities like San Francisco, there's such a huge scene already established, you just end up gravitating to it," he says. "San Jose is under the radar. San Jose has its own culture, be it the hip-hop crowd to the skateboard crowd, it has its own uniqueness. Instead of the environment creating us, we create the environment. "It's something that's ours, and something we created and are proud of."

Encinas' movie will be showing at Cinequest through March 9. The film will also be shown March 16 at the Clay Theater in San Francisco and March 22 at Camera 12 in San Jose.

He will also bring his film to the 2008 Asian American Film Festival March 13-23.

For more information, visit www.cinequest.org, www.asian americanmedia.org or to watch the trailer, www.gloryboydays.com.