Free event: Stolen Life

The Chicago Public Library's Global Lens series goes to China this weekend.  Stolen Life is about a young woman who escapes her depressing life by becoming a college student.  She meets and falls in love with a delivery guy whose deception brings more tragedy.


Stolen Life
Saturday, December 1, 2012
2:00 p.m.
Chicago Public Library, Chinatown Public Library
2353 S. Wentworth Avenue

Free event: Sound of Noise

Transistor, the record store and art gallery, offers another film this week. I am not sure where to categorize Sound of Noise, as the plot is "a tone deaf cop tracks down some percussionist terrorists" and tagged as crime and comedy on some websites.  It's a Scandinavian film, so no doubt there will be some dry humor.

Sound of Noise
Friday, November 30, 2012
8:00 p.m.
Transistor
3819 N. Lincoln Avenue

Free event: Pina

With films like Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams and the upcoming The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrmann, 3D is film is exploring more than mainstream kids movies and action hero stories these days. This is a profile of the choreographer Pina Bausch, completed by director Wim Wenders after her untimely death in 2009.

Pina (in 3D)
Friday, November 30, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Univ. of Chicago Film Studies Center
5811 South Ellis Avenue
Cobb Hall 306

Anna Karenina (2012)

Joe Wright, who directed this new version of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, has also directed Keira Knightley in two other movies, Pride & Prejudice and Atonement.  The story is about a married Russian worman who is caught up in a passionate love affair, and decides to give up her reputation and her family, including her beloved child for whom she would do anything for.

In this film, Wright uses heightened visual and artistic elements that suggest the characters are characters in a play, i.e. their fate is already written and their choices are not their own. Many of the scenes are visualized as sets on a stage, often revolving and changing as one would experience in a real play as the theatre would switch scenery while the audience continues to view. Often the shots go from indoors to outdoors with a simple removal of a wall.

Past seven days

Despite a long holiday weekend, I didn't watch as many movies as I thought I would.


Bedevilled
Departures
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Spiderman
Spiderman 3
The Thing

Free event: The Man Who Would Be King

A film co-starring a favorite, Michael Caine, that I haven't yet seen.  Based on a book by Rudyard Kipling, and as expected takes place in the the far east.  As with some other screenings at the Northbrook library, Reid Schultz is scheduled to lead a discussion after both screenings of the film.

The Man Who Would Be King
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Lane
Northbrook, IL 60062

Free event: Intacto

Intacto is a sort of "bet-with-the-devil" story. Max von Sydow plays the devilish character, a gambler and owner of a casino.  Several characters lives are changed.  This Spanish-language film is presented by Instituto Cervantes.

Intacto
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Instituto Cervantes
31 W. Ohio Street

Return engagement: Tales of the Night

Tales of the Night returns to Chicago. 

This animation film of several short folk tales is a French language film, although the tales take place in different parts of the world.  See my review here.  There are a couple more days to catch this at the Gene Siskel Film Center.  This would be great to watch with kids, obviously, but adults can also appreciate the artistry of the shadow puppet/cut paper animation style and bold colors.

Free event: Grey Matter

The Chicago Public Library continues their Global Lens series of foreign films. In Grey Matter (Matiere Grise), a young African filmmaker is pressured to make his film, about a woman who suffered atrocities during a war only to be sent to the same mental hospital as her tormentor, more mainstream.

Grey Matter
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Chicago Public Library, Sulzer Regional Library
4455 N. Lincoln Avenue

Free event: There'll Always Be an England

This one sounds like a concert documentary, about the Sex Pistols. As the poster to the right shows, there may be adult content (lyrics?) so viewer discretion advised.

There'll Always Be an England
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Delilah's
2771 N. Lincoln Avenue

Free event: Certified Copy

This talky sounding drama is about an English art critic who meets a Frenchwoman in Tuscany during a book tour.

Certified Copy
Monday, November 26, 2012
8:00 p.m.
Transistor
3819 N. Lincoln Avenue

Past seven days

Bafk into the swing of things!  (I hope)

Anna Karenina
Easy A
The Frighteners
Groundhog Day
Hitchcock
Lincoln
Paralelo 10
Skyfall
Toll Booth

Strictly Ballroom

Usually I am not a fan of really broad comedies. I think this '90s film comes from a time when Australia's comedies were mostly of the broad type, at least the ones I saw that came my way. But there is also a romance and music and dancing, creating appeal across many fronts. It is a film by Baz Luhrmann, part of his Red Curtain trilogy (along with Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge), and based on a stage musical he made in the '80s.

The plot concerns the competitive ballroom dancer Scott (Paul Mercurio). For all his life he has trained as a ballroom dancer, a culture that is a big part of several generations of his family. His parents, Shirley and Doug (Pat Thompson, Barry Otto), also were competitive when they were younger and now run a dancing academy. Among the hopefuls is the amateur Fran (Tara Morice), an ugly duckling who knows she can never match the glamour of the ballroom. When Scott tries to include new showier steps in his performances that are outside of the standard rules of the ballroom community, he is pressured into following the rules by his manager Les (Peter Whitford), the competition head Barry (Bill Hunter), and other dancers.

But Fran sees him practicing his new steps and Scott is grudgingly convinced to have her as a temporary partner since no one else wants to risk dancing with him. He also meets Fran's father, a notable flamenco dancer (Antonio Vargas), who helps Scott perfect his paso doble. Scott later finds out something about his own father and a shared dream that he now has the opportunity to make real.

Free event: Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution

Every now and again I will find some place screening a movie that I’ve never been to before, much less heard of! Bars tend to fall into this category. This music documentary, about the electronica music group Kraftwerk, screens at Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar. (And what the heck are “packaged goods” anyway?)

Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution
Sunday, November 25, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar
960 W 31st Street

Free event: ParaNorman

One for the kids, a pretty new movie that maybe they haven't seen yet. Paranorman is an animated film about a boy who is able to talk to ghosts. He helps saves his town from a curse.

ParaNorman
Saturday, November 24, 2012
2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Lane
Northbrook, IL 60062

Free event: Warriors of the Wasteland (The New Barbarians)

The premise of this sounds pretty out there. Radio signals during a nuclear holocaust lead survivors to a homosexual tribe of warriors. It's an Italian-made movie with the title I Nuovi Barbari, hence this alternate title on the movie poster.


Warriors of the Wasteland
Saturday, November 24, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Delilah's
2771 N. Lincoln Avenue

Free: The Secret in Their Eyes

I think I have seen almost everything available here that stars Ricardo Darin, an understated Argentinian actor. He often plays loners that connects with few people, and that is the case here. In this story, he plays a court investigator re-examining an old murder case.

Be sure to keep your eyes on the spectacular chase scene during a soccer match, which I believe is one long shot as well as shot during an actual match.


The Secret in Their Eyes
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Instituto Cervantes
31 W. Ohio Street

CIFF 2012: The Scapegoat

This is based on a Daphne duMaurier book, a previous film adaptation starred Alec Guinness. I don’t know the lead actor, Matthew Rhys, but I did recognize a few of the actors in the smaller roles. The story is a period piece taking place in the 1950s just when England's Princess Elizabeth is about to be crowned as Queen Elizabeth II. A teacher John is just leaving his post at a boys school—you can tell he is definitely not of the social or economic class of his students’ families. He teaches Greek and it is decided that these old languages are not needed anymore in the modern world, so his post has been eliminated. A bit bitter, he drinks at a hotel bar where he sees a man who amazingly looks exactly like him. He and this other man, Johnny (played also by Rhys), learn a bit about each other and Johnny buys him drinks and they stay the night at the hotel when they get too drunk. When John wakes, he finds his clothes are gone and a personal driver has arrived to take him “home”—Johnny’s home—believing John to be Johnny.

At first John tries to convince people he is not Johnny—they just think he has a bad hangover—until he meets the family. Lady Spence, the mother (Eileen Atkins), is a bedridden matron who does not go out anymore; wife Frances (Alice Orr-Ewing) is one of those sweet wives who loves her husband, not knowing his bad side; brother Paul (Andrew Scott) is trying to hold the family business together, a glassmaking factory; Paul’s wife Nina (Sheridan Smith), whom John finds out has been having an affair with Johnny; Blanche (Jodhi May), the outspoken sister; and Mary Lou, Johnny’s precocious daughter.

Bit by bit he is taken with the Spences, and to a lesser extent he is enjoying the life of a heritaged and monied family; but he also wants to find out why Johnny has forced him into this impersonation. It seems the factory is not doing well, and Johnny had been on a business trip to negotiate a merger; unbeknownst to everyone, the details of the merger are not good for the family or their workers. Johnny has run away and taken this unique opportunity to leave his problems to John to deal with. John is unable to tell the hard truth to the family and the factory workers, so stumbles about trying to find a solution and playing for time. At first he just wants Johnny to retake his life, but as we start to see secrets all around, John slowly sympathizes with the family, even falling in love with the wife Frances. But Johnny has been pretty dastardly and all his actions have caused problems for each member of the family. John’s presence and actions within the family change everything for the better for all the characters.

Free event: Olga's House of Shame

Do you watch a sexploitation film for the sex, or for the camp?

Olga's House of Shame
Sunday, November 18, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Delilah's
2771 N. Lincoln Avenue

Free event: The Filth and the Fury

If you want some punk music in the middle of the week, check out this documentary about the Sex Pistols.

The Filth and the Fury
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Delilah's
2771 N. Lincoln Avenue

Free event: Solar Mamas

Who needs a film festival?  Free movies abound in Chicago!

This next pick, Solar Mamas, is a documentary taking place in Jordan about the Bedouan woman, Rafea.  She has the unusual distinction of being the first Jordanian woman to join a edcuation program to create solar energy engineers.  This program was created for women of poor and third world countries to help educate them and offer economic support to their families.

This part of PBS' Independent Lens series.

Solar Mamas
November 17, 2012
2:00 p.m.
Cultural Center
Claudia Cassidy Theatre
77 E. Randolph Street

Free event: Mostra Brazilian Film Series

The Mostra Brazilian Film Series ends with this last screening. Era Uma Vez (Once Upon a Time in Rio) is a romantic drama. In Carra-Cega (The Blind Game), a man wounded in a fight with the police is sheltered by a woman.

Mostra Brazilian Film Series
Saturday, November 17, 2012
3:30 p.m. - Era Uma Vez (Once Upon a Time in Rio)
6 p.m. - Carra-Cega (The Blind Game)
Columbia College's Film Row
Wabash & 11th St., 8th Floor

Free event: Gerhard Richter: Painting

A documentary profile of the abstract German artist, Gerhard Richter, taking place mostly in his studio.

Gerhard Richter: Painting
Friday, November 16, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Univ. of Chicago Film Studies Center
5811 South Ellis Avenue
Cobb Hall 306

Free event: Bronx Executioner

You can't tell by the title but this is part sci-fi, part western. Two sheriffs work on a murder case involving humans, robots and replicants. It is an Italian made film set in New York City.

Bronx Executioner
Saturday, November 17, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Delilah's
2771 N. Lincoln Avenue

CIFF 2012: Shorts Program: Animation: Blurring the Lines

The shorts programs are always hit and miss for me. This year the animation styles were pretty good and had lots of variety, although as in many shorts the stories often had open endings or surreal tales.

38-39 c (S. Korea/US)--I don't think I've seen any short films from South Korea before. I believe the filmmaker is a Korean American student. The title is the temperature in a bathhouse. There is no dialogue, so the synopsis of the short "A birthmark forms a bond between father and son in an old public bathhouse" tells me more than I got out of it. There was no real indication to me that the two characters were father and son. This film was mostly portrayed via images melding into something else, going in a roundabout way from the son's birthmark to his father's.

Bite of the Tail (US)--A woman suffers from a mysterious stomach ailment but her doctor is distracted and not very interested, giving her vague diagnosis and cures. Her husband also is not very interested in her health either. He spends his time in an empty lot trying to catch a snake when he should be working. The snake metamorphoses into symbolism of the woman's ailment, whether it is physical or mental I don't know.  This story to me feels very autobiographical.

The Conquerors (Canada/France)--A surreal landscape where a man and woman live as if they are on a desert island, eventually birthing several kids, making pets out of giant insects, battling nature and other creatures. The people are real and although everything else is rendered via CGI, they still have the style of clip art type images cut out of a book.

Old Man (US)--The filmmaker got her hands on taped telephone recordings of Charles Manson and splices them into a rambling conversation, with animation to personify what he is saying.

Edmond was a Donkey (Canada/France)--Meek Edmond is picked on at work and daydreams of escaping to a fantasy land. When his coworkers covertly put donkey ears on him, this seems to change Edmond into a more extroverted and confident person, despite his ridiculous appearance. When the ears are taken away, Edmond returns to depression.  It won the Gold Plaque for Animated Short at the fest.

Oh Willy (Belgium/France)--A man returns to his natural tendencies and to his mother who lives in a nudist commune. When she dies it distresses him and he runs off into the forest where he befriends a big hairy creature. After giving it a good shave, he finds the creature is pretty much like himself. Made entirely of felt and fabric and other textiles and natural materials, which looked like it was a lot of handwork, and deserving of its Silver Hugo for Best Animated Short.

Body Memory (Estonia)--Creatures made of string are trapped in some kind of boxcar shack. Their strings start unraveling as they try to prevent being unraveled entirely. Some string creatures are wound around an egg, suggesting they are mother types with a pregnant belly.  This film has the same feel of other Eastern European short film artists such as Jan Svankmajer, Jiri Barta, Jiri Trnka, as well as a bit of Ray Harryhausen.

The Pub (UK)--Dialogue at a pub is animated in a rotoscope style. A female bartender has to deal with drunks, rowdy football hooligans, a bachelorette party and other types that congregate at bars.

Next Door Letters (Sweden)--Two girls play a joke on a third girl by sending her a fake love letter from a boy. When the victim is genuinely interested, one of the mean girls feels bad and continues the charade through letters in order not to hurt her feelings; she feels guilty enough to want to confess but ultimately writes that "his" family has to move away. Later the jokester, now a grown up lesbian, tries to track the girl down to reconnect and apologize.  This one, too, felt like an autobiographical story of the filmmaker or someone they knew.

Free event: Mostra Brazilian Film Series

The Mostra Brazilian Film Series is hosting a bunch of films around the Chicagoland area, taking place mostly at universities from as far down south as Urbana-Champaign to as local as Columbia College. There are two more free screenings this week, the first takes place tomorrow, a schedule of short films and two feature length films.

Besides the short fiction, there is also a documentary and a feature film. Each of screenings is accompanied by an additional short film. Paralelo 10 concerns the plight of indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest, located in the 10th parallel. Su Quando Eu Danco (Only When I Dance), another documetnary, is billed as " Mad Hot Ballroom meets Billy Elliot."

Mostra Brazilian Film Series
Thursday, November 15, 2012
3:30 p.m. - Short Fiction Program
6:00 p.m. - Paralelo 10 (The 10th Parallel)
8:00 p.m. - So Quando Eu Danco (Only When I Dance)
Columbia College's Film Row
Wabash & 11th St., 8th Floor

Past seven days

I watched some tv-on-DVD, a short-lived series called Defying Gravity that was caleld "Grey's Anatomy in space." I should have listened. I was hoping for more sci fi and less about the love lives (or lack thereof) of these astronauts going to Venus. Seriously, all the female astronauts were thinking about were their romantic troubles, sex, or having babies.

I did manage to squeeze in one movie in my oh-so-busy week!

Craft

CIFF 2012: The Bella Vista

Doc about the Bella Vista club, originally a sports (soccer) clubhouse and team. The building, having fallen into some disrepair, was bought up by a woman who made it into a nightclub with transvestite barflies who dance and flirt with male clientele.

Although for the most part the bar seems okay, neighbors and the now middle-aged soccer players petition a judge to turn the club back over to the soccer team, who have formed a board to oust the transvestites. It appears they dislike the sexual orientations of the Bella Vista's employees rather than have a real, legal complaint against them.

A couple of the transvestites are interviewed. One is married to a man and has adopted the son of a woman who couldn't afford to keep him. The birth mother appears still distressed that she had to make this decision, but the film shows the adoptive mother is a loving and doting parent. The film does not dig into how the birth mother feels about another woman raising her child (although she does have other children she kept), much less a transvestite. The transvestite's husband is not shown or interviewed at all. She later reveals that she had a problem with a silicone implant.

Another barfly seems to want romance and fantasizes about a long-term relationship with a particular guest, even coercing a young bar patron into playacting as the guest. The young guy falls for her but his friend makes fun of him. The bar owner berates her for spending too much time with the young guy and not spending more time with other men who want her attention.

Prostitution at the club is suspected by the soccer guys but the film does not show any evidence of this.

Free event: The Prize

The Chicago Public Library continues with their Global Lens series of films.

This week, playing at the Harold Washington Library Center, is The Prize.  In Buenos Aires, a young girl keeps a secret she doesn't fully understand.

You can find out if The Prize is playing at your local branch or o a later dat, here.

The Prize
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Harold Washington Library Center
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
400 S. State Street

CIFF 2012: The Cleaner

In Lima, there is a plague that has decimated the population. Middle aged Eusebio (Victor Prada) works as a biohazard cleaner, mopping up blood and disinfecting the homes of people who have died. In one such house he finds a survivor, a boy named Joaquin (Adrian Du Bois).

Not knowing what to do with the kid, Eusebio tries to get help from social workers and doctors. But they are either unhelpful or overworked. Eusebio takes Joaquin home where, in distress, Joaquin hides in the closet. Eusebio continues with his life and job, trying to draw Joaquin out of his fear and at the same time trying to locate a relative of Joaquin's to take him.

Past seven days

A very busy work week so I haven't been taxing myself with a lot of foreign movies.  But...

Pirates! Band of Misfits
Portland to Portland
Silver Linings Playbook

Past seven days

My slowest week--one film! Too busy watching some tv shows on DVD.

Nobody Walks