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đ CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
The 58th Chicago International Film Festival continues through Sunday, October 23. Reviews of select films and shorts programs can be found below. In-person screenings will take place at several venues, including the AMC River East 21 (322 E. Illinois St.), the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Music Box Theatre, and the Chicago History Museum, as well as some others. The venue at which each film is screening is indicated below its title. Thereâs a virtual component to the festival as well, though not for every film. Where applicable is also indicated below the filmâs title, as well as any geo-restrictions. More info on the festival here.
Li Ruijunâs RETURN TO DUST (China)
AMC River East 21 â Saturday, 1:15pm
Virtual â Oct. 13â23 (Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin only)
They say that home is where the heart is. In several of his films, independent Chinese director Li Ruijun has gone back to his rural home town of Gaotai on the western border of Inner Mongolia to examine the state of personal relationships in a rapidly changing society. His latest film, RETURN TO DUST, eulogizes the connection between human beings and nature without sentimentalizing the harsh life Chinese farmers have as they work the land with primitive tools and suffer exploitation by those who buy their crops. The center of this film, however, is a couple of throwaway people who shoulder their burdens energetically because they have found an unlikely love. Iron (Wu Renlin) is an illiterate, middle-age farmer who is becoming a burden to his family. Similarly, Guiying (Hai Qing) is handicapped, incontinent, and regularly beaten and kept like a dog in a shed by her family. A matchmaker puts them together, and their awkward first days of marriage give way to a gentle opening up and a true union. Watching them work side by side to plow a field with Ironâs donkey pulling a wooden tiller, make bricks from mud for a home they will build themselves, and watch out for each otherâs health and safety is beautiful beyond words. Wu and Hai bravely create indelible characters who have been treated cruelly but have not lost their ability to hope and love. But can something so delicate survive in the go-go Chinese society of today? Iron and Guiying may seem worthless to those bent on progress at all costs, but not to each other or those privileged to witness their story. (2022, 133 min, DCP Digital) [Marilyn Ferdinand]
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Shorts 2: Expansions (Animation)
AMC River East 21 â Sunday, 2:30pm
Virtual â Oct. 13â23 (Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin only)
Amid the rubble of bombed-out Palestine, a mother seeks her lost daughter. She is aided in her quest by the personification of the night, a masked figure with a bounteous cape encompassing the sky who sends stars down to the earth to guide stranded children to safety. Using stop-motion animation, Ahmad Saleâs NIGHT (2022, 16 min, Digital Projection) is a whisper-quiet, fable-like meditation that considers the rending of family as one of warâs most devastating effects. All the other shorts in the program focus in some way on relationships between parents and children, whether close, tetchy, awkward, or lost to time. Jeff Le Bars and JĂ©rĂ©mie Balaisâ NEW MOON (2022, 11 min, Digital Projection) also continues the night sky motif, as a young Black boy in 1978 southwest Philadelphia learns from his working-class mother about the spiritual power of the titular lunar phenomenon. Narrated by actor Colman Domingo and based on his autobiographical play A Boy and His Soul, the film uses animated stage sets, the blue-green cast of moonlight, and the nostalgic stylings of Aretha Franklin to create a poignant memory piece. The enmeshment of music and memory is even more central to Jonathan Laskarâs THE RECORD (2022, 9 min, Digital Projection), which sees the proprietor of a musical instrument store unlocking repressed childhood memories when he plays a magical vinyl record. Its charcoal-y black-and-white aesthetic, featuring dominant motifs of stripes and raking light, make this one a triumph of design. The same could be said of the hand-drawn kineticism and pops of red and blue that characterize JoĂŁo Gonzalezâs ICE MERCHANTS (2022, 14 min, Digital Projection), about a father and his young son living in a house suspended from a giant cliff of ice high in the sky. Every day, they base-jump to the village below to sell their frozen wares, until their livelihoodâand livesâare imperiled by global warming. From ice to fire, Vasco SĂĄ and David Doutelâs GARRANO (2022, 15 min, Digital Projection) is likewise concerned with environmental threats, in this case forest fires. The shortâs jittery, slightly muddy animation proves aptly discomfiting in this dystopian tale. Those looking for some levity will find it in the last and longest short, Sara GunnarsdĂłttirâs MY YEAR OF DICKS (2022, 24 min, Digital Projection). Adapted from a memoir by Pamela Ribon, itâs a five-part odyssey of her sundry comically failed attempts to lose her virginity in 1991 Houston, Texas. A range of animation styles, from anime to dripping death metal-style horror, brings us into the headspace of Pam, whose fantasies and internal monologues are as inventive as they are mortifyingly funny. [Jonathan Leithold-Patt]
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Michael Kochâs A PIECE OF SKY (Switzerland/Germany)
AMC River East 21 â Sunday, 7:15pm and Monday, 7:45pm
The first shot of A PIECE OF SKY is a prolonged fixed-perspective take of a great big boulder in the Swiss Alps, scored to choral chanting that drifts in and out like the mist in the background. The film will continue to return to the natural features of the environmentârocks, waterfalls, hillsâboth contrasting and likening them to the characters who make up its central romance. Anna, a single mother who works at an Alpine inn, finds herself falling quickly for Marco, a sweetly lumbering farmhand whoâs taken up work in the area breeding cattle. Both people of stoic countenance and few words, their growing intimacy is conveyed through rapt gazes and gentle caresses, with Haddawayâs âWhat is Loveâ providing them a poppy theme song. The coupleâs bliss is soon disrupted, however, by the news that Marco has a brain tumor, which doctors tell him could have harmful, personality-altering consequences. As Anna shoulders her grief, she also negotiates her love for a man who seems to be slipping further and further away from the one she married. Amid this drama, A PIECE OF SKY devotes equal attention to the aforementioned physical landscape, depicted by cinematographer Armin Dierolf in crisp, deep-focus tableaux that turn the Alps into a kind of secular shrine (one might be reminded of Terrence Malickâs Alpine-set A HIDDEN LIFE). It is the languid, continuous flux and flow of geologic time that seems to guide A PIECE of SKY like a force from beyond, and this prompts us to ask how our protagonists fit into the larger cosmic picture. Are Anna and Marco like the boulder, stolid and resilient in the face of inexorable change? Or is their ultimate temporal transience a counterpoint to the constancy of nature? Is there heaven or just sky? In its spiritual Dreyer-esque austerity, the film points toward what is immanent in the world, which is not to say it dismisses what is possibly transcendent. Producer Christof Neracher in person at both screenings. (2022, 136 min, DCP Digital) [Jonathan Leithold-Patt]
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Sergei Loznitsaâs THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DESTRUCTION (Germany/Lithuania/Netherlands/Documentary)
AMC River East 21 â Monday, 5:30pm and Wednesday, 2pm
The latest of Sergei Loznitsaâs archival footage documentaries considers civilian life in Germany and Great Britain during World War II. As usual, Loznitsa renders the footage startlingly contemporary through the addition of music, sound effects, and voices (but never narration); he also edits the material so that it proceeds like a story rather than a document. The cinematic elements add another, defamiliarizing layer to the material, making it seem as though in 3-D. But THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DESTRUCTION achieves its greatest resonances in 2022 from the similarities between its images of devastated cities in 1940s Britain and Germany and the images of devastated cities in present-day Ukraine (where Loznitsa moved as a teenager and lived for some time thereafter) that appear daily in our news mediaâthe movie issues a sobering reminder that while history sometimes moves in the direction of progress, it is too often cyclical. Loznitsa aspires to a kind of universal terror here; indeed, itâs sometimes hard to discern in which country the action is taking place, as the destruction becomes a sad constant across all the footage on display. For Jessica Kiang, writing in Variety, this constancy fatally detracts from the film. âHopefully there will soon again be a time when the refined, detached contemplation of mass war tactics as a tragedy experienced by all sides, regardless of ideology or politics, is a worthy project⊠But with [Ukraine] currently experiencing the destructive force of the Russian invasion in an all-too-vivid present tense, such abstract philosophizing cannot but feel like a distracting luxury.â I personally found NATURAL HISTORY to be wholly immediate (and I found the British people in it more sympathetic than their German counterparts), though Kiang raises valuable questions about what it means to document and bear witness to atrocity. Loznitsa inspires such questions more frequently and with more respect for his audience than almost any other filmmaker working now. (2022, 112 min, DCP Digital) [Ben Sachs]
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ĂlfrĂșn ĂrnĂłlfsdĂłttir's BAND (Iceland)
AMC River East â Tuesday, 8:15pm and Thursday, 1pm
Virtual â Oct. 13â23 (Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin only)
ĂlfrĂșn ĂrnĂłlfsdĂłttir's BAND blurs the lines between reality television, documentary, and fiction. Following her all-female experimental rock band, Post Performance Blues Band, ĂrnĂłlfsdĂłttir's film/memoir/performance piece looks at the many lows and minor highs of scratching towards fame. The Icelandic performance artists are all moms nearing the age of 40; they give themselves one final year to achieve success before calling it quits. ĂrnĂłlfsdĂłttir films their rehearsals, performances, therapy sessions, and everything in-between, culminating in a show at one of Iceland's biggest musical venues to a far-from-sold-out crowd. BAND provides more humor than ĂrnĂłlfsdĂłttir might have wanted, but it remains a mostly engrossing look at how we all chase our dreams, regardless of age. Without talking head interviews, the director and musician leans on herself and her bandmates to provide context and exposition. The Post Performance Blues Band likely doesn't have enough music, enough fans, or enough success to warrant a full film, but the members provide their own drama. They want success. They want a level of fame and fortune. And when things don't break their way, as they often do in ĂrnĂłlfsdĂłttir's film, they're understandably devastated. Anyone who's continued to pursue something long after they've been told to quit can relate to this dream-destroying devastation. BAND is full of humor and heart, providing a platform to a group of performance artists who have performed for only 50 people or less. With this film, ĂrnĂłlfsdĂłttir might have achieved her original goal: growing her band's audience. Director in person at both screenings. (2022, 87 min, DCP Digital) [Michael Frank]
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Harriet Marin Jonesâ KING OF KINGS: CHASING EDWARD JONES (France/US/Documentary)
Chicago History Museum (1601 N. Clark St.) â Wednesday, 6pm
One of the best things to come out of recent social justice activities is that more filmmakers are telling stories that have been buried under the narratives of whatever culture dominates their society. In the United States and beyond, Al Capone is a name that lives in infamy. Forgotten are the members of Chicagoâs Black underworld. KING OF KINGS: CHASING EDWARD JONES is the most astonishing story about Chicago I never knew. Director Harriet Marin Jones, a descendant of the titular Edward Jones, recovers the tale of her grandfather and his two brothers, Mack and George, who built todayâs equivalent of a $3 billion empire in the policy racket during the 1930s. Among the so-called policy kings of Chicago, Edward Jones was known as the âking of kings.â He lived a cosmopolitan life with his beautiful wife Lydia in such cities as Paris and Mexico City, and he used their substantial income to invest in Bronzeville to help develop a thriving community on Chicagoâs South Side. He was eventually muscled out of the money by mobster Sam Giancana and, eventually, the Illinois Lottery, a legal policy racket that seems not to have accomplished its stated purpose of funding education in the state. This review only scratches the surface of the mesmerizing information in this beautifully presented documentary. Its excellent animation of still photographs by Christian Volckman and interviews with Jonesâ daughter and descendants; late civil rights activist Timuel Black, who knew the Jones family; and former Cook County judge Nicholas Ford, who makes sense of the legal aspects of the story, help personalize this larger-than-life figure. Very highly recommended. Director in person. (2022, 99 min, DCP Digital) [Marilyn Ferdinand]
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Katrine Brocksâ THE GREAT SILENCE (Denmark)
AMC River East 21 - Wednesday, 8:15pm and Thursday, 3pm
Thereâs no shortage of films on the trials and tribulations faced by people engulfed in the extremities of faith. Our priests, nuns, pastors, bishops, monks, are typically revered in some form or another, yet they too are human. If at one end of the spectrum we have a Bresson film and at the other any one of the numerous nun-related horror movies, Katrine Brockâs THE GREAT SILENCE dances around in the middle. The score is quite minimal, the great silence accompanies the nunâs Ember Days which are defined as the âquarterly periods of prayer and fasting.â Instead of an opening theme we are greeted with ambience and prayer, and shortly after we are made aware of renovations on the nunâs dilapidated chapel and the constant noise that accompanies. We are given some music cues at times, especially in moments where our protagonist Almaâs mental state is called into question. Here is where things can get a bit shaky, as an apparent turn into âelevated horrorâ looms on the horizon. Thankfully, though, Brocks keeps things grounded, making this film stand out among the slew of âdramas that arenât sure if they are horror films." As such, Almaâs character has added complexity, and her payoff requires a bit more work, but it's what a film like this deserves. Almaâs interior state is handled masterfully by Kristine Kujath Thorp, whose expressive eyes betray the face of a cheerful, young nun-to-be. Naturally, a film like this strives for a catharsis, whether spiritual or emotional. Alma finds this release, not from a mental breakdown or the defeat of a spooky entity, but rather through navigating the nuances required of relationships between one human and another, or likewise, one human and their God. Director Brocks and producer Pernille TornĂže in person at both screenings. (2022, 95 min, DCP Digital) [Drew Van Weelden]
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Shorts 7: Sudden Waves (Black Perspectives)
Austin Town Hall (5610 W Lake St) â Thursday, 6:30pm
Virtual â Oct. 13â23 (Available to stream anywhere in the US)
Produced by BlackStar (the organization that puts on the BlackStar Film Festival), writer-director Julian Turnerâs BIG THREE (2022, 18 min, Digital Projection) centers on young musicians in the 1960s recruited by a minor Philadelphia soul label for focus groups to evaluate up-and-coming acts. One particularly shy teenage boy makes a connection with a man from one of the bands, impressing him with his guitar playing. The coming-of-age element is subtle but effective, as Turner artfully exhibits the âshow, donât tellâ aspect of narrative filmmaking. The black-and-white cinematography is beautiful, and the spot-on production design transports viewers back to the time in which itâs set. Also enjoyable is the music played throughout by the up-and-coming acts. Iâd be less likely to assume that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival was in the business of producing films, but, thankfully, that seems to be the case. Thankfully because Shariffa Aliâs YOU GO GIRL (2022, 11 min, Digital Projection) is humorous and heartbreaking in equal measure, a remarkably spry rumination on grief that juxtaposes the protagonistâs life as a comedian back in New York City and her quest to scatter her motherâs ashes in the Oregon mountains. Tiffany Mann, who plays the comedian, exudes pathos and playfulness, complementing the filmâs complex tone. Titus Kaphar and Alex Mallisâ SHUT UP AND PAINT (2022, 20 min, Digital Projection) is an experimental documentary short about Kaphar, an artist with myriad accomplishments to his name; the film scrutinizes the insidious nature of the commercially oriented and white dominated world of fine art. Kaphar wonders at the irony of the people whom his work depictsâBlack people across history, across various circumstancesânot typically being able to access his art, much less own it. He also ruminates over the many occasions when heâs asked to âshut up and paint,â suppressing outward calls for justice that are nevertheless obvious in his work so that theyâre more attractive to buyers. Impressively, he manages to avoid being navel-gazey, seeming to truly grapple with these paradoxes. In Shanrica Evansâ AMINA (2022, 14 min, Digital Projection), a pregnant astronaut mourns the loss of her wife as she prepares for impending motherhood. Evans depicts two Black women astronauts in a relationship with one another as if that aspect of the plot is the most ordinary thing in the worldâwhich is as it should be. One might recognize its radical inclusivity, but thatâs likely to be secondary to the emotion one feels over its impactful story. Kevin Jerome Everson and Claudrena N. Harold never disappoint. To wit, GOSPEL HILL (2022, 5 min, Digital Projection) is a magical snippet about two men who work at the University of Virginia (where Everson and Harold teach) in non-academic positions. Their conversation seems like any one that two people might have while shooting the shit at a bar, but, as with much of their work, Everson and Harold convey all lifeâs hidden meaning in the subtlest of efforts. Michael Campusâ 1973 film THE MACK is referenced in the end credits; according to the blog Black Fire at UVA, âthe dialogue in the film draws inspiration from oral histories of black workers and popular black culture, particularly [THE MACK], starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor.â Grainy cinematography and evocative close-ups help better to aggrandize the mensâ conversation. In Armartei Armarâs TSUTSUĂ (2022, 15 min, Digital Projection), set amidst a sprawling landfill, two young boys living on the Ghana coast grapple with the death of their older brother. The younger brother becomes convinced that heâs spotted his dead brotherâs body floating in the water. Where the scenes set in the landfill are MAD MAX-ish in what they suggest, those set against the ocean evoke a magical realist parallel wherein the dead might still be seen. A similar sense of haunting imbues dream hamptonâs FRESHWATER (2022, 10 min, Digital Projection), a lyrical reflection on her childhood in Detroit, the impact of flooding, and the future of climate change. A flooded basement is frustrating, to be sure, but hampton considers its lasting implications, as buildings and memories alike are slowly wiped out by decay. The past, the present, and the future becomes as fluid, hopeful, and ominous as water itself. Filmmakers Turner, Harold, and Mallis in person. [Kat Sachs]
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Martika Ramirez Escobarâs LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE (Philippines)
Gene Siskel Film Center â Thursday, 8pm
A charming blend of varying genres and striking visuals, LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE is a strange film in the best way possible. In a confident first feature, director Martika Ramirez Escobar pays homage to Filipino action films of the 1970s and '80s. Leonor (a revelatory Sheila Francisco) is a former scriptwriter now living with her frustrated son Rudie (Bong Carbera) and unable to pay the bills. Sheâs struggling to find meaning in her life, haunted, too, by the death of her other son, Ronwaldo (Anthony Falcon). When she reads an ad requesting script submissions, she returns to work, imagining a new film which focuses on a story about a young hero named Ronwaldo (Rocky Salumbides) and his love, Isabella (Rea Molina). After being struck on the head by a falling television, Leonor falls into a coma and finds herself within her own film, interacting with her characters. Rudie attempts to wake his mother by trying to get her film made while also coming to terms with their difficult relationship; Leonor meanwhile becomes a hero in her own story. The âreal worldâ and the cinematic world of Leonorâs action film are distinguished by visual style; grainy film, dated soundtrack, and slow-moving camerawork alert the audience to the action film scenes. But as the film progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to parse the two. The diegesis of the film is playfully always one step beyond the audience. A scene taking place on a busy sound stage depicts actors recreating a very similar moment from earlier in the film; in another, a television on the street is playing the film that Leonor is imagining. These moments emphasize the blurring between reality and fiction, which culminates in a wild finale that further complicates the filmâs larger themes about the creative process. Itâs all pretty fantastic, including moments when Leonor is repeating her own lines in perfect sync with her characters and when the sound of a typewriter dictates a dance break for the fictional Ronwaldo. As fictional and real melodramas mesh and become intertwined with one another, Leonorâs living script reflects and refracts her own familyâs struggles. Amid the spirited cinematic storytelling, Franciscoâs performance is wholly enchanting; LEONOR WILL NEVER DIEâs experimental construction and themes work so well only because it's amazing to watch her navigate these varied filmic spaces. (2022, 99 min, DCP Digital) [Megan Fariello]
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Screening as part of a double feature with Bobby A. Suarezâs 1981 Filipino film THE ONE-ARMED EXECUTIONER (95 min, 35mm).
đœïž CRUCIAL VIEWING
Irvin Willatâs BELOW THE SURFACE (US/Silent)
Chicago Film Society at the Music Box Theatre â Saturday, 11:30am
BELOW THE SURFACE was a big commercial hit when it was released in 1920, and it isnât hard to guess whyâthe filmâs mix of action and melodrama is engrossing even by contemporary standards. Adapted from a scenario by E. Magnus Ingleton (what a name!), it tells the story of a professional deep-sea diver in small-town New England who must save his grown son from a pair of con artists from Boston. Why would these urban connivers set their sights on such an unlikely target? Because at the start of the film, the diver and son gain widespread media attention for saving the crew of a submarine trapped below the sea off the coast of Maine. The hucksters plan to convince these good men to dive for some buried treasure, then make off with the loot when they bring it ashore. Director Irvin Willat (what a name!) creates effective suspense set pieces out of the submarine rescue and, late in the film, the sinking of a passenger ship that has the father and the con artists aboard. In between these thrilling sequences, which exude such strong fear of dying, comes some relatively creaky moral drama, which exudes less a fear of damnation than a scolding attitude toward wayward souls who might bring others to damnation. The film associates the con artists with all sorts of depravityâgambling, sham marriage, sexual licentiousnessâsuggesting that sinners are all the worse for offending the Lord so indiscriminately. Conversely, the father, played by Hobart Bosworth (what a name!), is depicted as upstanding, selfless, and braveâa veritable package deal of goodness. One might laugh at the blunt moralizing of BELOW THE SURFACE, but then who knows how ridiculous the moralizing attitudes of the early 2020s will look in a hundred years? Preceded by the 1925 short SAN FRANCISCO, THE GOLDEN GATE CITY (5 min, 35mm). (1920, 93 min, 35mm) [Ben Sachs]
Sudanese Film Group Shorts
Block Cinema (at Northwestern University) â Thursday, 7pm
The Sudanese Film Group was founded in 1989 by a group of filmmakers working within the Sudanese Department of Culture who had alo started publishing a periodical called Cinema in the late 1970s. Looking to gain independence from the constraints of state-sponsored filmmaking, they started the group to engage more purposely with cinema in its various forms, from filmmaking to exhibition and educational opportunities. Most of the films in this program, however, were produced before then. Made in 1964 as his graduation film from the Deutsche Hochschule fĂŒr Filmkunst Potsdam-Babelsberg in East Germany, Ibrahim Shaddadâs JAGDPARTIE (HUNTING PARTY) (40 min, Digital Projection) riffs on the Western genre, assuming some of its trappings to underpin a mordant critique of Western civilization. Shot in a forest in ââBrandenburg, the film centers on a Black farm worker attempting to evade a mob of white men. He comes across a white man lazing in the woods and begins helping him with cutting wood and other similar chores. The worker also meets the white manâs wife, and the three soon fall into a pleasant, if hushed rapport on the couplesâ small property. The latter manâs boss eventually shows up, rifle in tow, and it becomes clear that heâs part of the mob looking for the worker. Your assumption of what happens next is likely correct, as Shaddad subverts tropes of both the Western genre and the culture of Western civilization to put forth the filmâs bitingly cynical denouement. Also made abroadâin Egypt, at the Higher Institute of Cinema in CairoâTHE TOMB (1977, 17 min, Digital Projection) assumes a similarly caustic timbre, here to excoriate false prophets. The director, Eltayeb Mahdi, was a founding member of the Film Group; THE TOMB is a no-frills allegory shot on 16mm and set in the desert. Itâs there the prophet in question takes an otherwise nondescript mound and starts showing it as being the grave of a sheik, accepting money and goods in exchange for blessings. Even when heâs revealed to be an impostor, his followers maintain their blind devotion. Another film by Shaddad, JAMAL (A CAMEL) (1981, 13 min, Digital Projection), commissioned by the Sudanese Department of Culture to document the traditional production of sesame oil, centers on the titular ungulate to whimsical effectâwhimsical insomuch as the creaky roar of a circular press can be. Corybantic editing compares the camel with heavy duty machinery whose gigantic claws vaguely resembles the animalâs distinctive split lips. Later, a series of camels in funny hats heighten the sense of whimsy. The chiaroscuro cinematography at times makes it feel like MICKEY ONE, but⊠with camels. Mahdiâs AL MAHATTA (THE STATION) (1989, 15 min, Digital Projection) rounds out the program, with equivalently potent editing. Itâs less frenetic, though, and more thoughtful as scenes respective to a major Sudanese crossroads weaves a complex tapestry. Made the same year as the founding of the Film Group, it was also the same year as the military coup that suppressed much of Sudanâs arts culture. The group disbanded as a result, just two months after its inception, and it wasnât until 2005 that they were able to resume their pursuit. Thanks to the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin, several of the group membersâ films were restored in 2018. No mere curios, these are hidden gems of art, culture, and political expression. [Kat Sachs]
Ernst Lubitsch's NINOTCHKA (US)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Monday, 7pm
In his interpretation of the phrase "The Lubitsch Touch," Jonathan Rosenbaum opined that this so-called touch is made up of three distinct qualities that both set the German director apart from his contemporaries and account for his being a significant source of inspiration to his successors. The first two parts of his definition refer to Ernst Lubitsch's "specifically Eastern European capacity to represent the cosmopolitan sophistication of continental Europeans to Americans" and "[his] way of regarding his characters that could be described as a critical affection for flawed individuals who operate according to double standards"; the third part refers to Lubitsch's incorporation of music in his films, but while Werner R. Heymann's score is certainly a compliment to the wonderfully funny and romantic story in NINOTCHKA, it is not as necessary to his distinct style in this film as it was in his acclaimed musicals from the late 20s and early 30s. Though Rosenbaum acknowledges that all three elements are not present in every one of Lubitsch's films, the first two most definitely account for the winning effect of "The Lubitsch Touch" in this 1939 MGM production that is sometimes overlooked in lieu of his earlier and later successes (the musicals and TROUBLE IN PARADISE before, THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER immediately thereafter). Similar to his 1942 film TO BE OR NOT TO BE, NINOTCHKA satirizes and even romanticizes a touchy but timely subject using Lubitsch's above-mentioned abilities. In the film a typically steely Greta Garbo plays a Russian envoy sent by the Soviet Union to Paris in order to broker the sale of the dissolved aristocracy's opulent jewels. The jewels once belonged to the former Grand Duchess Swana, who now resides in Paris and has the charming Count Leon as her uncommitted romantic companion. Much to their own surprise, Ninotchka and Count Leon meet and fall in love; as a Communist from the Soviet Union and a capitalistic Count living lavishly in Paris, respectively, their coupledom is the base double-standard from which Lubitsch's 'touch' emanates. As with couples from other Lubitsch films, their romance is seemingly ill-fated, not so much against the odds as just odd, and insurmountable only in that, in a film by anyone else but Lubitsch, it wouldn't work at all. But above their romantic dynamic in terms of a double-standard is their political and cultural dynamic, which calls back to Rosenbaum's ideas about Lubitsch's sophistication. Film historian Jeremy Mindich declared NINOTCHKA "arguably the most complex American movie ever made about the Soviet Union," and while that is definitely arguable, it says a lot about Lubitsch's own cosmopolitan sophistication that his film both satirizes and humanizes Communist characters. Billy Wilder, who co-wrote the script, once described the Lubitsch Touch as being the "elegant use of the Superjoke. You had a joke, and you felt satisfied, and then there was one more big joke on top of it. The joke you didn't expect." When asked by the three envoy-stooges who preceded her to Paris about the mass trials happening in their home country, Ninotchka replies that they were a great success, declaring, "There will be fewer but better Russians." In NINOTCHKA, political humor one-ups sexual humor in terms of salaciousness, so such an off-color joke is satisfying to the viewer who expects as much from Lubitsch. But the big joke no one is expecting is Count Leon's response to Ninotchka's communist ideals. He reads Marx and even tries to convince his personal attendant that their professional dynamic is unfair. From there, the jokes get bigger and bigger until even Lenin is cracking a smile. In his essay for the Criterion Collection DVD release of TROUBLE IN PARADISE, critic Armond White observes that Lubitsch is "able to indulge carefree behavior because it is undergirded with his appreciation of life's hard facts." No less than such a sophisticated double standard is to be expected from Lubitsch, and NINOTCHKA is a prime example from his canon. Screening as part of Docâs Monday series, âWonderfully Loathsome: Screwball Romance Through the Ages.â (1939, 110 min, 35mm) [Kat Sachs]
Thom Eberhardt's NIGHT OF THE COMET (US)
FACETS Cinema â Saturday, 9:30pm
Celluloid saves. Case in point, when most every living creature has been turned to dust upon the comet-induced end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it in writer-director Thom Eberhardtâs NIGHT OF THE COMET, 18-year-old Reggie (Catherine Mary Stewart) manages to survive after spending the night in an old-school projection booth. As it would happen, projection booths used to be lined with steel, the very alloy that protects against the cometâs dissolutive effects. Reggie and her boyfriend, the projectionist, are thus spared from the after-effects of the comet, which not only vaporized most living things, but also turned some who werenât killed into flesh-eating zombies. Wandering around Los Angeles, her boyfriend having been killed by said miscreations, Reggie finds a few other survivors, including her 16-year-old sister Sam (Kelli Maroney), who is alive after spending the night in a steel tool shed, and Hector (Robert Beltran), a good-looking truck driver who was protected by his vehicle's steel cab. The filmâs plot is relatively unsophisticatedâand exploitative, all in good funâbut its distinction lies in that simplicity. (Eberhardt described its scenario as âValley girls at the end of the world." Incidentally, the mall scenes were shot at Sherman Oaks Galleria, where both VALLEY GIRL and FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH were filmed. Joss Whedon also claims it was a direct influence on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer.") I was taken with the neat ingenuity; itâs a film that uses its limitations to its advantage, rather than as an excuse as to why it canât be something else, something more. But it neednât be, with a self-assured aesthetic that makes up for a thin, albeit quotable, script. To give a sense of its visual triumph, thereâs a crewmember whose credit is simply âneon,â of which there is seemingly no shortage in post-apocalyptic L.A. (1984, 91 min, Blu-Ray) [Kat Sachs]
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Screening as part of the Tribute to Jim Wynorski & Kelli Maroney series. Preceded by a virtual Q&A with Maroney at 9pm. Other films in the series include Allan Holzmanâs 1982 film FORBIDDEN WORLD (77 min, DCP Digital) on Saturday at 4:30pm and Wynorskiâs 1986 film CHOPPING MALL (77 min, DCP Digital) on Saturday at 7pm, preceded by a virtual Q&A with Wynorski at 6:30pm.
Jacques Rivette's DUELLE (France)
Doc Fims (at the University of Chicago) â Sunday, 5pm
Jacques Rivette understood that the magic of narrative cinema had little to do with narrative; rather, it came from the accumulation of gestures, fetish objects, and make-believe that rendered each movie a world unto itself. A follow-up to his greatest achievement, CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (1974), DUELLE was released along with NOROĂT in 1976 as parts of an intended quartet of films, but the third and fourth episodes were never made. In hindsight, the unfinished nature of the project seems to epitomize Rivette, who was known for his unresolved, yet remarkably intricate, conspiracy premises. DUELLE even goes so far as to invent its own cosmology, which involves immortal beings assuming human form in contemporary Paris, but the nature of the myth remains opaque until the end. As a storyteller, Rivette was more concerned with imagining complications than with connecting them, and this makes DUELLE feel like a Louis Feuillade serial, with the suggestion that the narrative innovations could spin out indefinitely. Enhancing the connection with silent cinema, Rivette had pianist Jean Wiener on set throughout the filming of DUELLE to accompany the action. As Henry Witt explained in his program notes for the UW Cinematheque, "Though always on-location when providing accompaniment, Wiener and his piano are only sometimes visible onscreen. His appearances vary from having entirely sensible diegetic motivationsâperforming at a nightclub, for instanceâto the nonsensical, like when he appears midway through a private hotel room conversation... This slippery approach to the diegesis reflects the filmâs handling of realism and fantasy generally." The cinematography, by regular Rivette collaborator William Lubtchansky, adds to the film's slippery nature. While it doesn't seem overtly fantastical, the photography nonetheless captures magic auras in real locations, like the great shafts of lights that shoot through a train station early on in the film or the glow off of fish tanks in a late-night aquarium sequence clearly indebted to Welles' THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1947). Such effects suggest (like the narrative itself) a supernatural presence lurking beneath the veneer of ordinary life; for Rivette, cinema had the power to bring that presence out into the open. Screening as part of Docâs Sunday series, âJacques Rivette, New Wave Master.â (1976, 121 min, DCP Digital) [Ben Sachs]
Jeffrey Lau's THE EAGLE SHOOTING HEROES (Hong Kong)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Wednesday, 7pm
What do you do when your massive period film goes way over budget and you want to hide this fact from the studio? You give the studio a second movie! As a rising star filmmaker of Hong Kong cinema in the early 1990s, Wong Kar-wai was reaching the end of production on his massive epic, ASHES OF TIME (1994). After going way over schedule and budget, he came up with the idea to justify the cost and length of the shoot by producing another film, THE EAGLE SHOOTING HEROES (a parody of Yin Jong's beloved novel The Legend of Condor Heroes), with his friend and collaborator Jeffrey Lau directing. Many consider this frivolous action film to be Lauâs masterpiece. Sammo Hung, arguably the greatest action director alive, choreographed the fight sequences in perfect sync with the tone of the film. Actors known for serious dramatic roles engage in buffoonery in this over-the-top martial arts period piece. Tony Leung, mainly known for his dramatic portrayals from Wong's later work, plays a villain of a Wile E. Coyote kind. For a Western audience, a film of this style seems comfortable for Maggie Cheung, having portrayed Jackie Chanâs girlfriend in the colossally successful POLICE STORY films. With someone of Brigette Linâs notoriety, she fits like a glove in the absurd mesh. In this film, it feels like Wong may be starting to form an ensemble of actors he wants to work with over and over. With the chaotic flamboyance of the movie, it looks like actors are having a good time with these larger-than-life characters. Itâs a blast watching Hong Kongâs brightest talent going all out for this farce. THE EAGLE SHOOTING HEROES is one of a kind in the history of Hong Kong films and deserves recognition for its bold style and hilarious antics. Screening as part of Docâs Wednesday series, âCenter Stage: The Films of Maggie Cheung. (1993, 103 min, DCP Digital) [Ray Ebarb]
đœïž ALSO RECOMMENDED
Jean-Luc Godard's BREATHLESS (France)
Gene Siskel Film Center â See Venue website for showtimes
The cinematic equivalent of "Like a Rolling Stone," Jean-Luc Godard's first feature was a near-unprecedented mix of pop and intellectual sensibilities, breaking numerous rules of the form and paving the way for a good deal of art in the 1960s. The film's stylistic breakthroughs have been so influential as to seem familiar nowâparticularly the newsreel-like cinematography and randomly employed jump-cuts (which Jonathan Rosenbaum has compared to "a needle skipping gaily across a record"). But beneath the carefree attitude is a rich poetic sensibility, arguably the one consistent trait throughout Godard's varied body of work. In BREATHLESS' justly celebrated centerpieceâan extended lovers' interlude between Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean SebergâGodard mixes literary quotations and frank sexual dialogue across a romantic depiction of time being gloriously wasted. All these elements were revolutionary in 1960, though the explicit use of citation may have attracted the most attention at the time. This was, after all, the film that marked the explosion of the French New Wave, the first filmmaking movement presided over by film critics. And from the opening title card (a dedication to B-movie studio Monogram Pictures) to the climactic shoot-out, BREATHLESS is a film fascinated by the cinema's influence over real life. Belmondo's petty thief tries to act like Humphrey Bogart, and Seberg was cast, according to Godard, as a continuation of her role in Otto Preminger's BONJOUR TRISTESSE (1957). Five years after the film was released, Godard would make the famous proclamation that a director must put everything into a film; but BREATHLESSâwhich combined storytelling, criticism, autobiography, and formal experimentation more boldly than any narrative film before itâwas the first glimpse of what this may look like. Screening as part of the Au Revoir, Godard series. (1960, 90 min, DCP Digital) [Ben Sachs]
Jean-Luc Godard's PIERROT LE FOU (France)
Gene Siskel Film Center â See Venue website for showtimes
Jean-Luc Godard made 14 feature films during the first phase of his filmmaking career, the celebrated French New Wave period that began with BREATHLESS in 1960 and ended with WEEKEND in 1967. PIERROT LE FOU premiered two years before the latter film and similarly uses the story of a bourgeois couple in flight to engage in some wildly absurd scenarios. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays a bored husband who runs off with his beautiful babysitter (Anna Karina, Godard's wife at the time) to the south of France. Never serious or sensible, the film is well described by New Yorker film critic Richard Brody as a collage of "sociology, philosophy, poetry, politics, and outright caprice." Godard was known for putting together his films on the fly, and such spontaneity is evident here, with random plot developments (Belmondo driving his car into a river) casually merging with set pieces (a short play about the Vietnam War). And littered throughout are the cultural artifacts that Godard so liked to reference: static shots of posters and paintings, repeated mentions of consumer goods, a cameo by Samuel Fuller. Mostly playful, the film nevertheless dabbles in the type of film essay that would mark Godard's post-1967 turn towards more political and experimental works. There are surely politics here, but they're hidden within the comic angst of the leads, who, like many in the 1960s, were quite sure of what they were fighting against, but less sure of what they were fighting for. Screening as part of the Au Revoir, Godard series. (1965, 110 min, DCP Digital) [Martin Stainthorp]
Jean-Luc Godard's BAND OF OUTSIDERS (France)
Gene Siskel Film Center â See Venue website for showtimes
Time has been incredibly kind to Jean-Luc Godard's lightweight "crime movie," a notable flop in its time that emerged, nearly half-a-century later, as one of the filmmaker's most enduringly (and endearingly) popular films. A seemingly tossed-off distillation of the themes, obsessions, and techniques of JLG's early period, this loose adaptation of a largely-forgotten American pulp novelâFool's Gold, by Dolores Hitchensâstars Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur as a couple of incompetent dreamer hoods, and Godard's then-wife and muse Anna Karina as a girl they meet in their English class and rope into helping them commit a robbery. Karina gives what is perhaps her definitive performance, combining tragedy, resolve, and girlish charm into a single enigmatic package, and the film's giddy, scuzzy styleâpacked tight with references, meta-jokes, and directorial flight-of fancyâis downright intoxicating. If you've never seen a Godard film, this might be the place to start. Screening as part of the Au Revoir, Godard series. (1964, 97 min, DCP Digital) [Ignatiy Vishnevetsky]
Ernest Dickerson's BONES (US)
FACETS Cinema â Friday, 9pm
While BONES was drastically undervalued upon its original release, I hope that the time is right to appreciate its unique mix of influences, which range from blaxploitation to A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET to Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. BONES juggles two settings. In 1979, numbers runner Jimmy Bones (Snoop Dogg) is beloved in his community, but when he refuses to allow cop Lupovich (Michael T. Weiss) and drug dealer Eddie Mack (Ricky Harris) to introduce crack to the neighborhood, they force him to smoke a rock and then murder him. In the present day, two white dudes trying to score drugs stumble into an apparently abandoned building, which is actually inhabited by a dog possessed by Bonesâ spirit; four teenagers then buy the locale in order to reopen it as a dance club. While they succeed, Bones uses the occasion to take revenge on the people who participated in his murder. BONES brings a hallucinatory edge to horror: itâs full of sinister background images that are visible to the audience but not the characters. Ernest Dickerson was able to work with the biggest budget of his directorial career, which enabled him to use gooey practical effects. Ghosts coated in oily gunk reach out to one character as he zones out on his bed, listening to music on headphones. Dickersonâs tremendous skill as a cinematographer is on display here, with garish colors and Dutch angles that set up a vision of an underworld persisting under the surface. The film carries a nasty edge hinting at a stoned paranoia. Fundamentally, itâs about the way America papers over the violence of the past without any genuine acknowledgment, healing, or justice, but it succumbs too often to the endless gross-out jokes and supernatural mindfuck of the weaker NIGHTMARE sequels. Snoop Dogg proves better at playing an iconâintroduced in pinstripe suit and fedora to the tune of smooth, funky guitars and synthesizersâthan a character, and Bonesâ benevolence is hastily sketched in. Yet BONES stands out from the trends of its time, with serious things to say about gentrification, poverty, and drugs that avoids recent horror moviesâ penchant for making subtext into text. Plus, there's a dog vomiting an endless spray of maggots!(2001, 96 min, Digital Projection) [Steve Erickson]
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Screening as part of the Hip Hop + Horrors double feature with James Bond IIIâs 1990 film DEF BY TEMPTATION (94 min, Digital Projection) at 7pm.
Jonathan Glazerâs UNDER THE SKIN (UK/Switzerland)
FACETS Cinema â Sunday, 3pm
Glazerâs first feature in nearly a decade following 2004âs BIRTH and what a return it was. In what is arguably the finest performance she has ever given, a black-haired Scarlett Johansson plays an alien who appears in Scotland and dons the aforementioned actressesâ appearance as if it were a costume. For much of the film, she roams around Glasgow in a utility van to pick up unwitting men only to lead them back to her abyss-like lair from which they never return. Many of these sequences maintain a hyperrealism thanks in part to the fact that Glazer hid cameras in and around the van while Johansson speaks with these men (many of whom were not actors, but rather just people out walking around). These unscripted scenes are fascinating to behold because they further stress the notion that her character is an outsider trying to blend in with modern society while she goes out to "hunt." Mica Leviâs haunting score boosts the filmâs unnerving tone. The discordant sounds heighten the uncomfortable, sinister atmosphere Glazer cultivates and at times, seem otherworldly. One of the most interesting facets of this film is the way in which sexual politics and traditional gender roles are essentially reversed: here it is the men who should by wary of a strange woman attempting to pick them up. There is a strong sense of feminism underlying the filmâs dark veneer. Heady, parasitic, and eerie, UNDER THE SKIN brings to the forefront contemporary societal issues and tackles them in unique fashion. It is the kind of film that sticks with you long after leaving the theater and in this writerâs opinion, a modern masterpiece. Screening as part of the Symphony of Horrors series. (2013, 108 min, DCP Digital) [Kyle Cubr]
Cathy Yan's DEAD PIGS (China)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Tuesday, 7pm
Writing for MUBI about the influences on her debut feature, DEAD PIGS, writer-director Cathy Yan cited two filmsâRobert Altmanâs NASHVILLE and Paul Thomas Andersonâs MAGNOLIAâand several contemporary photographers. These influences play out clearly in DEAD PIGS, an ambitious, multi-character narrative thatâs rich in striking imagery. Like NASHVILLE and MAGNOLIA, the movie is as much about its setting (in this case, rapidly evolving Shanghai and its outskirts) as it is about the characters, and both are portrayed with a mix of sympathy and cynicism. Yanâs storytelling feels more closely aligned with Andersonâs than Altmanâs: DEAD PIGS is not a hazy hang-out movie where the characters cross paths by chance (if at all), but rather a fully orchestrated affair in which people come together by destiny and grand fictional devices. Yanâs narrative machinations donât become obvious for a while; for its first 20 or 30 minutes, DEAD PIGS hums along on the energy of the gliding camerawork and hyped-up cross-cutting, both of which convey a sense of constant activity befitting the ever-changing environment. The film largely takes place in two settings, old neighborhoods on the brink of demolition and the modern skyscrapers taking their place. Embodying the first of those settings is Candy Wang, a beauty parlor owner who refuses to leave the two-story home she was raised in, despite the fact that every other homeowner on her block has sold their property to a large-scale development firm, which has already razed all the other buildings before the movie starts. (Yan based the character on a real-life woman who helped start Chinaâs ânailhouseâ phenomenon of homeowners who refuse to leave their homes when developers attempt to demolish them.) Representing the new Shanghai is Sean, an American architect embarking on a career with the firm that wants to buy Candyâs house. A naive westerner who sees Chinaâs wild capitalist dog race as an opportunity to make it big, Sean resembles the hero of John Maringouinâs gonzo independent production GHOSTBOX COWBOY (which premiered the same year as this), though DEAD PIGS never becomes a nightmare like Maringouinâs film does. The closest it gets is in the hideous spectacle of the title. Throughout the story, Shanghai is plagued by a disease that kills pigs by the thousands; the regionâs poor pig farmers abandon the corpses in the rivers, and the image serves as a metaphor for the displaced victims of Chinaâs avalanche-like urbanization. Screening as part of Docâs Tuesday series, âAfter the 5th: China and the 21st Century.â (2018, 122 min, DCP Digital) [Ben Sachs]
Eiichi Yamamoto's BELLADONNA OF SADNESS (Japan/Animation)
FACETS Cinema â Thursday, 9pm
Originally released only in Japan and parts of Europe, Eiichi Yamamoto's 1973 animated feature BELLADONNA OF SADNESS is finally seeing its first U.S. theatrical run in a new digital restoration, allowing audiences beyond its small but passionate cult following to experience this important work. The film is set in Medieval Japan where two struggling farmers, Jean and Jeanne, are looking to pay their debts to their feudal lord anyway that they can. Jeanne strikes a deal with the devil to give her more power and the means to support herself and her beau. This leads to her becoming a witch, whose power ultimately surpasses the overbearing lord. BELLADONNA's most striking feature is its art direction. Like an ever-turning kaleidoscope, it blends psychedelic cacophonies of color in some scenes with a more watercolor-like style that is surely inspired by French Impressionism paintings in others. The dichotomy of static images that are often larger than the frame and panned or tilted upon versus a more traditional animation approach creates an interesting juxtaposition. This forces the viewer to scrutinize the minutia of available sensory options, be it the sound design or the color palette of the particular scene. The static shots are reminiscent of stained-glass windows, complementing the religious iconography in the film. Thematically, the BELLADONNA examines sexuality and its influences on power or control. Those willing to give into carnal urges are rewarded with their deepest desires, but frequently face consequences for their promiscuity, becoming indentured to authority figures. The sexual motif is the film's backbone and runs a spectrum from passionate to violent to depraved. Before HEAVY METAL and THE WALL, there was BELLADONNA OF SADNESSâan hour and a half acid trip that is as subjective as a Rorschach test and one that explores both sides of the misogyny and feminism coin. (1973, 89 min, DCP Digital) [Kyle Cubr]
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Screening as part of the FACETS Anime Club Presents: Psychedelic Cult Horror double feature with Mamoru Oshiiâs 1985 film ANGELâS EGG (71 min, DCP Digital) at 7pm.
Ana Lily Amirpour's A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (US)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Friday, 7pm
Distributor Kino/Lorber has cannily but misleadingly marketed A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT as the "first Iranian vampire western." The film's writer/director, Ana Lily Amirpour, was born in London to Iranian parents and raised in America; it was shot in Bakersfield, California (standing in for a fictional Iranian ghost town named "Bad City"); the cast consists almost entirely of Persian-American actors speaking Farsi; and, aside from a stray spaghetti-western-inflected song or two on the diegetic-heavy soundtrack, the movie bears almost no relationship whatsoever to the western genre. It would be more accurate to describe this stylishly crafted, auspicious debut feature as an adult version of LET THE RIGHT ONE INâa poignant love story about the coming together of two lonely souls, one of whom just happens to be a vampire. The fact that the titular bloodsucker is a hijab-wearing young woman (the excellent Sheila Vand) who only preys on "bad men" has drawn both political and feminist allegorical readings from critics, although this is arguably giving too much credit to a film whose substance is primarily to be found in its surface pleasures. Still, what a surface. Amirpour and director of photography Lyle Vincent weave a potent alchemical magic with their high-contrast black-and-white cinematographyâAmirpour's almost exclusive focus on nighttime exteriors in weird industrial locations (i.e., Bakersfield's oil refineries, factories, and railroad yards) recalls the nightmarish atmosphere of her hero David Lynch's ERASERHEAD but, combined with her impeccable taste in pop-music cues, creates a dreamy/druggy vibe that is both entrancing and wholly her own. It's probably too early to tell whether the movie's weaker second half is the result of Amirpour's failure to build narrative momentum or a byproduct of the fact that her true talents may lie outside the realm of traditional storytelling altogether; A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT's single best moment is a non-sequitur involving a drag-queen dancing with a balloon. In this startling non-narrative sequence, the charm of the choreography between performer and balloon is almost perfectly matched by the charm of the choreography between camera and performer. Screening as part of Docâs Friday series, âProgrammersâ Picks.â (2014, 99 min, DCP Digital) [Michael Glover Smith]
đïž PHYSICAL SCREENINGS/EVENTS â
ALSO SCREENING
â« Asian Pop-Up Cinema
The extensive Asian Pop-Up Cinema series continues its fifteenth season. Their in-person and virtual offerings are too many to list. Visit here for more information.
â« Comfort Film at Comfort Station
âAnimated Forgotten Horror Shorts,â programmed by Paul Freitag-Fey, screen on Wednesday at 8pm. Free admission. Line-up TBD; check venue website for more info (when available) here.
â« Doc Films (at the University of Chicago)
Joseph Kosinskiâs 2022 film TOP GUN: MAVERICK (130 min, DCP Digital) screens on Saturday, 7pm, as part of the âTop Doc: MaverdockâNew Releasesâ series.
Fred M. Wilcoxâs 1956 film FORBIDDEN PLANET (98 min, DCP Digital) screens on Thursday, 7pm, as part of Thursday I series, âShakespeare Remixed.â
Richard Williamsâ 1992 animated film THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER: A MOMENT IN TIME screens on Thursday, 9:30pm, as part of the Thursday II series, âMyths, Legends, and Folk Tales: A Brief History of Animation.â More info on all screenings here.
â« FACETS Cinema
Trey Edward Shultsâ 2017 film IT COMES AT NIGHT (91 min, DCP Digital) screens on Sunday, 5pm, as part of the month-long series, âA Symphony of Horror: The Old, The New & The Unexpected.â
The FACETS Horror Pop-Up Market & Warehouse Sale takes place Saturday from 4-9pm. More info on all screenings and events here.
â« Film Studies Center (at the Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago)
âIntelligence in Motion: Plants on Filmâ (1899-2019, 79 min, 16mm, 35mm, and digital video) screens on Friday at 7pm. Curated by Yangqiao Lu and preceded by an introduction by Department of Cinema and Media Studies and Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations Professor Thomas Lamarre. More info here.
â« Gene Siskel Film Center
Several Chicago International Film Festival screenings are taking place at the Film Center throughout the week. Check Venue website for more info and showtimes.
Leos Caraxâs 2012 film HOLY MOTORS (115 min, DCP Digital) screens on Monday, 6pm, as part of 50/50, the Siskelâs year-long series including a film from each year the theater has been open.
Emilio Marreseâs 2022 documentary IL GIOVANE CORSARO - PASOLINI DA BOLOGNA (98 min, DCP Digital) screens on Wednesday, 7:30pm, as part of the Pier Paolo Pasolini series.
As part of Conversations at the Edge, âMarta Pajek: IMPOSSIBLE FIGURES AND OTHER STORIESâ screens on Thursday at 6pm. The program includes all three films of Pajekâs IMPOSSIBLE FIGURES AND OTHER STORIES trilogy (2017-2021, 50 min, Digital Projection). Followed by a virtual discussion with Pajek. More info on all screenings here.
â« Mental Filmness 2022 Live Program at the Davis Theater
Alyssa Thordarsonâs short film AFTER: A LOVE STORY screens on Saturday at 7pm, with Thordarson in person, and Vanessa Leonardâs feature-length film A STORY WORTH LIVING screens afterward at 8pm, with cast and crew in person. Both screenings are free with optional donations; all proceeds go to support mental health. More info here.
â« Music Box Theatre
Todd Fieldâs 2022 film TĂR (158 min, DCP Digital) opens, and Ti Westâs 2022 horror film PEARL (102 min, DCP Digital) continues. See Venue website for showtimes.
Presented by the Bloody Disgusting Networkâs Halloweenies: A Horror Franchise Podcast, Ken Wiederhornâs 1988 film RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD II (89 min, 35mm) screens on Friday at midnight; WES CRAVENâS NEW NIGHTMARE (1994, 112 min, 35mm) screens on Saturday at midnight; Michele Soaviâs 1994 film CEMETERY MAN (105 min, 35mm) screens on Sunday at 9pm; Elliot Silversteinâs 1977 film THE CAR (98 min, 35mm) screens on Monday at 7pm; Chris Sivertsonâs 2007 film I KNOW WHO KILLED ME (106 min, 35mm) screens on Tuesday at 9:45pm; Harry KĂŒmelâs 1971 Euro-horror film DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (97 min, DCP Digital) screens on Wednesday at 9:45pm; and Michelle Garza Cerveraâs 2022 film HUESARA (93 min, DCP Digital) screens on Thursday, 9:30pm, as part of the Chicago International Film Festival. All films screen as part of the Music Box of Horrors: Scared Stupid series.
Ewa Bielskaâs 2022 film BREAKING IRON (20 min, DCP Digital) screens on Saturday at 4:30pm. Preshow Reception in the Music Box Lounge, and a Q&A with the director following the screening.
Tom Shadyacâs 1997 comedy LIAR LIAR (87 min, 35mm) and Mike Leighâs 1993 film NAKED (131 min, DCP Digital) screen on Saturday, 7pm, as part of the Highs & Lows series.
Anton Corbijnâs 2007 film CONTROL (122 min, 35mm) screens on Sunday, 11:30am, as part of the Music Box Staff Picks! series.
The Book Stall presents âAn Evening with Ralph Macchioâ and his new book Waxing On on Wednesday at 7pm. Macchion will appear on stage in conversation with Mike Leonard. Each ticket includes a signed copy of the new book, and Macchio will pose for photos with ticket-holders. More info on all screenings and events here.
â« South Side Projections
Susan Stechnijâs 1973 documentary MI RAZA: PORTRAIT OF A FAMILY (30 min, Digital Projection) and LA ESPERANZA (1981, 17 min, Digital Projection), created by students then enrolled in Community TV Networkâs video program at Latino Youth Alternative High School, screens on Tuesday, 5:30pm, at the Rudy Lozano Chicago Public Library (1805 S. Loomis St.). Includes a Q&A led by artist-activist Nicole Marroquin. More info here.
đïž LOCAL ONLINE SCREENINGS â
ALSO SCREENING/STREAMING
â« Video Data Bank
ââMake Believe, Itâs Just like the Truth Clings to Itâ: In Conversation with the Work of Cecilia Dougherty,â curated by Amanda Mendelsohn, is available to stream for free on VDB TV. The program includes Doughertyâs THE DRAMA OF THE GIFTED CHILD (1992, 6 min); MY FAILURE TO ASSIMILATE (1995, 20 min); THE DREAM AND THE WAKING (1997, 15 min); and GONE (2001, 36 min). More info here.
CINE-LIST: October 14 - October 20, 2022
MANAGING EDITORS // Ben and Kat Sachs
CONTRIBUTORS // Kyle Cubr, Ray Ebarb, Steve Erickson, Megan Fariello, Marilyn Ferdinand, Michael Frank, Jonathan Leithold-Patt, Michael Glover Smith, Martin Stainthorp, Drew Van Weelden, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky