Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a nifty little preview of the upcoming Chicago Film Festival. This summary comes from our main man in Chicago himself, Capone, who will be attending the fest and has apparently also judged some of the short films. In the list of films he mentions wanting to see, I have to point out BRICK. I saw that film this morning and it's pretty galdern good, so definitely catch it, Cappy. If you have a film playing or just want to chat with Capone, make sure to click on his name at the end of the preview to drop him an email! Ladies and gentlemen... I give you the man with the bat, Capone!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here, about to dive headfirst into the 41st Chicago International Film Festival. I’m planning on seeing about 35 films this over the course of the next two weeks, and my head is already spinning.
This year’s CIFF is especially gratifying for me, because for the second year in a row I was asked to be on the jury for the Short Film Competition. For the past two Sundays, my fellow jurists and I viewed something like 45 shorts over the course of about 13 hours. Since the short film programs tend to get ignored by the masses, let me encourage you to check out at least a couple of the groupings this year. The strongest of the four shorts presentations is the “Animation Nation,” by far the strongest offerings overall with the jury. Of almost equal level of greatness is the “Personal Revelations” program (Spike Lee’s UNICEF PSA on AIDS, Jesus Children of America; Cindy, the Doll is Mine, with Asia Argento; and The Raftman’s Razor are worth the price of admission), with “Homegrown” following close behind. Despite one of my personal favorite shorts (France’s Kitchen) being in the “Behind Closed Doors” program, this is probably the one to skip, particularly because of the abysmally bad Enfants Terribles.
CIFF Films I’ve Seen and Recommend:
The Hidden Blade
From Japan, director Yoji Yamada (The Twilight Samurai) tells the
emotionally focused tale of a low-ranking samurai during the twilight years
of their importance in Japanese society, as Western weapons (especially
rifles and canons) make their way into modern warfare. The story combines
honor, love, social criticism, and violence to tell the sad and ultimately
hopeful tale of one man’s journey to find a new place in a changing world.
The Hidden Blade is my favorite CIFF film so far.
How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)
This vital documentary chronicles the life of filmmaker, writer, musician,
playwright, activist, and all-around badass Melvin Van Peebles. Thinking you
know anything about this man from only having seen his landmark film Sweet
Sweetback’s Baadassss Song is a mistake. There’s a life story here worth
telling and watching.
Shopgirl
Set to open later this month, Shopgirl is the surprisingly effective love
story, based on the novella by co-star and screenwriter Steve Martin. In her
best film role to date, Claire Danes stars as the Sacks Fifth Avenue
salesgirl who meets two very different, emotionally challenged men (Martin
and Rushmore Jason Schwartzman). Despite what the trailer for this film
shows, Danes does not date both men at the same time. Schwartzman, playing a
broke artist, appears and disappears in the movie’s early scenes, but most
of the story focuses on the relationship between Danes and the wealthy and
much older Martin, who insists that the pair leave their romantic options
open despite clearly being in love with her. Shopgirl is deceptively
complex, possessing a subtext that is far more interesting than what the
characters are going through on the surface. The film is filled with
material that will make you both laugh out loud and fight to hold back your
emotions. All three characters are worth getting to know, and Shopgirl packs
a silent punch to the heart.
Unknown White Male
This bizarre, almost unbelievable, story of Doug Bruce, who was stricken
with amnesia at the age of 35 is one of the best documentaries I’ve seen all
year. Bruce’s filmmaker friend Rupert Murray has compiled two stories: Doug
as he was and Doug as he is. The discussion of memory and amnesia by medical
experts is compelling, but it pales in comparison to simply watching Bruce
pull his life back together after having lost all knowledge of who he was.
After relearning basic skill sets (which seems about as painful as rebirth,
which I guess is what it is), he actually gets to a point where he’s not
sure he even wants to remember his past.
CIFF Films I’ve Seen and Don’t Recommend
Free Zone
The only reason this Israeli movie is getting any attention is because of
star Natalie Portman, who plays Rebecca, an American visiting Jerusalem
after breaking off her engagement. She hops into a car with driver Hanna (a
great performance by Hanna Laszlo), who just happens to be driving into
Jordan on business. Featuring long, tedious shots of the two women driving
through deserts and occasionally conversing about nothing in particular, the
film gets a little more interesting in Jordan, when a third character,
Leila, enters the picture. There’s nothing wrong with Portman’s performance
(an opening 10-minute, single-take shot of her crying is nothing less than
hypnotic), but the film goes nowhere and effectively wastes an opportunity
to tell a compelling story about the region in which it takes place.
Havoc
A close call, but I’ve seen the troubled, rich-kid thing done better.
Legendary documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple tries her hand at feature
work, with a script from Traffic screenwriter Stephen Gaghan. The setting is
East Los Angeles, where high school kids (played by the likes of Anne
Hathaway, Bijou Phillips, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) from the rich side of
town who have fully adapted black culture to a level that makes you think
Ali G. Hathaway (in a major image overhaul from The Princess Diaries) and
Phillips (whom you can always count on to play a believable slut) decide to
step up the danger-play by spending time with a group of Latino drug dealers
(led by “Six Feet Under’s” Freddy Rodriguez). The biggest flaw with Havoc is
its script. We’ve seen these drugged-out, thugged-out teens before and done
better in films like Bully and Kids, and Gaghan script doesn’t present the
scary and sad facts with any real originality. Kopple has a great eye for
the inner city and the acting here is fine. (Hathaway does a particularly
good job conveying a young woman not sure exactly how hard and dangerous she
wants to be.) Ultimately, Havoc didn’t convince me that these were stories
worth revisiting.
CIFF Film I Haven’t Seen but Am Looking Forward to Seeing
The greatest thing about any reputable film festival is the chance to get a preview of films scheduled to come out later in the year and view movies that may never be released. Here’s a mix of both. Check out the CIFF’s web site for details on these and other films, show times, and locations:
April Snow; Bee Season; Brick; Caché; Cold Showers; Le Courage D’Aimer; Dark Hours; Feast; Gabrielle; Housewarming; Learning to Swallow; Manderlay; The Matador; Mrs. Henderson Presents; Night of the Living Dorks; North Country; October 17, 1961; P; Protocols of Zion; The Squid and the Whale; That Man: Peter Berlin; Transamerica; Two Auroras; and The Weather Man.
See you on the red carpet,
