Movies of the Week:
UCI Latin American Film Festival
The 10th UCI Latin American Film Festival includes five films and an appearance by director Beatriz Flores Silva, but kicking things off Thursday, April 16, is a nod to the failing economy: a free screening of a 2007 Brazilian film that won awards all over Central and South America. Jorge Duran’s Proibido proibir(Forbidden to Forbid) begins with a love triangle between friends in Rio de Janeiro: sociology student Leon (Alexandre Rodrigues), his architecture major girlfiend Leticia (Maria Flor) and his medical student best friend Paulo (Caio Blat). It pains Paulo that he can’t have Leticia, not wanting to spoil his friendship with Leon. Before things descend into just another teenage-longing movie, the story takes a wicked turn: A leukemia patient at the hospital where Paulo interns asks him to get in touch with her sons, and when he accepts, he, Leon and Letica are plucked out of their relatively tranquil lives and plunged into the violence and police corruption in one of Rio’s infamous favelas, as well as the struggle for social justice. Proibido proibir is presented in Portuguese with English subtitles.
The university’s Film and Video Center continues the festival with: El violín (The Violin), Mexico, April 17; XXY, Argentina, April 18; Polvo nuestro que estás en los cielos (Our Dust, Who Art in Heaven) with an appearance by director Beatriz Flores Silva, Uruguay, April 23; A via láctea (The Milky Way), Brazil, April 24; and Secretos de la lucha (Secrets of Combat), France, April 25. UC Irvine, Humanities Instructional Building, Room 100, Lucille Kuehn Auditorium, Campus & W. Peltason drs., Irvine, (949) 824-7418; www.humanities.uci.edu/fvc. Proibido proibir, Thurs., April 16, 7 p.m. Free. The festival continues through April 25.
Also Showing:
Aliens
UCI’s Film and Video Center presents a new 35mm print of James Cameron’s 1986 sequel to the sci-fright classic Alien. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the only survivor on a ship that had been to planet LV-426, is discovered in a deep sleep half a century later by a salvage ship. No one believes her horrific story of aliens back on Earth, but when contact is lost with a human colony on LV-426, Ripley, a team of Marines and a slimy salvage-company rep (Paul Reiser) set off in search of survivors. UCI, Humanities Instructional Building, Room 100, Lucille Kuehn Auditorium, Campus & W. Peltason drs., Irvine, (949) 824-7418; www.humanities.uci.edu/fvc. Thurs., April 9, 7 p.m. $3-$5.
Animation Show of Shows
Acme Filmworks founder Ron Diamond appears in Bill Kroyer’s Entertainment Arts Forum class and presents cutting-edge animation from 2008 that the public is invited to come share. The brainchild of Diamond, Show of Shows is known for animation that pushes creative boundaries and uses the latest technologies. Four films from past Show of Shows have won Academy Awards for Best Animated Short. This year’s program includes Koji Yamamura’s acclaimed Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor, Kunio Kato’s La Maison en Petite Cubes (The House of Small Cubes) and Benjamin Renner’s A Mouse’s Tale. Chapman University, 1 University Dr., Orange, (714) 997-6711. Tues., 7 p.m. Free.
Desert Odyssey
A 9-year-old boy embarks on his first camel caravan through the Sahara. Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, (714) 567-3600; www.bowers.org. Sun., 1:30 p.m. Free with paid admission ($9-$12).
Dr. No
The first James Bond movie, the first James Bond movie that has Sean Connery in a toupee, and the first James Bond movie in which he uttered the phrase “Bond. James Bond” screens on Classic Film Night. South Coast Village, 1561 W. Sunflower Ave., Santa Ana, (714) 557-5701; www.regencymovies.com. Wed., 7:30 p.m. $6.50.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
There’s got to be a way to tie this Cold War laugh riot in with the last flick. Okay, how about this? Stanley Kubrick was so impressed with Ken Adams’ Dr. No sets that he was hired as production designer on Strangelove. Bay Theater, 340 Main St., Seal Beach, (562) 431-9988; www.baytheatre.com. Sun., 6 p.m.; Mon. & Wed., 8 p.m. $5-$8.
The Holy Mountain
Mondo Celluloid’s two-week Alejandro Jodorowsky retrospective concludes with a recently restored and remastered 35mm print of this 1973 flick that is arguably the surrealist’s most beautiful and disturbing. A Christlike figure wanders through bizarre, grotesque scenes—you know, like Donald Trump. The Parasitic Fantasy Band—an expanded cinemaesque live 16mm/8mm film/sound performance duo from New Zealand that incorporates multiple film projectors, flexible mirrors, objects, organic materials, gongs and electronics—play before the midnight screening. A mere $10 gets you in for the whole evening! Art Theatre, 2025 E. Fourth St., Long Beach, (562) 428-5435; www.mondocelluloid.com. Fri. The Parasitic Fantasy Band, 9:30 p.m.; The Holy Mountain, 11:55 p.m. $10 for both.
Industry Insiders
Hollywood director Martha Coolidge leads screenings and discussions of these television shows (and episodes): CSI (“Living Legend”), Sex & the City (“ I Heart NY) and Weeds (”Shit Highway”). Chapman University, Marion Knott Studios, Folino Theater, 11283 N. Cypress St., Orange, (714) 997-6711. Thurs., April 16, 7 p.m. Free.
