Melting Pot

Forget Flynn, Clapprood, Bachrach, and those other Joe Kennedy wanna-bes. The really sizzling political skirmish is between Lucinda Davis (C.C.H. Pounder) and Gustavo Alvarez (Paul Rodriguez) in this satire of racial politics, '90s-style, in Los Angeles. Davis is a black insider in power suits, Alvarez a populist house painter with a young following. Demographics say the key to a coveted City Council seat is snagging the small white vote -- not to mention a thumbs-up from the deposed dinosaur of an incumbent (a leathery Cliff Robertson). Tom Musca's film starts off funny, delivering equal-opportunity jabs at the posturing candidates and their handlers. "Even if she says your name right, correct her," an aide advises Alvarez before a key debate. But the film detours into secret pregnancy, a gun-toting son, and a lesbian crush. By the time a runaway truck threatens to flatten attendees at a campaign rally, Melting Pot has squandered its chances of victory. Screens at the Copley Place Thursday, September 17 at 5:30, 7:30, and 9:30 p.m. and Friday, September 18 at 10 a.m. and 12:30 and 3 p.m.

-- Scott Heller

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Film Festival Feature Films

| The Witman Boys | The Cruise | Confessions of a Sexist Pig | Melting Pot | Pleasantville | Clay Pigeons | Waking Ned Devine | Blood, Guts, Bullets, & Octane | My Name is Joe | Six Ways to Sunday | The Theory of Flight | A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries | Down in the Delta | Children of Heaven | I Married a Strange Person | 20 Dates | Bandits |

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More Boston Film Festival information, film descriptions, and show times

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