CRUCIAL VIEWING

WHAT REMAINS (Experimental)
Busker Chicago - Friday, 8pm / Saturday, 8pm
Pilsen artspace BUSKER hosts a pair of screenings showcasing experimental works by emerging and established international video artists who "investigate historical dynamics with an acute awareness of how image production mediates and transforms the very dynamics that the work puts into question." Friday's show features shorts by Hatice Guleryuz and Soon-Mi Yoo, plus Robert Cauble's WHERE IS THE SUN, an essay about "the strange, underrepresented role of religious imagination during the Cold War" based on the 16mm films of missionary Dr. Sidney Correll. Saturday's program includes work by Gintaras Makarevicius, Akram Zaatari of the Arab Image Foundation, and Harun Farocki's feature-length AS YOU SEE, an open-ended exploration of word/image relationships that attempts to shine light on forgotten aspects of the history of technology. More info at www.buskerchicago.com.
x

Jodorowsky's HOLY MOUNTAIN (Cult Revival)
Music Box – Friday & Saturday, midnight
Funded in part by John Lennon and George Harrison, this follow-up to EL TOPO sees cult icon Jodorowsky concocting a visceral, hallucinatory cinematic potion laden with religion, mysticism, sex, and violence; it's no coincidence that the director himself appears in the film as an alchemist. Arthur Magazine writes, "THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is probably the film that best represents the idea of art as an inner quest, a journey of initiation but also artifice and boundless illusion." Spiritual concerns aside, this masterpiece of 70s counterculture deserves to be seen on the big screen at midnight, and when the content is this explosively psychedelic, no substances are required to attain an altered state of consciousness. More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
x

Maurice Tourneur's VOLPONE (Classic Revival)
Doc Films (University of Chicago) – Sunday, 7pm
VOLPONE concludes Doc Films' tribute to the prolific Maurice Tourneur, father of Jacques and a master in his own right. Tourneur once wrote: "The cinema is a different medium for hieroglyphically expressing human thoughts using images in place of words and with a savagery no one means of expression possesses." An adaptation of Elizabethan playwright Ben Jonson's work of the same name, this film represents the last phase of Tourneur's career, when he returned to France after rejecting MGM's multi-tiered supervisor system of the late 1920's. It's the only one of Tourneur's sound films selected for this series, and is rare enough to be passed over by most English-language director surveys. However, Doc's Kyle Westpahl advertises in his program note that the film is widely admired in France. (1941, 85 min, 16mm). More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
x

SAUL LEVINE : Notes From The Underground (Experimental)
Conversations at the Edge / Gene Siskel Film Center – Thursday, 6pm
“Saul Levine is the foremost dissenting filmmaker in America,” writes critic P. Adams Sitney. “His works are high-energy messages of friendship, records of sexual love and political activism.” The small-gauge master and SAIC alum will present beautifully restored 16mm blow-ups of his intimate and incendiary 8mm “notes”: NOTE TO PATI (1969); NOTE TO COLLEEN (1974); NEW LEFT NOTE (1968-83); THE BIG STICK/AN OLD REEL (1967-73); and NOTE TO POLI (1982-3). Co-presented with the Experimental Film Club at the University of Chicago, which will screen other Levine works on Friday, March 9. (1968-83, 90 min, 16mm). Text by Amy Beste, from the CATE program. Saul Levine will be appearing in person for this screening. More info at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
x

EUROPEAN UNION FILM FESTIVAL (New Foreign)
Gene Siskel Film Center
Throughout March, the Film Center will be running its 10th Annual European Union Film Festival, featuring 55 new films from 24 countries. This year's lineup includes works by some of the greatest living filmmakers as well as enticing genre cinema from all over the continent. This week's highlights:
x
Vera Chytilová's PLEASANT MOMENTS (Czech Republic)
Legendary Czech New Wave director Vera Chytilová (DAISES) returns with her latest. PLEASANT MOMENTS is a pop Freudian statement—reminiscent in some ways of Samuel Fuller’s SHOCK CORRIDOR—that treats the confined space of the consultation room as a microcosm for an unraveling free society; likewise, the film's anxious handheld cinematography parallels the characters’ extreme mental states. Chytilová and her co-writer, psychologist Katerina Irmanovova, successfully channel the Soviet-thaw anger and formal adventurousness that distinguished 60s Czech film in forcefully addressing twenty-first century life. (2006, 108 min, 35mm). Screening Saturday, 3pm & Monday, 8:15pm.
x
Costa-Gavras' THE AX (France)
A laid-off engineer turns to assassinating his competition on the job market in this comic thriller directed by Costa-Gavras (Z, MISSING) and co-produced by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (ROSETTA, L’ENFANT). The source material is genre fiction by Donald Westlake (who also wrote POINT BLANK), but given the pedigree of the filmmakers, the suspense promises to be infused with political insight. (2005, 122 min, 35mm). Screening Sunday, 4:45pm & Monday, 6pm.
x
GLASTONBURY (UK)
Julien Temple, who has chronicled the Sex Pistols (THE GREAT ROCK ‘N’ ROLL SWINDLE) and 50s pop life (ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS), turns his camera to the long-running outdoor music festival. Incorporating performances by David Bowie, Morrisey, Bjork and Pulp (to name a few) plus vintage footage from Nicolas Roeg, Temple “seamlessly patches together a sonic quilt of eclectic music that evokes a kind of timeless flow” (LA Times). (2006, 138 min, 35mm). Screening Saturday, 7:30pm.
x
Addtional Highlights
A star turn by John Malkovich as queer con artist Alan Conway in COLOUR ME KUBRICK; BULLETS MISS THE FOOL, a Slovenian farce involving gangsters and marital discord that sounds like an update on the bubbly comedies Peter Sellers graced in the 60s; and MANUAL OF LOVE, a film in four chapters by Giovanni Veronesi, a popular writer-director in his native Italy whose observational humor has not yet found an audience Stateside.
x
Full program details at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
x x

ALSO RECOMMENDED

FEMINIST TALK (Experimental)
Eye & Ear Clinic - Friday, 5:05pm
SAIC's graduate Film/Video/New Media screening collective presents two provocative films about sexuality and family: Carolee Schneeman's FUSES (1965, 18 min, 16mm), a work that acquired a certain notoriety for its explicit depiction of sexual intercourse but is overlooked for its groundbreaking attempt to convey the intimacy of lovemaking and avoid objectifying the female body; and DAUGHTER RITE (1978, 48 min, 16mm), Michelle Citron's complex blend of feminist melodrama, avant-garde aesthetics and documentary footage that explores the psychological dynamics of mother/daughter and sibling/sister relationships. Eye & Ear Clinic is located at SAIC, 112 S. Michigan Ave, room 1307 (13th floor).
x

A WANDERING OPTICS: Film & Video by Leighton Pierce (Experimental)
Experimental Film Club / Film Studies Center (U of C) – Friday, 8pm
Since the 1980s, Iowa-based artist Leighton Pierce has developed a sensibility in his films and videos that is at once atmospheric and immediate. Though much of his work is rooted in his domestic space, this program features a selection of work which, while unmoored from quotidian home-life, is nonetheless grounded in specific places bursting with a sense of discovery on the part of the camera. Spoons rattle in coffee cups in the small-town cafés of YOU CAN DRIVE THE BIG RIGS; distant fog horns resound in RED SHOVEL; a glass marble placed in front of the lens upends steep coastal cliffs and cobblestone streets of Europe in FALL. Also on the program: HE LIKES TO CHOP DOWN TREES; PINK SOCKS; 37th AND LEX; VISCERA; MY PERSON IN THE WATER. Text by Thomas Comerford, from the EFC program. The event is free and open to the public. Leighton Pierce will be appearing in person. More info and full program can be found here.
x

Fritz Lang's HUMAN DESIRE (Classic Revival)
Block Cinema – Friday, 8pm
Continuing the exploration of oppressed lower class life in industrialized small town America that Lang began with CLASH BY NIGHT (1952), HUMAN DESIRE features Gloria Grahame in a rough-around-the-edges performance as the wife of a returning Korean war veteran who is caught in a murderous love triangle. The themes of adultery, betrayal, and murder run throughout Lang's work, but here the execution is cold and peculiar, as with the succession of mid-50s masterpieces made by the director after this film. HUMAN DESIRE is long overdue for reassessment, and with no DVD release in sight, this screening is a good opportunity (1954, 91 min, 35mm). More info at www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu.
x

Bong Joon-ho's MEMORIES OF MURDER & THE HOST (Special Event)
Film Studies Center (University of Chicago) – Saturday, 2pm
South Korea's Bong Joon-ho, a filmmaker whose goofy / horrific blockbusters have been capturing the attention of mass audiences and festival-goers as well as critics of all stripes, will be making an appearance at the University of Chicago this weekend to present two of his recent films -- serial killer thriller MEMORIES OF MURDER (2003) and monster movie phenomenon THE HOST (2006). The movies will start at 2pm & 5pm, respectively, and the director will speak afterwards. The event is free and open to the public, although seating is limited. Read the full program at filmstudiescenter.uchicago.edu.
x

NIXON WHITE HOUSE STAFF - SUPER 8 FILMS (Archival)
Chicago Filmmakers – Saturday, 8pm
An extraordinarily rare and unique glimpse into our not-too-distant past, this program features a selection of the more than 200 rolls of Super-8 film shot by several members of President Richard Nixon's staff between 1969 and 1973. The originals, confiscated by the FBI in '73, are now housed at the National Archives and Records Administration. Included are scenes from a performance of the musical 1776; a Presidential visit to the UN; staff meetings and photo ops; and appearances by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, Indira Ghandi, Bob Hope, and Pat Boone. (1969-71, ~73 min, silent). Text excerpted from Chi Filmmakers program. Full program description and additional info at www.chicagofilmmakers.org.
x

Richard Fleischer's VIOLENT SATURDAY (Classic Revival)
LaSalle Bank Cinema – Saturday, 8pm
Incongruously lavished with then-newfangled CinemaScope and DeLuxe color, this misanthropic heist picture has an oddball cast to match: the final showdown pits Lee Marvin against Victor Mature and Ernest Borgnine. Odder still is that most of the running time is dedicated to demonizing the victims, whose vices range from adultery and sexual voyeurism to cowardice and (worst of all in this film’s jaundiced eyes) pacifism. Forgoing the more-is-more aesthetic that congested most early widescreen films, Fleischer (a filmmaker enjoying a critical renaissance) starkly depopulates the expanded frame, emphasizing the emptiness in both his alienated characters and the rural landscape. (1955, 90 min, 16mm CinemaScope). Read film writer Zach Campbell's defense of Fleischer in The Film Journal here. Feature preceded by the classic Warner Bros. cartoon “The Great Piggy Bank Robbery” (1946, 8 min, dir. Robert Clampett). Venue Information.
x

Louis Malle's ZAZIE DANS LE METRO (Classic Revival)
Music Box – Saturday & Sunday, 11:30am
The Music Box continues its Janus Films matinee series with Louis Malle's whimsical, softly satirical farce about a young girl who evades the grasp of her adult keepers and sets out to explore Paris on her own. From Jonathan Rosenbaum: "Arguably Louis Malle's best work... this wild spree goes overboard reproducing Mack Sennett-style slapstick, parodying various films of the 1950s, and playing with editing and color effects (Henri Decae's cinematography is especially impressive), though gradually it becomes a rather disturbing nightmare about fascism." (1960, 93 min, 35mm). Read Rosenbaum's full Reader capsule here. More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
x

KINGS OF COMEDY: Bevan, Chase, Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy (Classic Revival)
Silent Film Society – Sunday, 2:30pm
Chicago's Silent Film Society presents a program of silent comedy works by Laurel & Hardy, Harold Lloyd, and the often overlooked Billy Bevan and Charley Chase. Features include: LIZZIES OF THE FIELD (1924), MOVIE NIGHT (1929), AN EASTERNER WESTERNER (1920) and THAT'S MY WIFE (1929). Live accompaniment provided by The West End Jazz Band and theatre organist Dennis Scott. More info at www.silentfilmchicago.com.
x

RE-DEFINING VIDEO: Work by Kyle Canterbury (Experimental)
Chicago Filmmakers – Sunday, 7pm
The success of Chi Filmmakers' initial screening of works by this talented 17 year-old video artist has prompted an encore presentation. Fred Camper on Canterbury: "In his hands, after less than a year of work, this medium, which so many have found severely limited, has become as supple, as pliable, as sensuous, and as rhythmically various, as film was for Brakhage." Jonathan Rosenbaum's take: "...he does some things with rhythm and texture I haven’t seen before in film or video." Rosenbaum's Reader capsule here. Camper's extensive commentary plus additional video stills here. More info at www.chicagofilmmakers.org.
x

STRAUB / HUILLET Double Feature (Underground)
NWesternAve – Sunday, 9pm
Concluding their series of "unavailable" works by the under-exhibited Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet, NWA will be screening a double feature of ultra-rare works on DVD: FROM TODAY UNTIL TOMORROW (1997, 62 min) a minimalist Arnold Schönberg opera adaptation (like last week's feature MOSES AND AARON), and politically potent landscape film TOO EARLY, TOO LATE (1981, 105 min), a masterwork shot in France and Egypt. Read Jonathan Rosenbaum's feature article on the latter in Senses of Cinema here. Venue info and details about NWA's ongoing program of rare French DVDs at NWesternAve.com.
x

Spencer Williams' DIRTY GERTIE & JUKE JOINT (Classic Revival)
Gene Siskel Film Center – Tuesday, 6pm
The Film Center continues its excellent AFRICAN AMERICAN AUTEURS series with two late films by actor-director Spencer Williams, an important creative force in the “race films” of the 1930s and 1940s. DIRTY GERTIE (1946) is Williams’s version of W. Somerset Maugham’s oft-filmed “Rain,” with the lovely Francine Everett as a Harlem stage star forced to flee to a Caribbean island, where she runs afoul of a puritanical preacher. In the rowdy JUKE JOINT (1947), two hard-up con men arrive in a Texas town where they tangle with massive Mama Lou and her two daughters, demure Honey Dew and man-crazy Florida. Synposes by Marty Rubin, from the FC's program. This screening will be accompanied by a lecture from film scholar Jacqueline Stewart. More info at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
x

SADIE BENNING (Experimental / Artist Lecture)
SAIC Auditorium - Wednesday, 6pm
Since emerging as an important video artist in the early 90s with her playful and intimate shorts made using a Pixelvision toy camera, Sadie Benning stepped out from the shadow of her father, avant-garde filmmaker James Benning, and established a diverse career in drawing, animation, and music (she was a founding member of Le Tigre). Her work poses insightful challenges to the norms of gender and identity and is currently the subject of a major monographic exhibition at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. Appearing as part of the School of the Art Institute's "Gender At Issue" visiting artist lecture series, Benning will discuss her recent work and screen PLAY PAUSE, her first video installation. Read her "Great Directors" profile on Senses of Cinema here. The SAIC auditorium is located at 280 S. Columbus Dr.
x

HIGH TECH SOUL (Documentary)
School of the Art Institute - Wednesday, 6pm
"HIGH TECH SOUL is the first documentary to tackle the deep roots of techno music alongside the cultural history of Detroit, its birthplace. From the race riots of 1967 to the underground party scene of the late 1980s, Detroit's economic downturn didn't stop the invention of a new kind of music that brought international attention to its producers and their hometown. Featuring in depth interviews with many of the world's best exponents of the artform, HIGH TECH SOUL focuses on the creators of the genre--Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson--and looks at the relationships and personal struggles behind the music. Artists like Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Eddie Fowlkes and a host of others explain why techno, with its abrasive tones and resonating basslines, could not have come from anywhere but Detroit." (Text by director Gary Bredow). Location: 112 S. Michigan, Rm. 1307. Admission is FREE; seating is limited.
x

THIS WEEK AT DOC FILMS (University of Chicago)
J. Hoberman describes Billy Wilder’s ONE, TWO, THREE (1961, 115 min, 35mm) as "at once hysterical and ironic, sophisticated and vulgar... [the film] celebrates as it satirizes American cultural imperialism.” It’s also Wilder’s most frantic film, shot in gorgeous black-and-white CinemaScope and brimming with detail. Also screening are some of the most popular films by venerable masters of the medium: Jean Renoir’s THE CRIME OF MONSIEUR LANGE (1936, 90 min, 35mm) and A DAY IN THE COUNTRY (1936, 36 min, 16mm); Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS (1963, 119 min, 35mm); and a rare 35mm print of John Ford’s THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940, 129 min, 35mm), which screens for free after an introduction from philosophy professor William Wimsatt. Less canonized but still worth seeing is Wayne Wang's THE CENTER OF THE WORLD (2001, 88 min, 35mm), an erotic drama co-written by novelist Paul Auster. More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
x

THE TASTE OF TEA (New Foreign)
Facets Cinematheque - Screening Daily, check Reader Movies for showtimes
A discreet success on the festival circuit, THE TASTE OF TEA is finally getting the wider exposure it deserves. Though overall a gentle story about a rural family whose members each possess their own irreverent problem, parts of the film are disturbing in their larger implications (director Katsuhito Ishii has expressed admiration for über-master Paul Verhoeven, and it shows). Ishii's imaginative leaps underscore the individualism of every character, rather than falsely stressing their interconnectedness by strewing together a labored plot. THE TASTE OF TEA may be about Japan, cinema, or its director (probably all three); but it owns up to the fact that it's tied to something, and this paradoxically makes it a freer film than any supposedly innovative American comedy of the last few years (2003, 143', 35mm). More info at www.facets.org.
x x

ALSO PLAYING

*Recommended by the Chicago Reader

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Contributors: Kalvin Henely, Mike King, Gabe Klinger, Ben Sachs, Ignatius Vishnevetsky, Ethan White, Darnell Witt

> Editorial Statement --> Contact