Fearless Ryan New Zealander Jane Campion, who won the Oscar with The Piano, now gets to work with Meg Ryan in In the Cut, which will hit Brazilian theatres on March 26. In this modern thriller set in Manhattan, Frannie (Ryan) is a teacher who gets involved with Malloy (Mark Ruffalo), a homicide detective that is investigating a murder in her neighborhood. The cast also includes Jennifer Jason Leigh as Frannie's sister and Kevin Bacon as a former boyfriend.

Love Is In The Air
March 26 is also the release date for All the Real Girls, directed by David Gordon Green, who debuted as a director in George Washington. All the Real Girls is a classic love story based on honesty and hope. Paul (Paul Schneider) is a 22-year-old guy who has never had a serious relationship. Then he finds Noel (Zooey Deschanel), an 18-year-old girl who has spent most of her life studying away from home. True love sometimes has a high price, but in this case it only reinforces their love.

Hawaii Here We Come
Owen Wilson was very funny in the movie Meet the Parents, and now he gets to star in The Big Bounce, a George Armitage-directed movie that will be out on March 26. The cast is decidedly star-studded⁽³⁾, containing, as it does, Morgan Freeman, Gary Sinise, Charlie Sheen, Harry Dean Stanton and, last but least, Vinnie Jones, who, after a career as the hard man of English soccer, now plays hard men in movies. Wilson stars as a surfer, drifter⁽⁴⁾ and con man⁽⁵⁾ who heads out to Hawaii, where he starts working for Freeman, before entering a vicious circle of betrayal⁽⁶⁾, deceit⁽⁷⁾ and money.

Above: You Got Served and (above left) The Big Bounce. Let's Dance In January the US saw the release of You Got Served, a movie that is set in the world of street dancing. It tells the tale of two friends who dream of opening a recording studio but, in order to do so, they first have to win their city's dance contest. The director is Chris Stokes, whose previous credits include House Party IV.

The War on Tobacco
No Smoke Without Fire

Harvey Keitel serves a customer in Smoke.

Nova York decididamente assumiu uma batalha contra o cigarro e está
criando leis cada vez mais severas aos fumantes. Será que estas leis chegarão
à Europa e ao Brasil? Conheça as opiniões contra e a favor.

N

ew York City's bars changed for ever - as a pioneering ban⁽¹⁾ on smoking took effect. It was a triumph for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has led a personal crusade against tobacco, but the repercussions may soon be felt far beyond his jurisdiction.
The Smoke-Free City Act⁽²⁾ became law in December 2002, but 90 days were to pass before the legislation went into effect. New York City Council voted for the Smoke-Free Act on 18 December, with 42 councillors in favor, 7 against and two absentions. Bloomberg who, somewhat ironically, was one of the first American politicians to admit to having smoked cannabis in his youth, signed it on December 30th.

Get outta here!
Although non-smokers naturally welcome the ban, most bar owners do not. The Act bans smoking from bars, restaurants, pool halls⁽³⁾, night clubs, private clubs and convention centers and, as a result, clients at such establishments now have to behave like office workers: if they want to smoke, they must step outside. Opposition to the Act and its sponsor is evident in numerous slogans, the politest⁽⁴⁾ of which is probably "Bloomberg for Ex-Mayor." One bar which has seen a marked decline in business is O'Connor's, an Irish bar in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn. This, you may recall, was the neighborhood⁽⁵⁾ that hosted⁽⁶⁾ the tobacco store in the Wayne Wang/Paul Auster movie, Smoke. O'Connor's was opened by the grandfather of the current owner, Joe O'Connor, who is far from happy about the ban:

Joe O' Cornnor Standard New York Accent

The smoking ban has certainly affected my business. I have an older clientele, which can't get up every two or three minutes to go in and out and in and out, so they just can't be bothered⁽⁷⁾ coming in here to spend a buck⁽⁸⁾ or two, they'd rather go home, where they can smoke and drink and do whatever the hell they want⁽⁹⁾. It's also affected our regular clientele, which pay our bills⁽¹⁰⁾: coming home from work, they just can't be bothered with the hassle⁽¹¹⁾ of constantly having to go in and out when they're trying to relax and unwind⁽¹²⁾.

Under pressure
Nor, says Joe O'Connor, is this the only headache⁽¹³⁾:

Joe O'Connor: It's not just the problem of the non-smoking. In one year they raised the tax on cigarettes; in one year they raised the real estate tax⁽¹⁴⁾; they also raised the sales tax⁽¹⁵⁾; the economy is slow, and they're hurting the small businessman. We're not a big corporation, we're just a little mom-and-pop joint⁽¹⁶⁾ and that's the way it's always been and, God willing, that's the way we'll keep it and they hit us right in our pockets⁽¹⁷⁾. I'm also forced to tell my customers now that they have to go outside to smoke, that they can't smoke in here, which opens up a whole nother (sic) realm of problems. I've got people complaining about how unsightly⁽¹⁸⁾ it is to see people hanging out⁽¹⁹⁾ in front of your business. It's also difficult for me to police them⁽²⁰⁾. It's difficult to know what they're doing outside now, when they're going in and out. We have to assume that they're smoking, whereas years ago we would assume that there were some shenanigans⁽²¹⁾ with, you know, illicit drugs or whatever, so we would discourage it altogether⁽²²⁾. So it's a difficult position to police as well. The neighbors aren't particularly happy with it, they're complaining - as they are in other bars in Bay Ridge and neighborhood bars - about the smoke and about the noise and the hours of the night and ba ba ba. So it's difficult.

Coming soon
New York isn't in fact the first American city to impose the ban, but such is its international importance that the Act is seen as a test case for other countries. In September the European Union's Health Commissioner, David Byrne, announced plans to impose a similar ban throughout the EU. Judith Watt of the pressure group Smokefree London can't wait:

Judith Watt Standard British Accent

Well, the lessons from New York are incredibly positive. What we know is that restrictions on smoking in restaurants have been in force since 1995 in New York, and it's only recently that they've introduced restrictions on smoking in bars and smaller cafes and restaurants. And it's incredibly positive. You'll hear from the tobacco industry that that is disastrous for business: this is one of their main strategies. However, the evidence from elsewhere shows that's just not true. There is no negative economic impact of restricting smoking in restaurants, cafes, bars - as demonstrated in other places, including California, Massachusetts. So what we're seeing is it's good for health, yes, but it's also good for business. Of the 90-plus studies⁽²³⁾ that have been conducted, economic studies, of restaurant and bar facilities around the world that have had smoking restrictions, it is only those that are funded by the tobacco companies that say there's been an economic downturn⁽²⁴⁾!