{"id":244457,"date":"2011-08-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/film-review-12th-annual-cinema-en-tu-idioma-festival\/"},"modified":"2011-08-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-10T07:00:00","slug":"film-review-12th-annual-cinema-en-tu-idioma-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/film-review-12th-annual-cinema-en-tu-idioma-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Review: 12th Annual \u201cCinema en tu Idioma\u201d Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Film<\/a>
Journeyman character actor David Rasche stars with sizzling newcomer Chrstina Lago in \u201cBlue Eyes.\u201d (Courtesy Imagen Filmes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Restores vision to those blinded by summer cinema doldrums<\/p>\n

Por Scott Marcas |<\/strong> Cr\u00edtico de cine SDUN<\/p>\n

Just in time to restore vision to those blinded by the summer cinema doldrums, the San Diego Latino Film Festival\u2019s annual \u201cCinema en tu Idioma\u201d series showcases new Latin American, Mexican, and Spanish Cinema.<\/p>\n

From the people who two summers ago brought us \u201cTony Manero,\u201d one of the darkest and most pleasingly disturbing self-reflexive cinema-politco black comedies it\u2019s ever been my pleasure to experience, comes another crop of films not likely to pass this way (at least on the big screen) again.<\/p>\n

Designed with an eye toward smaller films from the festival circuit, and a something-to-please-everyone attitude (after all, it is summer), \u201cCinema en tu Idioma XII\u201d is poised to once again transform the UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas at Hazard Center into a week-long mini-film festival. The series runs from Aug. 5 \u2013 11, with additional monthly screenings through November.<\/p>\n

The series title, which literally translates into \u201cfilm in your language,\u201d was originally intended as a spoof on Landmark Theatres\u2019 old \u201cthe language of cinema\u201d ad campaign.<\/p>\n

The August offerings include a romcom starring Eva Longoria and Christian Slater (\u201cWithout Men\u201d), a teen coming-of-ager (\u201cAll She Can\u201d), Bigas Lunas\u2019 tale of an aspiring Hollywood star (\u201cDi Di Hollywood\u201d), a hard R-rated cop melodrama (\u201cBlue Eyes\u201d), a drama centered around four men who meet up at a fleabag Hollywood hotel (\u201cWhen the Road Meets the Sun\u201d), and a father\/son relationship ripped apart by the murder of the child\u2019s mother (\u201cForged\u201d).<\/p>\n

Without having seen all this year\u2019s entries, there\u2019s half a movie and one of this year\u2019s most complex characterizations to be found in \u201cBlue Eyes.\u201d The darkest, far-reaching, and easily most personal performance you are likely to see at this year\u2019s Latino Film Festival series comes courtesy of a 66-year-old white guy from St. Louis.<\/p>\n

Even where I come from (and in spite of his accomplishments) David Rasche is far from a household
\nname. The character actor assumed John Belushi\u2019s spot at Chicago\u2019s Second City when the comedian headed east to join the cast of SNL. In 1974, Rasche was one of the co-founders of the world-renowned Victory Gardens Theatre, now located in the equally illustrious Biograph Theatre, the backdrop for John Dilinger\u2019s last picture show.<\/p>\n

One glance at his face, and it\u2019s a cinch that several of his multitudinous television and movie characters
\nwill immediately spring to mind. In my case, it\u2019s Robert Wellesly, Libby Wolfson\u2019s political nemesis in the \u201cMelonvote\u201d episode of SCTV. He made his film debut in \u201cAn Unmarried Woman\u201d (1978), and one year later Woody Allen threw him a line of dialog in \u201cManhattan.\u201d Rasche is probably best known to the general population as the star of TV\u2019s \u201cSledge Hammer!\u201d<\/p>\n

This is beginning to sound like an obituary, not a celebration of Rasche\u2019s \u201cbreakout\u201d performance in \u201cBlue Eyes.\u201d Why spend so much time on some obscure bit player instead of pulling out the scalpel and performing my usual cinelostomy? Because I love it when dependable performers are allowed a chance to burrow
\nout from beneath shadowy background roles to savor, if only for a moment, the glow of leading man or lady status. (The same goes for Brendan Gleeson who gives the best performance of the year in \u201cThe Guard,\u201d also opening today.)<\/p>\n

After years of playing politicians, lawyers, lawmen, double-agents, and priests, the time was right for Rasche to distill these characters\u2019 worst qualities into Marshall, the racist Chief Immigration Officer at JFK Airport. It\u2019s Marshall\u2019s last day on the job and the thought of mandatory retirement has left him a bitter, broken alcoholic.<\/p>\n

He decides to spend his closing hours harassing one final group of potential terrorists (and other assorted persons of foreign origin) trying to gain access to American soil. His loyal underlings, Officers Evans (Erica Gimpel) and Estevez (Frank Grillo) reluctantly agree to start the day toasting Marshall\u2019s sendoff with a shot of Jack.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlue Eyes\u201d (\u201cOlhos Azuis\u201d) could just as easily have been called \u201cVaqueros y Extranjeros\u201d (\u201cCowboys and Aliens\u201d). After a game of pick-a-passport arbitrarily allows six displaced persons to enter the country, the remaining \u201cfive little Indians all in a row\u201d fall subject to various games of provocation designed to pass the Chief\u2019s time in as amusing a manner as possible. Something happens to one of the detainees that kicks into play a secondary plot involving Marshall and a young prostitute (Cristina Lago), scouring the bowels of Brazil in search of one of the victims of his ill-tempered behavior.<\/p>\n

Left to his own devices, Racshce could act rings around his fellow castmates. Director Jos\u00e9 Joffily is not quite as lucky with the rest of his actors. Gimpel and Grillo\u2019s simplistic characters could have been lifted from an episodic TV cop drama.<\/p>\n

The good-cop\/bad-cop scenes inside the interrogation office quickly dissolve into predictable canned theatre. Having a black and Hispanic join the white man in his persecution of minorities is forced and obvious. The flashback structure, artlessly arranged to break up the monotony, can\u2019t help but bring moans each time Joffily cuts away from the palpable on-screen chemistry between Rasche and Lago to scenes staged in accordance with one of the actor\u2019s inaugural productions at Victory Gardens.<\/p>\n

Tickets for \u201cCinema en tu Idioma\u201d range from $10 for the general public to $8 for students, seniors, and Media Arts Center members. Below is a complete list of titles and showtimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout Men\u201d:<\/strong> Fri. 8\/5 8:30 p.m., Sat. 8\/6 8:30 p.m., Sun. 8\/7 4:00 p.m., Mon. 8\/8 4:00 p.m., Tues. 8\/9 4:00 p.m., Wed. 8\/10 8:30 p.m., Thurs. 8\/11 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll She Can\u201d: <\/strong>Fri. 8\/5 6:15 p.m., Sat. 8\/6 6:15 p.m., Sun. 8\/7 8:30 p.m., Mon. 8\/8 8:30 p.m., Tues. 8\/9 8:30 p.m., Wed. 8\/10 6:15 p.m., Thurs. 8\/11 6:15 p.m.
\n
\n\u201cDi Di Hollywood\u201d:<\/strong> Fri. 8\/5 10:45 p.m., Sat. 8\/6 10:45 p.m., Sun. 8\/7 6:15 p.m., Mon. 8\/8 6:15 p.m., Tues. 8\/9 6:15 p.m., Wed. 8\/10 10:45 p.m., Thurs. 8\/11 10:45 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlue Eyes\u201d: <\/strong>Fri. 8\/5 11:30 a.m., Sat. 8\/6 11:30 a.m., Sun. 8\/7 10:45 p.m., Mon. 8\/8 10:45 p.m., Tues. 8\/9 10:45 p.m., Wed. 8\/10 11:30 a.m., Thurs. 8\/11 11:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere the Road Meets the Sun\u201d: <\/strong>Fri. 8\/5 1:45 p.m., Sat. 8\/6 1:45 p.m., Sun. 8\/7 11:30 a.m., Mon. 8\/8 11:30 a.m., Tues. 8\/9 11:30 a.m., Wed. 8\/10 1:45 p.m., Thurs. 8\/11 1:45 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cForged\u201d: <\/strong>Fri. 8\/5 4:00 p.m., Sat. 8\/6 4:00 p.m., Sun. 8\/7 1:45 p.m., Mon. 8\/8 1:45 p.m., Tues. 8\/9 1:45 p.m., Wed. 8\/10 4:00 p.m., Thurs. 8\/11 4:00 p.m.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Restores vision to those blinded by summer cinema doldrums By Scott Marks | SDUN Film Critic Just in time to restore vision to those blinded by the summer cinema doldrums, the San Diego Latino Film Festival\u2019s annual \u201cCinema en tu Idioma\u201d series showcases new Latin American, Mexican, and Spanish Cinema. From the people who two […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":244458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Film Review: 12th Annual \u201cCinema en tu Idioma\u201d Festival","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}