Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, this edition of Cine-File covers a two-week span. Crucial and Recommended listings are combined for both weeks; More Screenings and Events listings are separated by week. Information for some venues during the second week was not available by our deadline; check venue websites for more up-to-date listings.--Ed.

CRUCIAL VIEWING (Nov. 21-Dec. 4)

Frederick Wiseman's NATIONAL GALLERY (New Documentary)
Gene Siskel Film Center - Friday, November 21 - Thursday, December 4 (Check Venue website for showtimes)
Reviewing a Frederick Wiseman film is a satisfying but often futile task, questions of film form notwithstanding. (Wiseman's laborious editing techniques and clear visual style have been consistent throughout his nearly fifty-year career, making those the easiest aspects of his films to analyze. It's really only the content that changes, with each film focusing on a new institution.) Every critic proclaims to have located the central theme of the Wiseman film in question; Wiseman himself indulges his myriad of interviewers in their inquiries-as-statements about what that film is really about. His 39th documentary feature, NATIONAL GALLERY, is no exception to this rule, itself being as open to interpretation as any of the paintings on display at the London art museum he's depicting. (In one scene, a gallery employee remarks that his colleague interprets Hans Holbein the Younger's painting The Ambassadors as being a murder scene, with no such conclusion explicit in the work.) What's most unique about NATIONAL GALLERY to this reviewer is that it's a curious blend between the controlled and oftentimes controversial institutional documentaries Wiseman is most known for (TITICUT FOLLIES and HIGH SCHOOL, among many, many others) and his more laissez-faire depictions of various cultural organizations (BALLET about the American Ballet Theatre, LA COMÉDIE-FRANÇAISE about the eponymous theatrical company, and CRAZY HORSE about the infamous Parisian cabaret, among others). In a recent interview, Wiseman said that he "wasn't particularly interested in the power struggles within the gallery--some of them are suggested in the movie, but that seemed to me less interesting than what the paintings suggested about human behaviour." That's evident in the film, and indeed, Wiseman doesn't spend as much time depicting the organization's administrative struggles as he did in last year's AT BERKELEY. Instead, he meditates heavily on the art restoration process that happens behind closed doors, providing not only important information about the fascinating process, but also a veiled reflection on what it means to invest in and restore art. In a way, this is the film's central "conflict," just as the administrative meetings were the central conflict in AT BERKELEY. These scenes raise questions not only about the art being restored (if it's being restored, and thus altered, is it really timeless?), but also about the resources going into the maintenance of art that the museum is struggling to present to an increasingly apathetic audience. Wiseman doesn't provide an answer to this dilemma one way or the other, and as always with him, it's debatable as to whether or not this "conflict" is even intended to be construed as such. He ends the film similarly to AT BERKELEY, with a beautiful dance performance that's taking place within the museum's hallowed halls, a curatorial decision that raises more questions than it answers. Wiseman's passion for dance is no secret, but the reasoning behind his decision to include it in films not already about dance is; in NATIONAL GALLERY, it could be anything from the metaphorical coming-to-life of the art he so admires to a contrast between the staticness of that which hangs on the walls and the fluidity of a live dance performance. Or perhaps he simply just really likes it. (2014, 181 min, DCP Digital Projection) KS
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More info at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.

Akira Kurosawa's RED BEARD (Japanese Revival)
Doc Films (University of Chicago) - Wednesday, December 3, 6 and 9:30pm
Notes Japanese film scholar Donald Richie in the Criterion Collection liner notes: "All of the material used for the [19th-century] town was about as old as it is supposed to look. The tiled roofs were taken from buildings more than a century old... the bedding (made in Tokugawa-period patterns) was really slept in for up to half a year before shooting..." Like Stanley Kubrick on his films after A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, Akira Kurosawa went the hard way to achieve a Great-Novel density on RED BEARD: That is, he constructed an entire world and mastered every last detail in it. (Shooting alone lasted two years.) Yet the maximum of detail reflects a portrait of the Human Condition as ambitious as the period recreation. Using Dostoevsky as his model, Kurosawa stuffed the film with subplots, each realizing a particular crisis in the journey of life. The main character, Noboru, is an ambitious young doctor forced to work at a decrepit public clinic (Richie again: "[O]ne might say that he is, like all of us, born into an estate concerning which we were not consulted and for which we did not ask..."); he is educated, both medically and morally, by a wizened doctor commonly known as Red Beard (Toshiro Mifune, in his last performance for Kurosawa). The mentor makes him encounter death, domestic abuse, and abject poverty so he may grow into a true Healer of Men. Despite all the philosophical heft, admirers note that the film is quite leisurely to watch, its stories developing gradually to make way for stray observations and episodes that are enjoyable in themselves. For Richie, RED BEARD is the "vindication of [Kurosawa's] humanism and compassion." For others, the film is simply a great spectacle, a 'Scope production of breathtaking vistas and memorable characters. (1965, 181 min, 35mm) BS
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More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.

Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez's MANAKAMANA (New Experimental Documentary)
Film Studies Center (Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St., University of Chicago) - Friday, November 21, 7pm (Free Admission)
The latest quasi-anthropological joint from the Sensory Ethnography Lab at Harvard (which also produced SWEETGRASS and LEVIATHAN), MANAKAMANA is at its core an austere formalist experiment: nearly a dozen full-length trips up and down a cable car in Nepal. The execution of this formal component alone would be enough to qualify it as some filmmakers' completed work (In fact, it already has: in Marika Borgeson's delightfully slender and surprising short ELEVEN FORTY SEVEN). Though the word "sensory" in the laboratory's moniker should reassure anyone who is concerned that this film might be an ascetic pilgrimage to a remote mountainous temple. MANAKAMANA's rich sound design draws the viewer in to the car's cabin, projecting the sound-space of the journey into the auditorium, subsequently allowing the audience to project themselves into the cable car alongside the passengers onscreen. And those passengers! A fascinating and sometimes hilarious variety of sojourners sit facing the camera, the minutiae of their stationary demeanor on display for an entire nine-minute ride. It's difficult to describe the continual revelation of each new passenger without ruining the surprise of who (or what) takes the ride up/downhill, but the less one knows about any subjects the better. It's best to lose count of the trips taken as well, allowing each successive trip into the darkness of the wheelhouse to bring with it an infinite potential. Directors Spray and Velez in person. (2013, 118 min, DCP Digital Projection) DM
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More info at filmstudiescenter.uchicago.edu.

ALSO RECOMMENDED (Nov. 21-Dec. 4)

Jean Renoir's GRAND ILLUSION (French Revival)
Block Cinema (Northwestern University) - Friday, November 21, 7pm
In the spring of 1937, master director Jean Renoir's GRAND ILLUSION premiered in his country to general acclaim. However, when the Nazis invaded only three years later, Joseph Goebbels declared the film to be "Cinematic Public Enemy No. 1." He seized the original negative, which finally resurfaced over fifty years later in a pile of boxes that traveled from Moscow to the Cinematheque de Toulouse. Renoir adapted GRAND ILLUSION from his friend Major Pinsard's reminiscences as a pilot during World War I. In the beginning of the film, Captain von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim) captures Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and his lieutenant Marechal (Jean Gabin) and transfers them to a prisoner of war camp. At the camp, Boeldieu, Marechal, and their friends while away the time by gardening, playing cards, and performing theater. They also dig a tunnel to escape and return to the front. But, before succeeding, the Germans transfer them to von Rauffenstein's fortress, where they devise a new plan for escape. Although the rules are strict within the camps, the soldiers treat the prisoners quite well and, amazingly, a true camaraderie develops between them. This French filmmaker depicts the German soldiers--especially von Rauffenstein--and citizens as humane. It begs the question: Why did Renoir create this image of the German people in the face of Nazism? Why did he make this film? In watching GRAND ILLUSION, the viewer reflects on its title and the any number of things to which it alludes. The film remains known today for its expression of man's humanity, but is such possible in war? For me, the grand illusion is our humanity, which we have yet to realize.  (1937, 114 min, 35mm) CW
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Screening with Georges Franju's 1952 short HÔTEL DES INVALIDES (22 min, 35mm)
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More info at www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu.

Soderbergh's KING OF THE HILL (American Revival)
Doc Films (University of Chicago) - Monday, December 1, 7pm
Steven Soderbergh was the most exciting U.S. director of the early 1990s--dramatically reinventing himself with each project much like David Bowie on his first several records, and yet always in pursuit of an American art cinema that was as accessible as it was formally engaging. It's because of his reputation as a formalist that KING OF THE HILL, his most empathetic work, stands out as his oddest film. A coming-of-age story as well as a period piece, it offers Soderbergh few opportunities to be elliptical with the narrative--which is perhaps his most consistent trait as a filmmaker. But once you realize the film is about the quotidian horrors of the Great Depression (broken families, intransigence, even starvation), the nostalgic ambience becomes the most insidious thing about it. Also remarkable is how Soderbergh manages to make the sort of film about children rarely accomplished in U.S. cinema, depicting adolescence without looking down at the subject or turning it into a metaphor for something else. Jesse Bradford is in nearly every scene of the film, and he's so convincing that you're quickly locked into the perspective of a boy fending for himself: Period detail (as in Soderbergh's recent CHE) emerges organically, never imposed on to the material. It's interesting to note that Bradford, only 13 at the time of shooting, delivers one of the most actorly performances of any Soderbergh film. (1993, 103 min, 35mm) BS
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More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.

Steven Spielberg's JAWS (American Revival) 
Music Box Theatre - Wednesday, December 3, 7:30pm
If PSYCHO forever changed bathroom behavior, then JAWS no doubt gave us pause before diving head first into the ocean; but like the best horror movies, the film's staying power comes not from it's superficial subject matter, in this case a mammoth, man-eating shark and the ominous abyss of the deep blue sea, but from the polysemic potential and wealth of latent meanings that these enduring symbols possess. JAWS marks a watershed moment in cinema culture for a variety of reasons, not excluding the way it singlehandedly altered the Hollywood business model by becoming the then highest grossing film of all time. A byproduct of such attention has been the sustained output of scholarly criticism over the years. At the time of its release, JAWS was interpreted as a thinly veiled metaphor for the Watergate scandal (an event that was slightly more conspicuous in the book), but since then a variety of readings have emerged, including socioeconomic and feminist analyses; however, Marxist theorist Fredric Jameson may provide the most intriguing interpretation by connecting the shark to the tradition of scapegoating. Like Moby Dick or Hitchcock's titular birds, the shark functions a sacrificial animal onto which we project our own social or historical anxieties (e.g., bioterrorism, AIDS, Mitt Romney). It allows us to rationalize evil and then fool ourselves into thinking we've vanquished it. But by turning man-made problems into natural ones we forget that human nature itself is corrupt, exemplified here by Mayor Vaughn who places the entire population of Amity Island in peril by denying the existence of the shark. Jameson's reading is in keeping with the way in which Spielberg rarely displays the shark itself (the result of constant mechanical malfunctions); as opposed to terrifying close-ups, we get point of view shots that create an abstract feeling of fear, thus evoking an applicable horror film trope: the idea is much more frightening than the image. JAWS is a timeless cautionary tale because it appeals to the deep-rooted fears of any generation. And because sharks are scary. Kevin Feldheim, Manager of the Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution, will give a talk after the film. (1975, 124 min, 35mm) HS
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More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.

Victor Fleming's GONE WITH THE WIND (American Revival)
Pickwick Theatre Classic Film Series at the Pickwick Theatre (5 S. Prospect Ave., Park Ridge) - Thursday, December 4, 7pm
Critic Dave Kehr had this to say about the classic film that's largely escaped in-depth critical scrutiny while likewise enjoying mass popular acclaim: "A critic-proof movie if there ever was one: it isn't all that good, but somehow it's great." Here Kehr perfectly encapsulates the mystery that is the enduring popularity of GONE WITH THE WIND, a success that can only rightly be attributed to the book's author and the film's passionate (and equally infamous) producer; according to Molly Haskell's book, Frankly My Dear: Gone With the Wind Revisited, the film had five directors, including George Cukor and Sam Wood, and though Victor Fleming was the final, credited director, it would be highly inaccurate to credit the overall result to any one of those men. Instead, it was a combination of Margaret Mitchell's best-selling book and David O. Selznick's dedication to the source material, a trait for which he was known, that elevated the film from far-fetched pipe dream to worldwide phenomenon. The critical success of such a historically epic film is often attributed to its director, but Selznick was not interested in people looking to advance their own vision--instead, he sought to bring the story to the screen as it existed on the page. As is also noted in Haskell's book, one critic called the film "the supreme custom-built movie," referring to the leveled process used to amalgamate all the parts that would comprise an ardent representation of the novel. Legend surrounding the film's production recalls the desperation for Clark Gable to play Rhett Butler and the serendipity with which Vivien Leigh became Scarlett O'Hara. Such lore seems to suggest an endeavor in which the sum of its parts is equal to the "whole," which provides a sharp contrast to several other films of the same year that are known almost solely for who directed them. Standing out among the crowd is William Cameron Menzies, whose art direction presents the antebellum South aflame with defeat and Technicolor. (1939, 238 min, Video Projection - Unconfirmed Format) KS
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More info at www.parkridgeclassicfilm.com.

MORE SCREENINGS AND EVENTS: November 21-27

Chicago Filmmakers screens Chris Bravo and Lindsey Schneider's 2014 documentary CONTROL (52 min, Video Projection - Unconfirmed Format) at the Arnold J Damen Student Center Cinema (Loyola University, 6511 N. Sheridan Rd.) on Sunday, November 23 at 7pm. Bravo and Schneider in person. Free admission.

The Nightingale (1084 N. Milwaukee Ave.) screens James N. Kienitz Wilkins' 2013 experimental documentary PUBLIC HEARING (110 min, Digital Projection - Unconfirmed Format) on Friday, November 21 at 7pm with director Wilkins in person. Preceded by Chaz Evans' 2014 short CA-PAN (CONVERGENCE ART PUBLIC AFFAIRS NETWORK) (30 min, Digital Projection).

Roots & Culture (1034 N. Milwaukee Ave.) presents Territories: Videos by Todd Mattei on Sunday, November 23 at 7:30pm, with Mattei in person. Local video maker and artist Mattei will screen a program of his video work made over the last eleven years.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago screens Madsen Minax's 2012 featurette THE YEAR I BROKE MY VOICE (47 min) and his 2014 short MY MOST HANDSOME MONSTER (13 min) on Tuesday, November 25 at 6pm, with Minax in person. Organized and introduced by video makers and artists Latham Zearfoss and Aay Preston-Myint. Video Projection - Unconfirmed Format. Free with museum admission.

At the Gene Siskel Film Center this week: Peyton Reed's 2003 film DOWN WITH LOVE (101 min, 35mm) screens on Friday, November 21 and Tuesday, November 25 at 6pm, with a lecture by Jonathan Rosenbaum at the Tuesday show; Anne De Mare and Kirsten Kelly's 2014 documentary THE HOMESTRETCH (90 min, DCP Digital Projection) screens daily from Friday, November 21 to Wednesday, November 26; Stanley Kubrick's 1957 film PATHS OF GLORY (86 min, 35mm) is on Saturday, November 22 at 3pm and Wednesday, November 26 at 6pm; Serge Bozon's 2007 film LA FRANCE (102 min, Archival 35mm Print) is on Saturday, November 22 at 4:45pm and Tuesday, November 25 at 6pm; Jon Jost's 2014 film COMING TO TERMS (85 min, DCP Digital Projection) is on Saturday, November 22 at 8pm and Monday, November 24 at 8:15pm, with Jost in person at both screenings; and Marie-Monique Robin's 2012 documentary CROPS OF THE FUTURE (96 min, DCP Digital Projection) is on Sunday, November 23 at 5:15pm.

At Doc Films (University of Chicago) this week: Howard Deutch's 1986 film PRETTY IN PINK (96 min, 35mm) is on Friday, November 21 at 7 and 9:15pm and Sunday, November 23 at 1pm; Tsai Ming-Liang's 2014 film STRAY DOGS (138 min, DCP Digital Projection) is on Saturday, November 22 at 7 and 9:45pm and Sunday, November 23 at 3:15pm; Maurice Schwartz's 1939 Yiddish film TEVYE (93 min, 35mm;Free Admission) is on Sunday, November 23 at 7pm; Alain Berliner's 1997 film MA VIE EN ROSE (88 min, 35mm) is on Monday at 7pm; Sidney Lumet's 1974 film MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (128 min, 35mm) is on Tuesday, November 24 at 7pm; and Akira Kurosawa's 1963 film HIGH AND LOW (143 min, 35mm) is on Wednesday, November 25 at 7pm.

At the Music Box Theatre this week: Ruben Östlund's 2014 film FORCE MAJEURE (118 min, DCP Digital Projection) opens on Friday, November 21; Volker Schlöndorff's 2014 film DIPLOMACY (84 min) continues (Saturday-Wednesday, November 22-26 only); the Chicago Italian Film Festival takes place Friday, November 21 - Tuesday, November 25 and will include 35mm prints of Pietro Germi's DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE (1961, 104 min), Germi's SEDUCED AND ABANDONED (1964, 115 min), and Massimiliano Bruno's ESCORT IN LOVE (2011, 95 min) (check the MB website for showtimes and full schedule); Josef von Sternberg's 1935 film THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN (79 min, 35mm) is on Saturday and Sunday, November 22 and 23, at 11:30am; and Luc Besson's 1997 film THE FIFTH ELEMENT (126 min, 35mm) and Ken Wiederhorn's 1977 film SHOCK WAVES (85 min) are on Friday and Saturday, November 21 and 22, at Midnight. Unconfirmed Formats except where noted.

At Facets Cinémathèque this week: Karen Leigh Hopkins' 2014 film MISS MEADOWS (88 min) opens on Friday, November 21 and runs through Wednesday, November 26; Ritesh Menon's 2014 "CinePlay" BETWEEN THE LINES (79 min; special admission applies) is on Sunday, November 23 at 3pm, with actors Nandita Das and Subodh Maskara in person; and the Chicago Latino Reel Film Club presents Jorge López Sotomayor's 2013 film PATAGONIA OF DREAMS (100 min; special admission applies) on Tuesday, November 25 at 7pm (reception at 6pm). All Unconfirmed Format.

Retrospective and independent titles the Logan Theatre this week: Darryl Roberts' 2014 documentary AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL 3: THE SEXUALIZATION OF OUR YOUTH (101 min) screens on Friday, November 21 at 7pm and Saturday, November 22 at 2 and 6pm; Steven E. de Souza's 1994 film STREET FIGHTER (102 min) is on Friday, Saturday, and Monday, November 21, 22, and 24 at 10:30pm; and Seth Gordon's 2007 documentary THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS (Unconfirmed Running Time) is on Thursday, November 27 at 10:30pm. All Digital Projection - Unconfirmed Format.

The Food Film Festival continues through Saturday, November 22 at Kendall College (900 N. North Branch St.).  Films with food. More info, schedule, and tickets at http://thefoodfilmfestival.com/chicago-2014-details.

At Chicago Public Library locations this week: Peter Hedges' 2003 film PIECES OF APRIL (80 min) screens at the Near North Branch (310 W. Division St.) on Saturday, November 22 at 2pm; Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer's 2003 documentary BROTHER OUTSIDER: THE LIFE OF BAYARD RUSKIN (83 min) screens at the Woodson Regional Branch (9525 S. Halsted St.) on Sunday, November 23 at 1:30pm; Christopher McLeod's 2001 documentary IN THE LIGHT OF REVERENCE (73 min) screens at the Avalon Branch (8148 S. Stony Island Ave.) on Monday, November 24 at 6:30pm; and Joe Johnston's 2011 film CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (124 min) is at the Near North Branch (310 W. Division St.) on Wednesday, November 26 at 5:30pm. All Video Projection - Unconfirmed Format. All free admission.

The Instituto Cervantes (31 W. Ohio St.) screens Tristán Bauer's 1994 Argentinean film CORTÁZAR, CELESTIAL CLOCKWORK (80 min, DVD Projection) on Monday, November 24 at 6pm. Free admission.

The Italian Cultural Institute (500 N. Michigan Ave.) screens Fred Kudjo Kuwornu's 2012 documentary 18 IUS SOLI (approx. 50 min, Video Projection - Unconfirmed Format) on Friday, November 21 at 6pm, with director Kuwornu in person; and Nino Manfredi's 1971 film BETWEEN MIRACLES (122 min, Video Projection - Unconfirmed Format) on Tuesday, November 25 at 6pm.

The Whistler (2421 N. Milwaukee Ave.) hosts the Odd Obsession Foreign Film Series on Saturday at 7pm, followed at 9pm by a Dance Party Ting. The film screening was not listed by publication deadline.

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MORE SCREENINGS AND EVENTS: November 28-December 4

 

ONGOING FILM/VIDEO INSTALLATIONS

Anri Sala's 2003 digital video installation Mixed Behavior (8 min loop) opens on Friday and runs through March 1 at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Art Institute of Chicago presents Lucy McKenzie and Richard Kern's 2014 single channel video The Girl Who Followed Marple (10 min loop) through January 18.

 

UPDATES/CLOSURES

The Northbrook Public Library film series is on hiatus during renovations at the library. Expected completion is Spring 2015.

The Northwest Chicago Film Society is again on hiatus for their weekly series, with the closing of the Patio Theater. They plan to do occasional screenings as opportunities arise.