Weeklong Runs
Chicago premiere!
SHADOW COMPANY
2006, Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourque, Canada, 86 min.
“Illuminating. . . provides a different view of that [Iraq] conflict than you’ll get from the evening news.”--The New York Times
“For a subject that plays such a large part in America’s foreign policy and is so little understood, SHADOW COMPANY is an excellent and engaging primer.”--The Hollywood Reporter
The rules of war have changed. National armies are being increasingly replaced by mercenaries--or “private military companies,” as they prefer to be called--who operate outside normal rules of accountability. The end of the Cold War created a surplus of unemployed soldiers, and 9/11 created a demand for them. Over 20,000 mercenaries are now employed by the U.S. in Iraq. although the public was unaware of their presence until a gory 2004 ambush in Fallujah. This provocative, punchy documentary investigates the “soldier of fortune” through history, popular culture, expert testimony, and first-hand accounts from the battle zone. 35mm. (MR)
October 5--11
Fri. and Mon.-Thu. at 6:15 pm and 8:00 pm;
Sat. at 3:00 pm, 4:45 pm, 6:30 pm, and 8:15 pm;
Sun. at 3:15 pm and 5:00 pm
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES
2007, Jennifer Baichwal, Canada, 90 min.
“A heartbreaking, beautiful, awful and awesome film.”--Andrew O’Hehir, salon.com
“Strongly recommended to fans of KOYAANISQATSI and AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, and no less important than either.”--Jim Ridley, Village Voice
“The art-curio event of the year: A film that begs to be hung on the wall, studied, absorbed, and learned from.”--Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky specializes in large-scale images that capture what he calls “industrial incursions” on the environment. Filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal (whose previous subjects have included Paul Bowles and Sally Mann) followed Burtynsky through China, expanding the human and temporal dimensions of his photographs. The film opens with a breathtaking tracking shot through endless rows of Chinese factory workers that one critic described as “METROPOLIS as designed by Busby Berkeley.” It goes on to chronicle such phenomena as mountains of harvested computer parts, beached oil-tanker hulks being stripped to the last bolt, and the massive Three Gorges Dam project recently featured in Jia Zhang-ke’s STILL LIFE. Like Burtynsky ‘s photographs, the film avoids attitudinizing in favor of a challenging mixture of beauty and defilement. 35mm. (MR)
October 12--18
Fri. and Mon.-Thu. at 6:15 pm and 8:00 pm;
Sat. at 3:00 pm, 4:45 pm, 6:30 pm, and 8:15 pm;
Sun. at 3:15 pm and 5:00 pm
Director Joe Swanberg in Person!
HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS
2007, Joe Swanberg, USA, 84 min.
With Greta Gerwig, Kent Osborne, Andrew Bujalski
“A truly outstanding performance by Greta Gerwig.”--Don R. Lewis, Film Threat
“How can a movie with such a charming cast and believable dialogue go wrong? It can’t.”--V.A. Musetto, New York Post
HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS is the latest sensation from the rising American Indie movement known as “mumblecore,” recently championed in The New York Times for “bespeaking a true 21st-century sensibility, reflective of MySpace-like social networks and the voyeurism and intimacy of YouTube.” Shot in Chicago by former SIU student Joe Swanberg (LOL, KISSING ON THE MOUTH), HANNAH centers on a playful, self-absorbed young woman (Gerwig) whose resistance to permanence keeps her slipping from one relationship to another. Two of her boyfriends are played by mumblecore auteurs Andrew Bujalski (MUTUAL APPRECIATION) and Mark Duplass (THE PUFFY CHAIR). Compared by critics to John Cassavetes, Henry Jaglom, and Spike Lee’s SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT, the film combines spry improvisation, micro-budget aesthetics, casual nudity, and Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” into an indelible snapshot of life in this place and these times. 35mm. (MR)
Following Friday's screening, Kris Swanberg, the director's wife and actress in the film, will moderate a Q&A with the director via phone from London. Joe Swanberg will be present for audience discussion at the Wednesday and Thursday screenings.
October 19--25
Fri., Tue., and Thu. at 8:00 pm;
Sat at 8:45 pm;
Sun. at 5:00 pm;
Mon. and Wed. at 6:15 pm
Back by popular demand!
THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN
2005, Taggart Siegel, USA, 82 min.
“A loving, moving, inspiring, quirky documentary.”--Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
One man’s desperate quest to save the family farm turns into a bumpy, funny, heart-rending 30-year saga that takes him from experimental hippie-commune days to the grandest experiment of all: organic farming for a disparate horde of big-city shareholders who crave the authentic green stuff. Along the way, farmer John’s suspicious northern-Illinois neighbors have called him a devil worshipper and a drug dealer, and have had to avert their eyes from performance art involving a certain pink feather boa. Filmmaker Siegel transforms this project of a lifetime into an irresistible portrait of the American dream in all its pioneer glory being born and reborn over three decades. Winner of more than 30 film festival awards. 35mm. (BS)
October 19--25
Fri., Tue., and Thu. at 6:15 pm;
Sat at 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm;
Sun. at 3:15 pm;
Mon. and Wed. at 8:00 pm
Chicago premiere!
LAKE OF FIRE
2006, Tony Kaye, USA, 152 min.
“An extraordinary documentary achievement. . . compels audiences to reassess their own feelings about this contentious issue.”--Leslie Felperin, Variety
The passions that drive the debate surrounding all sides of the abortion issue in the U.S. are given full rein. So are the rational and philosophical arguments for and against, voiced by Noam Chomsky, Frances Kissling, Alan Dershowitz, Nat Hentoff, Randall Terry, and others. Pro-lifers from the religious right have their say; pro-choice demonstrators make their voices heard. With stunning, maddening, intensely thought-provoking even-handedness, director Kaye (AMERICAN HISTORY X) examines every angle of the abortion issue, shying away from nothing, including graphic imagery not for the faint of heart. The power of Kaye’s monumental and deliberately neutral work lies in allowing his viewers the right of interpretation. HD video. (BS)