Cinemateca, Jan 26, 2007

José Luis’s Picks and Tips:

The picks

Waiting for Guffman (1996)
Comic geniuses Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy dare to ask the cinematic question When is bad theater good? The answer: when outrageous characters (as portrayed by some of the most brilliant comic actors working) join their talents to sing and dance the history of one small town in the middle of America into the annals of filmdom. This is Community Theater run amok. See it more than one time, because once you “get it,” you’ll only want more.

Another good choice is Springtime in a Small Town. It is a fitting tribute that effectively evokes a brief moment of calm springtime in China between two tumultuous seasons: the long and brutal war with Japan and the Mao’s rapidly approaching revolution.

The tips

In order to be able to provide the best viewing experience, the show times for some movies may be adjusted to accommodate their length. Be sure to check the schedule carefully. Also, please remember the new ticket price of 50 pesos. Discount cards are 400 pesos for 10 shows. 

On Monday after 4pm buy your tickets for any selection of the week. Don’t take the risk of being locked out! Nos vemos en el Cine….

Searching for the Maya 
From the series “Ancient Mexico”
Monday, January 29, 3pm
English with Spanish subtitles, 60 minutes

Deep in the rainforest are the lost Mayan cities of Chichén Itza and Palenque. Discover their magic and learn about the Maya culture while exploring some of the region’s most exquisite examples of pre-Hispanic architecture. Searching for the Maya is part of the award-winning Ancient Mexico series, acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival and recipient of the National Cable Award. Excerpts from the series have appeared on the Discovery and Learning Channels, Time Life Television, BBC, France’s Canal Plus and Belgium’s Planet. 





Le Grand Voyage (2004)
Tuesday, January 30, 5pm
Wednesday, January 31, 7:45pm 
Tuesday, February 6, 5pm
French drama, French with English subtitles, 108 minutes
Director: Ismael Ferroukhi
Cast: Nicolas Cazale, Jacky Nercessian, Malika Mesrar El Hadaoui

Driving his traditional Muslim father (Mohamed Majd) across Europe en route to Mecca, thoroughly modern college student Reda (Nicolas Cazale) finds little to say to the old man. But along the way, as the gap between father and son begins to narrow, the two discover that ultimately it’s the journey—not the destination—that matters. For his fresh take on the road trip formula, director Ismael Ferroukhi earned a BAFTA nomination.




Springtime in a Small Town (Xiao cheng zhi chun, 2004)
Wednesday, January 31, 5:30pm
Thursday, February 1, 5:30pm
Chinese drama, Mandarin with English subtitles, 114 minutes
Director: Zhuangzhuang Tian
Cast: Jingfan Hu, Jun Wu, Xiao Keng Ye, Bai Qing Xin

Less than a year after Japanese troops withdraw from China at the end of World War II, Yuwen remains despondent within the confines of her small, ravaged town. Her ailing husband, Dai Liyan, sleeps in a separate bed (in a separate room), and the couple has long given up the thought of having children. Enter Zhang Zhichen, Dai Liyan's old friend from college, who falls in love with Yuwen. The Dai household will never be the same again.





Waiting for Guffman (1996)
Thursday, February 1, 7:45pm
Friday, February 2, 5pm 
Independent comedy, English with Spanish subtitles, 84 minutes
Director: Christopher Guest
Cast: Deborah Theaker, Michael Hitchcock, Catherine O'Hara

Community theater gets spit-roasted in this blistering mockumentary written by (and starring) Christopher Guest, who plays the ultra-fey Corky St. Clair, a local theater impresario. In honor of Blaine, Missouri’s 150th anniversary, St. Clair mounts a mediocre musical tribute to the town with hopes of taking the production to Broadway. Eugene Levy costars, along with a talented ensemble cast.

Kids’ cartoons
Saturday, February 3, noon
Free



Musical Saturdays: 
Placido Domingo in Puccini's Tosca
Saturday February 3, 2:30pm
Sung in Italian, English subtitles, 127 minutes

Next week: Die Fledermaus



This is the best of Placido Domingo’s several video performances as the painter Cavaradossi, lover of the prima donna Floria Tosca and enthusiast of revolutionary ideals in the repressive atmosphere of Napoleonic-era Rome. His colleagues, Cornell MacNeil and Hildegard Behrens, are both seasoned and highly capable performers who make the deadly confrontation between Tosca and the corrupt police chief Scarpia intense and believable. Guiseppe Sinopoli conducts with style and dramatic power.

Follow the bouncing smile

Global Justice Snowbird Symposium
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Thursday, February 1, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana, Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

This controversial film by director Robert Greenwald effectively exposes the actions of America’s largest retailer that has driven scores of small stores out of business, encouraged its employees to go on public assistance for their health care, sapped the tax base of whole towns no longer able to provide essential services, and added to the nation’s foreign indebtedness by importing cheap goods from abroad.

The story is told through the deeply personal experiences of Wal-Mart employees, “associates,” who face retaliation for speaking out, local businessmen driven into bankruptcy, former Wal-Mart managers, and local leaders struggling with Wal-Mart’s impact on their community. Instead of an angry diatrabe, Greenwald simply relies on the testimony of solid, hard-working, middle-class Americans who have been directly affected by the giant’s crushing hand.

Greenwald’s film has caused such a public stir since its release last year that scores of state legislatures are discussing new ways to make the chain more socially responsible, as well as forcing the corporation to spend millions of dollars on public relations gestures in an attempt to repair its image. The film has also spawned picket lines from coast to coast, and even here in Mexico, protesting the building of new stores in local communities. The film makes you ask what would happen to San Miguel de Allende should a Wal-Mart spring up here, and recent rumors from highly knowledgeable citizens indicate that it is on the drawing board.

The film has a running time of 98 minutes. A discussion follows.