CRUCIAL VIEWING
Jonas Mekas' BIRTH OF A NATION (Experimental)
Experimental Film Club / Film Studies Center (U of C) – Friday, 3pm
Not to be confused with D.W. Griffith's contentious 1915 civil war epic, Jonas Mekas' BIRTH OF A NATION (1997) continues the filmmaker's investigation into the possibilities of film-as-diary to offer glimpses of key figures of experimental cinema, including Stan Brakhage, Tony Conrad, and Michael Snow, compiled from footage shot over four decades. As far back as the masterpieces WALDEN (1969) and LOST, LOST, LOST (1976), Mekas has been turning his roaming camera on those around him, eschewing conventional documentary in favour of a more impressionistic, subjective engagement with his friends and surroundings. If Griffith's film is often held up as marking the consolidation of Hollywood narrative cinema as the dominant film form both home and abroad, here Mekas proposes an alternative tradition of American filmmaking, the birth of another nation, another national cinema. Fred Camper describes this "nation" as "a network of almost invisible human connections," while Mekas himself asks, "Why BIRTH OF A NATION? Because the film independence IS a nation in itself. We are surrounded by the commercial cinema nation the same way as the indigenous people of the United States or of any other country are surrounded by the Ruling Powers. We are the invisible, but essential nation of cinema. We are the cinema." Additional cameos by P. Adams Sitney, Ken Jacobs, Harry Smith, Henri Langlois, Annette Michelson, Hollis Frampton, James Broughton, Kenneth Anger, Bruce Baillie, Chantal Akerman, Kurt Kren, Amy Taubin, Gregory Markopoulos, Ernie Gehr, Leni Riefenstahl, Paul Shrader, Peter Bogdanovich, Roberto Rossellini, Bruce Conner, Carolee Schneemann, Jacques Tati, Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, and scores more. (85 min, 16mm).
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Guy Maddin's BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! (New Release)
Music Box – Check Reader Movies for showtimes
As students of film history will know, silent film was never silent. Early film exhibition was marked by the presence of musical accompaniment and a live narrator who would elucidate what was happening onscreen, often adding his own flourishes. With BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!, Guy Maddin resurrects this lost liveness of filmgoing, pushing his longstanding interest in silent cinema further than ever before to incorporate an eleven-piece orchestra, a team of foley artists, a castrato, and live narration by Crispin Glover, all taking place between May 18-20 at the Music Box (subsequent screenings will use a recorded soundtrack featuring Isabella Rossellini as narrator). This emphasis on the eventfulness of film exhibition is no mere gimmick; BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! is a fully realized work in its own right, melding melodramatic autobiography, expressionist horror, and chapter divisions that recall early "sensation film" serials. Special performances with live accompaniment will cost $30 at the door; screenings with recorded soundtrack are regular prices. More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
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AN EVENING WITH CHARLES BURNETT (Special Event)
Doc Films (University of Chicago) – Thursday, 7pm
American history is African-American history, as the saying goes, and Charles Burnett (KILLER OF SHEEP, TO SLEEP WITH ANGER, NAT TURNER: A TROUBLESOME PROPERTY) is undoubtedly one of American cinema's great historians. Indeed, no filmmaker has explored the lives of African-Americans—from slavery to present-day issues of poverty and assimilation—as thoughtfully. Burnett is the rare filmmaker capable of crafting nuanced indictments of topics such as institutionalized racism (see 1995's slavery-era period piece NIGHTJOHN or the 1996 police drama THE GLASS SHIELD) while avoiding sensationalism, and creating characters of similar complexity. This evening, DOC Films will host Burnett as he lectures on his experience as an independent filmmaker and chronicler of divisive social issues. A private audience with this master director—and for free, no less!—is an opportunity even rarer than screenings of his undervalued work. More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
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L'AMOUR FOU & THE NIGHT WATCHMAN (Retrospective)
Gene Siskel Film Center – Showtimes noted below
Rivette, unlike most of his Nouvelle Vague cohorts, didn't pick up
speed until the very end of the 60s, starting with the unfortunately rare L'AMOUR FOU (1968, 252 min, 35mm; screening Saturday, 3pm & Thursday, 6pm), a film
that touches on the principal formalist concerns of many of his later works. The title perfectly encapsulates the film's fatalist plot, revolving around an avant-garde
theater director (Jean-Pierre Kalfon) and his wife (the simply sublime
Bulle Ogier). Though little-remarked, Rivette's structural playfulness
and storytelling subversion is culled directly from a modernist
tradition in the plastic arts, even if many would argue that his
primary influence is the theater. Director Claire Denis (BEAU TRAVAIL, THE INTRUDER), along with the great
post-Bazinian Cahiers critic Serge Daney, make a strong case for the
this idea in JACQUES RIVETTE: THE NIGHT WATCHMAN (1990, 123 min, BetaSP; screening Friday, 7:30 & Tuesday, 6pm). Like
all the films in the seminal Cinema de Notre Temps series, co-produced by André Labarthe (a collaborator on L'AMOUR FOU)
and Janine Bazin (widow of André), THE NIGHT WATCHMAN emulates the distinct
style of the director in question, even as it records his reflections. Daney, as interviewer, and Rivette, as subject, are so absorbed
in their conversation at one moment that they momentarily forget that
they're in the middle of the street and blocking traffic! The breathtaking view from the top of the Libération newspaper building,
where the second half of the film was shot, is one of several stunning backdrops before which we're afforded the rare opportunity to spend an evening
with two of cinema's great minds. Full retrospective details at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
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ALSO RECOMMENDED
CHARGED IN THE NAME OF TERROR (Experimental / Documentary)
Chicago Filmmakers – Friday, 8pm
Currently comprised of four separate shorts, CHARGED IN THE NAME OF TERROR is a documentary project initiated by video and media artist Paul Chan which aims to chronicle the legal cases, lives, and situations of a variety of activists, political dissidents, and radicals caught up in the "war on terror." Chan's contribution, UNTITLED VIDEO ON LYNNE STEWART AND HER CONVICTION, THE LAW AND POETRY (18 min), looks at the case of the first lawyer convicted of aiding terrorism in the United States. STEVE KURTZ WAITING (16 min), by former Chicagoan Jim Fetterley and Angie Waller, is about the Critical Art Ensemble member who has been charged with mail fraud after the FBI found laboratory equipment and biological materials, which he uses in his art exhibits, in his home. FOR THE LEAST (7 min), by Susan Youssef, is a short doc about American Catholics who march to Guantanamo to protest the treatment of prisoners held there. MOHAMED YOUSRY: A LIFE STANDS STILL (20 min), by former Chicagoans Mary Billyou and Annelisse Fifi, covers the case of the Arabic translator working for lawyer Lynne Stewart. Additional works may be shown if completed by show date. Text adapted from Chicago Filmmakers website. For more information on the project, visit www.nationalphilistine.com/charged. More info at www.chicagofilmmakers.org.
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CAPRA / HAWKS DOUBLE FEATURE (Classic Revival)
LaSalle Bank Cinema – Saturday, 8pm
This double bill offers a glimpse of two soon-to-be-legendary Hollywood auteurs still testing out their signature moves at the dawn of the sound era. Frank Capra’s odd knack for wrestling earnest (if murky) social messages into feel-good crowdpleasers scored him a string of Oscar-style hits in the 1930s and 40s; AMERICAN MADNESS (1932, 75 min, 35mm) introduces many of the director’s pet themes. Meanwhile, THE CRIMINAL CODE finds Howard Hawks (1931, 97 min, 16mm) tailoring his trademark overlapping dialogue and rapid-fire delivery to suit his pre-screwball no-nonsense disposition. Walter Huston stars in both. Venue Information.
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Robert Altman's THE PLAYER (Revival)
Music Box – Saturday & Sunday, 11:30am
Continuing their posthumous celebration of Robert Altman, the Music Box will screen the director’s popular 1992 thriller. The film is essentially an update of classics like SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) and THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952), profiling Hollywood self-loathing under the guise of world-weary cynicism. A young movie executive receiving anonymous death threats winds up committing a murder; the plot follows his police investigation, which very nearly upsets his callow lifestyle. As this kind of parable goes, it’s fairly lightweight, but Altman provides entertaining flourishes such as the long, carefree tracking shot that parodies Orson Welles’ TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) and the cast, including Tim Robbins, Lyle Lovett and Whoopi Goldberg, appear to enjoy their freedom to improvise enormously (1992, 124 min, 35mm). More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
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THE TASTE OF TEA (New Foreign)
Facets Cinematheque – Saturday & Sunday, 12pm
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 min, 35mm). More info at www.facets.org.
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SHORT CUTS (Local)
Chicago Filmmakers – Sunday, 7pm
This weekend, Chi Filmmakers along with IFP Chicago will present a collection of short works by local filmmakers, including DIGITAL FAMILY by Brandon Hutchinson, a film that "turns a moment turned inside out. A young man, stuck at a four way stop, uncertain of where to go, frustrated and alone, considers what got him there." (Various Formats). Details here.
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STONY ISLAND (Special Event)
Film Studies Center (U of C) – Wednesday, 7pm
From the FSC website: "Written and directed by Chicago native Andrew Davis in 1976, Stony Island is a film about youthful dreams, race, and class, and captures a moment in Chicago’s history when music served as a transcendent force. A smart and refreshing look at the lives of a group of aspiring musicians, Stony Island, Davis’ directorial debut, is populated with characters that represent the diversity of Chicago. First released in 1979, this hallmark of the American independent filmmaking movement was hailed for its wit and charm at the US Film Festival (the forerunner of Sundance), but soon fell out of distribution." The Film Studies Center's screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring director Andrew Davis, film scholar Jacqueline Stewart, and others. The event is FREE and open to the public, but as seating is very limited, advance reservations are encouraged. Full program details available here.
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MOMMIE DEAREST & MARJOE (Outdoor Screening)
Heaven Gallery (on the roof) – Wednesday, 8pm
Wicker Park's Bike-In Cinema series, which provides free double bill outdoor video screenings, continues its residency on Heaven Gallery’s roof this week with MOMMIE DEAREST (1981, 129 min, DVD), the infamous Joan Collins biopic (starring Faye Dunaway, in an outlandish master performance) by the underrated Frank Perry, and the fascinating MARJOE (1972, 88 min, DVD), a documentary in which former child evangelist Marjoe Gortner presents an almost confessional expose of the for-profit religion circuit where he’s spent most of his life. Though roughly a decade separates their release dates, both films deal in the kind of cynical “disillusionment” that was very fashionable in the 1970s, and, with the recent death of Jerry Falwell, MARJOE seems a very topical choice. More info at www.heavengallery.com.
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THIS WEEK AT DOC FILMS
Three straight days of rarely screened masterpieces begin Monday with the peculiar Western TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN (1958)—the last film directed by noir legend Joseph H. Lewis (GUN CRAZY), from a script by the great Dalton Trumbo (JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN). Tuesday offers DEATH BY HANGING (1968), the best 60s work by Japanese New Wave icon Nagisa Oshima, a satire of corporal punishment, racism, and modern psychology. As a group of officials debate the execution of a Korean prisoner, they wind up re-enacting his criminal history—a surreal scenario that’s alternately funny and unnerving. (Tonally, the film is the closest Japanese equivalent to DR. STRANGELOVE.) Wednesday offers a revival of Douglas Sirk’s THE TARNISHED ANGELS (1958), perhaps the only great movie adaptation of a William Faulkner novel (1933's Pylon), a haunting, black-and-white CinemaScope drama about daredevil pilots and the reporter who becomes obsessed with them. Rounding out the week are David Lynch’s INLAND EMPIRE (2006), essential drama THE THIRD MAN (1949), and a program of Keystone Comedy shorts starring Sydney Chaplin. Full schedule and details at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
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THIS WEEK AT BLOCK CINEMA
Two contemporary masterpieces of poetic cinema will be presented on 35mm at Block this week. On the heels of its successful run at the Music Box, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s CLIMATES (IKLIMER) (2006) screens Friday as part of this spring's Turkish Cinema series. Ceylan boldly casts himself and his wife as disaffected lovers, neither one of whom is especially sympathetic, and fuses narrative and non-narrative in compelling ways, depicting psychological struggle through the kind of long takes more common to landscape films. Thursday offers a welcome revival of David Gordon Green’s GEORGE WASHINGTON (2000), the rare contemporary film that tackles poverty without leaning too heavily on despair. Green’s debut feature captures the sublime wonder and innocence of childhood through lyrical dialogue and camerawork, and rich, fluid visuals. Full schedule and details at www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu.
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SACCO & VANZETTI (New Documentary)
Facets Cinematheque – Screening Daily, check Reader Movies for showtimes
From the Facets website: "SACCO & VANZETTI brings to life the personal, political and legal aspects of the heartbreaking story behind Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists who were accused of a murder in 1920, and executed in Boston in 1927 after a notoriously prejudiced trial. It is the first major documentary film about this landmark story. The ordeal of Sacco and Vanzetti came to symbolize the bigotry and intolerance directed at immigrants and dissenters in America, and millions of people in the U.S. around the world protested on their behalf. Nearly eighty years later, the story continues to have great resonance, as civil liberties and the rights of immigrants are again under attack. The powerful prison writings of Sacco and Vanzetti are read by actors John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub. A chorus of passionate commentators propels the narrative, including Howard Zinn, Arlo Guthrie, Studs Terkel, and a number of older people with personal connections to the story. Artwork, music, poetry, and feature film clips about the case are interwoven within the narrative. Through the tragic story of Sacco and Vanzetti, and the inspiring images of those who keep their memories alive, audiences will experience a universal - and very timely - tale of official injustice and human resilience." (dir. Peter Miller, 2006, 80 min, BetaSP). More info at www.facets.org.
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RUSSIAN FANTASTIK CINEMA (Classic Revival)
Gene Siskel Film Center – Check Reader Movies for showtimes
The Gene Siskel Film Center’s excellent survey of Russian-language science fiction and fantasy films continues this week with four entries from radically different economic and social periods. The prosperous but politically questionable present is represented by Alexei Fedorchenko’s 2005 FIRST ON THE MOON (Friday, 6pm & Wednesday, 8:15pm), a mockumentary that uses the premise of a Stalinist space program as a launching pad for a wholly Russian brand of dark satire. The epoch and ideology that FIRST ON THE MOON satirizes form the backbone of the 1936 adventure COSMIC VOYAGE (Sunday, 3pm), whose screening will be preceded by several silent shorts. In sharp contrast, EVENINGS ON A FARM NEAR DIKANKA (1961; screening Sunday, 5pm & Tuesday 8:30pm), a Technicolor adaptation of a Nikolai Gogol story, was made during the Soviet Union’s most prosperous period, and it shows. Finally, ZERO CITY (1988; screening Saturday, 7:45pm & Monday, 6pm) is a twisted Buñuelian satire made in the tumultuous twilight of the USSR. Full details at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
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THE TASTE OF TEA
