In the hands of the usual hacks, this tale of Hispanic girl gangs in Los Angeles could have been Babes in the Barrio. None of that trash for writer-director Allison Anders, whose acclaimed autobiographical 1992 film Gas, Food, Lodging (about a truck-stop waitress raising two daughters alone) scrupulously removed women from the realm of macho fantasy.

Mi Vida Loca (meaning my crazy life) deals with the ways these women forge friendships and identities outside of the men who often make them mothers and widows before they hit 16. Mousie (Seidy Lopez) and Sad Girl (Angel Aviles) are such tight pals they claim to have their periods on the same day. But when they both fall for Ernesto (Jacob Vargas) and get pregnant by him, a feud begins.

But against a backdrop of sex, drugs, violence and music (supervised by Jellybean Benitez) that catches the rhythm of the streets, the film also strives to illuminate internal conflicts. But Anders' ambition to get it all in trips her up, as does her reliance on mostly untrained actors. There's too little time to develop so many characters. But if the film fails to fully resonate, it is always vibrantly alive. In finding the heart of matters Hollywood consigns to the fringe, Anders remains a rare and vital talent.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."