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đ CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
The 58th Chicago International Film Festival continues through Sunday. 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.
Harriet Marin Jonesâ KING OF KINGS: CHASING EDWARD JONES (France/US/Documentary)
Hamilton Park Cultural Center â Friday, 6:30pm (Free Admission)
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. (2022, 99 min, DCP Digital) [Marilyn Ferdinand]
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Alex Phillipsâ ALL JACKED UP AND FULL OF WORMS (US)
Music Box Theatre â Friday, 9:30pm
This batshit-crazy body horror/black comedy is the reason why "After Dark" sidebars at film festivals exist. It may not have a lot on its mind, aside from the desire to provoke visceral reactions from adventurous viewers, but seeing it with a boozy late-night crowd should be fun. ALL JACKED UP begins with bearded weirdo Benny (Trevor Dawkins) mail-ordering a plastic baby sex doll aimed at the pedophile marketâone of the more disturbing props in contemporary cinemaâto satisfy his earnest desire to become a parent. After sex-worker Henrietta (Eva Fellows) turns him on to eating earthworms that possess hallucinogenic properties, Benny teams up with motel employee and fellow worm enthusiast Roscoe (Phillip Andre Botello), and the duo embark on an absurd and violent crime spree. This microbudget psychedelic odyssey, which boasts a fair number of gruesome and impressive practical effects, may not ultimately "mean anything" but it does possess a certain scuzzy integrity. The cast, led by Dawkins (a veteran of Chicago's Neo-Futurist Theater who first proved his transgressive cinema bonafides in Spencer Parsons' BITE RADIUS [2015]), certainly gives it their all; and, formally, the story becomes increasingly non-narrative as it progresses in order to correspond to the disintegrating mental states of the characters. By the final scene, it feels like the film itself is tripping. (2022, 72 min, DCP Digital) [Michael Glover Smith]
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Adam Koloman RybanskĂœâs SOMEWHERE OVER THE CHEMTRAILS (Czech Republic)
AMC River East 21 â Saturday, 12:30pm and Sunday, 2:30pm
Airplanes coast overhead, spitting out chemtrails over a small Czech village. To protect himself, a local firefighter sprays vinegar all over his scalp, which may explain his distractingly balding head despite his young age. This typifies the black humor of SOMEWHERE OVER THE CHEMTRAILS, a feature debut that shows great promise. Our main character, Standa, is a firefighter for the village and could be categorized as a bit of an oaf. With a child on the way and a lack of self-assuredness, he frustratingly has to rely on his elder coworker Bronya for help with most things. Bronya himself though has a void in his life, and the two men find themselves drawn into a conspiracy that stretches from chemtrails to racism and terrorist attacks. With SOMEWHERE OVER THE CHEMTRAILS, RybanskĂœ shows how quickly one can be drawn into these black holes of dread. Standa and especially Bronya hardly hesitate to consider the logic of the scenario, but what human could resist the opportunity to serve a mission greater than themselves? Despite the protests of Standaâs wife, Jana, he wavers on what to do until his lunacy rises to its peak and is hacked down in a wonderful panning shot weaving man, the land, and destruction into one. With a sparse yet brass-heavy score, RybanskĂœâs film is dry, hilarious and caricatures small town life with a care and understanding that are necessary for a film like this to succeed. (2022, 85 mins, DCP Digital) [Drew Van Weelden]
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Christophe HonorĂ©âs WINTER BOY (France)
AMC River East 21 â Saturday, 2:30pm and Sunday, 7:15pm
Seventeen-year-old Lucas (Paul Kircher) is plunged into a deep, dark winter after his father is killed in a car crash. In a confessional woven throughout the film, he describes a soul-wrenching pain that has left him seemingly shattered beyond repair. His mother Isabelle (Juliette Binoche) is similarly bereft, while his surly older brother Quentin (Vincent Lacoste) copes by suppressing his feelings. Lucas does his best to escape the pain by setting off to Paris, where he discovers a sense of adult freedom living with his brother and his roommate in their high-rise loft. Although openly gay back in his provincial French hometown, he flowers even more in the City of Light, where worldly, handsome queer guysâincluding his brotherâs artist roommateâare easy to find. But happiness is transient, and as his relationship with his brother returns to one of acrimony, Lucas becomes more emotionally distraught than ever. WINTER BOY is about the alternately depleting and galvanizing potential of grief and the long, unsteady road toward healing from tragedy. It understands that any substantial process of recovery is contingent, circuitous, ungainly, and time-expending, prone to ups and downs that donât arrive in predictable order. However, the film is not punishing in the paces it puts its protagonist through; in fact, it could stand to be a lot more arduous. Itâs easier to imagine the suffering that Lucas speaks of than to really read it through Kircher, whom HonorĂ© scarcely deigns to ruffle in his closeups of the actorâs bright, cherubic face. Coupled with the underdeveloped characterization of the father (HonorĂ© himself, appearing too briefly), such aestheticization dampens the filmâs emotional veracity, making its depiction of grief a few shades too facile. Thankfully, WINTER BOY has the gravitas of the ever-reliable Binoche, whose scenes with Kircher are lovely duets of mother-son commiseration and surcease. We believe their relationship, and we believeâif ever there was any doubtâthat Lucas will be able to put himself back together. (2022, 122 min, DCP Digital) [Jonathan Leithold-Patt]
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Laura Poitrasâs ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED (US/Documentary)
AMC River East 21 â Saturday, 5:30pm
Never underestimate the reach and power of a tenacious, iconoclastic artist. If youâre feeling hopeful, that might be a takeaway from Laura Poitrasâs latest multifaceted documentary. Her subject is photographer Nan Goldin, whose provocative portraits of her friends and associates in New York Cityâs hedonistic, drug-fueled underground made her a star of the scene in the late 1970s and '80s. Goldinâs confrontational, often explicitly sexual photographsâmany focused on the LGBTQ community before and during the AIDS crisisâwere fueled by an activistâs ethos to preserve the lives of those cast to the margins by society, a position she related to as both a lifelong misfit and a forthright woman in a male-dominated field. Essentially co-authored by Goldin, who narrates the film, ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED takes us up to her present-day involvement with P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), an advocacy group she formed in 2017 in response to her battle with opioid addiction. Her work with the group has a surprising connection to the art world via the Sackler family, former owners of OxyContin producer Purdue Pharma. The Sacklers have donated millions that they made from the distribution of deadly opioids (over 450,000 American casualties) to arts and cultural institutions around the world to launder their reputation, and Goldin has made it her mission to have the familyâs name removed from wings in the Met, Guggenheim, Tate, and Louvre, and other museums. The cohesiveness with which Poitras pulls together the filmâs myriad threadsâbiography, sociocultural chronicle, advocacy, and art display (excerpts of Goldinâs famed slideshows punctuate the filmâs chapters)âevinces the inextricability of art and lived experience from politics and economics, and highlights the frequently vexed relationship between subversive creators and the establishment interests they depend on to culturally enshrine their work. Poitras also posits a fascinating connection between art and the legacy of medical science, as she continually shows how various health stigmas, from mental illness to HIV, have been catalysts for artists to transform pain and erasure into social action. With ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED, Poitras and Goldin vibrantly demonstrate the real and very visible change such action can affect. (2022, 117 min, DCP Digital) [Jonathan Leithold-Patt]
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Albert Serraâs PACIFICTION (France/Spain/Germany/Portugal)
AMC River East 21 â Saturday, 8pm
Like Bertrand Bonello or Tsai Ming-liang, Spanish director Albert Serra seems less interested in telling stories than evoking a particular state of mind. PACIFCTION is worth seeingâand on the biggest screen possibleâfor this reason alone; itâs as environmental a moviegoing experience as any IMAX nature documentary. The film harkens back to the fabled era of LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, LâECLISSE, PLAYTIME, and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, when art movies created a sense of boundless possibility with every shot. However, once you figure out what PACIFICTION is about (it takes about an hour), that sense of possibility develops a fairly revolting aftertaste. For not only is Serraâs new movie a work of hit-for-the-rafters art filmmaking, itâs also something of the slow cinema WOLF OF WALL STREET. The hero is a French wheeler-dealer based in Tahiti, something of a cross between Ben Gazzara in SAINT JACK (1979) and those frighteningly hollow nationless contractors in Don DeLilloâs novel The Names. Played by BenoĂźt Magimel in an electric performance, this guy seems so intent on making a deal with everybody he meets that he comes off as gross even before you know what heâs wrapped up in. That he enjoys a life of sleazy luxury (through his connections to the local tourism industry) and wears just two variations on the same loud suit only thicken the toxic aura around him. In his previous films STORY OF MY DEATH (2013), THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV (2016), and LIBERTĂ (2019), Serra presented the hedonistic pleasures of aristocracies past with such museum-piece airlessness as to make them seem like rituals from an alien planet; here, he brings the same approach to a contemporary milieu, and the effect can be entrancing, funny, disgusting, or just plain dull, depending on how you look at it. Is this a movie about the cult of Donald Trump? Why not? (2022, 165 min, DCP Digital) [Ben Sachs]
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Karan Gourâs FAIRY FOLK (India)
AMC River East 21 â Saturday, 8:15pm and Sunday, 7pm
Iâm not sure whether FAIRY FOLK is riffing on narrative tropes and visual symbols that are traditional to Indian culture, but the film often felt to me like a folktale. Well, make that a folktale mixed with the Craig Lucas play Prelude to a Kiss and the Harold Ramis comedy MULTIPLICITY (1996). When the movie begins, two longtime heterosexual romantic partners encounter a naked, hairless humanlike creature with no genitalia in the middle of the woods. The creature follows them home and insinuates itself in their lives; though it appears to be an adult, it has no knowledge of language or human customs, and this forces the couple to raise the creature as if it were their infant child. The three grow attached, with the creature effectively repairing a relationship that seemed on the verge of coming apart. Then one day, the creature grows male genitalia, a beard, and a cool haircut and becomes a romantic rival to the male partner. It gets even more fantastical from there, yet writer-director Karan Gour (who also edited the film and wrote the music) maintains the same deadpan approach throughout, staging the action in static widescreen shots with lots of purposeful negative space and eliciting understated, naturalistic performances from the cast. Spike Jonzeâs first two features might be appropriate reference points for Gourâs direction, but thereâs something elemental and pre-modern about the story (in spite of the modern trappings and the occasional comedy involving the characters trying to figure out how to treat the humanlike creature in a politically correct manner) that makes it defy easy interpretation. FAIRY FOLK feels lightweight and charmingly quirky as it unfolds, but the more you think about it, the stranger it becomes. (2022, 101 min, DCP Digital) [Ben Sachs]
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Martika Ramirez Escobarâs LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE (Philippines)
AMC River East 21 â Saturday, 10:30pm
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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Shorts 1: Dimensional (City and State)
AMC River East 21 â Sunday, 12pm
Virtual through October 23 (Available to stream anywhere in the US)
As always, the first Shorts program of the Chicago International Film Festival totes a strong showing of local talent. The first film, Donald Conley's MATRIARCH is a record of the legacy of the filmmakerâs family matriarchs. While at times quite touching, be warned: you may feel guilty for not capturing your own family's history, as precious and complex memories continue to fade to time. Next, we have DIRTBAG by Karsten Runquist, a name you may be familiar with for his commendable social media presence. Itâs apparent all the critiquing has paid off as Runquist manages to carry a consistent and charming tone throughout, a feat difficult for even the most veteran directors. Our third film is Kelly OâSullivanâs MY SUMMER VACATION, a recollection in the front of a classroom of a school girlâs trip to Italy. Here, we get a multitude of great performances from a group of young actors. OâSullivanâs lead weaves her audience into the story as they reenact moments leading up to Mount Vesuviusâ eruption, which takes on a metafictional aspect as us spectators participate in constructing the story in our own imaginations. Finally, we have Laura Ann Harrisonâs THE LIMITS OF VISION, an animated film that despite its title blazes past any limits presented by the medium. ALICE IN WONDERLAND meets A SCANNER DARKLY meets an acid flashback, the film takes a fairly mundane day and infuses it with the depth and absurdity that's typically found just in our minds. This simultaneously classic-feeling and fresh film is a tremendous finish for a program showcasing the ever-impressive talent at our disposal here in Chicago. (2022, 82 minutes, DCP Digital) [Drew Van Weelden]
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Erika Alexander and Whitney Dowâs THE BIG PAYBACK (US/Documentary)
Chicago History Museum (1601 N. Clark St.) â Saturday, 1pm
AMC River East 21 â Sunday, 2pm
Virtual through October 23 (Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin only)
Ever since the end of the Civil War, the subject of reparations for the extreme harms of slavery has been under discussion. During the Jim Crow era and beyond, redlining, disinvestment, and over-policing continue to hold down real progress for African-American communities. In Evanston, IL, Robin Rue Simmons, alderman of that cityâs historically Black 5th Ward, began in earnest to try to pass a reparations ordinance that would hold the municipality responsible for paying reparations for its long legacy of discrimination. Many thought it hadnât a chance of passage, but the shock to Americaâs social conscience that followed the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor helped push her legislation over the goal line. Directors Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow provide a compelling look at the politics not only of Evanston, but also of the US Congress as Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee continued her 20-year quest to get a national reparations bill passed in the House. They interview a variety of Evanstonians, from Heckyâs (âItâs the Sauceâ) Barbecue owner Hecky Powell, whose bootstraps success has him against reparations, to a white homeowner whose racism is on full display and a white transplant from South Africa whose luxurious lifestyle has her feeling guilty but not sure she wants to kick in the money that is really needed to make reparations meaningful. The documentary, however, mainly centers on Simmons, whose organizing and persistence have provided a model for other cities to use in their own reparations efforts. This is a local story of national importance and well worth your time. (2022, 92 min, DCP Digital) [Marilyn Ferdinand]
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Marian Mathias's RUNNER (United States)
Virtual through October 23 (Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin only)
At 76 minutes, RUNNER, the feature debut from Marian Mathias, covers substantial narrative ground. Haas, an 18-year-old from rural Missouri, travels from her no-neighbors home to bury her father, who has died suddenly and full of debt. But Mathias isn't concerned with moving from scene to scene, from action to action. The director wants to sit in silences, in barren fields, in places where everyone is just as alone as Haas. Hannah Schiller plays Haas with a measured sense of naïveté, a misunderstanding of her father and of her impending adulthood. Alone, wandering through Illinois, she finds connection through Will (Darren Houle), a young man around the same age, who also seems to be lost, separated from his family. There's an overwhelming sense of disconnection in this Midwest world that Mathias is capturing, as if the plains have swallowed up the immediate and extended family members of these maturing teenagers. RUNNER never ceases to be beautiful, using the vastness and openness of this region to give Haas and Will room to be lonely and be bonded. The director often looks at these souls in medium shot, exhibiting respect for their privacy and their difficulties. It's an assured debut feature, a careful approach towards youth, family, and death. A soft-spoken film existing in the margins of those aforementioned ideas, Mathias's drama thrives in its vulnerability, in its small moments of dialogue, in its cherished relationships that last only for a few days or even a few hours. (2022, 76 min) [Michael Frank]
đœïž CRUCIAL VIEWING
Mike Leigh's NAKED (UK) and Tom Shadyac's LIAR LIAR (US)
Music Box Theatre â Tuesday, 7pm
Most cinephiles would never think to program these films together. They are tonally opposed yet they make statements on the political neoliberalism that saturated the 1990s and fed into the apocalyptic feelings present in the zeitgeist of the era. As Mike Leighâs darkest film, NAKED (1993, 131 min, DCP Digital) is a primal cry of pain that looks at humanity approaching the new millennium, which the film's protagonist believes may be the end of it all. The idea for the film came from a young Leigh hearing that the next total solar eclipse would happen in 1999, further proof that the end was nigh. An openly socialist artist, Leigh made this film as a reaction to a United Kingdom still reeling from the rule of Thatcher. David Thewlis gives the performance of his career as Johnny, an intellectual human cockroach struggling to survive the streets of London. The late Katrin Cartlidge (who left this world way too young) steals the show as a young woman who repeatedly falls victim to abusive men, including Johnny; her vulnerability in this supporting role stands out as one of the strongest components of this masterpiece. In part, NAKED is uncompromising in its depiction of brutes, specifically men, and their relationship to those they can overpower, specifically women, whether physically or through capital. The filmâs presentation of male and female relationships could very easily enter into horror. Director Tom Shadyac previously worked with Jim Carrey on ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE (1994); LIAR LIAR (1997, 86 min, 35mm) was their second collaboration. At the height of his Hollywood career, Carrey fits comfortably in the role of attorney Fletcher Reede; other notable cast members include Jennifer Tilly as Samantha Cole, Fletcherâs adulterous client. This film follows a long lineage of studio films that give an unrealistic view of family life and the state of the American everymanâs life. Women, as in many studio films of this decade, are either Madonnas or whores. There are multiple comments on Samantha's breasts, her large sexual appetite, and her hunger for money. Itâs revealed later in the film that her husband is a good, faithful husband and father and sheâs an abusive mother. The premise of the filmâa dishonest man's son makes a birthday wish that his father is forced to always tell the truthâunintentionally makes a cynical statement on the state of society and the roles of men and women. In the final act, Fletcher reunites with his family and faces no consequences for the fiasco he entered into. We donât know if Fletcherâs previous behavior will continue as there is nothing lost. In hindsight, itâs the perfect thermometer for the second half of the Clinton era, when the motto was "everything is fine." Both Thewlis and Carrey give enthralling, eccentric performances as misanthropes. While Thewlisâ Johnny is an outcast for living a working-class life, Carreyâs Fletcher must tell the truth in a world built by lies. Leighâs film is a condemnation of modern times and the alienation of individuals; Shadyacâs film celebrates and normalizes this situation as an ideal. Though different in style, both films carry pessimistic implications of the future of humanity. NAKED may enter the realm of misogyny, even violence against women, but itâs important to note that Leigh approaches the filmmaking process as an intensely collaborative effort. He rehearses with his actors and gives them a voice in the story they are trying to tell. The same cannot be said for large American studio films of the 1990s. In seeing LIAR LIAR alongside NAKED, not only can we draw a line between âart houseâ and âmainstreamâ films (as this series does brilliantly), but we can better understand the mechanics that shaped political attitudes of the time and how mainstream and more serious artists responded. [Ray Ebarb]
William A. Wellmanâs CENTRAL AIRPORT (US)
Chicago Film Society at Northeastern Illinois University (The Auditorium, Building E, 3701 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.) â Wednesday, 7:30pm
In his grandly entertaining autobiography A Short Time for Insanity, William Wellman averred that he took up golf in the early 1930s because he needed something to do with the remaining two months of the year after he turned in the six films he was contractually obligated to make annually for Warner Bros.âFirst National Pictures. That might sound like bragging until you see something like CENTRAL AIRPORT, which is only 72 minutes long but feels like six or seven movies. Watching it, youâre likely to think that Wellman could have taken on twice as many projects and had time to learn tennis too. CENTRAL AIRPORT opens like an adventure picture, in which a cocky commercial pilot, Jim (Richard Barthelmess), recklessly flies out in a storm and crashes his plane, thereby necessitating a high-stakes rescue mission. Jim gets saved, but he loses his job, and the film becomes a melodrama about his sorry fate. His luck changes quickly, however, when he meets a parachute jumper named Jill (Sally Eilers); she gives him a second chance as her stunt pilot, and they hit the road performing for small towns. As chemistry develops between Jim and Jill, CENTRAL AIRPORT becomes a romantic comedy that generates tension from their differing views on love and commitment (she wants marriage, he doesnât). This summary covers roughly the first 25 minutes of the film; the remaining two thirds of CENTRAL AIRPORT contain several more shifts in genre, each one tied to a different plot development, yet Wellman and his able cast navigate the changes deftly. It always feels like the world is changing too rapidly and the characters are trying their best to keep upâan apt metaphor for the rootlessness of so many lives during the Great Depression. (Not coincidentally, Wellman also directed one of the definitive films of the Depression, WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD, the same year as this.) The chameleonic nature of CENTRAL AIRPORT can be invigorating too, since the filmâs erratic progression has so little in common with the formulaic Hollywood entertainment of today. Preceded by the 1937 Fleischer Studios cartoon I NEVER CHANGES MY ALTITUDE (6 min, 16mm). (1933, 72 min, 35mm). [Ben Sachs]
Charles Burnettâs TO SLEEP WITH ANGER (US)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Sunday, 1pm
A teapot filled with marbles that falls from the fridge and breaks. Leaves are placed under the feet of a sick man confined to his bed. A broom brushes the tops of a manâs shoes, filling him with terror. These are the portents and prescriptions of the superstitions that drive the humorous, but rather horrifying tale of a family plagued by the literal devil they know from L.A. Rebellion director Charles Burnett. Burnett is best known as a chronicler of the African-American experience in his home city of Los Angeles. TO SLEEP WITH ANGER, Burnettâs third feature, is his first to use professional actors, but the thread linking it to his earlier works (KILLER OF SHEEP [1978] and MY BROTHERâS WEDDING [1983]) remains strong. The folklore he heard during his formative years offered him a different template for exploring the African-American community, one that allowed him to tell his own horror story that can easily join other cautionary tales passed through the generations. The film opens during a nightmare. Gideon (Paul Butler), a retired transplant to Los Angeles from the Deep South, sits in a chair. Burning-bushlike flames emerge from a bowl of fruit sitting on the table next to him. Soon, Gideonâs feet are on fire as well, and the flames lick at the legs of the wooden chair that supports him. When he awakens, he complains to his wife Suzie (Mary Alice) that he canât find his toby, an amulet his grandmother gave him to ward off evil spirits. He then invites her unsuccessfully to join him in bed for an afternoon delight; this is the last time weâll see Gideon feeling so frisky. Burnett is about to plunge him, the rest of the characters in the film, and us into a world of superstition, family strife, and earthly minions of the devil working to snatch troubled souls at their most vulnerable. The monster in the story is a genial, elderly man from âback homeâ named Harry (Danny Glover) who shows up on Gideonâs doorstep the day after his nightmare after 30 yearsâ separation. Gideon and Suzie welcome him with open arms and tell him that he can stay as long as he likes. They introduce him to their oldest son Junior (Carl Lumbly) and pregnant daughter-in-law Pat (Vonetta McGee). Every time Pat tries to shake Harryâs hand, her unborn baby kicks herâa sure sign to us, if not to her, that something is rotten in the state of Harry. Gideonâs younger son, Babe Brother (Richard Brooks), is a lazy, unstable disappointment to his parents and the cause of frequent family arguments. He is married to Rhonda (Reina King), a real estate broker who detests her in-lawsâ homespun ways, but not their services as babysitters. Gideon and his family are made vulnerable to Harry and his bad intentions not because of a lost toby, but because Gideonâs anger and disapproval fracture his relationship with Babe Brother and Rhonda and infect the rest of the family. Burnett works slyly to illustrate how the accumulation of grievances or unintended consequences of seemingly harmless deeds can work like a magical curse to create an annus horribilis for anyone. Nonetheless, Burnett is serious about his fable. Harry, too, lost his toby decades before, and thereâs no question that Burnett wants us to believe he is the devil. It is hinted that Harry murdered several people back home, and he proudly brandishes his weapon like an elderly Mack the Knife. Fortunately, heâs got a comeuppance coming, and a hilarious denouement closes this tale in a celebratory manner. Danny Glover has Harryâs oily manners and menace down to an exact science. I really enjoyed Reina King, who could have come off as a bitch supreme, but who brings a lot more nuance to her largely self-involved character when Babe Brother really starts going off the rails. Cinematographer Walt Lloydâs rich colors that somehow manage to suggest sepia add to the filmâs fairytale trappings, and film editor Nancy Richardson shows the great timing in this, her second feature, that would boost her to a major career. Most of all, Burnett creates a fulsome community of saints and sinners, chicken coops and pigeon cages, gold watches and rabbitâs feetâa colorful gumbo of African-American life. (1990, 102 min, DCP Digital) [Marilyn Ferdinand]
Robert Bresson's AU HASARD BALTHAZAR (France)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Sunday, 8pm
AU HASARD BALTHAZAR has long been encircled by a cacophonous mystique of hyperbolic Godard proclamations (he famously married into the montage) and unenlightened uses of the word "transcendental." It is now, for better or for worse, solely a masterpiece for secular melancholic cineastes and an exercise in futility for the pious Netflix user. Even the Schubert Sonata in A Major, bringing tears to single men at Facets, can be played by a child. That said, what a masterpiece! Cinema's most thorough estrangement of humanity, at the hand of our most enigmatic auteur: from Bresson's editing room, total war on the filmic conventions of emotional identification. Love in the air?? Always cut to an uncomprehending donkey. Point-of-view cutting between said donkey and a caged tigerâwhy not? The erstwhile aspiring psychologists of film studies deserve to be flummoxed. See also: the most alienated dance floor brawl of all time. Despite all this, a certain sympathy is generated between the film and its victims (the audience), so long as the latter is prepared to progressively teach the former its vulnerability. Like Hollis Framptonâs ZORNS LEMMA, the deliberately supine viewer is rewarded with a recognizable universe viewed obliquely, dispassionately, and at a temporal distanceâthe mysterious theological recitations of childhood; the wintry march of old age; and the long, relentless oppression of 'civilized' society in between, made entirely of humble gesture and symbol. (1966, 95 min, 35mm) [Michael Castelle]
Matter Matters: Films by Jodie Mack (US/Experimental/Animation)
Film Studies Center (at the Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago) â Friday, 7pm
I always have a good time at a Jodie Mack screening, regardless of whether sheâs there in person. Her movies invite us to find wonder in familiar things, inspiring a sense of curiosity that we generally associate with childhood. Some of Mackâs most joyous animations (like the films in the WASTELAND series, which are included in this program) are constructed out of flowers and fabric samples. By presenting these things in extreme close-up, Mack replicates the kind of scrutiny you brought to small objects when you were very young and starting to discover the world; meanwhile, her rhythmic, sometimes dizzying montage invokes the giddy sense of discovery that came with the first movies you ever saw. Most of the movies in this shorts program are silent, yet I never think of them as suchâthereâs just so much colorful imagery jumping out at you that the works register as songs. This program is just 40 minutes long; however, Mack will be in attendance to take part in a Q&A moderated by U of C professor Daniel Morgan, and the conversation is sure to be lively and informative. Given the intricacy of her work, audiences tend to have lots of questions for Mack about her process, and she usually responds in a funny, animated manner befitting the films. If you haven't encountered this fabulous artist before, this event is a must. (2013-2022, 40 min total, 16mm) [Ben Sachs]
PaweĆ Pawlikowski's IDA (Poland/Denmark/France)
Gene Siskel Film Center â Monday, 6pm
Going back to his early documentaries, PaweĆ Pawlikowski has always had poetic cinema flowing through his filmography. As his career has matured, the films became more reflective and personal. His most recent film, COLD WAR (2018) was a love letter to his parents, who struggled to survive behind the Iron Curtain. IDA reflects the auteurâs childhood. He shows the Poland he knew growing up, before his mother took him to England, where he would begin his career. The audience gains a glimpse into the homeland of his memories, finding beauty in the colorless countryside or the streets of Lublin. Working with the uncommon aspect ratio of 1.33:1, Pawlikowski creates a distinct separation between IDA and his previous work. Transcendental style filmmaking has a clear influence in the picture, linking it to such cinematic pioneers as Robert Bresson and Yasujiro Ozu. As Paul Schrader explained in his book Transcendental Style in Film and throughout his career, most mainstream movies are about holding onto the audience and engaging them as much as possible. The purpose of the transcendental approach is to invite the viewer to lean into the movie experience. In more recent years, Schrader has cited IDA as the perfect example of this style (other than his own films). For much of IDA, the camera remains static; also, lead actress Agata Trzebuchowska had no prior performing experience. Both of these qualities link the work to Bresson's. Cinematographer Ćukasz Ćčal powerfully frames each shot and lights Trzebuchowskaâs bewitching visage with magical prowess. In all, this film stands out as one of the greatest pieces of 21st-century cinema thus far. (2013, 82 min, 35mm) [Ray Ebarb]
đœïž ALSO RECOMMENDED
Frank Simonâs THE QUEEN (US/Documentary)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Friday, 9:30pm
Difficult to find until quite recently, this legendary documentary focuses the limelight on a remarkable time in queer history: that of drag culture on the cusp of something like mainstream popularity and recognition. In New York in the late 1960s, drag culture was already a staple of nightlife for gay men and those in the arts scene, but was still considered something of the "underbelly" to other New Yorkers, and was virtually unknown to the world-at-large. Frank Simon, co-producing with the film's narrator, Flawless Sabrina (aka Jack Doroshow), and Andy Warhol, who greatly assisted in raising funds for THE QUEEN, shot the film in five days, with five cameras, using only verité footage and Sabrina's witty and occasionally biting narration to give a riveting, behind-the-scenes glimpse of the New York Finals, a national pageant judged by Warhol himself, as well as other notables of the day, including artist Larry Rivers (Judy Garland, who had judged several of Sabrina's pageants in the past, dropped out when she heard the 1967 pageant was being shot as a documentary.). Warhol's friend Mario Montez also makes an appearance singing an extra-campy rendition of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend." The pageant gained notoriety for a variety of reasons, and ultimately the documentary became a surprise hit in 1968, with a favorable review in the New York Times, screenings in major cities across the country, and even a screening at Cannes, marking the beginning of mainstream awareness of not only the drag subculture, but gender variance and the as-yet-unnamed trans movement. Yet that historical notoriety takes second stage to the most fascinating and beautifully shot moments of the documentary. In the hotel rooms shared by the contestants, the queens lounge together before rehearsals, help each other prepare makeup and costumes, share a glass of scotch, and offhandedly relate stories of coming out, being rejected from the draft (I won't ruin the laugh by quoting some of the stories here; the delivery is everything, if you've ever heard a drag queen read anybody.), and whether or not they would undergo the (until 1966, unavailable) sex-change surgery if they had the money. Hearing these candid discussions highlights just what a strange time it was in trans and queer history, before identity politics, before hormones, before the term genderqueer; it was a time of gender and sexual fluidity before identities and possibilities had solidified, and a time when drag was the only way for some to express their felt gender and perform in ways that made them feel truly free. This documentary even provides the fabled genesis of the ballroom scene memorialized in PARIS IS BURNING: black contestant Crystal LaBeija went on to found the first official House of LaBeija in the ballroom scene after losing dramatically to Miss Harlow, a protégé of Flawless Sabrina, and delivering a blistering reading backstage. (1968, 68 min, DCP Digital) [Alex Ensign]
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Screening after Michelle Citronâs 2017 documentary LIVES: VISIBLE (35 min, Digital Projection), with Citron in attendance. Per the Doc Films website, admission is free to attendees who show up in drag.
Olivier Assayas' PERSONAL SHOPPER (France)
FACETS Cinema â Friday, 7pm
PERSONAL SHOPPER continues to explore themes that run throughout Olivier Assayas' oeuvre, especially CLEAN (2004) and CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (2014). Much like CLEAN, which starred Maggie Cheung, the film centers on an isolated, inward-facing character recovering from trauma in the city of Paris. Much like CLOUDS, the film stars Kristen Stewart, who plays a personal assistant (specifically in this case, a personal shopper) to a glamorous actress entrenched in the world of celebrity and fashion. Unlike CLOUDS, however, PERSONAL SHOPPER delves into the world of the assistant, and the single-name celebrity, Kyra (Nora von WaldstÀtten), is seen rarely. Kristen Stewart commands almost every second of screen time, much like Maggie Cheung does in CLEAN. Drawing comparisons among these three films is helpful in finding more depth and meaning in PERSONAL SHOPPER, which suffers in some ways from a meandering, underdeveloped screenplay that elicits accidental laughs and does too much juggling of tone to strike a resounding emotional chord. Assayas called the movie a "collage," but unfortunately the collage is uneven in execution, despite an incredibly impressive performance from Stewart. Apart from the unevenness of the screenplay, the movie has many interesting aspects, and one of the most inspired is allowing Kristen Stewart to do things without being highly sexualized and without speaking. She emotes in a subterraneously explosive manner, indicating the enormous tension within her character without overtly emoting. It's surprisingly captivating. PERSONAL SHOPPER vacillates between several genres, from dark comedy to coming-of-age to psychological thriller, and lastly to horror. The reason the film vacillates so much is due in part to the actual plot: Maureen (Stewart) is a personal shopper by day, and a medium on nights and weekends, mourning her dead twin brother who said he would send her a sign from beyond. She is in Paris for an indefinite amount of time, putting off her own life, and existing as something of a ghost herself, just waiting. Because the movie accepts the existence of ghosts as a given, it turns into a psychological thriller (revolving around an exchange of text messages with an unknown number who may or may not be Maureen's brother...it gets old, fast, watching text messages pop up on a screen), and then a spooky horror (by far the weakest element of the movie), while exploring elements of Maureen's character in quieter, sadder, less suspenseful scenes, hinting at depths the movie never quite reaches. Critics have disagreed widely in their reviews of the film, and it is easy to see why, but it is still highly recommended to see the film for yourself and wonder what this could have been with a stronger screenplay, given how fascinating it is to watch already. (2016, 105 min, DCP Digital) [Alex Ensign]
Olivier Assayas' DEMONLOVER (France)
FACETS Cinema â Friday, 9:30pm
DEMONLOVER was one of the first movies to address the internetâs impact on communication and interpersonal relationships; what distinguishes it from many of the other, lesser movies on the subject to have come in its wake is that Olivier Assayas, a cineaste of the highest order, doesnât regard the Information Age from a detached, moralizing position, but rather from an immediate and sensuous one. Perhaps the defining trait of the movieâs intoxicating style is Assayasâ tendency to cut from one tracking shot to another and then another. The technique conveys a sense of constant movement through the physical world and, more importantly, the fluidity with which we move online between ideas, cultures, and the intimate details of other peopleâs lives. Likewise, the narrative of DEMONLOVER is a fusion of high- and lowbrow cinematic references that include David Cronenbergâs VIDEODROME, Michael Mannâs THE INSIDER (Gina Gershon, who appears here, essentially plays a variation on her character from that movie), espionage thrillers, and animated S&M porn. This mixture suggests an early 21st century update of the French New Wave in that Assayasâwho, like the New Wave directors, wrote criticism for Cahiers du CinĂ©ma before he started making moviesâbuilds on his references to craft a statement about the zeitgeist. What he has to say is unsettling as well as seductive: the movie posits that the most typical relationships in the Information Age involve people using or being used by others; it also suggests a dark underside to the world of knowledge created by the Internet. Yet Assayasâ concerns never come across as cerebral, thanks to the mobile filmmaking and the exciting plot, which has to do with power plays (both corporate and sexual) within internet bondage porn companies. The scoreâwritten and performed by Sonic Youth when they were a five-piece with Jim OâRourke on third guitarâadds to hypnotic effect. (2002, 122 min, DCP Digital) [Ben Sachs]
Takashi Miike's AUDITION (Japan)
FACETS Cinema â Sunday, 5pm
AUDITION may have been Takashi Miikeâs international breakthrough, but itâs an uncharacteristic work in several respects. When Miike is at his freewheeling best (as in DEAD OR ALIVE 2: BIRDS, THE HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, or DETECTIVE STORY), heâll change a filmâs tonal register repeatedly over the course of the running time; AUDITION, on the other hand, contains only one significant shift in tone. Many of Miikeâs other features abound with outlandish humor as well as gruesome violence, but (save for a humorous montage that occurs fairly early) AUDITION abounds only with violence. In terms of style, Miike often likes to alternate between long takes and brisk montage; this film favors the former over the latter. AUDITION is also one of the only Miike features (of which there are now over 100) that can be said to tackle issues of sexual politics and gender roles; his work is usually too absurd to connect to real-world concerns. Still, AUDITION is thoroughly Miike-esque in the devilish glee with which it provokes its viewers. That big shiftâfrom muted drama to grisly horrorâis one of the great surprises in modern movies, and it plays like a tramcar veering wildly in a dark funhouse. Miike restrains himself for the movieâs first half, seldom moving the camera and developing a gentle (albeit occasionally wry) tone. The movie promises to be a subdued, if eccentric tale of a 60-ish widower, Aoyama, who gets persuaded to look for a new wifeâuntil the story becomes something totally different. Aoyama pretends to be a producer holding auditions for a fake movie, videotaping women talking about themselves under the assumption theyâll be cast in the lead role. He comes to pay for this ruse and then some, experiencing emotional manipulation and ultimately torture at the hands of the woman he picks to be his bride. His comeuppance is excruciating, yet also bleakly funny, representing an ironic reversal not only of the audienceâs narrative expectations, but also what they might think a straight man can get away with. (1999, 115 min, DCP Digital) [Ben Sachs]
F.W. Murnau's NOSFERATU (Germany/Silent)
Music Box Theatre â Monday, 7pm
Like his contemporary Jean Vigo, F.W. Murnau died far too soon. His death in an auto accident cut short the career of a great talent who was reaching new artistic milestones after his arrival in the U.S. He died having directed only three films for Hollywood (not including TABU) and, while he is celebrated among auteurists and cinephiles, his popular reputation never reached the level of other European émigrés like Fritz Lang. David Thomson writes that Murnau had an unparalleled talent for "photograph[ing] the real world and yet invest[ing] it with a variety of poetic, imaginative, and subjective qualities. The camera itself allowed audiences to experience actuality and imagination simultaneously." In the case of NOSFERATU, the result is a vampire story of startling realism. This is no fantasy, nor is it a lush period piece. This is mania, creeping fear, disease, and plague. Perhaps no film better illustrates the difference between dreams, which inhabit the margins of our world, and fantasies, which we each manufacture. Thanks to Murnau's pioneering style here and in later films, directors as diverse as Douglas Sirk and David Lynch have continued to practice a similar alchemy of melodrama, movement, desire, and fateful circumstance. Featuring a live score by The Invincible Czars. (1922, 94 min, Digital Projection) [Will Schmenner]
Katsuhiro Ătomoâs AKIRA (Japan/Animation)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Friday, 7pm
A cataclysmic explosion rips through Tokyo in 1988, reducing it to rubble. Within one minute, Katsuhiro Ătomo sets the stage for his masterpiece AKIRA, which arguably would become one of the mostâif not the mostâinfluential anime films of all time. After the opening, Ătomo jumps ahead to 2019. Neo Tokyo has been built next to the ruins of the old city, which is now a playground for biker gangs, troubled youths, and corrupt hands of the law. Despite a period of patriotism and rebuilding, the new city has plunged into chaos, reminiscent of the blast that destroyed what once stood before. Our protagonist, Kaneda, and the eventual antagonist, Tetsuo, are up to shenanigans with their motorcycle crew when they get tangled in a web of politics, money, and supernatural abilities. After Tetsuoâs chance encounter with a psychic child who miraculously appears to be decrepitly aged, Ătomo shows how quickly power can corrupt. Tetsuo himself begins to exhibit these psychic powers, his surge in ability causing unstable hallucinations and agonizing pain. We slowly learn these abilities derive from a mysterious being named Akira. Some say Akira is a God, bringing about a cleansing of the Earth; others say Akira is pure energy that should be controlled and used as a weapon for the military. If Akira is, as some aver, a God meant to bring about a new world, what is the catalyst necessary to bring about its arrival? Tetsuo becomes the necessary vessel, an amalgamation of flesh and cold steel that has been corrupted by the cruel world around him. Speed is constant force throughout the film, and it's driven by Shoji Yamashiroâs haunting soundtrack. The world keeps spinning, unrelenting for any person or thing. Thankfully for Kaneda, he and his bike are constantly ahead of the capital steamroller, his taillights leaving a beautiful blur for the rest of the world to stare at in envy. AKIRA is necessary viewing for any fans of anime or the cyberpunk genre, and it gets better with every revisit. (1988, 124 mins, DCP Digital) [Drew Van Weelden]
David Lynch's TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (US)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Saturday, 1pm
I once knew a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who told me that David Lynch's TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME is the only film that ever really got it right. The way incest deranges you, the unprocessable betrayal, the PTSD. Describing her abuse, she said she'd had her own personal Freddie Krueger, and Lynch portrays Laura Palmer's final days as a horror movieâscarier than most, and truer. Critics missed the thrust of this baffler, calling it the worst thing Lynch ever did, if not one of the worst films ever made. Today, it looks like a flawed masterpiece, exhausting and exhilarating. It's a singular portrayal of "garmonbozia" (pain and sorrow), the cream corn of evilâwith all the Lynchian disjunctures that sentence implies. It's abrasive at every level, from Lynch's screaming, whooping sound design to the punishing immersion into Laura's hell. But its extremism is the source of its hypnotic power, and Lynch's corybantic surrealism fits the theme. Sheryl Lee is astonishing as doomed, anguished Laura; Ray Wise is terrifying (and, in deranging moments, loving) as her molester father. Then there's that first 35 minutes, which play like a savage parody of the TV show, with Chris Isaak and Keifer Sutherland investigating a murder in Deer Meadow, a negative image of our favorite Pacific Northwest town. Here, the coffee's two days old, the diner is seedy, the small-town cops are jerks, and the dead woman is not exactly the homecoming queen. (One suspects that the cherry pie would be damn poor.) The "Lil the Dancer" scene is a delightful thumbnail illustration of semiotics, and Harry Dean Stanton is on hand as Carl, manager of the Fat Trout trailer park. Angelo Badalamenti's score is creamy and dreamy, mournful and menacing. Actually, I suspect that if you're not already well-versed in the lore of Bob, Mike, the One-Armed Man, The Arm a.k.a. The Man From Another Place, Mrs. Tremond and her grandson, and the Owl Cave ring, then you might have stumbled upon this site by accident. I'd guess our readers share my excitement that the stars, and the passage of 25 years, have aligned so that we are actually poised to reenter the Black Lodge. If you haven't boned up on this prequel, then hie to this revival. (Or even if you have: you'll see something new every time.) (1992, 135 min, DCP Digital) [Scott Pfeiffer]
Alfred Hitchcock's MARNIE (US)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Saturday, 4pm
MARNIE may very well be Alfred Hitchcockâs most divisive film. The story of a neurotic, compulsive thief (Tippi Hedren) blackmailed into marriage by her employer (Sean Connery), MARNIE was maligned at the time of its release for its overt artificiality: Hitchcock employed painted backdrops and rear projection almost amateurishly; Hedren, never trained as an actress, was visibly uncomfortable in the title role; Bernard Herrmannâs score (his last for Hitchcock) recycled familiar elements of his previous work. And yet these attributes contribute to the filmâs singular power, which exposes the artificiality of some of our most hallowed institutions (work, marriage, parenthood) against the primal dread they conceal. Dave Kehr has compared this to the work of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and itâs every bit as stylized and unnerving as such a statement would suggest. (1964, 131 min, DCP Digital) [Ben Sachs]
Toshio Matsumotoâs FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES (Japan)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Saturday, 7:30pm
âShe loved roses, and they had to be artificial ones.â Our lives are surrounded by replicas and fakes, CGI and special effects masking our day-to-day reality. FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES questions the artifice that pervades our tumultuous society. In the opening third of the film, Eddie, a young transgender woman, walks through an art museum with a voiceover explaining the sociological concept of masks. The idea is that a person utilizes a mask or costume to hide their âtrueâ personality. The film itself has a commendable amount of nuance, and it raises questions of what our âtrueâ personalities might even be. The line about artificial roses ends up being the most important, as it alters our judgment on whether the masks we wear are inherently good or bad and on which of our personae is the real one. Matsumoto might not know the answers himself, which is a perfectly fine position to take, but he makes it clear that an artificial rose is just as beautiful as a real one. The film is quite explosive, and its radical form matches its radical subject matter. Equal parts funny, cool, gross, and erotic, FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES jumps around chronologically and intercuts between fictional and documentary sequences. The nonfiction scenes feature interviews with the cast of the film; they give us insights into their lifestyles as well as their thoughts on the picture they're currently shooting. The film, frequently cited as an inspiration for Stanley Kubrickâs A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, deserves the same recognition and notoriety that its offspring got. Luckily, unlike the storyâs Oedipal trajectory, this parent film canât be killed by its successor's fame; in fact, it's only cemented itself as a cult classic as time has passed. (1969, 105 min, DCP Digital) [Drew Van Weelden]
George A. Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (US)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Saturday, 10pm
George Romero would go on to make better films than NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEADâmovies that suggest the unlikely fusion of Mark Twainâs all-American satire, Michael Powellâs fanciful curiosity, and John Cassavetesâ intimate, handmade aesthetic within the confines of the horror genre. But his debut is still an object lesson in independent filmmaking: Rather than cover up his distance from Hollywood (budgetary and geographical), Romero embraces it. The resulting film boasts a sharp sense of locationâthe suburbs and rural areas outlying Pittsburghâand an understanding that the banal makes the horror all the more scary when it arrives. Much has been written about the radical implications of casting a black actor to play the heroic, gun-toting lead in 1968, though Romero (one of the few popular U.S. filmmakers so consistently open about his radical politics) claims to have no political motivation in this decision. More focused is the filmâs pointed anger at middle-class conformity, which gives the film its enduring bitter rage. (1968, 96 min, DCP Digital) [Ben Sachs]
Leo McCarey's THE AWFUL TRUTH (US)
Doc Films (at the University of Chicago) â Monday, 7pm
Cary Grant and Irene Dunne play an insecure couple whose impending divorce sets in motion all manner of mix-ups and high-jinks, largely improvised under the careful direction of Leo McCarey. Having worked with personalities as diverse as Harold Lloyd, W.C. Fields, Laurel & Hardy, and the Marx Brothers, McCarey was no stranger to comedy (Grant's casually urbane screen persona was an alleged imitation of him), but upon receiving the Best Director Oscar for this film, he famously quipped that he deserved it more for the same year's heartfelt tearjerker MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW. Between this and TOPPER (1937), Grant quickly became the quintessential Hollywood leading man, a position he cemented with a flurry of indelible screwball follow-ups, and seems in no danger of losing. (1937, 92 min, DCP Digital) [Mike King]
James Wan's MALIGNANT (US)
Music Box Theatre â Thursday, 9:30pm
James Wanâs successes in mainstream horror and action franchises have never kept the director from doing what he does best: creating high concept, gore-ridden nightmares unafraid to commit to absurdity. Take INSIDIOUS (2010) for example: a film that relies on concepts like astral projection, purgatory, and demons in order to further the plot. While that film and its sequels have walked a fine line between reality and the supernatural, his most recent feature MALIGNANT abandons the logic and serious tone he was applauded for when he created the original SAW (2004). Rather, MALIGNANT embraces the aesthetics and heightened reality of low-budget horror movies from decades prior, providing an endlessly entertaining, schlocky joy ride for audiences fed up with the overly serious jump scare compilations that have filled theaters riding Wanâs own coattails. Following the mysterious relationship between Madison, a recovering domestic abuse victim attacked in her own home by her husbandâs killer, and Gabriel, the supernatural creature and perpetrator of that crime, this film leaves audiences with their jaws on the floor, reveling in action sequences that feel like fever dreams. If youâve been searching for a contemporary film with the gore and absurdity of the EVIL DEAD franchise, look no further than MALIGNANT. (2021, 111 min, DCP Digital) [Michael Bates]
Amanda Kramerâs PLEASE BABY PLEASE (US)
Music Box Theatre â Wednesday, 7pm
Amanda Kramerâs PLEASE BABY PLEASE presents a surreally playful examination of power dynamics and gender roles; the extreme stylization of the filmâan imagined version of 1950s New Yorkâallows for characters to discuss and play out sexual fantasies in a fabricated, fictional space. Deep conversations about the roles of men and women and their relationships are surrounded by visual mischievousness: neon lighting, wipe edits, and theatrically staged sets create a sense of ease in its clear construction. PLEASE BABY PLEASE takes its themes seriously by presenting them in a setting out of time where they are completely unencumbered. While returning home to their apartment building, beatnik couple Arthur and Suze (Harry Melling and Andrea Riseborough) witness a vicious murder committed by a street gang, the Young Gents. Both are deeply affected; brooding Arthur is instantaneously attracted to the gangâs leader, Teddy (Karl Glusman), in his leather and mesh get-up complete with Brando-style cap, while Suze is concurrently troubled and titillated by the demonstration of masculine violence. Encouraged by an encounter with their femme fatale upstairs neighbor, Maureen (Demi Moore), Suze begins to explore her own S&M fantasies while Arthur struggles to come to terms with his masculinity. A WEST SIDE STORY-inspired musical number opens the film, and interludes continue throughout, marking shifts from scene to scene. PLEASE BABY PLEASEâs cast all commit to this earnest artifice, especially Riseborough as the catlike, curious Suze; a particular standout, as well, is comedian Cole Escola as Maureenâs friend, Billy. In its colorfully fun and mischievous vignettes, PLEASE BABY PLEASE is still a sincere scrutiny of strict cultural expectations and simultaneous celebration of the fluidity of gender and sexuality. (2022, 95 min, DCP Digital) [Megan Fariello]
Todd Fieldâs TĂR (US)
Music Box Theatre â See Venue website for showtimes
Writer-director Todd Field (IN THE BEDROOM, LITTLE CHILDREN) returns to the screen after a 14-year absence with this towering drama about a lionized classical music composer-conductor (Cate Blanchett, in a role written for her) whose brutal control of the people in her professional orbit comes back to haunt and finally destroy her. Lydia TĂĄr is a former protĂ©gĂ© of Leonard Bernstein, and like her mentor she has won popular stardom through her talent for precisely articulating the emotional force of music; her own emotional life is one of praise and privilege, and her power as an international celebrity and longtime conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic extends to her domestic partnership with one of its players (Nina Hoss) and their school-age daughter. When TĂĄr stands at the podium, trying to get her arms around the violence of Mahlerâs Fifth, Field shoots Blanchett from a low angle so extreme you feel as if youâre craning up a cliff. But like so many celebrities intoxicated by adoration, TĂĄr has developed an appetite for it, and her romantic attraction to young women in her orchestra pulls her along a trajectory that many men have traveled before her. Her 21st-century fall from grace is terrifying in its speed and steepness, yet as the final scene reveals, TĂĄr must always submit to the musicâs power, just as so many others have submitted to hers. (2022, 158 min, DCP Digital) [J.R. Jones]
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
Avery Crounseâs 1983 horror film EYES OF FIRE (90 min, Digital Projection) screens Wednesday at 8pm. More info available here.
â« Doc Films (at the University of Chicago)
Acclaimed filmmaker Michelle Citron will be attendance for screenings of her documentaries DAUGHTER RITE (1978, 53 min, 16mm) and WHAT YOU TAKE FOR GRANTED (1983, 73 min, 16mm) on Sunday at 4pm as part of Docâs 90th anniversary celebration.
Yang Mingmingâs 2018 Chinese feature GIRLS ALWAYS HAPPY (116 min, Digital Projection) screens Tuesday at 7pm.
Johnnie Toâs 1993 Hong Kong action classic THE HEROIC TRIO (83 min, DCP Digital) screens Wednesday at 7pm.
Paolo and Vittorio Tavianiâs 2012 documentary CAESAR MUST DIE (76 min, Digital Projection) screens Thursday at 7pm.
Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Parronaudâs 2007 animated feature PERSEPOLIS (96 min, 35mm) screens Thursday at 9:30pm. More info on all screenings here.
â« FACETS Cinema
Yeon Sang-hoâs 2016 South Korean horror film TRAIN TO BUSAN (118 min, Digital Projection) screens Saturday at 7pm.
Neil Marshallâs 2005 UK horror film THE DESCENT (99 min, DCP Digital) screens Saturday at 9:30pm. More info about all screenings here.
â« Film Studies Center (at the Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago)
Seeds in the Wind: A Constellation of Films by SĂlvia das Fadas (2011-2017, 64 min total, 16mm), curated by Sophie Lynch (CMS) as part of the Graduate Student Curatorial Program, takes place on Saturday at 7pm. Followed by Q&A with das Fadas moderated by Lynch.
Anand Patwardhanâs 2012 Indian documentary JAI BHIM COMRADE (169 min, Digital Projection) screens on Thursday at 5pm with Patwardhan in attendance. More info about all screenings here.
â« Gene Siskel Film Center
Hiromasa Yonebayashiâs 2010 Japanese animated film THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY (95 min, DCP Digital) screens Saturday and Sunday at 11am.
An encore screening of Leos Caraxâs 2012 film HOLY MOTORS (115 min, DCP Digital) plays on Monday at 7:45pm as part of 50/50, the Siskelâs year-long series including a film from each year the theater has been open.
Ruben Ăstlundâs 2022 Palme dâOr winner TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (147 min, DCP Digital) and Ulrich Seidlâs 2022 Austrian feature RIMINI (115 min, DCP digital) both open this week.
As part of Conversations at the Edge, Anxious Bodies, a program of recent work by six award-winning women animators, screens on Thursday at 6pm. More info on all screenings here.
â« Music Box Theatre
Music Box of Horrors, the theaterâs annual 24-hour horror movie marathon, takes place from Saturday to Sunday, from noon to noon. Tickets for the full marathon are sold out, though there are still half-marathon tickets available.
Yoshiyuki Koradaâs 1968 horror film YOKAI MONSTERS: SPOOK WARFARE (90 min, DCP Digital) screens on Sunday at 9:30pm.
The German horror films FUCK THE DEVIL (1990, 35 min, DCP Digtal) and FUCK THE DEVIL 2: RETURN OF THE FUCKER (1991, 40 min, DCP Digital) screen on Tuesday at 9:30pm.
J.C. Cricketâs 1975 gay hardcore horror film SEX DEMON (60 min, DCP Digital) screens Wednesday at 9:30pm. More info about all screenings 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 21 - October 27, 2022
MANAGING EDITORS // Ben and Kat Sachs
CONTRIBUTORS // Michael Bates, Michael Castelle, Ray Ebarb, Alex Ensign, Megan Fariello, Marilyn Ferdinand, Michael Frank, J.R. Jones, Mike King, Jonathan Leithold-Patt, Scott Pfeiffer, Will Schmenner, Michael Glover Smith, Drew Van Weelden