Kevin Kline's 'Trade' to Open New York International Latino Film Festival
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Other Festivals, Cinematical Indie
In just a few days, on July 24, the New York International Latino Film Festival will kick off in, obviously, Gotham. The fest has now released its film list, and I wish I could say that it is an amalgam of highly-reviewed fare that is worth giving up spending your summery, July days in the great outdoors. Unfortunately, none of the films listed on indieWIRE seem to be highly-regarded, by either reviewers or IMDb fans. Now, this could mean nothing for the enjoyment of some regular moviegoers, but I don't think we're talking about a "Wild Hogs" sort of scenario.The fest is opening with Marco Kreuzpaintner's Trade. Cinematical has been covering the film since 2005, when it was called Welcome to America, and Milla Jovovich was co-starring along with Kevin Kline. Since then, Leeloo left the project, and we got posters and a plot. While the film's scenario sounds a bit unbelievable, it looked to be a potentially-decent treatment of the sex trade. However, if Variety's Berlin review is to be believed, it's unfortunately not worth the effort. Even Kline, who I consider to be one of those men who can make the most of anything, was said to have had "possible the most stark miscasting of his career." Ouch!
That being said, I'd probably rather see that than what was selected to wrap the festival -- the Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony-starring El Cantante. I will fully admit that I just don't like those two, so putting them as starring vehicles in a film just makes matters all the worse. Fortunately, my predilection to run in the opposite direction when I see them won't keep me from a moving cinematic experience, again, at least if Variety's TIFF review is to be believed. Right at the top, the review describes the movie as "a virtual template for every imaginable cliche of the musical biopic." (Our Kim Voynar will be reviewing it on August 3, when the film opens, so stay tuned for her spin on the music biopic.) But these are reviewers, and many a film foible can be forgiven in the regular movie-going public. Or, at least, by fans of Anthony and Lopez -- which is probably why it's a headlining film. That being said, it's still great to see an increasing selection of Latino cinema, and hopefully next year will have a fest full of raves.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-26-2007 @ 9:33AM
Mr. David Lugo said...
The International Latino Film Festival, hmmm how can I sum it up in one word? I can't if one word is unorganizedselfloathingunproffesional is a word then that is it. I join the festival this year thinking I would network and enjoy the new and exciting talents but I was diappointed. The festival's founders were only interested in the sponsors, advertisers and themselves but not really the film makers which was the whole idea. I want to give you and insight of this festival: Day 1 registration, No badges, unorganized and unproffesional. There were no directions as to where to get the badges at the registration area and people were too busy getting organized and talking to their friends on the phone rather than representing what should be a courteous, professional atmosphere for the people who support and are really serious about this festival. I am not saying you can't have any fun as this is all about film, it should be fun but a little professionalism wouldn't hurt their image. So I didn't get a badge I got a standardized recipt. Opening night: a line that took almost an hour, a speech that took almost an hour and a half, it all made for a boring evening. The movie which in my opinion was a good one that needed more motivation. The after party????? eeeeeeeek, mostly all volunteers were at this party, hardly any proffesionals were here and if they were they left quickly. I was totally discouraged from staying there but I stood there for almost 2 hours and had enough. If an aspiring filmmaker or actor or director were to sum this after party up it would be "a scene from calito's way 4" diiiisgusting. It makes me wonder why our fellow latinos find it hard to get into the film industry. I support serious latino film makers and industry proffesionals and admire their contributions to the art of film making but this festival should be revamped and rebuilt. The festival does not live up to it's name as there are few if any proffesionals in the business who were attending. I was disgusted and shocked, never again until I hear differently about this festival. One word of advice to the founders. Sit down with the people in the tribecal film festival and figure out their formula, emulate their proffesionalism and maybe just maybe more people and investors would take you seriously.
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