Drama

In this fugitive spree, the fleeing fellow gets angrier and angrier (and tired of the chase) when a little romance comes his way. ~ All Movie Guide

Camila O'Gorman (Susan Peccaro) is the daughter of an influential 19th century Argentine diplomat (Hector Alterio). Ladislao Gutierez (Imanol Arias) is a Jesuit priest, also living in Argentina. Tortured by her so-called impure thoughts, Camila confesses these to Gutierez. Flouting tradition, convention, and the repressive Rosas political regime, Camila and the priest embark on a torrid affair. Based on a true story, the Spanish/Argentine co-production Camila was honored with a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An all-powerful lawman attempts to clear a town of crime. ~ All Movie Guide

Fernando Duran's action film Juan Armenta El Repatriado concerns the title hero teaming up with his twin in order to defeats group of bad guys. Their relationship complicates when, after that adventure, he begins an affair with his twin's wife. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

New York art dealer Arne Glimcher took his first crack at film directing with this florid, high-energy romance about two brothers who flee Cuba in the early 1950s to make it as musicians in the United States. Cynthia Cidre wrote the literate screenplay adapted from Oscar Hijuelos's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Cesar (Armand Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Antonio Banderas) are popular musicians on Havana's club circuit, but when they make enemies of the wrong people, they are forced to leave for New York City, the moody Nestor leaving behind his true love. In New York, the brothers work as meat-cutters during the day as Cesar tries to organize a band and make inroads into the lively New York music scene. Soon, as The Mambo Kings, they get club bookings and Cesar falls in love with a sharp-tongued cigarette girl, Lanna Lake (Cathy Moriarty), and Nestor with the beautiful Delores Fuentes (Maruschka Detmers), who wants to be a teacher. Cesar concentrates on singing and managing the band, while Nestor plays the trumpet and writes emotional songs of love. All seems to be going well until Cesar antagonizes the moneymen on the Latin nightclub circuit and they finds themselves playing bar mitzvahs. But after they're discovered by Desi Arnaz (Desi Arnaz Jr.), the group is prominently featured on I Love Lucy. Their popularity soars and they cut a successful album called "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love." Cesar is glorying in his success, but Nestor is disappointed and longs to return to Cuba. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This is an emotionally gripping, fictional look at a couple torn apart by the infamous Argentine campaign of killings and torture that sent thousands of accused terrorists to unmarked graves in the mid-and late-'70s. Alicia (Norma Aleandro) and Roberto (Hector Alterio) adopted a little girl (Analia Castro) during this period of governmental terror in Argentina. Alicia has always wondered about the parents of their little girl, a topic her husband has forced her into forgetting as a condition of the adoption -- he alone knows the full story. Thanks to censorship, Alicia -- like others -- is not fully aware of how much killing has gone on until her students at school start complaining that their textbook histories were written by murderers. Add to this a long conversation with a friend who had been in exile after she was tortured by the government, and Alicia starts to do some serious political and personal research on her own. The results reveal the identity of the little girl's dead parents and reveal that Alicia's husband has had a nasty hand in the government repression and dirty dealings with foreign businesses. She also learns the identity of the girl's grandmother. Her next decision will determine what to do with this information. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Edward James Olmos portrays the real-life Jaime Escalante, a no-nonsense mathematic teacher in a tough East LA high school. Handed a classroom full of "losers" and "unteachables," Escalante is determined to turn his young charges' lives around. Drawing from his own cultural heritage, Escalante forms a bond with his largely Hispanic student body, evoking the names of famous Spaniards and Latin Americans whose great accomplishments were predicated on their ability to learn. The students gradually come to realize that the only way they'll escape their own poverty-stricken barrio is to improve themselves intellectually. As a result, the class' academic achievements soar dramatically -- too dramatically for the Educational Testing Service, which is convinced that the class' high test scores are the results of cheating. The triumphant exoneration of Escalante's students provides Stand and Deliver with its rousingly upbeat conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Barras Bravas is a Spanish film about the evil workings of a big-city drug ring. ~ All Movie Guide

El Signo de la Muerte stars the famous Mexican comedian Cantinflas as a mild mannered man who ends up running with a group of bad guys who kill women for fun. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

The life of a powerful actress is examined in this tragedy. The film begins with her demise during a plane crash. Later, the men who loved her try to figure out why she was always so unhappy. Her story is told in flashback. It begins in a small town where she was a dress shop model. She used the money from that job to pay for her acting lessons. Later she is seen meeting the director of a theater group. This encounter eventually gets her involved with a Mexican film studio. As she becomes increasingly popular, she has a series of men in her life. Though she has become rich, powerful, and sought after, the woman still feels a great void in her life. To begin a new life, she takes a plane to Europe. Unfortunately the plane crashes and her life tragically ends. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Juan Benegas (Vincete Fernandez) and his brother Pablo (Andres Garcia) return home for the funeral of their domineering mother in this comedy. Along with their father Pedro (Lalo Gonzalez), the brothers declare themselves free of restrictions and vow to have a good time. The three go to town where they pretend to be strangers to fleece the locals in a card game. Their winnings attract the attention of Rossy (Olivia Collins), a pretty bank robber who covets the cash and not the crooks. Soon father and sons are falling all over themselves for the woman, and the camaraderie is crushed. A mariachi band accompanies Fernandez on several ranchero songs. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Neighborhood pride runs deep in Echo Park, so when two lifelong friends join the local gang as a matter of course, they're handed down gang names from the previous generation of homegirls. Unfortunately, Sad Girl (Angel Aviles) and Mousie (Seidy Lopez) don't remain friends for long. When Mousie withdraws into herself to cope with the responsibilities of young motherhood after bearing the child of her one true love, Ernesto (Jacob Vargas), Sad Girl and Ernesto turn to each other for comfort. Soon, Sad Girl herself ends up pregnant, and warm sisterhood cools to an icy feud. Ernesto starts dealing drugs to support his two young families -- and to outfit the gussied-up low rider that he hides from both of his unsuspecting girlfriends. The economic and romantic entanglements of these three characters serve as the entry point into this multifaceted exploration of L.A. street life, but Mi Vida Loca rapidly expands in scope to take in other characters, most of them female. Bleach-blond Whisper (Nelida Lopez), for instance, learns the drug-dealing ropes from Ernesto and considers crossing gender lines to open her own operation. The slightly older Giggles (Marlo Marron), however, refuses to fall into old dependencies and habits after being imprisoned for four years for a crime her boyfriend committed. Sad Girl's sister, La Blue Eyes (Magali Alvarado), the only character to choose college over gang life, chances upon a poem written by a prison inmate and becomes hopelessly smitten, abandoning her books for a passionate jailhouse correspondence. The focus of Mi Vida Loca shifts freely between these and several other characters, many of whom take turns providing narration and context. The director's daughter, Tiffany Anders, has a small role in the film alongside many real-life Echo Park denizens; several musicians and film directors also make cameos, among them Spike Jonze, Kurt Voss, Kid Frost, and the members of Los Lobos. Salma Hayek got her SAG card by playing a tiny role. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide