That Song, New Cinema & Scorpios

For some wierd reason I have that annoying song by the Black Eye Peas, "My Humps," stuck in my head... Shoot me now!

I have not gone the movies in over a month. I guess I have been too busy or something. I can not wait for Syriana to be out in theaters next week, and I really want to see Jarhead. I did see a great film on D.V.D. the other day, named Cronicas. It was excellent! The director of the film, Sebastian Cordero, is Ecuadorian and the film is set in Ecuador. A few years ago, he found a lot of success in the film festival circuit with a film entitled: Ratas, Ratones y Rateros. I never saw it. It just looked too gritty. Cronicas is also a gritty film, but very well-written and well-acted. The film follows a Miami-based, Spanish-language tabloid news reporter, his camaraman and producer who are in the town of Babahoyo, Ecuador to report on a serial killer on the lose, who is killing children. The reporter (played by John Leguizamo) then befriends a local man who was lynched for accidentally running over a child and has been encarcerated. This man then begins telling the reporter chilling details about the killings supposedly confesed to him by a man who once hitched a ride from him. The details are so vivid that the reporter then starts suspecting the man in jail. That is as much as I can say about the story without giving much away. What I loved about this film is the moral raised of how far a journailst sometimes go to get a juicy story. There is conflict between the reporter and his producer (played by Talk to Her's Leonor Wattling) on what is the right or wrong thing to do. The film's ending is anything but predictable.

I find it exciting to continue to see much wonderful cinema coming from Latin America. We have already fabulous, world-recognized directors coming from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. I love that Sebastian Cordero has now put Ecuador on that list.

I have so many Scorpios in my life right now, I thought I'd acknowledge them here, publicly!
Cheers to: Claudia Orellana, Amy Herrmann, Serene Ford, Chico Maiva, Chandra Faulkner, Kim Jones... And for the last two years, my niece, Victoria Fierro. And for the last two weeks, my nephew, Francisco W. Enriquez. Bless you all!