Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Past seven days

I think I've said previously, there is a film festival catering to almost any interest. Here in Chicago we have the usual fests focusing on a certain foreign region, such as the European Union, Israel, or South Asia, but also topics like food, bikes, comedy shorts, or the LGBT community.

This week I am catching a few screenings at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival.  The line-ups are mostly short films that are collected into various age ranges, with those for younger audiences screened earlier in the day.  I'm pretty impressed with some of the short documentaries in some of the programs for older kids and teens.

Edgy Animation shorts
Ender's Game
5 Broken Cameras
Family Pass shorts
Fresh Faces, New Places shorts
Higher Ground shorts
Inside Llewyn Davis
Intercom
The Matrix
Off the Grid shorts
Two Way Street shorts


Horror-ble! My Soul to Take

It seems horror movies have a niche to fit every kind of terror. Nightmares, devil dolls, monsters--you name it, someone has made a movie about it.

My Soul to Take is a bit less niche than most. It was billed as horror icon Wes Craven's first 3-D movie. Its general plot involves several people who are killed one by one, leaving you to question who the killer is.

Sixteen years ago a schizophrenic killer (Raul Esparza) was threatening the small town where the film takes place. On the night when his child is born, he goes on one final spree and is involved in a car crash. But no body was found. On that same night, several other babies are born, and 16 years later it is rumored one of them, including the man’s son, has inherited his soul and begins terrorizing the town again.

The film’s action throughout implies that one of the kids has been possessed by the supposed dead man, so leaves many red herrings around as to 1) if the man really died to begin with, and 2) which kid is possessed and is a new killer. Each of the seven kids born on that earlier night, including the son, are in turn suspected but killed until there are just two at the end with a showdown. Along for the ride is the son’s half-sister, and she factors in on some of the action.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Horror-ble!: The Hands of Orlac

This is a silent 1924 horror film directed by Robert Wiene.  Orlac (Conrad Veidt), a famous pianist, is maimed in a tragic train accident. At the same time, the convicted murderer Vasseur is to be executed. When Orlac's hands cannot be saved, despite the pleading of his anguished wife (Alexandra Sorina), the doctor replaces them with Vasseur's hands, unbeknownst at first to everyone.

When Orlac finds out the source of his hands, he is of course plagued by this and even afraid to touch his wife now with those murderous hands. Some new crimes are committed where Vassuer's fingerprints are found, but that seems impossible because Orlac now owns those hands. But Orlac sleepwalks, and since the hands have a mind of their own, he is fearful that he is the culprit.

Meanwhile there is a mysterious man plotting against Orlac. He blackmails Orlac for money in order to keep quiet about the hands and Orlac's suspected commission of the new crimes. His identity is revealed, then revealed again, and we question just how much Orlac was guided by the hands.


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Past seven days

The last of my film fest schedule as well as a few other first runs and DVDs.  It was a pretty busy seven days!

CIFF After Dark Panel
Black Rock
The Burning Sunlight
CIFF Cineyouth
I Will Be Murdered
Like Father, Like Son
CIFF Meet the Critics Panel
Mothers
Murder: Take One
Of Good Report
The Priest's Children
Shorts Program: Cel Division
Shorts Program: Midnight Mayhem
Shorts Program: Our Lovers' Story
Silent Films: Louder Than Words
Soul
A Thousand Times Goodnight
Voyage
Wolfschildren
Workers

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Past seven days

The film festival is in full swing for me but I still managed to squeeze in more than a few extras.

Big Bad Wolves
Borgman
CIFF Documentary Panel
Domestic
An Evening with Barry Gifford
Golden Chicken
Golden Chicken 2
Gravity
Illiterate
Just a Sigh
Lad: A Yorkshire Story
Life Feels Good
CIFF Out-look Panel
Pioneer
Pulling Strings
Rush
Salt (documentary)
Tanta Agua