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Diversity Cafe 2006 "Exploring Diversity Through Cinema"
2007 Diversity Cafe Movies
 The Family Stone [ December 2006 ]
Starring: Dermot Mulroney, Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams
The Stones, a New England family, have their annual holiday gathering. The eldest son brings his girlfriend home to meet his parents, brothers and sisters. The bohemian Stones greet their visitor--a high-powered, controlling New Yorker--with a mix of awkwardness, confusion and hostility. Before the holiday is over, relationships will unravel while new ones are formed, secrets will be revealed, and the family Stone will come together through its extraordinary capacity for love.
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Skins [ November 2006 ]
Starring: Graham Greene, Eric Schweig and Gary Farmer
In the shadow of Mt. Rushmore, one of America’s favorite tourist attractions, lies one of her poorest counties, The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. For Police officer Rudy Yellow Lodge, the painful legacy of Indian existence is brought home every night as he locks up drunk and disorderly Indians, which frequently includes his own alcoholic brother, Mogie. Rudy has always looked up to Mogie, A former football star and Rudy’s childhood hero, but the brothers have undergone a role reversal, and now it’s Rudy who is the strong one, the survivor. And though Mogie would like to be able to care for his 17-year old son, Herbie, he’s regularly drunk and in trouble with the law, making him a persistent source of embarrassment to his younger brother. Rudy’s frustration with the alcoholism on the ‘rez’ leads him to take the law into his own hands, but his trail of vengeance ends tragically when he unwittingly injures Mogie. Ironically, their relationship achieves redemption after Rudy’s tragic error in judgment, and the brothers begin the process of mending their fractured relationship. Ultimately, Rudy is able to honor his big brother, as well as his people, with one exhilarating and life-affirming act of defiance, revealing the redemptive power of the love between the two brothers.
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It's In the Water [ October 2006 ]
Starring: Keri Jo Chapman, Teresa Garrett
A hidden well of gay-lesbian culture comes bubbling to the surface of a small Western town in this independent comedy/drama. In the Texas town of Azalea Springs, life for the most part still seems stuck in the 1950s; the women have big hair, they join the Junior League, and they don't buck the status quo. Also, homosexuality is something that just isn't talked about, so many of the townspeople are shocked when Hope House, a hospice for AIDS patients, opens in their little town. Alexandra "Alex" Stratton who is stuck in an unhappy marriage with her boorish husband Robert and has an overbearing and prejudiced mom, decides to volunteer at the hospice, which scandalizes most of the other ladies of the League. Alex soon discovers that her best friend from high school is working there as a nurse. Alex soon finds herself looking at Grace in a new way, and friendship gives way to something much deeper. Meanwhile, Spencer, a very out-of-the-closet friend of Alex's, begins joking with people that homosexuality is being spread by something in the town's water supply. With Alex and Grace's affair the hot item in the town's gossip mill and newspaperman Mark falling in love with artist Thomas, this witticism finds its way to many gullible ears, and fire and brimstone preacher Brother Daniel forms "Homo-No-Mo," a support group for gay men who want to return to the straight and narrow, so to speak. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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My Family (Mi Familia) [ September 2006 ]
Starring: Jacob Vargas, Maria Lopez, Jimmy Smits, Leon Singer, Bruce Gray
Gregory Nava's My Family traces three generations of the Sanchez's, a Mexican-American family living in East Los Angeles. Beginning in the 1930s, the film outlines the struggles faced by Jose (Jacob Vargas) and Maria (Lopez) as a recently immigrated married couple raising a family. As Jose and Maria age, the focus shifts to their son, Jimmy (Jimmy Smits), as he starts his own family in the 1960s. While Lopez' role was uncredited, she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her performance ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
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 The Beautiful Country [ August 2006 ]
Starring: Nick Nolte, Bai Ling, Temuera Morrison, Tim Roth, Damien Nguyen
Bui doi--“less than dust”--is a slur aimed at Vietnamese children with American fathers. In 1990, a young “bui doi” escapes Vietnam, endures refugee camp, and survives a brutal ocean crossing and indentured servitude with a human-trafficking ring. Nevertheless, he manages to keep hope, humanity, and a generous spirit alive as he searches for connection with his long-lost family. His quest leads him from Saigon to Malaysia to New York City and, finally, to a remote Texas ranch and a redemptive reunion.
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In and Out [ June 2006 ]
Starring: Kevin Kline, Joan Cusack, Tom Selleck, Debbie Reynolds
Life is sweet for high-school English teacher and sports coach Howard Brackett; he's still living where he grew up, he has a good relationship with his father and mother, he's respected by his community, and he's about to marry Emily, his fiancée of three years. Fearing she was about to become an old maid, Emily has shed 75 pounds for the upcoming nuptials. But first, the entire town of Greenleaf, Indiana, settles in to watch the Academy Award telecast, because young stud star Cameron Drake, who attended Greenleaf high, has been nominated for an Oscar. What's more, he wins, and in his acceptance speech, singles out Howard -- and announces his favorite teacher is gay. Everyone in town is thunderstruck, including Howard himself. The media descend on the town, particularly Peter Malloy, whose job is hanging by a thread. But now so is Howard's; principal Tom Halliwell is shaken by the news, and is toying with firing Howard. The beleaguered teacher tries to convince everyone (and himself) that he's as straight and macho as the next guy; he even tries to follow the rules on a motivational tape, "Be a Man." But his fondness for, his theatrical mannerisms and the fact that he and Emily have yet to make love make everyone's eyebrows stay permanently raised. Meanwhile, out in Hollywood, Cameron, who's really a decent guy, learns about the problems his impulsive comment has caused, and heads back to Greenleaf to see what he can do to help. Peter's mother is fiercely determined to see at least one of her two sons wed -- Walter, the other, is a doofus -- and as the wedding date draws nearer and nearer, poor Howard's life flies even farther out of control. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
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Eat Drink Man Woman [ May 2006 ]
Starring: Sihung Lung, Yu-Wen Wang, Chien-lien Wu, Kuei-Mei Yang, Sylvia Chang
Another comedy of marriage from Ang Lee, the director of "The Wedding Banquet." Again, the structure locks smoothly into place: the aging Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung) is a widowed chef, living in Taipei with his three daughters, each of whom is getting itchy for the world beyond. (Watch out for the exquisite Chien-Lien Wu as Jia-Chien, the pushiest of the three.) Mr. Chu is a King Lear of the kitchen: a master on his own ground, slapping
fish around and blowing air into a boiled chicken, but gradually losing his sense of taste and his power to rule. With its busy, silken editing, the movie chops back and forth between the various characters as they stumble toward their desires. It's a trim, likable piece of work; there are wonderful shots of humming traffic and shouting cooks. Lee is a throwback to old Hollywood-you can imagine him learning his craft, and his reliable
optimism, under Capra. But that guarantee of good taste is, finally, a bit of a downer; there are plenty of surprises, but no hint of risk. And after "Tampopo," "Like Water for Chocolate," and the wholly superior "Babette's Feast," isn't the plug for food as a life-force getting hard to stomach? In Mandarin. -Anthony Lane
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Smoke [ April 2006 ]
Starring: William Hurt, Harvey Keitel, Stockard Channing, Harold Perrineau Jr., Forest Whitaker, Ashley Judd
A Brooklyn cigar shop is the setting for this drama from director Wayne Wang that interweaves the stories of several characters that have fractured family relationships in common. Harvey Keitel is Auggie Wren, poetic owner of the Brooklyn Cigar Company, a store that he considers the center of the world -- a place where all of humanity eventually
parades through. One of his regular customers is Paul Benjamin (William Hurt), a writer and a broken shell of a man whose pregnant wife was shot and killed near the store. When Paul's life is saved one day by a young black man named Rashid (Harold Perrineau, Jr., the writer and his rescuer strike up a friendship and begin searching for Rashid's long-lost
father (Forest Whitaker). At the store, Auggie is surprised by the appearance of Ruby (Stockard Channing), an ex-girlfriend who informs him that her pregnant, drug-addicted daughter Felicity (Ashley Judd) may also be his -- and is in dire need of help. Screenwriter Paul Auster based the script for Smoke on a 1990 short story he wrote for "The New York Times." He also wrote and directed the film's sequel (of sorts), Blue in the Face (1995). ~
Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
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