Well,Father Geek here with another Tuesday Latin-AICN column full of news from South of the USA border. LOBO is back with tons of Mexican movie news. Ulysses again joins us from Argentina, while Coffin Joe reports in from Brasil with the aid of Lobo-Guara. These guys are really starting to gather up the news for you readers. You should write them some notes of thanks, and while you're at it give them some news from Chile, Bolivia, Costa Rica, and the rest of Latin America.
MEXICO film news with LOBO
QUE PASA !?, AMIGOS.Here is your buddy LOBO one more time with more news on the Mexican film industry and this time like I said last week I have the movies NUNS WITH GUNS and DRUG DEALING NUNS with their respective reviews and my comments on them and also the nominees for the XLII ceremony of the " ARIEL" award . Hope you guys like the stuff I got for you this time......
QUICKIES/RAPIDINES.
QUE PASA !?, AMIGOS.Here is your buddy LOBO one more time with more news on the Mexican film industry and this time like I said last week I have the movies NUNS WITH GUNS and DRUG DEALING NUNS with their respective reviews and my comments on them and also the nominees for the XLII ceremony of the " ARIEL" award . Hope you guys like the stuff I got for you this time......
QUICKIES/RAPIDINES.
QUICKIES/RAPIDINES.
*** The Actor ANTHONY QUINN in Brazil to promote his "last film" called ORUNDI, that was filmed in the south of Brazil in the city of Curitiba.The premiere is going to take place in Sao Paolo and in the movie next to Anthony are the actors Paulo Betti,Carlo Briani and Lorenzo Quinn having as the director Marcos Bernstein.
*** About my last week report, SILVIA PINAL got the award "Luis Buñuel" and there's a big chance that her daugther ALEJANDRA GUZMAN might be in Collateral Damage.(sexier than salma hayek)IMHO
*** About Peru; The actor JOHN MALKOVICH is filming in Portugal the movie "Dancer Upstairs" where he is the director. The movie is about the terrorist group from Peru "Sendero Luminoso", the plot is based on a novel by Nicholas Shakespeare "The Dancer Upstairs" and written by Manuel Gomez Pereira from Spain.
*** ARTHUR RIPSTEIN(the mexican director) nominated to recieve the spanish Art award "Principe de Asturias" next to PAUL McCARTNEY.
*** The vocalist of the mexican group of rock en español JAGUARES wrote a song for the movie MISSION IMPOSIBLE 2 called "Deslizandote".
DRUG DEALING NUNS (MONJAS NARCOTRAFICANTES)
This movie starts in a convent full of nuns that seem very normal doing their trips to the closest towns to sell their rosaries and homemade bread. In the town there's also two officers that suspect there's something bad going on in the town. The officers find out that there is somebody selling cocaine and MARIHUANA and they will try to stop this and find who is doing it. The town has a Mob guy and his business of selling drugs is going down , he gets pissed-off and wants to find who else is selling the stuff so he can get rid of his competition, later in the movie you get to see that the nuns are not that normal , that they do not sell bread or rosaries but COCAINE , you even see them wearing LINGERIE and flirting with the towners. The people who buy stuff from them even think that every single ounce is blessed and that's why the Mob guy is not making no $$. These nuns even KILL some people and salute the cops saying "we will pray for you brother". Later the Mob guy finds out that the nuns are the ones who are making his bus.... go down and he decides to go to their convent and KILL them all....
SPOILER COMING UP..!!!!!!!!
But the cops get there first after they got some info that led them to know that the nuns are DRUG DEALING NUNS. Once everybody is in the convent there are gun-shots everywhere , the Mob guy kills two of the nuns and the cops kill two of the bad guys ......
This is the last scene; There are two nuns left , two cops and the Mob guy, the nuns trying to escape, see the Mob guy right in front of them and one of them shoots him twice with a shot-gun hitting him in his right lung and next to the spine, after he gets shot the nuns run to him and one of them is crying and says "dad !!!!" to what the Mob guy answers "Are you my daughter ?" and then both of the nuns start crying and tell him "please don't die" ,he says "go , I'll cover you" , so the nuns escape and the cops shoot at the Mob guy with a shot-gun hitting him in the heart , he falls down slowly and the cops say "we got him !!! let's go over there and arrest him" they walk over there and they say "he still alive !!!!" the Mob guy gets up bleeding (to death) and says; "I am going to kill you once I get out of jail" after all of this the cops called the case close and decided to let the nuns get away because they were after the Mob guy not the nice and peaceful nuns.
During the movie you never knew that two nuns and the Mob guy were family until the ending, and what's that crap of shooting somebody multiple times with the intent to KILL and then cry saying "don't die".
END OF SPOILER !!!!!!!!
This is an example of what a movie can be if is based on just an idea (having nuns with guns and dealing drugs) and doing it without adding more lines, story or effort to it, I think this kind of idea could be great if it was done the right way, but this one in particular has very poor special effects that have nothing special really , the lines are really bad and the same goes to the acting because I don't think the characters were really adapted to the script (if any) or there was not enough time invested in the making but a lot of time thinking in $$$. These kind of movies are somehow (I don't see why) very commercial and accepted in Mexico to be shown and distributed on video. I will recommend for you to see this movie if you are a film student and want to learn what are the things you should not do, if you like to take it as a comedy(not action as it's supposed to be) or to make fun of the stunts, s. effects or maybe of the face of the cop. K'mon after three shots who is going to talk, stand up and live. I enjoyed watching it after all because it made me laugh several times , specially when the "stars" fall after they get shot and they take their time to get comfortable and even make sure nobody steps on them (this is really funny) , and also the fact of seeing nuns doing these kind of things is very cool and ridiculously unique.
NUNS WITH GUNS(MONJAS EN PELIGRO)
This film is about 2 women that lost their dad when they were little by the hands of a CRIMINAL, later they get adopted by their grandfather and he teaches them self-defense and how to use GUNS. But their Aunt finding out the way they are being raised takes them to a convent where she thinks they will get back on track and raised in a better way. Once they are inside the convent and becoming NUNS, their destiny changes because they see the guy who killed their father and they want to take REVENGE, so they decide to grab some weapons and use them to make justice of their own.
This movie was a lot better than "DRUG DEALING NUNS", it had a better screenplay but the rest still the same, this is a style of movies made in Mexico that are made more often than any T.V. series down there and I really don't know why , all these kind of movies are worse than the teletubies and barney in a movie directed by Pancho villa's ghost and written by the chihuahua of taco bell. But if you look at them on the bright side they are o.k. just to see them as a way of exploring other ways of doing film.
As you guys know and read earlier in one of my reports about the ARIEL, this time I am going to share the nominations and nominees for this years ARIEL awards ceremony taking place at El Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico DF on the evening of July 24th. I am very excited about the nominees and who will be taking home the award and I will keep you up to date on all the happenings concerning this ceremony.
* This marks my picks for who I think will take home the ARIEL...
BEST MOVIE: La ley de Herodes *, Rito terminal, Del olvido al no me acuerdo
BEST DIRECTOR: Luis Estrada - La ley de Herodes *, Juan Carlos Rulfo - Del olvido al no me acuerdo, Oscar Urrutia Lazo - Rito terminal
BEST ACTOR: Damian Alcazar - La ley de Herodes, Guillermo larrea - Rito terminal, Demian Bichir - Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas *
BEST ACTRESS: Susana Zabaleta - Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas *, Dolores Heredia - Santitos, Arcelia Ramirez - En un claroscuro de la Luna
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Oscar Urrutia Lazo - Rito teminal, Juan Carlos Rulfo - Del olvido al no me acuerdo *, Luis Estrada - La ley de Herodes
PHOTOGRAPHY: Federico Barbosa - Del olvodo al no me acuerdo, Ciro Cabello - Rito Terminal *, Xavier Perez Grobet - Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas
BEST EDITING: Ramon Cervantes - Del olvido al no me acuerdo, Luis Estrada - La ley de Herodes, Manuel Rodriguez - Rito terminal *
BEST MOVIE "IBEROAMERICANA": Media Noche (Brazil), Todo sobre mi madre (Spain)`, La vendedora de rosas (Colombia)
And special recognition to LIBERTAD LAMARQUE and GUNTHER GERZSO who get the ARIEL de Oro.
Here is a little something about this movies;
Some of this movies were in different festivals around the world and got awards, like "Rito terminal" and "La ley de Herodes". "Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas" was a big hit in the box office and video. Santitos was showed in different countries and places including Austin at the Alamo Drafthouse. Others have a way of saying what they think of some political parties. (PRI) You can get "Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas" on video from FOX -Mexico.(cool flick)
AMORES PERROS
This movie is the second Mexican film that got the "Grand prix du meilleur long metrage de la semaine de la critique" in the Cannes Festival this year , next of Cronos on 1993 , also Amores Perros got the other award for the best movie the "Rail D'Or" . The premiere of this movie is going to be this Tuesday 13th in Mexico city. I see this as the pioneer that will guide more movies with this style to come later in future, I know this movie is going to do great on the big screen and it will make a lot of people talk about it for days. This type of movie is the kind I like, knowing that the is the first film by the director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu there has to be more to come from him and I can't wait to hear about them. The director made a comment that for me is a cool way to make movies, " This film wasn't made with the heart or intellect , but with guts , everybody gave a piece of our lives to make it."
The movie takes place in the streets of Mexico city , having in it characters that belong to the society that shares violence, misery and delinquency, all this leads the characters to all kind of situations and three lives to get into them.
The soundtrack of the movie has groups of "Rock en español" like "Cafe Tacuba" and "Control Machete" wich are comming this year for the WATCHA Tour and for the next SXSW Festival in Austin.
To see the cool trailers for this flick just click on the AMORES PERROS site , and sit back and enjoy.
That's it from me this week and I hope you guys like what I got, don't be shy about letting me know if you guys want to know something else in the Mexican film industry O.K. Nos vemos next Tuesday and
that is all for now from LOBO make sure to send any Mexican movie news or rumors to My Cool Cave and I'll post them in this column.
ARGENTINA news
Hey Central... Ulysses reporting...
- Director Hector Olivera (Cocaine Wars, The Rebel Patagonia, A Funny Dirty Little War) is preparing his new work, Old Life of Mineâ, based on the novel of the same title. Cecilia Roth (All About My Mother, A Place in the World) will star as one of two women whose friendship is tested when one of them must face an extreme situation. The premise seems quite trite and deeply uninteresting but given the credits of the filmmaker, I guess I´ll give it a chance.
- There are many finished feature films that are expecting a release date. This type of situation is common in this country, where Argentine pictures can lay accumulating dust for a very long time. For instance Pablo Trapero, the director of Mundo Grua, had a large amount of film tins in his fridge before he could get the money to edit it. And after that, he had to wait a very long time until the distributor decided to release it. So, as you can see, making movies in Argentina is a real uphill battle. The films that are awaiting release are, among others, Gabriel Arbosa´s Field of Blood, that is based on a very gruesome event that happened in the north of the country; the ensemble piece Can you Swim? and The Days of the Life (they Could´t come up with a lamer title than this one), with Virginia Lago, Ulises Dumont (hmm) and Pablo Giovine.
Give this a chance...Ulysses
- Coffin Joe here with a bit I dug up...
about a new movie in Argentina also with Cecilia Roth , called " Una Noche con Sabrina Love " ( A Night with Sabrina Love ) , where Roth plays a porn star (!?) . The movie , which is based on the novel of the same name by Pedro Mairal , deals with the story of a boy from the countryside who wins a contest to spend a night with the porn star and has to go on this journey of initiation . The movie has just opened in Argentina and it was directed by Alejandro Agresti .
BRASIL news
You can´t knock the undead down , so here I am , Coffin Joe , no luck
with the whole finding the perfect bride thing , but still feeling ,
as Ash would say , " groovy " . Anyways here´s this week´s news :
-Legendary Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil , who has a bunch of albums released in the U.S. by the way and has won a Grammy , provides the soundtrack to director Andrucha Waddington´s movie " Eu , Tu , Eles " , which debuted in the Cannes film fest in " Un Certain Regard " showcase . The movie opens over here in August , but the soundtrack is already out in stores , and you can order the album as an import at any online music store .
-The Iguatemi Multiplex in Salvador , Bahia is hosting from 6/9 until 6/16 a short film festival of movies done by local filmmakers which have won national and international awards . Among the short subjects we have " Mr. Abrakadabra " , the story of a real life Bahian magician who tried to kill himself after his magic tricks stopped being a hit with street crowds ; " Rádio Gogó " about an amateur soccer narrator who drives his sound truck to the soccer stadium´s gates and starts to call the plays as the games go on . Both shorts are directed by José Araripe , both of which I have seen and if they are any indication , the rest are pretty good too . Thanks to Capitain Cometo for this scoop .
-Our spy in the nation´s capital , BrasÃlia , Lobo-Guará reports that on June 7 the movie " Oriundi " by director Ricardo Bravo premiered in his town . It stars Anthony Quinn , LetÃcia Spiller and Gabriela Duarte . The movie tells the story of an italian , Giuseppe Pandovani , played by Quinn , and the celebration of his birthday ; on this day he meets a young woman ( LetÃcia Spiller ) , who looks a lot like his deceased wife , a fact that disturbs him greatly . The movie will get a wide national release on June 16 .
-Another scoop from Lobo-Guará , the newest spy on our roster . This one concerns Italian producer Daniele Mazzocca , who will be in São Paulo in September to start work on her next movie , a documentary with four different stories of Italian immigrants in Brazil . The documentary is set to be directed by Gianfranco Pannonne and it is tentatively titled " Carcamanos Italiani in Brasile " .
-Here´s a cool scoop from spy Reurê Magnólio about Walter Salles . He´s abroad right now , possibly in U.S. , working out the details of the movie he´s about to shoot , " Broken April " , with producer Arthur Cohn .
