CRUCIAL VIEWING
Sam Fuller's WHITE DOG (Revival)
Music Box – Screening 6/4-6/6 only, check Reader Movies for showtimes
A racist dog’s life and death. Who else but Sam Fuller--lucid commentator of pulp Americana--could helm such a story? Shelved immediately upon completion due to misguided charges of racism, Fuller's 1982 twilight masterpiece has lived in obscurity for years, circulating on bootleg DVDs and available to mass audiences exclusively via the Lifetime television network. Indeed, much of the film's content syncs well with the soft values of daytime television--viewers aren't likely to be disconcerted by the film’s languid first half wherein Fuller and co-writer Curtis Hanson tell the tale of a good Samaritan (played by the unassuming Christy McNichol) who takes in an abandoned dog. It’s the second half that goes for the guts, probing deep into the psyche of a beast that, as we soon discover, was trained to attack dark-skinned people. A profoundly incisive portrait of American racism and violence ensues. The film’s surface is warm (Ennio Morricone contributes a laconic score), soft (Eastwood camerman Burt Surtees provides the fuzzy lensing), and masterfully arranged, in contrast to its vicious, pessimistic tone and deeply disturbing subject matter. More than two decades after its completion, WHITE DOG is finally enjoying its first theatrical run, touring the US in a brand new 35mm print. (89 min). More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
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Jacques Rivette's LOVE ON THE GROUND & GANG OF FOUR (Revival)
Gene Siskel Film Center – Check Reader Movies for showtimes
The 1980s proved an important decade to the filmmakers of the Nouvelle Vague. Nearly every one enjoyed a creative Renaissance and a return to popularity: Godard was directing features again, Rohmer was trying his hand at improvisation and 16mm, Truffaut was making his last (and most mainstream) movies. But for Jacques Rivette, who had been most productive and adventurous in the 1970s, the decade would prove to be a transitional period, with much of his output mixing the themes of his 70s work with the aesthetics of the films he would go on to make in the 90s and since. As such, Rivette's 80s films are excellent primers for audiences unfamiliar with his filmmaking. THE GANG OF FOUR (LA BANDE DES QUATRE, 1988) and LOVE ON THE GROUND (L'AMOUR PAR TERRE, 1984) display a casual paranoia and a keen interest in the methods of theatrical rehearsal: both feature mysterious goings-on and actors as its protagonists, but they achieve startlingly different effects with their material. THE GANG OF FOUR is as chilly and disconcerting as LOVE ON THE GROUND is warm and romantic. Both were released on Region 2 DVD (now out of print), but remain nearly as obscure as his early masterpieces. Full details at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
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NOBODY KNOWS (Revival)
Block Cinema – Friday, 8pm
From the Block program: "After being abandoned in their new apartment by their mother, four siblings, led by the oldest, 12-year-old Akira, must learn to be their own parents. Written and directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, and based on actual events, Nobody Knows was shot chronologically over the course of one year and features an astonishingly expressive cast of children. Koreeda worked without a strict script: he talked the children through each scene beforehand and let them improvise the rest. The technique achieved an emotional realism that’s both heartbreaking and terrifying. Yûya Yagira won best actor at Cannes for his portrayal of Akira." (2004, Japan, 141 min, 35mm). More info at www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu.
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John Huston's TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (Classic Revival)
LaSalle Bank Cinema – Saturday, 8pm
It may not be his finest film (though it’s pretty high on the list), but this Mexican gold-digging odyssey contains Humphrey Bogart’s finest performance--with no ladies around, he drops the smooth-talking Bogie act and snarls like a trapped animal. Between this and THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951), writer/director Huston was classic Hollywood’s very own Werner Herzog: a rich kid playing mind games with his cast in inhospitable locations while recklessly stretching his producer’s wallets and patience, all in the service of his survivalist’s vision of humanity as just another greedy animal. (1948, 35mm, 126 min). Venue Information.
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CHICAGO FILMMAKERS OPEN SCREENING (Local / Special Event)
Chicago Filmmakers – Saturday, 8pm
A time-honored exercise in cinematic democracy, Chicago Filmmakers' famous Open Screening accepts a wide variety of formats (BetaSP, Mini-DV, DVD, VHS, and 16mm) and subjects (anything non-pornographic). All you have to do is bring your movie and be civil towards others' work. Chicago Filmmakers asks that films be under 15 minutes, but they're willing to accommodate any length. More info at www.chicagofilmmakers.org.
x MY DEAR TOM MIX (DVD Preview)
Facets Cinematheque – Sunday, 1pm
This Sunday, Facets shows off one of its latest acquisitions in this "cinescoop" preview of their upcoming DVD release. MY DEAR TOM MIX (dir. Carlos Garcia Agraz, Mexico, 1991) is a fantasy-drama about a woman who lives vicariously through silent cinema. Going over the deep end, she becomes infatuated with with the classic American Western star Tom Mix and writes a letting begging him to save her village from marauding bandits. Coincidentally, Chicago's Silent Film Society will be screening some Tom Mix films the very same afternoon in "The Great Arcadia Railroad Show," noted below. (120 min, DVD). More info at www.facets.org.
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THE GREAT ARCADIA RAILROAD SHOW (Special Event)
Silent Film Society / Arcadia Theater – Saturday, 8pm
The Silent Film Society kicks of its summer season with silent classics about train robberies with live organ accompaniment, including Edwin S. Porter's infamous THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903), which gave early film audiences a scare when the villain-protagonist aims his revolver directly at the spectators and shoots, and early Tom Mix star vehicle THE GREAT K & A TRAIN ROBBERY (1926). Check website for details.
x Sergei Bondarchuk's WAR AND PEACE (Special Presentation)
Gene Siskel Film Center – Check Reader Movies for showtimes
The most expensive film ever made, Sergei Bondarchuk's multi-hour 70mm adaptation of Tolstoy's epic novel (presented here in a truncated, 7-hour version, printed on 35mm, broken up over several days) is also easily the weariest-looking. Shot over the course of many years with record-breaking numbers of actors and extras, it's a film that seems to take its toll on its creators as we watch: director/star Bondarchuk visibly ages from scene to scene, and certain sequences, developed and rehearsed during the film's long gestation, have an exhausting quality. But rather than holding audiences at bay, this latter attribute lends an immense weight to the film's scenario (most notably the lengthy and meticulously choreographed battle sequences). Unlike many epics, ideally viewed continuously from start to finish (Bela Tarr's SATANTANGO or Rivette's OUT 1, for example), the episodic quality of this film's storytelling lends itself to the fracturing it will undergo in the Film Center's presentation of its North American premiere. (1967, USSR, 415 min). Full details at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
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PLAGUES AND PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA (New Doc)
Facets Cinematheque – Screening Daily, check Reader Movies for showtimes
As narrator John Waters explains in the opening scene of this movie, the Salton Sea wasn't supposed to exist. Tucked into the southeast corner of California, it was once known as the Riviera of the West-a haven forjetsetters and vacationers. Created in 1901 by accident, it's now one of the country's worst ecological disasters: a fetid, stagnant, salty lake, coughing up dead fish and birds by the thousands. Still, an unusual group of eccentrics have hung on, carving out their own slice of paradise on the shores of this ecological disaster: the naked guy who waves to passing RVs; the man who built his own holy mountain; beer-loving Hungarian Hunky Daddy; the guys who plan to get rich someday when this virtual sewer becomes a Riviera again. Through their perceptions and mis-perceptions, the strange history and unexpected beauty of the Salton Sea is revealed. LA Weekly calls it "A historically thorough and thoroughly hysterical examination". (2005, 71 min,BetaSP). Text adapted from Facets program. More info at www.facets.org.
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IN SEARCH OF MOZART (Avant Garde)
Gene Siskel Film Center – Check Reader Movies for showtimes
This British film—apparently the first feature-length documentary about Mozart—premiered last year in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the genius composer’s birth. After the surprise success of its Chicago premiere, the Film Center has decided to bring it back for a second run. Critics have labeled this a “corrective” to Milos Forman’s AMADEUS, as director Phil Grabsky rooted his film in extensive historical research instead of myth. But the film is also a portrait of late 18th century Europe and its impact on contemporary music, featuring interviews with many of today’s leading historians and classical musicians. Talking heads notwithstanding, a two-hour investigation of some of the most beautiful music ever written can't fail to please. (2006, 128 min, DigiBeta video). More info at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
x Movieside Film Festival presents CHUCK STATLER (Special Event)
Music Box – Screening daily, check Reader Movies for showtimes
From J.R. Jones of the Chicago Reader: "Launched in 2001 as a monthly program of shorts and live music at the Fireside Bowl, the Movieside series has since developed into a less frequent but more elaborate affair with celebrity guests. This sixth anniversary edition features an appearance by music-video pioneer Chuck Statler, who will introduce 16-millimeter prints of films he made with Devo, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Graham Parker, Madness, Pere Ubu, Moldy Peaches, and the Time. The other program, curated by Movieside founder Rusty Nails, is an uneven but interesting hodgepodge of animated, documentary, political, and experimental shorts. Among the gems are Alex Weil's One Rat Short, about a rat escaping from a futuristic laboratory; Jason Sandri's Cranium Theater, whose hero is a farmer with a brain for a head; Arthur Jones's Everybody at the Beach, a wired 2-D music video; and Aaron Augenblick's Golden Age, a series of mockumentaries on invented cartoon characters from the golden age of television. Also on the program: live music by Lord of the Yum-Yum and Aleks and the Drummer." More info: www.musicboxtheatre.com.
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ALSO
PLAYING
Doc Films
Zodiac, Notes on a Scandal*
Landmark Century Centre
The Lives of Others**, Away From Her*, Paris, Je T'Aime, Death of a President, Severance*, more |
Music Box
Black Book**, Brand Upon the Brain!**, Altman's Theives Like Us, Little Shop of Horrors, Grease Sing-Along
Piper's Alley
Fracture*, The Namesake*, Waitress*
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