CHICAGO LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
When: Tonight through April 29
Where: Landmark Century, 2828 N. Clark, and Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio (with three special events at different locales)
Tickets: $10; students, seniors, disabled, $9; festival pass, $100
Info: (312) 409-1757 or www.LatinoCulturalCenter.org
The 26th Chicago Latino Film Festival, one of the city's cinematic institutions, kicks off its yearly sampling of works from Latin America, Portugal, Spain and the United States. Sponsored by the International Latino Cultural Center, a nonprofit, multidisciplinary arts organization, the fest offers dramas, documentaries and shorts not found in other Chicago fests.
The festival will bestow its annual highest honor, the Gloria Award, on Peruvian filmmaker Francisco Jose Lombardi, who got his start in high school by publishing his film reviews in his own mimeographed journal. Two of his films -- "Black Butterfly" and "What the Eye Doesn't See" -- are scheduled to be screened.
Selected reviews follow. All films have dialogue in their original languages, with English subtitles. Screenings are at Landmark Century, 2828 N. Clark, except for Opening Night and Closing Night films, as noted below.
TONIGHT
6 p.m. "Round Trip" (Mexico): To help celebrate the bicentennial of Mexico's independence and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution, the opening- night gala features Mexican director Gerardo Tort and a screening of his "Round Trip" at the AMC River East, 322 E. Illinois, followed by a reception at River East Art Center, 435 E. Illinois (tickets, $50).
Two young women on romantic quests meet on the road: an artsy, new age university student from Mexico City and an illiterate, working-class single mom from Acapulco. Off-the-beaten-path adventures widen their erotic horizons and enhance their self-images. This appealing tale, though, ends patly.
9 p.m. "Last Stop 174" (Brazil): In "Four Days in September," director Bruno Barreto dramatized a Rio de Janeiro political kidnapping in 1969. Now he takes headlines from June 12, 2000, and tells the backstory of a young man who took hostages on a Rio bus. "Last Stop 174" ends with the violent showdown depicted in Jose Padilha's documentary "Bus 174" (2002). Barreto follows two slum boys, Sandro and Alessandro, whose similiar names lead to mistakes about their different mothers. "I wanted to make a Charles Dickens film in the streets of Rio," states Barreto, who skillfully captures mother love on Rio's emotional mean streets.
SATURDAY
9 p.m. "Love to Death" (Mexico): Alejandro (Jose Maria de Tavira) is a pretty boy of privilege in Mexico City. On the evening of his engagement party, reckless driving leads to a fatality. After his banker dad tries to buy off the victim's poor family, Alejandro flees to a surfer resort on the gorgeous beaches of Michoacan. There he falls for Rosa (Martina Garcia), the ravishing young wife of a cruel marijuana kingpin with a limp. Director Fernando Lebrija deftly trafficks in high-end tele-novela formulas. Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," as sung by Jason Castro of "American Idol" fame, cues a slow-motion bloodbath of the ill-starred sweethearts. Repeat screenings 8:45 p.m. Sunday and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
SUNDAY
4 p.m. "Immigrant Nation!: The Battle for the Dream" (U.S.A.): Esau Melendez documents the local immigration movement after 9/11 tightened borders and sparked media backlash. His focus is on Elvira Arellano, who sought refuge in the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago before her deportation to Michoacan, Mexico. Melendez finds protest signs on both sides -- "We were here first -- go back to Europe" and "Illegal aliens kill 25 Americans every day" -- but fails to uncover the political calculus of voters and leaders. Shown with: "The Southside Has Many Beauty Queens." Repeat screenings: 9:45 p.m. April 23 and 6:30 p.m. April 28.
8 p.m. "To Die Like a Man" (Portugal): Director Joao Pedro Rodrigues portrays an aging drag star in Lisbon who sings, "oh, how I'd like to live in the plural." This pre-operative transsexual deals with an AWOL son, high heels dunked in a fish tank and leaky breast implants. Rodrigues did far better work in "O Fantasma" (2000), a more focused tale of a kinky trash collector on the nightshift.
WEDNESDAY
8:45 p.m. "Cooking Up Dreams" (Peru): Salivate or suffer as tantalizing dishes flit across the screen beyond the reach of fork or tongue. Ernesto Cabellos' upbeat fare documents the diversity of Peruvian cuisine by visiting markets, festivals and culinary schools, as well as expat kitchens in Amsterdam, London, Madrid, New York and Paris. This zesty dish celebrates regional traditions and hypes the export of the foodie fad. Cabellos is the co-director of "Choropampa," a searing expose of political and ecological crisis, screened at the 2003 festival. Repeat screening: 7:30 p.m. April 24.
APRIL 24
9:30 p.m. "Dawson, Island 10" (Chile): Subtitled "Diary of a Prisoner of War," this didactic drama re-creates life on the desolate island where Gen. Augusto Pinochet imprisoned cabinet members of deposed President Salvador Allende. Director Miguel Littin Miguel escaped that 1973 coup to complete his famous documentary "The Battle of Chile." Now he portrays shivering white-collar intellectuals contending with oaffish handlers until the U.N. and Sen. Ted Kennedy help release them. Based on Sergio Bitar's 1987 memoir, this polished film was Chile's entry this year for best foreign language Oscar. Repeat screening: 6 p.m. April 25.
9:45 p.m. "Woman Without Piano" (Spain): The best art film in the lineup so far comes from Javier Rebollo. Rosa (Carmen Machi) is a Madrid housewife with a hair-removal business in her apartment. She endures a string of indignities from clerks at a post office, bus station, hotel and assorted cafes. On a nocturnal ramble, she dons a wig and befriends an oddball Polish appliance repairman with a big wad of cash. This wry, weird film is a must-see treat. Repeat screening: 6 p.m. April 29.
APRIL 26
6 p.m. "The Last Script: Remembering Bunuel" (Spain): Co-directors Javier Espada and Gaizka Urresti portray surrealist auteur Luis Bunuel (1900-1983) in this diverting documentary that's structured as a scrapbook and travelogue. As the film revisits sites in Spain, France, Mexico and the United States where Bunuel once lived and worked, reminiscences come from Bunuel's son Juan Luis and Jean-Claude Carriere, who appeared in two Bunuel films and co-scripted three others with his late friend. This surpasses the usual DVD extra about a world-class filmmaker.
APRIL 29
6 p.m. "La Mission" (U.S.A.): The festival's closing-night film, screening at AMC River East, stars Benjamin Bratt ("Pinero" and "Bound by Honor") as Che, a San Francisco bus driver and low-rider who's dealing with the coming out of his only son, a high school senior. A widower, ex-con and recovering alcoholic with anger issues, Che encounters a new neighbor, a single African-American woman who works at a battered women's shelter and bakes organic chocolate chip cookies. Writer-director Peter Bratt, the actor's brother, credits a Jungian psychiatrist for Che's predictable transformations in this uplifiting family drama.
Bill Stamets is a locally based free-lance writer and critic.
Color Photo: "Round Trip" Photo: "La Mission"
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