CRUCIAL VIEWING
Jiří Menzel, Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš, Jan Němec and Evald Schorm’s PEARLS OF THE DEEP + Roundtable Discussion (Czech Revival)
Film Studies Center (University of Chicago) at the Logan Center for the Arts (915 E. 60th St.) - Friday, 4pm (Roundtable), 5pm (Reception), 6pm (Screening) (Free Admission)
Ivan Passer had a hand in three of the most important films of the Czech New Wave, co-writing Milos Forman's LOVES OF A BLONDE and THE FIREMEN'S BALL and directing INTIMATE LIGHTING, so he should have some great stories to share about that movement when he takes part in a roundtable discussion today at 4pm on the legacy of the 1966 omnibus film PEARLS OF THE DEEP. The other participants are Milos Stehlik of Facets and professors Herbert Eagle (Univ. of Michigan), Alice Lovejoy (Univ. of Minnesota), and Malynne Sternstein (Univ. of Chicago). Based on stories by Bohumil Hrabal--an absurdist author much beloved by the New Wave generation--PEARLS brings together five directors associated the movement, with each one adapting a different work. (Passer made a short for the project that didn't make final cut, A BORING AFTERNOON (1964, 14 min, DCP Digital), but it will be shown tonight along with the feature.) It's not only a tribute to Hrabal, but also a showcase for some major directors near the start of their careers. (1966, 107 min, 35mm) BS
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More info at http://filmstudiescenter.uchicago.edu.
Douglas Sirk's THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW (American Revival)
Doc Films (University of Chicago) - Sunday, 7:15pm
In Douglas Sirk's THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW, Clifford Groves (Fred MacMurray), the owner of Groves Toy Manufacturing Company, alienates himself from his wife Marion (Joan Bennett) and children, and they, in turn, alienate themselves from him. Cliff and Marion's actions serve as a mirror for their unfortunate children to reflect. When Norma Vale (Barbara Stanwyck), Cliff's former employee and a now successful fashion designer, arrives in town, Cliff begins an affair with her to cure his unhappiness. In describing his filmmaking, Sirk said, "If I can say one thing for my pictures, it is a certain craftsmanship. A thought which has gone into every angle. There is nothing there without an optical reason." In TOMORROW, Sirk uses reflections, shadows, and objects to create meaning. Through windows or mirrors, the film's viewer sees reflections of characters and objects and reflections of characters in and/or on objects. In another way, the viewer perceives a reflection of one character in another through his or her physical appearance and actions. The viewer also sees shadows of characters and objects, shadows of characters on objects, and vice versa. This third type of shadow obscures the character, enabling him or her to hide and spy on others. In addition to reflections and shadows, Sirk captures characters in objects, particularly toys and photographs. The toy named Rex, the Walkie-Talkie Robot Man, is at the center of the film, and Cliff interprets the toy as his doppelganger in miniature. When Cliff turns it on, the robot says, "I'm Rex the Robot. The mechanical man. Push me and steer me wherever you can." Cliff insists that he became this object, and by doing so, he denies responsibility for his actions. Sirk's visual motifs illustrate his contrasting themes of reality and fantasy. Reality lies more in these appearances than in itself. The image of a character conveys what he does not. At times, the image betrays what the character desires to hide, but in fact, he betrays himself without the knowledge of doing so. The title THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW is the lie we tell ourselves. Toward the middle of the film, Marion says to her housekeeper, "They [her son Vinnie and his girlfriend] must have quarreled. But that's the wonderful thing about youth: in a little while, they won't remember what it was all about." For Sirk, children believe in tomorrow, because they live without memories. Adults doom themselves to the past. (1956, 84 min, 35mm) CW
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More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
Yasujiro Ozu's THE FLAVOR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE (Japanese Revival)
Doc Films (University of Chicago) - Wednesday, 7 and 9:30pm
In the U.S., THE FLAVOR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE isn't revived as often as most other films from Yasujiro Ozu's long run of postwar masterpieces, but that's not to say it's a minor work. It features some of the most remarkable tonal shifts in Ozu's filmography, moving so gracefully from comedy to psychodrama to melodrama that one doesn't recognize the changes as such. It also contains some of the director's most dynamic black-and-white images, which play on and with modernist interior design to fabulous, spatially complicated effect. The main characters are a childless, middle-class Tokyo couple whose life together isn't as happy as it first appears. After a sparkling first half-hour, it's revealed that the modish Takeo finds her husband--the country transplant Mokichi--boring, a fact that's lost on the demure, trusting man. As the film proceeds, though, Takeo's dissatisfaction grows more pronounced, culminating with her walking out on Mokichi. This conflict makes for compelling drama, but it can also be read as a metaphor for Japan's cultural growing pains of the postwar era, with Takeo representing currents of modernity and westernization and Mokichi representing traditional, if static, cultural values. The title refers to one of the simple, old-fashioned pleasures that, for Mokichi, make life worth living ("I like things to be primitive, familiar, and intimate," he says at a crucial juncture), and by the end of the film, one comes to appreciate his perspective without irony or qualification. Indeed, the basic-minded husband becomes a figure of deep sympathy, reflecting Ozu's unwavering compassion for his subjects. (1952, 116 min, 35mm) BS
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More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
Allan Arkush's GET CRAZY (American Revival)
The Northwest Chicago Film Society (at Northeastern Illinois University, The Auditorium, Building E., 3701 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.) - Wednesday, 7:30pm
A product of the early '80s halcyon days before the Reagan/Thatcher neoliberal nightmare assumed its final form, Allan Arkush's freewheeling musical comedy GET CRAZY is a proto-Lollapalooza concert film in which a motley crew of pop stars gather for an explosive (literally) NYE bacchanal. The bare-bones plot takes place at the Saturn Theatre, a stand-in for the Fillmore East where Arkush once worked as an usher. All of the performers are caricatures of various rock stars, including the "metaphysical folk singer" Auden (a stand-in for Bob Dylan played by Lou Reed), King Blues aka B.B. King, and Malcolm McDowell doing his best/worst Mick Jagger impersonation. A kind of New Wave AIRPLANE, the film uses cartoonish humor, slapstick gags, and early CGI to create a helter-skelter, anything goes vibe. Other highlights include: a robotic cowboy drug dealer named Electric Larry, a gigantic spliff mascot, and most of the cast from EATING RAOUL. To quote Arkush: "My take on it? It's a movie with three thousand punch lines, but only a thousand jokes." Skip out on the YouTube upload (there's no DVD) and see this one on the big screen. Preceded by a mystery item listed as Excerpts from Alice Cooper's "Billion Dollar Baby" (1973, 16 min, 16mm). (1983, 92 min, 35mm) HS
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More info at www.northwestchicagofilmsociety.org.
ALSO RECOMMENDED
Asghar Farhadi's FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY (Iranian Revival)
Music Box Theatre - Check Venue website for showtimes
Set on the eve of the Persian New Year, FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY is an exploration of relationships, the urban class, and gender politics. The soon to be married Rouhi finds a job through an agency cleaning apartments. On her first day, she witnesses a domestic dispute between her employer and his wife, who claims he has been cheating with their neighbor, a divorced woman who runs a beauty salon across the hall. Farhadi's script is methodically paced so as not to reveal too much too soon. The unreliability of some character's points-of-view adds to the film's cryptic tone. Rouhi serves as a mediator both literally to the affected parties and symbolically to the viewer. This mediation, specifically the latter, is crucial to the plot's deliberate tempo. The juxtaposition of the three central relationships, Rouhi-her fiancé, her boss-his wife, and the boss-the beautician, shows the various degrees of love humans are capable of showing one another, both good and bad. Like a light bulb, the newest ones shine brightest while the older ones start to dim or go out entirely. Farhadi does not avoid global politics but rather handles them tactfully. The penultimate scene involving fireworks, which stands as a not-so-subtle metaphor for the civil unrest present in the Middle East and the war-zone-like destruction often left behind. Ultimately, FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY's take on a strained marriage and those swept up in its mayhem is more mystery than drama but a worthwhile voyage with strong female characters that leaves its mark with Farhadi's delicate direction. (2006, 102 min, 35mm) KC
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More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
Jerzy Skolimowski's 11 MINUTES (New Polish)
Gene Siskel Film Center - Check Venue for showtimes
A key figure in Poland's cinematic golden age (roughly, the late 50s through the early 70s), Jerzy Skolimowski made some of the most vibrant and provocative films of the era (IDENTIFICATION MARKS: NONE, WALKOVER), building on his background as a poet to create rhythmic, metaphor-rich works that offered biting critiques of Communist society. After two and a half decades of making films abroad--some of them great, like THE SHOUT (1978) and MOONLIGHTING (1982)--Skolimowski turned away from movies to devote himself to painting. He didn't direct for 17 years, but he returned grandly with the plaintively beautiful FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA (2008) and ESSENTIAL KILLING (2010), setting the bar very high for whatever movie he'd make next. 11 MINUTES (2015) falls short of the accomplishments of those two films, but it nonetheless finds Skolimowski in rather energetic form. Like KILLING, MINUTES is compact, thoughtful, and deeply morbid, raising questions about what it means to live and die in the current era. But where the earlier film (about a suspected terrorist running for his life in the Polish countryside) fostered contemplation through minimalist sound design and painterly landscape shots, the new one is a wholly kinetic experience that hurls viewers through time and space. It takes place over the 11 minutes leading up to a freak occurrence in Warsaw, covering the short interval from multiple points of view and freely shuffling the chronology. Skolimowski's camera is almost always in motion, and the complex narrative structure creates another, temporal sense of vertigo. (The action--which includes a robbery, a stressful paramedic call, and some high-voltage foot chases--is often surprisingly violent for a film directed by a 77-year-old.) It's difficult to determine how everything is connected, yet you're certain that it all has to be, and that seems to be the point. (2015, 81 min, DCP Digital) BS
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More info at www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
Bruce Robinson's WITHNAIL AND I (British Revival)
Doc Films (University of Chicago) - Thursday, 9:30pm
A totem for three generations of dissolute twentysomethings. WITHNAIL AND I begins in medias res, with our heroes, a pair of actors in the throes of a rank bender, with attendant Dexedrine sweats and clawing itch, in a foul rat-ridden flat. (The rats may be a hallucination.) They decide they need to dry out, and the swanabout failure-teetering Withnail wheedles the key to a hellishly cold and underequipped country home from his uncle Monty, who also "crept the boards in his youth." (Hail now and forever Richard Griffiths' Monty and his floral bric-a-brac nightmare house.) The city mice prove predictably useless in the country, barely able to feed themselves without help; they're babies in soiled underwear and barely-shod feet, absolutely and hilariously gormless. The physicality of the settings is dank, the walls looking like they're held in place by loadbearing mold, and the actors... Richard E. Grant's wild eyes are out of a Hammer horrorshow--in certain angles and long shots, his body has the bearing of a demented, emaciated goose--while Monty's tweedy, piggy importuning of Paul McCann's eponymous "I" is a spectacular special effect. Mention should be made of McCann's too-little respected work; watching him get increasingly wised-up about the wages of attaching himself to Withnail's clattering wreckage pays as many dividends as the high antics of his famed costars. It's a movie about ego-artifice (read: actor's bullshit) and the getting of wisdom, but it doesn't get in the least deep-dish about it--what a sweet, rare relief, that. (1987, 107 min., 35mm) JG
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More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
Joel and Ethan Coen's THE BIG LEBOWSKI (American Revival)
Music Box Theatre - Friday and Saturday, Midnight
Dude, people love this movie--and with good reason. THE BIG LEBOWSKI is what so few modern comedies are: legitimately good. Between all the "dudes" and "fucks," it's easy to miss some of the underlying themes of the film; but beyond its oft-quoted dialogue and obsessive fan base, THE BIG LEBOWSKI is an LA noir for the modern age. It's also a gigantic metaphor for the Gulf War, a true testament to the time in which it is set, and eerily prophetic to watch today. A Bush is in office, we're in a recession, and we're fighting a fatuous war in the Middle East, so boy is this film still relevant. Don't forget, though, that it's also hilarious. Fix yourself a White Russian, folks. Let's see what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass. (1998, 117 min, 35mm) CS
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More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
Joel and Ethan Coen's INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (Contemporary American)
The Northbrook Public Library (1201 Cedar Lane, Northbrook) - Wednesday, 1 and 7:30pm (Free Admission)
When CBS Films acquired INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS out of Cannes last year, the upstart distributor presumed that it could ride the Coen Express to Oscar glory and demonstrate its expertise in handling testy auteur cinema. Their dreams were largely dashed, though not before going down in the record books as the first awards campaign nearly derailed by the unauthorized appropriation of a tweet. These details don't necessarily have anything to do with this movie's long-range stature as art, though it's hardly inappropriate that this ridiculously uncommercial venture about a sneeringly arrogant artiste choked outside the confines of the critic's club. It's a Coen project through and through, continuing a hitherto successful formula--exceedingly precise craft applied to caricatures not far removed from the walls of a junior high school toilet stall. (I can't recall another movie where the plot turns on the question of whether a cat possesses a scrotum.) The period details are unusually rich and suggestive--the novelty song "Please Mr. Kennedy," the conditional sympathy of a nascent academic folk fan base, the altogether unexpected elevation of Akron, OH to American Promised Land. What ultimately distinguishes INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, though, is its sectarian specificity: it's a movie about the moment when folk music morphed into the folk revival, aimed at a very specialized connoisseur audience fiercely secure in its judgment that clean-cut phonies like the Kingston Trio ruined fucking everything. The critic Leo Braudy has complained that INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS neglects the folk scene's radical politics. Such a position ignores Llewyn's unstated but unmistakable disgust with troubadour naïf Troy Nelson and the very idea of a folk singer nurtured by a sojourn in the military industrial complex. This is a movie of private ideals wasted on a world in ashen withdrawal, an irascible old-world sensibility kicked to the curb by musical gentrification. (Need I mention, too, that the Coens have coolly predicted that this will be their last 35mm production? [Their subsequent film, HAIL, CAESAR!, also wound up being photographed on 35mm - Ed.] The results, with DP Bruno Delbonnel subbing for Coen regular Roger Deakins, are lovely and a little disconcerting, as if the film stock itself met condensation at the foot of a noisy Manhattan radiator.) Even if you find nothing ominous in the rise of Peter, Paul, and Mary, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS remains a compelling portrait of an artist whose sense of musicianship is so refined that it leaves no room for the audience. It also manages to describe poverty in the most straightforward and useful terms--an improvised existence without the latitude to act in a so-called 'economically rational' manner. Like a record with the needle stuck in the groove, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS is an enclosed tragedy. (2013, 105 min, DCP Digital) KAW
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More info at www.northbrook.info.
Jeremy Saulnier's GREEN ROOM (New American)
Music Box Theatre - Check Venue website for showtimes
Director Jeremy Saulnier's follow up to 2013's BLUE RUIN is an audacious new thriller that draws inspiration from SID AND NANCY and AMERICAN HISTORY X. A struggling punk band books a show at a backwoods bar after which they witness a murder and fight to survive against a group of Neo-Nazis. Patrick Stewart's Darcy, the bar/concert venue owner, is ruthless and methodical, akin to Brian Cranston's Heisenberg in BREAKING BAD. Saulnier's mise en scene is gritty, dirty, and claustrophobic. Characters hang along the peripheries of the frame, constantly looking for a way to escape their "nightmare" situation. Saulnier's narrative plays out like a scuba diving expedition: escape attempt excursions that end unsuccessfully, forcing a return to the haven of the green room for 'air'. The film is self-aware and never succumbs to its baser undertones as a horror movie. Instead, it eases some of the razor-thin tension with tongue in cheek dialogue punctuated by punk rock jargon and music references. The prevalent extreme violence is showcased in a way that only Alex DeLarge in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE could approve of. GREEN ROOM doesn't pretend to any profound statements; rather it embarks on a thrilling ride that's entertaining and taut throughout. (2016, 94 min, DCP Digital) KC
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More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
Karyn Kusama's THE INVITATION (New American)
Music Box Theatre - Check Venue website for showtimes
After a brief foray into the Hollywood system with her two most recent efforts (AEON FLUX, JENNIFER'S BODY), Karyn Kusama returns to the world of independent cinema with THE INVITATION, a taut thriller set in the hills of Los Angeles. The morose yet reserved Will (Logan-Marshall Green), along with his girlfriend and some other old friends, is invited to his ex-wife Eden's (Tammy Blanchard) home for a dinner party after having not seen her for two years following the loss of their son. As the evening progresses, Eden and her new husband reveal they were able to overcome the loss thanks to The Invitation, a support group that Will likens to Heaven's Gate or the Branch Davidians. Kusama's use of space within the frame creates senses of isolation, community, and isolation from that community. Her use of the color red, à la THE SHINING or SUSPIRIA, creates an unnerving feeling that lies ominously dormant in the first two acts before boldly reasserting its presence as the film takes a dramatic tone shift. Religious symbolism in the forms of wine, Will's Christ-like appearance, and a Last Supper-style motif juxtapose gratingly against The Invitation's new-age ideologies. Kusama's willingness to deconstruct religious archetypes and reassemble them toward menacing effects makes for captivating viewing. THE INVITATION opts to avoid the standard clichés and tropes in films of its ilk and instead branches into grander, more refreshing ideas. (2016, 100 min, DCP Digital) KC
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More info at www.musicboxtheatre.com.
Quentin Tarantino's THE HATEFUL EIGHT [Standard Edition] (New American)
Doc Films (University of Chicago) - Saturday, 7pm and Sunday, 3:30pm
The eighth feature by Quentin Tarantino, THE HATEFUL EIGHT is set shortly after the Civil War in the mountains of Wyoming during a blizzard. John "The Hangman" Ruth (Kurt Russell) is transporting his prisoner, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), to Red Rock in order to watch her hang and to collect the $10,000 bounty on her head. Along the way, he rescues two men (Samuel L. Jackson and Walton Goggins) from the elements and eventually they are all forced to stop at Minnie's Haberdashery to wait out the storm. There they meet four strangers, and the eight's dubious pasts and secret motives are revealed in typical Tarantino fashion. EIGHT is Tarantino's most political film to date. Racial tensions and the strained relations post-Civil War between the North and the South are unearthed through intense dialogue and shocking flashbacks. Jackson's role as Northern Major Marquis Warren is the lynchpin that allows these topics to be explored. The cinematography is grandiose and vivid--not a micro fraction of celluloid is wasted and the attention to detail is exquisite. The most striking feature of this film is Ennio Morricone's dynamic score. From the first chime of bells during the overture to the last string hit of the final credits, Morricone takes the viewer on an aural journey that punctuates the stunning visuals on screen. The score is haunting, alluring, and disarming all at once. It wouldn't be a Tarantino film without gratuitous violence, blood, or cussing, and EIGHT is no exception. Tarantino expands upon these familiar controversial aspects of his filmmaking to include some disturbing physical violence against women. Leigh is used as a literal and morbid punchline; she is struck whenever she speaks out of line. Her performance is volatile and she plays the kind of character people love to hate, further complicating the violence directed towards her as she is not a sympathetic character." The second half of the film can be described as a cross between 12 ANGRY MEN and THE THING, juxtaposed with the director's trademark aesthetics. Is this the film that will bring celluloid back from the fringes of modern filmmaking? Probably not, but it does strengthen the cause, much like Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolan have recently. THE HATEFUL EIGHT successfully brings back a sense of spectacle in going to the movies. (2015, 167 min, DCP Digital) KC
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More info at www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
MORE SCREENINGS AND EVENTS
The University of Chicago's Neubauer Collegium presents a screening of work by Scottish experimental/documentary filmmaker Luke Fowler on Saturday at 7pm, at the Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th St.). The screening includes PILGRIMAGE FROM SCATTERED POINTS (2006) and parts one and two of the 2009 trilogy A GRAMMAR FOR LISTENING. Joining Fowler in conversation after the screening are Neubauer Collegium curator Jacob Proctor and musicologist and gallerist John Corbett. Free admission.
Block Cinema (Northwestern University) presents the Festival of (In)appropriation Traveling Show #8 (2010-14, approx. 93 min total, Digital Projection) on Friday at 7pm. The program features recent short works that appropriate material from already-existing media sources. Preceded by a reception at 6pm. Free admission.
Comfort Film at Comfort Station Logan Square (2579 North Milwaukee Ave.) screens Gretchen Hasse and Jeff Gogolinksi's new documentary short THE AIR WE BREATHE: PETCOKE POLLUTION IN SOUTHEAST CHICAGO (no details available) on Tuesday at 8pm, followed by a discussion. Co-presented by Rising Tide Chicago; Çetin Inanç's 1982 film DÜNYAYI KURTARAN ADAM (aka: TURKISH STAR WARS) (91 min, Digital Projection) is on Wednesday at 6pm; and the 2016 First Nations Film And Video Festival (106 min total, Digital Projection) is also on Wednesday, at 8pm. Included are short films by jay cardinal villeneuve, Chris Garcia, Derrick LaMere, Mark Williams, and Sean Stiller. Free admission for all events. www.comfortstationlogansquare.org/currentevents.
Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark St.) hosts an Open Screening on Saturday at 8pm. Attendees can bring work to screen (20 minutes max; no x-rated content; DVD only) or just go to watch. Free admission.
The University of Chicago's Centers for Gender/Race Studies (5733 South University, Community Room 105) present a lecture by Christa Blümlinger, Professor in film studies at the University Vincennes-Saint-Denis, entitled "A Return to 'Techniques of the Body:' Zoe Beloff's Reinventions," on Wednesday at 4:30pm. Free admission.
The (In)Justice for All Film Festival continues through Saturday at locations around the city. Complete schedule at www.injusticeforallff.com.
The Italian Cultural Institute (500 N. Michigan Ave.) presents An Audio Journey to the Italy of "La Dolce Vita" with Studs Terkel on Wednesday at 6pm. The event features audio excerpts of interviews Terkel conducted with Federico Fellini, Marcello Mastroianni, Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio Di Sica, Laura Fermi, and others, during a 1962 trip to Italy. Live commentary will be provided by Francesca Pola (Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer Chair in Italian at Northwestern University), Tom Simpson (Associate Professor of Instruction in Italian at Northwestern University), and Tony Macaluso (Director of the Studs Terkel Radio Archive). Free admission.
The Spertus Institute (610 S. Michigan Ave.) screens Douglas Wolfsperger's 2014 documentary BRUNDIBAR REVISITED (88 min, Video Projection) on Thursday at 7pm.
Black Cinema House (7200 S. Kimbark Ave.) screens Charles Burnett's 1990 film TO SLEEP WITH ANGER (102 min, Unconfirmed Format) on Friday at 7pm. Free admission.
Black World Cinema and South Side Projections screens Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern's 2015 film IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE (93 min, Digital Projection - Unconfirmed Format), on Thursday at 7pm at the Studio Movie Grill Chatham 14 (210 W. 87th St.). http://blackworldcinema.net/blog
Facets Cinémathèque plays Arturo Ripstein's 2015 Mexican/Spanish film BLEAK STREET (99 min, Unconfirmed Format) for a week-long run.
Also at the Gene Siskel Film Center this week: Holly De Ruyter's 2015 documentary OLD-FASHIONED: THE STORY OF THE WISCONSIN SUPPER CLUB (51 min, DCP) has five showings Friday-Monday and Wednesday, with De Ruyter in person at all screenings; the 2015 multi-director Brazilian/US anthology film RIO, I LOVE YOU (110 min, DCP Digital) plays for a week (no Sunday shows); Pablo Larrain's 2015 Chilean film THE CLUB (98 min, DCP Digital) plays for a week; Kim Nguyen's 2012 film WAR WITCH (90 min, DCP Digital) screens on Saturday at 4:45pm and Tuesday at 6pm, with a lecture by Pamela Robertson Wojcik at the Tuesday show; and in the Chicago Palestine Film Festival are ORIENTED (with IN THE FUTURE THEY ATE FROM THE FINEST PORCELEIN) and 3000 NIGHTS (with DETAINING DREAMS). Check the Siskel website for details.
Also at Doc Films (University of Chicago) this week: Goran Dukic's 2006 film WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY (88 min, 35mm) is on Friday at 7 and 9pm and Sunday at 1:30pm; Abbas Kiarostami's 1999 Iranian film THE WIND WILL CARRY US (118 min, DCP Digital) is on Monday at 7pm; Alejandro Galindo's 1946 Mexican film CHAMPION WITHOUT A CROWN (111 min, 35mm) is on Tuesday at 7pm; Melanie Laurent's 2014 French film BREATHE [RESPIRE] (91 min, DCP Digital) is on Thursday at 7:30pm. Also on Thursday at 5:30pm is a free screening of episode three of Oliver Stone's 2012 documentary series THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (58 min, Blu-Ray Projection), with Stone in person, along with historian and writer of the UNTOLD series Peter Kuznick, interviewed post-screening by U of C professor Bruce Cumings.
Also at the Music Box Theatre this week: Andrew Rossi's 2016 documentary THE FIRST MONDAY IN MAY (90 min, DCP Digital) continues daily at 5:30pm and Saturday and Sunday at 1pm; Alfred Hitchcock's 1941 film SUSPICION (99 min, 35mm) is on Saturday and Sunday at 11:30am; Ryoutarou Makihara's 2015 Japanese animated film THE EMPIRE OF CORPSES (120 min, DCP Digital) is on Friday at Midnight and Saturday at 9:45pm; and Bobby and Peter Farrelly's 1998 film THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (119 min, 35mm) is on Tuesday at 7pm, showing as part of the "Is It Still Funny?" series, with critic Mark Caro.
ONGOING FILM/VIDEO INSTALLATIONS
Scottish artist Luke Fowler has an exhibition of work at the University of Chicago's Neubauer Collegium (5701 S. Woodlawn Ave.). The show opens on Friday (opening reception, 6-8pm) and runs through July 1. Included in the show are Fowler's 2016 film FOR CHRISTIAN and his 2009 film series TENEMENT FILMS.
The Art Institute of Chicago presents Dennis Oppenheim: Projections through May 30. On view are three slide-projection works: 2000' SHADOW PROJECTION (1972), GROUND GEL #2 (1972), and POLARITIES (1972).
