José Luis's Picks & Tips


This week's pick:

North Country (2005): The film is based on the true story of the first successful sexual harassment class-action lawsuit in the US, which set the legal precedent for harassment cases. The movie reminds us that this was not just an important court case, but that real people's lives were affected. North Country deals with very violent elements, but they are not presented in a shocking fashion and are more emotional than graphic. It's not so much graphic as emotional. Each character in the film is fully fleshed out, and it's very well done. 

Another must is the documentary Death in Gaza, just to remind us that we have to stop the craziness of war and racial hatred. We strongly recommend viewer discretion, because some scenes could disturb sensitive moviegoers. 

The tips:

Important Notice

The movie theater will be closed on Monday, May 8, and Tuesday, May 9, for after-season maintenance and installation of new equipment. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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!

Death in Gaza (2004)
Friday, May 12, 5pm
Monday, May 15, 3pm
Hebrew with English subtitles, 80 minutes
Director: James Miller
Documentarians James Miller and Saira Shah planned to produce an in-depth look at the culture of martyrdom and hate pervading the Middle East. In 2003, they chronicled the lives of three Palestinian adolescents growing up in war-torn Gaza. Miller and Shah also wanted to show the Israeli side of the dispute, but during filming, Miller fell victim to the conflict when Israeli forces killed him. This Home Box Office special relates the tragic story.



North Country (2005) 
Thursday, May 11, 7:30 pm
Friday, May 12, 7:30 pm
English with Spanish subtitles, 126 minutes
Director: Niki Caro
Based on an inspiring real-life event that took place in the 1970s, North Country stars Charlize Theron in another low-glamor but high-impact role as Josey Aimes, one of only a handful of women working in the Minnesota iron mines. Forced to labor under sexist conditions, she and her female colleagues decide to stand up against the unrelenting harassment from their male counterparts. Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek and Woody Harrelson co-star. 



Mirror (Zerkalo, 1974)
Wednesday, May 10, 7:30pm
Thursday, May 11, 5pm
Russian with English subtitles, 106 minutes
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
In one of his most autobiographical films, Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky crafts a dizzying visual narrative by combining past and present, dreams and reality, and color and black-and-white. The story relies more on emotional ebb and flow than on linear plot points, subtly luring the viewer into the faceless protagonist's world. A richly textured life emerges, one so complex that it may require multiple viewings.



Cinema for the Mexican Youth
La Tregua (The Truce, 2003) 
Español, 115 minutos
Director: Alfonso Rosas Priego
Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Priego directs the romantic drama The Truce. Gonzalo Vega stars as a 50-something widower living in Vera Cruz. Just when he's thinking about retiring, he meets the attractive young secretary Laura (Adriana Fonseca). He falls in love with her and she convinces him that life is worth living. Only then is he able to connect with his college student daughter (Maité Embil), sleazy older son (Arath de la Torre), and gay younger son (Rodrigo Vidal).





Short film hopes to go big
By Lino Chauvin (May 5, 2006)

Perhaps it was the bohemian charm of San Miguel in the late 1960s that drew Neal Cassady here. Compelling, too, must have been the distance in latitude it offered from his stateside life-a life that was notoriously kinetic and mesmerizing to those around him, but one that, he revealed privately, exhausted him.

Little more than a decade before, Cassady had been immortalized in the classic 1957 novel On the Road, written by his best friend and Beat author Jack Kerouac. On the Road was a chronicle of Cassady and Kerouac's numerous road trips together, the last of which took the pair into Gregoria, Mexico, in the early 1950s. It was years later when Cassady arrived in San Miguel, and by then he finally seemed poised to retire his fabled persona. But his lifestyle was habitual, and ultimately costly. As the story goes, late one night in 1968 he fell into a coma alongside the railroad tracks on the outskirts of town. He died the following day.

Considering his tale, a film about Cassady would seem ideal fodder for Hollywood. Strangely, though, revisiting Cassady's story hasn't landed too high on many filmmakers' personal to-do lists. However, Ty Roberts and David Trimble, two life-long friends from Austin, Texas, have plans to change that with their short film script Luz del Mundo. Roberts is a director and producer, and Trimble writes short fiction in his spare time.

"We found Neal's story initially intriguing because we've spent a great deal of time in San Miguel. We have a real sense of why Neal would want to come here," Roberts said. "David and I came in 1995 to get college credit in Spanish. We absolutely soaked it in: the environment, the people, and certainly the fun. Years later David and I had separately gotten interested in some lesser-known Hemingway short stories and the Beat writers. We shared an interest in that work and gradually began writing the script. The script is really an abstract take on Neal and Jack's last night in Mexico and the demons that Neal faced here in San Miguel later in life." 

The short film will be produced by Hecho en Cine Productions, an Austin-based film and video-arts production company. The production crew is composed of numerous Mexican and US talents. San Miguel and its surrounding areas will serve as the backdrop for Luz del Mundo during its nearly two-month preproduction and production schedule.

"Back when the script was still young, we'd come back here to write and we'd find ourselves out at night scouting out possible locations. We kept at it, and the script continued to evolve nicely," Roberts said. "Two and half years later, we're all finally here to shoot it." 

Production will begin in early May.


Lino Chauvin is a retired English professor, part-time movie critic, regular contributor to the Bob Dylan newsletter "Forever Young," herbal tea aficionado, and currently runs a shelter for abandoned squirrels in Austin, Texas.

Shedding light on Luz del Mundo


Quoting Norman Mailer, Ryan McWhirter, lead producer of Luz del Mundo, reiterated that "making a film is a cross between a circus, a military campaign, a nightmare, and an orgy and a high." Ty Roberts, cowriter and director, added that "it's been a true labor of love and dedication ever since we started writing the script in 2003. San Miguel has provided the backdrop for both the tragedy and the resurrection."

Preparations for the short film have not been without pitfalls. One of them is a happy problem well known to those who reside here: an abundance of beauty. Says Roberts, "The problem hasn't been a lack of locations, but rather too many fabulous ones to choose from. It's been a real challenge picking the best place for the scenes to play out. We keep coming across such picturesque settings."

And another happy problem (or, happy hour problem): "The right cantina has been the toughest location to find, yet for sure the most fun. We've seen no less than 25 locations and sipped on countless Victorias through the process. Finding a true grit beer joint that fits the mold of 1950's Mexico, that is large enough and extremely authentic, has been a lot harder than imagined. We think we've found it, though," offers Lino Chauvin. McWhirter adds: "We went scouting for the railroad tracks where Cassady actually died the other night, but got lost and ended up in some cantina near Comonfort."

A more difficult obstacle has been transporting a 1949 Hudson, identical to the one driven to Mexico by Kerouac and Cassady in 1950, from Billings, Montana, to San Miguel-a problem that will be resolved soon, with fingers crossed and a prayer to Saint Anthony (for lost objects) and Saint Judas Thaddeus (for lost causes) just to cover all bases.

"Our expectations on local talent and crew have been far exceeded. We're working on a very tight budget and time-frame and so many great folks are chipping in and lending a hand. We couldn't make this film without the fine people of San Miguel de Allende behind us all the way," said McWhirter.

Luz del Mundo stars Austin Nichols as Neal Cassady and Will Estes as Jack Kerouac. The San Miguel-based co-producer is Axel Uriegas; Isi Safarti, from Mexico City, is director of photography and Leola Pérez is the wardrobe designer.

The problems the filmmakers face are actually much more sobering than scouting locations for cantina shots and transporting vintage cars. Post-production and marketing this short to film festivals around the world is extremely costly, and donations are needed to offset the costs. For more information about the film or to contribute, see the website at www.luzdelmundomovie.com