CRUCIAL VIEWING

Dreyer's PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC / "Voices of Light" (Classic Revival)
Silent Film Society / Harris Theater – Saturday, 8pm
The re-scoring of silent films is a unique form of film criticism--a composer must pick emotions and ideas in the scenes to focus on, in effect re-interpreting the work. Richard Einhorn's oratorio "Voices of Light," a score for Carl Theodor Dreyer's PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC performed live by 150 vocalists and musicians, emphasizes the transcendent and spiritual elements of Dreyer's austere 1928 film. Although the original is intended to be shown without any soundtrack, this event is nonetheless a unique convergence of dense sound and expressionistic cinema. More info at www.silentfilmchicago.com. Tickets range from $20 - $40; purchase at www.harristheaterchicago.org.
x

Oscar Micheaux's BODY AND SOUL (Classic Revival - with Lecture)
Gene Siskel Film Center – Tuesday, 6pm
The Film Center continues its excellent African American Auteurs series with Oscar Micheaux's best known silent feature. BODY AND SOUL (1925) marks the screen debut of actor and singer Paul Robeson, one of the most important figures in early 20th-century black culture. In addition to portraying strong characters in an era dominated by racial stereotypes, the charismatic Robeson was also a scholar-athlete and an icon in both the Soviet Union (where he received the 1952 Lenin Peace Prize) and the United States (he was considered as a vice-presidential candidate in 1948). The film will be shown with a live accompaniment by David Drazin, and a lecture by film scholar Jacqueline Stewart from Northwestern University. More info at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
x

RIDE LONESOME / THE NAKED SPUR (Classic Revival)
Block Cinema – Wednesday, 7pm / 9pm
The classic Western represents innately American themes like individuality and masculinity in an environment where emotions are heightened to a breaking point. As part of its ongoing retrospective, Block Cinema presents a Budd Boetticher's RIDE LONESOME and Anthony Mann's THE NAKED SPUR (which Andre Bazin once called "the most beautifully true Western"). Along with John Ford, these two directors were masters of the post-war Western film; this double bill is an excellent introduction to the genre. More info at www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu.
x

COPY-IT-RIGHT! / Phil Morton Memorial Research Archive (Experimental)
Conversations at the Edge / Gene Siskel Film Center – Thursday, 6pm
A contemporary of like-minded video luminaries such as Dan Sandin and Gene Youngblood, Phil Morton shared their dedication to the radical potential of community-based, non-commercial video and television programming. In addition to creating SAIC's video department and running his own independent video production company, Morton created the anti-copyright ethos from which this program takes its name in the early 70s, well before the current debate over file-sharing and image appropriation became headline news. SAIC professor and tech-expert Jon Cates presents this program of Morton's videos to commemorate the opening of a research archive in Morton's name. More info at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
x

Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (Classic Revival)
Doc Films (University of Chicago) – Thursday, 7pm
Continuing their series of socially conscious comedies, DOC Films screens one of Mankiewicz’s most ambitious films, a triptych of short stories about troubled marriage set in the infancy of the American suburb. Brian Dauth writes on Senses of Cinema, “A Letter to Three Wives engages in class analysis as it focuses on… the repercussions class issues have on [these women’s] lives,” but there’s a lot more going on. Mankiewicz’s dialogue – literate, digressive and socially astute – would be a major influence on the French New Wave, and his juggling of chronology bears comparison with the novels of William Faulkner. (1949, 103 min, 35mm). Article in Senses of Cinema. More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
x

David Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE (New Release - Extended Run)
Music Box – Screening Daily, check Reader Movies for showtimes
The Music Box has graciously extended its run of Lynch's latest, providing more opportunities to catch one of the most interesting releases of 2006. Using video for the first time in his career, Lynch probes the dark corners of the Hollywood (via Poland!) for pockets of enlightenment, and in the process, creates his most sophisticated exploration of human consciousness yet. Jonathan Rosenbaum's long review in the Reader is an excellent endorsement. (2005, 179 min, video on 35mm). More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
x

ALSO RECOMMENDED

RIDIN' THE RAILS (Experimental / Archival)
Film Studies Center (University of Chicago) – Friday, 3pm
Long distance train transportation might no longer be a major part of American culture, but it certainly captured the imaginations of filmmakers during its time. This program presents both early and industrial films alongside pieces by experimental filmmakers Ken Jacobs and Bruce Baillie, and will be accompanied by live sound effects. Complete Program.
x

Michael Snow: REVERBERLIN (Experimental)
Conversations at the Edge / Gene Siskel Film Center – Friday, 6pm
Experimental cinema legend Michael Snow will be appearing in person to present his latest video piece, REVERBERLIN (2006), with a survey of his sound recordings, compositions, sculptures, and installations (1950-2006). More info at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
x

TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP w/ Live Musical Accompaniment (Classic Revival)
Chicago Cultural Center – Friday, 7pm
Harry Langdon was a popular vaudeville comedian and a rival of Chaplin and Keaton in the 1920s. Working with then up-and-coming director Frank Capra, Langdon created – in the estimation of French critic Jean-Pierre Coursodon – “some of the strangest movies ever made.” This rare revival will feature live musical accompaniment, with singer-songwriters Robbie Fulks and Danny Barnes performing a score for guitar, banjo, tuba, harmonica, percussion, and viola commissioned by Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum last year (1926, 63 min, 35 mm). More info at www.cityofchicago.org/Tourism/CulturalCenter/.
x

ICE CAPADES Retrospective (Local, Independent, Experimental)
Around the Coyote / Rodan (1530 N Milwaukee) – Friday & Sunday, 7pm
The West side art fair Around the Coyote celebrates the cinema collective Ice Capades (a local hub for off-beat, experimental, and animated movies) with a retrospective showcasing a wide variety of the best short works they have exhibited over the past few years. Admission is $10, or free with Festival Pass. Complete Details.
x

Fritz Lang's CLASH BY NIGHT (Classic Revival)
Block Cinema (Northwestern University) – Friday, 8pm
Block continues its Fritz Lang series with one of his more "realistic" works; the adultery-centered 1952 noir CLASH BY NIGHT finds the director abandoning the controlled stylization usually associated with his work from the period (such as the Brechtian RANCHO NOTORIOUS, made the same year) in favor of an equally controlled naturalism. Features noteworthy performances by Marilyn Monroe and leading lady Barbara Stanwyck. More info at www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu.
x

Fritz Lang's M (Classic Revival - Weekend Matinee)
Music Box – Saturday & Sunday, 11:30am
The Music Box continues its Janus Films series with Fritz Lang's 1931 masterpiece of murder and madness, which features a legendary performance from Peter Lorre, who is both sinister and pitiable as a child murderer terrorizing post-WWI, pre-Nazi Dusseldorf. Lang's sophisticated use of sound is far ahead of most early talkies, and his critique of hysteria and mob violence is still chillingly relevant today. (1931, 106 min, 35mm). More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
x

Preston Sturges' THE PALM BEACH STORY (Classic Revival)
LaSalle Bank Cinema – Saturday, 8pm
Sturges' sharp and amazingly frank comic exploration of marraige and companionship deals with hot-botton issues like divorce, abortion, and corruption, well before such topics were considered suitable (1942, 88 min, 16mm). Preceeded by classic Warner Bros. cartoon "The Hole Idea" (1955, 7 min, dir. Robert McKimson). Venue information.
x

BEFORE WE WERE TURTLES (Independent)
Gene Siskel Film Center – Saturday, 8pm
The Chicago independent film community continues to grow, with the Film Center hosting the premiere of Grigori Poulimas's stylish debut feature. Shot on location in Chicago, the story focuses on the emotional fallout of a recently-ended relationship. Poulimas will be present to answer questions (2007, 74 min, HD video). More info at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
x

MUSIC BOX VALENTINES (Independent / Classic Revival)
Music Box – Screening Monday - Thursday
This week-long tribute to everyone's favorite greeting-card holiday features a slate of romantic classics along with one contemporary internet success story, FOUR EYED MONSTERS, whose story itself hinges on the vicissitudes of technologically-aided communication (2005 / Wed, 9:45). Another highlight is Frank Capra’s beloved contribution to the Screwball genre, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, a fine-tuned mix of populist sentiment and Hollywood sex appeal (1934 / Tue, 5:10, 7:20, 9:30). The rest of the films are first-date fodder par excellence. In chronological order: WEST SIDE STORY (1961 / Sun, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00), ANNIE HALL (1977 / Mon, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30), CASABLANCA (1942 / Wed, 5:30, 7:40), and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961 / Thu, 5:15, 7:30, 9:45). More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
x

VERDICT ON AUSCHWITZ: THE FRANKFURT TRIAL (Contemporary Doc.)
Facets Cinematheque – Screening Daily, check Reader Movies for showtimes
Using Alain Resnais' NIGHT AND FOG as a model, this film documents the first Auschwitz trial (held some 20 years after the war) by drawing on tape recordings of the legal proceedings, filmed interviews with witnesses and jurists, and a variety of archival materials recovered from the death camp at Auschwitz. More info at www.facets.org.
x

THE ANIMATION SHOW (Contemporary Animation)
Music Box – Screening Daily, check Reader Movies for showtimes
The third installment of this traveling series features a diverse selection of animated shorts ranging from 3D computer graphics to traditional hand-drawn pieces, all selected by Mike Judge and Don Herzfeldt. Animators Bill Plympton & Don Hertzfeldt will appear in person for all six screenings. More info at www.animationshow.com.
x

ALSO SHOWING AT DOC FILMS (University of Chicago)
The highlight of this week's lineup at Doc Films is Charles Burnett's TO SLEEP WITH ANGER (1990 / Tue, 7pm), which seems to emanate from a different American storytelling tradition entirely: a belief in myth as everyday instead of epic, characters who can be both real people and archetypes, and action guided by the structure of folk tales as much as psychology. Also showing are Akira Kurosawa's classic YOJIMBO, a comical ronin tale starring the incomparable Toshiro Mifune (Saturday and Sunday, checks site for listings), 16mm prints of Maurice Tourneur's PRIDE OF THE CLAN starring Mary Pickford (1917 / Sun, 7pm), and Sacha Guitry's aesthetically innovative PEARLS OF THE CROWN (1937 / Mon, 7 pm), plus this week's installment of the "Cinematic Sexualities" series, UNCUT (2003 / Thu, 9:15), which consists of a single POV shot--aimed toward a certain intact body part, naturally. More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
x

FEBRUARY RETROSPECTIVES AT THE FILM CENTER
Gene Siskel Film Center – Check Reader Movies for showtimes
x x x x x
- - - CINEMA CROATIA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Film Center's look at new Croatian films opens with the coming-of-age comedy SLEEP SWEET, MY DARLING. (2005 110 mins, 35mm). MORE INFO
x x x x x
- - - FILMS BY JOHNNIE TO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This year's HONG KONG! festival celebrates under-appreciated Hong Kong action director Johnnie To, in whose hands the themes of comradeship, honor, traditionalist masculinity and heterosexual competition become as exciting as romantic love. To's action films are reference-filled explorations of the genre—the relationships between his characters are not as much relationships between real people as between characters in action films. This week's features include 2001's FULL TIME KILLER, a reference-filled pastiche of 1990s action (complete with verbatim lifts from TERMINATOR 2 and LEON) that centers around two assassins vying for the attention of the same video store clerk. MORE INFO
x x x x x
- - - WERNER HERZOG: VISIONARY AT LARGE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Werner Herzog is notorious for shooting in difficult locations, picking impossible tasks, and working with difficult actors. FITZCARRALDO (1982) combines all three: infamously unstable Klaus Kinski stars in a film shot on location in the jungles of Peru and Brazil, whose central Sisyphian task of moving a 340-ton steam ship over a mountain was accomplished without special effects--though reportedly at the cost of several lives. MORE INFO
x

ALSO PLAYING