This week's pick:


We dedicate this week to a genius of music, Ray Charles. I highly recommend the movie Ray, which won or was nominated for the following Academy Awards in 2005: Best Sound, Best Actor, Best Costume, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture. To further celebrate the life and music of Ray Charles, The Voodoo Chile Band gives a concert of his music this week in Teatro Santa Ana.
I also recommend Christ Stopped at Eboli, an excellent Italian classic not to be missed.

The tips:
With a discount card you can get advance tickets for movies. But these are discount cards, not preference cards-so if we sell out, you're left out!
On Monday after 4pm, buy your tickets for any selection of the week. Don't risk being locked out. ¡Nos vemos en el Cine! 

Stroszek (1977)
Monday, April 24, 3pm
German with English subtitles, 107 minutes
Director: Werner Herzog
In Werner Herzog's idiosyncratic, lyrical take, the road in question stretches between the gritty urban slums of Berlin and the equally desolate railroad flats of Wisconsin. Bruno S. (Mystery of Kaspar Hauser) plays Stroszek, just out of jail, who is trying to stop drinking. He finds a soulmate in Eva (Eva Mattes), an equally hard-up Berlin prostitute. However, the two quickly find their fate closing in on them.

Crash (2005)
Monday, April 24, 7:30pm
English, 113 minutes
Director: Paul Haggis
A 36-hour period in the diverse metropolis of post-September 11 Los Angeles is the theme of this unflinching drama that challenges audiences to confront their prejudices. Lives combust when a Brentwood housewife and her district attorney husband, a Persian shopkeeper, two cops, a pair of carjackers and a Korean couple all converge. 

Ray (2004) 
Tuesday, April 25, 7:30pm
English, 152 minutes
Director: Taylor Hackford 
This biopic tells the life story of rhythm and blues legend Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal). Born to a poor family in Albany, Georgia, Charles contracted glaucoma at age 6 (which robbed him of his eyesight) and nonetheless went on to become a world-famous pianist and performer. He dealt with racism, romantic letdowns and his own heroin abuse but managed to triumph over all obstacles. 

Miller's Crossing (1990)
Tuesday, April 25, 5pm
Friday, April 28, 7:30pm
English, 115 minutes
Directors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Gabriel Byrne stars as Tom Reagan in Joel and Ethan Coen's take on the '30s gangster film. Adviser to a Prohibition-era crime boss (Albert Finney), Tom gets caught in the literal and figurative crossfire when his loyalties are divided between warring mobs. Mix in an affair with the boss's dame (Marcia Gay Harden), several double-crosses and backstabs and the Coens' typical blackly funny dialogue, and you've got a bang-up (literally) movie.

Christ Stopped at Eboli 
(Cristo Si è Fermato a Eboli, 1979)
Friday, April 28, 5pm
Italian with English subtitles, 145 minutes
Director: Francesco Rosi 
Set in the mid-1930s, Christ Stopped at Eboli tells the story of a political activist (Gian Maria Volonte) who is exiled to a small Italian village. There, he learns much from the simple villagers, whose salt-of-the-earth character and noble values are quite new to him. Co-stars venerable screen star Irene Pappas.

Cinema for Mexican Youth 
Claroscuro (Shine, 1996)
Wednesday, April 26, 5pm
English with Spanish subtitles, 106 minutes
Director: Scott Hicks 
A riveting profile of Australian keyboard virtuoso David Helfgott (Geoffrey Rush) and his ultimate triumph over a domineering, abusive father (Armin Mueller-Stahl), schizophrenia and an obsession with the all-but-unplayable Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3. Sir John Gielgud, superb as ever, plays Helfgott's tutor. Richly deserved Oscars went to Rush (Best Actor) and to Mueller-Stahl for his supporting turn.

Flicks without flicker
One of the many successful cultural activities of the Biblioteca Pública is the Cinemateca program at the Santa Ana Theater. Approximately a dozen movies per week, in many languages, are typically shown. However, due to the age of the projector the quality of the viewing experience has been inadequate, until now.
 
The Biblioteca Pública Board of Directors has replaced the aging movie projector with a new Sony machine worth several thousands of dollars. The new system has a contrast ratio 10 times superior to that of the previous machine, which improves the quality of the image tremendously, and it is well paired with a new sound system that was graciously donated by a faithful library supporter, Alfred Pepping. The new projector is also more versatile and can be used for VHS and DVD and with computers and other components. Cinemateca can now show movies from any country in the world, and the system, coupled with a new VGA cable, can also be used for projection of images during conferences and seminars.

This equipment upgrade had become urgent because of the maintenance costs of the old system and the fear that it could fail at any time. The Santa Ana not only serves cinema lovers, opera aficionados and lecturers but also presents movies for teenagers at a reduced cost, as well as free movies for younger children on Saturdays.

It is because of all these expenses-and the fact that there hasn't been any cost adjustment for many years-that it has been decided to increase the price of admission to a Cinemateca film from 40 to 50 pesos starting May 1, 2006. Discount passes will also reflect the new pricing after May 1, but all passes issued before that date will be honored.