The 21st Chicago Latino Film Festival continues Friday through Thursday, April 15 through 21, at Chicago State Univ., 9501 S. King Dr.; Dominican Univ., 7900 W. Division, River Forest; Facets Cinematheque; Pipers Alley; Landmark’s Century Centre; Morton College, 3801 S. Central, Cicero; North Park Univ., 3225 W. Foster; Northwestern Univ. Thorne Auditorium; Richard J. Daley College, 7500 S. Pulaski; River East 21; St. Xavier Univ. McGuire Hall; and Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $10, $9 for students, seniors, and the disabled, and $8 for members of the School of the Art Institute, the Gene Siskel Film Center, or the International Latino Cultural Center. A festival pass, good for ten shows excluding special events, is available for $80, $70 for ILCC members. For more information call 312-409-1757. Unless otherwise noted, all films are in English and/or subtitled Spanish.
Maria Escobar
Saucy but not really erotic, Jorge Fernando’s 2003 Brazilian remake of a 1999 Mexican romantic comedy retains the characters and basic plot of the original, as two neighboring couples find their marital difficulties complicated by the reappearance of old flames. The neglected wives are lovely and articulate, the self-absorbed men range from smoldering to boyish, and just about everyone has a great body (including a nosy mother-in-law). But the story never rises above the level of hyperattenuated escapism: fast, slick, and empty. Among the production companies is 20th Century Fox, which may explain why this feels like a Hollywood movie even though it’s in Portuguese (with subtitles). 90 min. (AG) (Pipers Alley, 6 PM)
Adelante muchachas!
See listing this date above. (Facets Cinematheque, 7 PM)
The Art of Losing
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Lise Swenson means well with this 2004 drama, a love letter to San Francisco’s colorful Mission district, but its earnest tone is more suited to a civics lesson. The action centers on a local mural competition and the area’s increasing gentrification, as singles and families cope with their ethnic differences, yet the conflicts have surprisingly few painful consequences. Blame it on the lax editing, which underscores the amateurish acting, or on Swenson’s simplistic politics, which divide the characters into virtuous poor and clueless yuppies, but the movie suffers from a retro feel not in keeping with the district’s vitality. 95 min. (AG) (Facets Cinematheque, 9 PM)
