Unlike most events in the area, the AFI Latin American Film Festival has its fingers on the pulse of Latin American culture. Now midway through its 22nd iteration, festival planner Todd Hitchcock shared some of his favorite films in this year’s lineup and screened the movies for this writer.
Country Music Country Music, a collaboration between writer/director Alberto Fuguet (Se arrienda) and film students from Vanderbilt University, has its fair share of problems. The film’s low budget often bleeds over into its aesthetic — scenes are poorly lit and the jitteriness in the camera feels more like poor mounting than anything intentional.
The low production values, however, don’t diminish Pablo Cerda’s (Velodromo) great performance as Alejandro. Country Music revolves around Alejandro, a down-on-his-luck Chilean immigrant, as he tries to find a home and a source of income in Nashville.
Cerda adds pathos and richness to Alejandro. Watching him despondently wander around Nashville is both genuinely affecting and dryly comedic. As Alejandro’s backstory gets further fleshed out, the movie reaches a satisfying emotional conclusion — one that doesn’t pander to the audience, yet delivers a graceful and upbeat end.
The Colors of the Mountain The Colors of the Mountain is a war movie told through the perspective of children. What could have easily been an exploitative attempt at wringing out emotions is, instead, a thoughtful and subtle examination of conflict.
The Colors of the Mountain tells the story of a group of soccer-obsessed Colombian kids as their village comes into contact with armed forces. The film concerns itself with the lives of its child protagonists as the world around them slowly deteriorates.
The film manages the tricky feat of both primarily focusing on the children while escalating a sense of dread and tension. Throughout the film, there is a sense of foreboding and doom lingering overhead, made all the more heartbreaking by the juxtaposition with the games and petty conflicts of the young cast.
The highlights of the movie are the child actors: All of them deliver effortlessly authentic and moving performances and have a convincing rapport. The adults, while generally relegated to the background, are mostly good, though not revelatory.
The Colors of the Mountain will be shown tonight at 5:30 p.m. at AFI Silver Theatre. The AFI Latin American Film Festival runs through October 12. For a full listing of movies and showtimes, go to www.afi.com/silver.
chzhang@umdbk.com
