Monday October 24
Little Vera
A last minute replacement for We Think the World of You, this new American comedy directed by and starring Peter Wang is set in New York in the near future and features a multiethnic cast. (Music Box, 8:00)
Liberty Street Blues
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
A feature-length French Canadian documentary by Andre Gladu about the roots and history of New Orleans jazz. On the same program, a short American documentary feature by George T. Nierenberg (No Maps on My Taps), That Rhythm, Those Blues, about Ruth Brown, one of the first black rhythm-and-blues singers, who toured extensively in the south in the 40s and made a lot of money for others, but was systematically exploited in the process. (Biograph, 10:15)
Nobody Listened
It’s been about 13 years since Brazilian filmmaker Tereza Trautman’s first feature, The Men I Loved, a film that was banned in Brazil for eight years. (In the interim, she’s been making films for television, working in the women’s movement, and supporting structural changes in the Brazilian film-funding and production industry.) Her second feature, the first that I’ve seen, is an ambitious account of a family reunion held at the family’s opulent mansion just before their estate is sold off, interweaving the activities of all three generations. The results are a little bit like Altman’s A Wedding without the sarcasm, well crafted but lacking much of an edge. As a multifaceted reflection of Brazilian upper-class history, the film has pretty much to say, particularly about the women in the family, yet the viewer may emerge at the end wishing the various strands in the plot had been wound together a bit more tightly. With Tonia Carrero, Louise Cardosa, Marieta Severo, Zeze Motta, and Xuxa Lopes. (JR) (Biograph, 9:30)
