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Eight is enough for Latin Wave 6: Film festival highlights Latin Americanrenaissance

"Todos Tus Muertos" ("All Your Dead Ones")
"Gatos Viejos" ("Old Cats")
"Asalto al cine" ("The Cinema Hold Up")

Latin Wave artistic director Monica Wagenberg is excited to be back in Houston. “I program film festivals all over the world,” she says. “But the festival I enjoy the most is Latin Wave.”

According to Wagenberg, that’s because most festivals feature dozens, if not hundreds of films, while the MFAH’s sixth annual Latin Wave film festival has been rigorously pared to eight offerings. “The best eight (Latin American films) make it to the festival. It’s quite intimate and intense.”

She also says that, by the time the visiting filmmakers leave, the festival is a favorite for them as well.

“To tell the truth, they’re usually not that excited to come to Houston. They’ve usually been traveling around the festival circuit for a long time and they’re a little tired. But they are excited about Houston when they leave,” after seeing not only the festival, but local cultural offerings such as the Menil Collection, which gives the filmmakers a “backstage” tour.

That’s all very well for the filmmakers, you might say, but what about the films themselves? Is the recent cinematic boom in Latin America an ongoing affair? Definitely, says Wagenberg.

“We see that some of the strongest films are from first- and second-time filmmakers, which attests to the fact that the Latin American film renaissance is ongoing.” She also says that the Latin American scene is rapidly evolving.

Until very recently, Argentina was by far the dominant film producer in South America, both in quantity and quality. But while Argentina is still a cinematic power, other countries, principally Colombia and Chile, are catching up. (She says that, probably for reasons of geography, Mexican film is not as appreciated in Latin America as it is here. “People in Latin America are not as aware of the enormity of what’s happening in Mexico.”)

This reality is reflected in the festival line-up, which features two films each from Colombia and Chile, but only one from Argentina, down from its typical two.

Asked to pick a theme, or predominant element from this year’s offerings, Wagenberg thinks a minute, then points to the lead performances. “In several of these films, actors who have successful in the national theaters give really strong performances, but they’re willing to work with first- and second-time filmmakers. That’s another way we can see how the prestige of film is increasing.”

She specifically refers to the performances in Gatos Viejos (Old Cats), by Belgica Castro as an old woman on the verge of senility, and by Catalina Saavedra as her needy, grasping daughter.

She also singles out Karine Teles’s star turn in Riscado (Craft). “It’s really a film about performance. Teles (who is a leading stage actor in Brazil) is the lead, and she’s also the director’s wife, so he [Gustavo Pizzi] probably created this role for her. She won Best Actress at the Rio Film Festival for her performance.” (Pizzi and Gato Viejos co-director Pedro Peirano will be in attendance.)

The Colombian films Los Colores de la Montaña (The Colors of the Mountain) and Todos Tus Muertos (All Your Dead Ones) each deal with the lingering effects of that country’s 40-year-long civil war, but they do so in subtle, unexpected ways. Colores looks at war through the eyes of children. “But it’s done with rigor. Los Colores de la Montaña expresses the suffering of the war, but without one scene of violence.”

And Todos Tus Muertos uses black humor and absurdity to approach its grim subject. “But Todos Tus Muertos turns out to be the most powerful. It really deals with the suffering.” (Todos Tus Muertos director Carlos Moreno will attend.)

The weakening of family ties is another theme several films touch on. For example, the Mexican Asalto al Cine, by first-time filmmaker Iria Gomez Concheiro, paints a grim picture of teen life in Mexico City’s barrios, and the kids’ problems come as much from their own families as from the streets. (Gomez Concheiro will attend.)

Argentina is represented by Rompecabezas (Puzzle), about a woman who re-examines her own life as she assembles a jigsaw puzzle of Queen Nefertiti. The Peruvian entry is the touching and spiritual film Octubre (October). The Chilean Post Mortem, which takes place during the 1973 coup, will also screen.

Latin Wave 6 takes place at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Thursday-Sunday. For a full schedule, click here. Opening night party, Thursday 9:30 p.m. at the MFAH Audrey Jones Beck Building.

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Movie Review

Dakota Fanning-led The Sun Never Sets needs more direction

Photo courtesy of Independent Film Company

Dakota Fanning in The Sun Never Sets.

The movies of writer/director Joe Swanberg have always been an acquired taste, as he prefers to give his actors a loose framework of a story and let them improvise most of their lines to give the films a more natural feel. Sometimes that approach can yield great results, and sometimes — as in The Sun Never Sets — it can result in addled and maddening storytelling.

Wendy (Dakota Fanning) is in her early 30s and at a crossroads in her life. When a friend announces she’s pregnant, she starts to re-evaluate what she wants, including her two-year relationship with the older Jack (Jake Johnson). Although they love each other, their disagreements on having more children and extracurricular activities call their long-term viability into question.

Jack, not wanting Wendy to settle, encourages her to explore her options where they live — Anchorage, Alaska — telling her he’ll be waiting should she strike out. What he doesn’t expect is that Wendy’s ex-boyfriend, Chuck (Cory Michael Smith), has returned to the city, giving her an attractive alternative. The three engage in a love triangle that proves frustrating and confusing for both the participants and the viewers.

What works best about the film is its location in Alaska, which rarely gets showcased in movies, and even more rarely in the way it is here. The story takes place in warmer months, and Swanberg gives his characters multiple opportunities to be outside, showing off Anchorage’s harbor, surrounding mountains, and seemingly vibrant city life. The subtle but effective way Swanberg frames various scenes makes the landscape enormously appealing.

It’s too bad, then, that the story never measures up to its surroundings. Too often Fanning, Johnson, Smith, and others seem to be grasping for their next line, unsure of what they want their character to do or say next. That lets their scenes mimic real conversations, but you might not realize how much you want scripted dialogue until you see actors trying to come up with their own in the moment.

The larger issue is that there’s no consistency from scene to scene about where the plot is heading. The characters of Wendy, Jack, and Chuck are extremely wishy-washy about their desires, with each of them vacillating back-and-forth in just how much they want to be with each other. Depending on your experience, this may or may not be true to life, but watching it is excruciating and not enjoyable or romantic in the slightest.

As actors, Fanning, Johnson, and Smith are talented and interesting, with each capable of connecting with viewers in different ways. But working in improvisation is a different beast, and only Johnson — who has worked with Swanberg multiple times — seems truly at home. A few others, like Debby Ryan and Anna Konkle, do well in the format and maybe deserved bigger parts.

Swanberg has proven in the past that his method of filmmaking can be insightful and entertaining, but that is not the case here. In The Sun Never Sets, his hands-off approach is a detriment to the flow of the film and the story as a whole, resulting in an experience that is far from what most viewers will want to go through.

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The Sun Never Sets is now playing in select theaters.

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