Free event: Giulia Doesn't Date at Night

There are several films taking place this month at the Italian Cultural Institute. The first is Giulia Doesn't Date at Night. A successful family man is tempted by a charming swimming instructor. Although the event is free you need to register here.

Giulia Doesn't Date at Night
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
6:00 p.m.
Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Chicago
500 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1450

Filmmaking Contest: Northbrook Public Library Youth Film Festival

The Northbrook Public Library is sponsoring a filmmaking contest. Details:

All students (junior high through college) are invited to have their film or video showcased at the Northbrook Youth Film Festival. Any genre film or video (2 to 12 minutes in length) will be considered. This year a $100 grand prize will be awarded by the Northbrook Arts Commission. Films or videos must be submitted by May 15th to the Northbrook Library Multimedia Department or the Village Hall. For more information, call Kendal Maltas at the Village, 847-272-5050.


The presentation of winners takes place in June.

Youth Film Festival
Submissions by Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Showcase, Monday, June 10, 2013
7:00 p.m.
Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Lane
Northbrook, IL 60062

The Host (2013)

Stop the insanity! I thought after the Twilight series was over we would be through with the combination platter of Stephenie Meyers and the movies. Unfortunately this is not the case.

The Host bases its story on a science fiction precept that aliens have invaded earth and taken over human bodies. The aliens, tentacled glowworms, are inserted into humans and take over the bodies, destroying the personalities of the human host (the film doesn’t say who performed the first surgery, since the glowworms obviously have no opposable thumbs). Some human citizens have become rebel factions, hiding out in the desert against these new invaders. Even a few who have been overtaken don’t take kindly to their new way of life, with their minds still active but trapped by the invading being called "souls" in the movie (ugh). One of these soon-to-be-disgruntled humans is Melanie (Saoirse Ronan), who is living a nomadic life with her young brother when she is chanced upon by another survivor, Jared (Max Irons). For a time they live in the lonely outback away from civilization and the film doesn’t say how, but Melanie is soon captured and invaded by a being who is closemouthed and wants to be called the Wanderer. Be sure to remember that--it is Wanderer with a capital W.

Wanderer is interrogated by a Seeker (Diane Kruger, another Capital Letter Alien), who wants to find out where the other rebels are hiding. Since at this point in the story, Wanderer/Melanie only knows of the existence of two other rebels, the importance the Seeker puts into her interrogation seems inflated to me. We the audience see that Melanie’s personality has not disappeared, and in fact still exists in her body, trying to coerce Wanderer not to give away the location of where her brother and lover might be. This internal struggle causes Wanderer to escape, fighting with Melanie's personality to save Melanie’s human friends and family, yet also maintain both Melanie and Wanderer’s own survival. She locates the desert caverns where her brother and, she finds, others are hiding: her uncle Jeb (William Hurt) and a few hot guys who alternately want her blood or her bod--Melanie’s lover Jared who distrusts her now that she has been overtaken by Wanderer, and Ian (Jake Abel) who also is distrustful but I guess becomes aroused enough to eventually defend and fall in love with the personality of Wanderer.

Wanderer lives with the rebels, with some defending her and others wary of her, but hot on her heels is Seeker. Seeker and the other aliens eventually track her down and Wanderer gives up a lot to save her friends.

Past seven days

If you're looking for some good science fiction, I suggest you skip the movie The Host. If instead you are looking for a high school age romance (and not even a very good one at that, sorry high schoolers!) , The Host is your kind of movie.  Does it surprise you to hear it is based on a Stephenie Meyer book?

Admission
Disconnect
The Door
Dormant Beauty
The Host
In the Fog
Jurassic Park 3D
Toys in the Attic

On the Road

The new film On the Road depicts the early life influences on beat writer Jack Kerouac, and generally speaks to the lives of 20-somethings trying to find their way in the world. The main character Sal Paradise (standing in for Kerouac) is played by Sam Riley. Among his circle of friends are Dean (Garrett Hedlund), who seems to have no desire except to have sex, take drugs, and drink; Carlo (Tom Sturridge) a beat poet; and Marylou (Kristen Stewart), Dean’s ex-wife but still on again/off again girlfriend. They often meet to drink, take drugs and talk about beat society stuff and although Sal is writing a lot, the film doesn’t show him as pursuing or succeeding with writing as a real career. Sal, who lives in the East Coast, goes to visit Carlo and Dean currently living in the West, where he finds out Dean has divorced Marylou and taken up with Camille (Kirsten Dunst). The film’s central relationship is between Sal and Dean, although overall the movie takes the “On the Road” aspect as Sal travels across America to visit his friends in the West.

Sal admires the charismatic Dean, whose confidence is something Sal doesn’t yet possess. But Dean asks Sal for writing advice which pleases him. We see that Dean though is pretty directionless and lives for the moment, even if the moment is pretty meaningless. He often throws over the woman he is with to spend time with his friends, something Marylou sees and accepts and joins along with, and something Camille comes to realize she cannot. What exactly is Dean looking for in life? IS he looking?

Sal continues to traverse back and forth over the three years or so this movie takes place in, visiting Dean and evening going down for a time to Mexico with him. Other characters include those played by Terrence Howard (a jazz musician), Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams (characters based on William S. Burroughs and his wife), Elisabeth Moss (wife of one of their circle), Steve Buscemi (a man who picks up the hitchhiking Sal and Dean), and Alice Braga (a migrant farmhand).