CaoHamburger Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In case you don't read Entertainment Weekly and didn't see this week's double issue on "The New Classics," or you didn't see my post last week about their list of the best movies from the last 25 years, here's a sad fact: only six foreign-language films made the list. They are: Wings of Desire (#28); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (#49); The Lives of Others (#56); All About My Mother (#69); Y Tu Mamá También (#86); and In the Mood for Love (#95). OK, so 6% is not terrible for a mainstream entertainment magazine, but EW had to add insult to injury with an accompanying map labeled "Movies: Breaking Down the List," which points to a number of locations around the globe in which some of these new classics are set. The only continent on the map without any love is South America (Antarctica was not included in the visual aid).

Now, before I get into my love letter to new Latin American cinema, I have to note that no film produced in Africa made the list either. However, on the map the continent was at least given some minuscule bit of love via the filming locations for Casino Royale and Gladiator. Yet despite the fact that South America was definitely used as a location in a few of the 100 films, it's shown no respect. And on top of that, Central America isn't even included on the map. For some strange reason there's just a gap between Mexico and South America. Meanwhile, Latin America's sole representative on EW's list, Mexico's Y Tu Mamá También, is left off the map so that no location from this area of the world, from the Mexican-U.S. border to Cape Horn, receives any recognition.

After making a successful round on the film festival circuit from Brazil to Cannes, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, otherwise known as O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias, has been picked up for domestic distribution by City Lights Pictures. Directed by Cao Hamburger, from a script he collaborated on with a number of other screenwriters, the movie dives into the military dictatorships of South America in 1970, and how one 12-year-old boy deals with the issue while dreaming of soccer.

Vacation stars Michel Joelsas as Mauro, the young kid who is sent to his grandfather's when his parents have to go on vacation (a trip which is actually them going underground -- they're left-wing militants). Unfortunately, his grandfather dies before the kid arrives, and he's stuck in an apartment building full of strangers, with no way to contact his parents. His grandfather's old, Jewish neighbor, Shlomo, takes Mauro in. The kid then deals with his new community, the absence of his parents, his soccer passions in the midst of the 1970 World Cup and of course, the pressures of dictatorship.

The film looks great, and the reviews seem to back it up. Twitch said it "is one of the best movies to come out of Brazil since Cidade de Deus," while Variety described it as a "sensitive, delicate and involving" film that is "silky-smooth." You can check out the trailer, a making-of clip, pictures and even clips of music from the movie (which I wish sites did more of) over at the film's official website -- which is, conveniently, in English.