(U.S.; 60 min.) Children can improvise fun anywhere—as this colorful Nicaraguan slum documentary shows—before poverty and young parenthood grinds them down.
News
(Australia; 90 min.) Writer-director Joseph Sims’ feature debut is an odd mix of Tarantino pulp and Wes Andersen quirk, telling the story of a brother and sister who shake up a small town for one weekend when they make it a stop-off on their psychopathic road trip.
(Romania; 60 min.) Made for HBO Romania, this documentary profiles an outsider artist in the literal sense: Ion Barladeanu actually lived outside.
(U.S.; 95 min.) America Gonzales (Lymari Nadal, wife of executive producer Edward James Olmos) flees her abusive military husband (a very frightening Yancey Arias) in Puerto Rico to a job as a live-in housekeeper in suburban New York City.
(United States; 92 min.) The title and tag line (“Getting left behind is the only way to catch up”) are deceptive. Get past them, and what emerges is an honest story of a young self-sabotaging woman with daddy issues.
(Kenya; 94 min.) All politics is local. This docudrama records the impact of the 2008 Kenyan presidential election without ever leaving the Nairobi shantytown of Kibera.
The stormy winter weather over the past three days was welcomed by the the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Vasona Reservoir is now at 101 percent capacity. In the last three days alone, water reserves in the Santa Clara Valley Water District have increased by 1.5 billion gallons. Still, people should be careful not to waste water.
The SJPD’s expanded definition of racial profiling is welcomed by officials and community groups. The new definition encompasses any act of biased behavior during an encounter with the public. The earlier definition focused on whether the reason to originally stop a person was motivated by race or ethnicity.
Can’t make it for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land? Soon you’ll be able to do it from your computer, now that Google Street View is coming to Israel. The Israeli government has stepped back from its policy that Street View could assist terrorists plan attacks, and has asked a team of experts to work with Google to make it available for Israel.
The tone (foreboding, with humorous touch of absurdity) of ‘Deathtrap’ at Northside Theatre is immediately established by the decor in Broadway thriller writer Sidney’s old colonial home, where all of the action takes place.
