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PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
The annual festival will show three feature films, including “Lucia, Lucia,” a blockbuster in Mexico directed by Antonio Serrano, as well as two documentaries.
Latin American
film festival
explores ideas
behind movies
BY NAN ROMAN
THE GAMECOCK
The Nickelodeon Theatre will
hold Columbia’s Second Annual
Latin American Film Festival
and will be screening festival
films from Friday through
Thursday, Sept. 25. Three major
films will be shown this year
along with two documentaries.
There will be a Festival Opening
Reception held at Immaculate
Consumption Friday from 6 to
7 p.m.
Anne Raman, executive di
rector of the Columbia Film
Society, said the festival will
have a “strong lineup of films
that appeal to a variety of inter
ests.”
She said all the films should
prove engaging — they have “el
ements of drama and humor and
are-all contemporary.”
The first film showing is
“City of God (Cidade de Dues)”
from Brazil, which Raman
dubbed “very hip.” Fernando
Meirelles stars in this real-life
tale about a young photographer
trying to make his way out of the
slums. Raman described the film
as a “strong story with a lot of
action”; it has been compared to
“Goodfellas,” “Pulp Fiction” and
“Gangs of New York.” The 135
minute film is in Portuguese
with English subtitles and is rat
ed R. “City of God” has been
shown all over the country and
has received stellar reviews.
The festival’s second feature,
“Suddenly (Tan de Repente),” is
a new film, yet it has already
won three awards. Raman re
lates it to a “camp story.” This
film, from Argentina, begins as a
thriller but maintains a comedic
feel overall. Director Diego
Lerman presents the story of
two lesbian bikers who kidnap
a store clerk and go on an ad
venture. The film runs 94 min
utes and is not rated.
“Suddenly” plays in Spanish
with English subtitles.
“Lucia, Lucia (La Hija del
Cabinal),” the festival’s final fea
ture-length movie, set records in
Mexican theaters, earning the
third-highest box office opening
ever. Antonio Serrano’s complex
story involving a woman’s
searching for her missing hus
band evolves into a thrilling
screenplay. Running 113 min
utes, “Lucia, Lucia” shows in
Spanish with English subtitles
and is not rated.
“Dissident,” a 20-minute doc
umentary that Raman said is a
spy drama, is the first of two doc
umentaries being screened dur
ing the festival. Filmmaker
Heidi Ewing, who along with his
crew members posed as an
Italian honeymooner, filmed
shots of Cuba and its people in
stores and on the streets. Raman
said some of the people “spoke
candidly ... and openly” about
their lives — and about their
government.
The crew also talked with
Cuba’s most well-known dissi
dent, Oswaldo Pay? Sardinas,
who is kept under 24-hour
watch. “Dissident” was filmed
without government permission
and was smuggled out of Cuba.
This film offers “an insight in
what is going on in Cuba today,”
Raman said. The film is not rat
ed and plays in Spanish with
English subtitles. Following the
film, a panel of three USC pro
fessors will lead a discussion on
“Dissident.”
“Balseros (The Rafters),” the
festival’s final film, has been
newly released in the United
States. The documentary pre
sents the tales of actual Cubans
and the struggles surrounding
their immigration to the United
States.
Seven years after his subjects
arrived in America, the director
revisited them and documented
on film the lives they had creat
ed for themselves. “Balseros”
plays in both English and
Spanish and contains English
subtitles. Even though
“Balseros” is 120 minutes long,
Raman said that viewers “will
not be bored for a minute.” The
film is not rated.
Overall, the festival commit
tee aims to emphasize that Latin
America has not a single, uni
form culture, but rather that it
contains a colorful combination
of different languages, religions,
beliefs and governments.
Despite its focus, the Latin
American Film Festival features
a wealth of diversity.
Comments on this story?E-mail
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LATIN-AMERICAN
FILM FESTIVAL
SCHEDULE
“City of God/Cidade de
Deus”
Friday, 7 and 9:35 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 3, 7 and
9:35 p.m.
Nickelodeon Theatre
“Suddenly/Tan de
Repen te”
Monday and Tuesday, 7 and 9 p.m.
Nickelodeon Theatre
“Lucia, Lucia/La Hija
del Cabinal*
Wednesday, 3, 7 and 9:20 p.m
Thursday, 7 and 9:20 p.m.
Nickelodeon Theatre
“Dissident” (followed by
panel discussion)
Saturday, noon
Columbia Museum of Art
“Ba Iseros/ The Rafters ”
Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Columbia Museum of Art
Rims at the Nickelodeon are
$6.50 general admission, $5.50
seniors and students. Rims at the
Columbia Museum of Art'are free.
For more information, Contact the
Nickelodeon at (803) 254-8234.
Five summer blockbusters stand out
BY AARON MEHAFFEY
THE GAMECOCK
Summer has always been a big
season for the general movie-goer.
It is the time when at last the big
blockbusters arrive. The greatest,
grandest and the most over-the
top action flicks parade them
selves one after another before
their audiences and become the
topic of conversation for the
viewing public for the rest of the
season.
Whereas, during this time, it
can be argued that the really valu
able and appreciable movies are
few and far between, it can also
be said that most of these movies,
despite how short-lived their lega
cies may be, are almost always
simply and purely enjoyable.
Thus, another summer has gone
by and with it another stream of
these fun flicks.
Auer ait was
said and done,
these five films
endured as the
most entertain
ing summer
blockbusters of
2003:
“FREDDY VS.
JASON"
★ ★out of
The mere idea
of this film gen
erates a certain
sense of nostal
gia. The concept
alone was more
than reminiscent
of the monster
match-up movie
craze that
Universal Pro
ductions made
popular in the
’40s and early ’50s (e.g. “Dracula
vs. the Wolf-Man"). And that’s ex
actly what the film was, albeit in a
different cinematic style—name
ly, a bloodier style.
The movie was very sopho
moric, very simple and relied
more heavily on nudity, profanity
and anatomy for entertainment
than plot or characterization. On
the plus side, thougH, Robert
Englund’s portrayal of his infa
mous character (Freddy Kreuger)
was admirable. Despite the sim
plicity of the premise, Freddy is
purely evil, thanks to Englund’s
sinister portrayal and famous
laugh.
Similarly, the character of
Jason Vorhees (Ken Kirzinger)
was true to form, acting in total
silence, which amplified his nat
ural aura of sheer strength. By far
the simpler character in person
ality, Jason is also somewhat
more charismatic in his straight
forward approach to what it is
they do. Furthermore, the amal
gamation of the two-movie series,
fortunately, has no effect on the
characters’ individual mythos, as
is so often the case in crossover
films. Naturally, however, in a
movie like this, ,the action is so
straightforward that there is al
most no sense of suspense, so if
you intend o see it with hopes of
being frightened, don’t bother. It
is a movie about a good fight, and
as such, it delivers excellently.
Simply put, “Freddy vs. Jason"
was by no means a classic, but it
was such a perfect display of
graphics and senselessness that
you can’t help but enjoy it.
“X2: X-MEN UNITED”
**★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
This movie was cursed with
the same problem as most sequels
— that curse being that it was, in
fact, a sequel, and as such, was in
escapably locked into comparison
with the original. The movie held
onto the original “X-Men” cast,
and none of the characters had
changed. Primarily, Wolverine
(Hugh Jackman) and Magneto
(Ian McKellen) are more than ob
viously the main characters once
again. Also, like the first film,
there is a healthy dose df cameos
from and references to the comics
(Daniel Cudmore’s brief appear
ance as Colossus being the most
noticeable). And there were, as
was expected, the introduction of
new mutant heroes and villains:
Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming),
Deathstrike (Kelly Hu), Pyro
(Aaron Stanford) and Jason 143
(Michael Reid MacKay).
Unfortunately, the majority of
new mutants are basically there
for the special effects. Whereas
Nightcrawler and Pyro provide
the movie-series with new angles
via involving subplots, Kelly Hu’s
role has almost no purpose out
side of her big fight with
Wolverine. They have the same
powers, so it was a good fight, to
♦ MOVIES, SEE PAGE 8
^_:_ i ii ■ ,
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
“Freddy Vs. Jason" pits the two horror-film
vlllians against onefanother on the big .creen.
w m nr, : -m
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
“X2: X-Men United” chronicles the crime-fighting adventures of
Jean Grey, Storm and their fellow superheroes.
* *
Sundance
to host
musical
showdown
BY CARRIE GIVENS
THE GAMECOCK
The Soul Mites, Voices of
Dissent, Madison Fair, Mean
Weiner, Simple as That, the Foxy
Brothers, Starlight Rhythm Section
and others will go at it in the first
of a series of onstage showdowns at
the Sundance Bar and Grill start
ing at 9 p.m. tonight.
Located at 902 Gervais St.,
Sundance is an ideal place to meet
friends, listen to local bands and
relax after a long day of classes.
Now, in addition to their menu of
chicken quesadillas, hand tossed
pizza and wings, Sundance has an
other entree to offer in the
Showdown.
Described by Sundance
{looking Manager Kevin Burke
“as a broad scope of bands,” the
Showdown will feature everything
from acoustic music to pop/rock,
alternative, instrumental, coun
try, blues and more.
The bands may be varied, but as
Burke said, “the larger genre, the
more people reached.” Rick Hill
and the Radio Stars create instru
mental tunes, Mean Weiner is sim
ilar in sound to Weezer and the
Soul Mites are billed as a blend of
rock, funk and alternative. Voices
of Dissent, Starlight Rhythm
Section and Madison Fair each of
fer their own varieties of rock,
while Jeff Liberty and Electric
Mudd play blues.
Other bands scheduled to play
include Skelton, Ernie, The Foxy
Brothers, J. Edwards Band,
Thomas Reed, the Sub Disciples
and Simple as That.
The Showdown itself is a bona
fide competition judged by its spon
sors, which include Southern Wine
and Spirits, Budweiser and the Free
Times. The criteria evaluated will
include stage presence, originality,
musical ability, professionalism
and crowd response.
In the past, Sundance held the
93.5 FM Locals Live show. After
losing the show to another venue,
however, Sundance decided to re- .
vise the contest, and the resulting
product was the Showdown.
Burke said, “Sundance’s main
objective is to simply give local
bands exposure and allow them a
chance to play at Sundance.”
In addition, the Showdown
■“will hopefully discover bands
that may have had trouble getting
gigs and develop those bands,” he
said.
Each week, four bands will play
for 30-45 minutes each for the
chance to advance to the final
round. There, is no cover charge
for the event, which will take
place each Wednesday at 9 p.m.
until midnight and run for six
weeks.
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TOP 10
These were the most requested
songs on USC’s student radio
station from Sept 7-14.
1. “YOU GOTTA GO THERE TO
COME BACK”
Stereophonies
2. “THE NEW ROMANCE”
Pretty Girls Make Graves
3. “ELECTRIFY”
Radio4
4. “ANCHORS AWEIGH”
Bouncing Souls
5. “UNCLASSIFIED”
Robert Randolph and the Family
Band
6. “OBRIGADO BRAZIL”
_ _Yo-Yo Ma
7. “THE SEA AND THE RHYTHM”
__ _Ron and Wine
8. “PASSIONOIA”
Black Box Recorder
9. “FROM THE ASHES”
Pennywise
10. “CHAIN GANG OF LOVE”
Raveonettes