Weeklong Runs
Chicago premiere!
WOMAN ON THE BEACH
(HAEBYONUI YOIN)
2006, Hong Sang-soo, South Korean, 127 min.
With Kim Seung-woo, Go Hyun-jung
“A wicked comedy of manners... [Hong’s] most coherent and emotionally accessible film yet.”--A.O. Scott, The New York Times
“Hong’s brightest and funniest film to date.”--Adam Nayman, Eye Weekly
WOMAN ON THE BEACH is that rarity, a genuinely fresh romantic comedy that slyly and subversively spins the conventions of the genre in new, unpredictable directions. Suffering from writer’s block, filmmaker Joong-rae spends a weekend at the beach, where he bungles a romance with his assistant’s vivacious girlfriend, Moon-sook. As in Korean New Wave notable (and SAIC alumnus) Hong’s previous films (TURNING GATE, WOMAN IS THE FUTURE OF MAN), the narrative splits into two halves that mirror each other in a playful pattern of rhymes and variations, as Joong-rae returns to the coastal resort and attempts to recreate the original romance with a woman who resembles Moon-sook. In Korean with English subtitles. 35mm. (MR)
April 25--May 1
Fri. at 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm;
Sat. at 3:00 pm, 5:30 pm, and 8:00 pm;
Sun. at 3:00 pm and 5:30 pm;
Mon. and Tue. at 6:30 pm only;
Wed. and Thu. at 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm
Chicago premiere!
THE UNFORESEEN
2007, Laura Dunn, USA, 93 min.
“The movie AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH wanted to be. Visually rich, narratively ambitious…transcendent.”--Mark Holcomb, Time Out New York
“One of the great documentaries of our time.”--Chris Barsanti, Film Journal International
The story begins with a self-made man’s dream to claim an untouched chunk of Texas hill country as his real-estate empire. The dream gives birth to a monster subdivision of Austin that sucks up natural resources and poses a dire threat to the limestone aquifer that feeds Barton Springs, a pristine natural swimming hole legendary among generations of Texans. THE UNFORESEEN, produced by Robert Redford and Terrence Malick (DAYS OF HEAVEN), covers the bitter environmental battle and details most hauntingly the emotional and psychic toll on those on both sides of the issue. Interviews include Redford, Willie Nelson, Ann Richards, Wendell Berry, and more. Film Comment called it “the best film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, hands down.” 35mm. (BS)
May 2--9
Fri., Mon., Wed. and Thu. at 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm;
Sat. at 3:15 pm, 5:15 pm., and 7:45 pm;
Sun. at 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm
Chicago premiere!
Filmmakers in person!
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR
2008, Steve James and Peter Gilbert, USA, 98 min.
The award-winning filmmakers of HOOP DREAMS trace the crisis of conscience that brings a death-row chaplain who presided over 95 executions to take a passionate stand against the death penalty. For most of the 15 years that Rev. Carroll Pickett served as chaplain at the penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas, he carried out the state’s mandate to provide just enough spiritual solace to keep the condemned docile for the lethal injection. The execution of Carlos De Luna, now on the verge of exoneration through a Chicago Tribune investigation, and mounting evidence of other wrongful convictions, slowly transform Pickett into a man haunted by the voices of the dead and compelled to question his beliefs. HD video. (BS)
Directors Steve James and Peter Gilbert will be present on Saturday for audience discussion.
May 10--14
Sat. at 8:00 pm;
Sun. at 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm;
Mon.-Wed. at 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm
Chicago theatrical premiere!
IRINA PALM
2007, Sam Garbarski, Belgium/
Luxembourg/UK/Germany/France, 103 min.
With Marianne Faithfull, Miki Manojlovic
“British rock vet Marianne Faithfull is back on the big screen with a plum new role.”--New York Magazine
“With a faint aura of rock ’n’ roll sex glamour still hovering around her, Ms. Faithfull explores a full range of fascinating emotion.”--A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Cast stunningly against type, chanteuse/actress/pop icon Marianne Faithfull plays a dowdy widow from the outskirts of London, who bumbles into a job as a sex worker to earn some quick cash for a dying grandson’s operation. Meek and tentative in most things, Maggie learns that opportunity must at least be grasped with one hand when her workplace at Sexy World turns out to be a coin-operated booth where unseen men are serviced through a hole in the wall. Faithfull brings world-weary grace and childlike wonder to a story that might have amounted to a crude joke without her careful crafting of Maggie’s transformation from a neglected frump to a woman who comes into her own in the most unlikely way. 35mm. (BS)
May 16--22
Fri. and Mon., Tue., Thu. at 6:15 pm and 8:15 pm;
Sat. at 3:15 pm, 5:15 pm, and 7:45 pm;
Sun. at 3:15 pm and 5:15 pm
Chicago premiere!
Todd Sklar in person!
BOX ELDER
2007, Todd Sklar, USA, 91 min.
With Alex Rennie, Nick Renkowski, Todd Sklar
With a sense of humor dangling somewhere between the gross-out fun of ANIMAL HOUSE and the postmodern pleasures of mumblecore, BOX ELDER stakes a comic claim on dudedom. A drolly funny declaration of codependence, the episodic story wallows from sophomore to senior year in the wackily dim world of four beer-guzzling roommates at an institution of higher learning. To hell with exams--academic mileposts include a ‘stache party, Halloween, and the rare encounter with the female of the species. Endearingly on-target performances generate a growing whiff of poignancy as launch into the real world looms. Music by Pavement, Beulah, The Modern Lovers, and Baltimora. HD video. (BS)
Director Todd Sklar will be present at all screenings for audience discussion.
May 16--20
Fri. at 8:00 pm;
Sat. at 8:00 pm;
Mon. at 8:15 pm;
Tue. at 8:30 pm
Back by popular demand!
THE SINGING REVOLUTION
2007, James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty, USA, 96 min.
Narrated by Linda Hunt
“Imagine the scene in CASABLANCA in which French patrons sing ‘La Marseillaise’ in defiance of the Germans, then multiply it by a factor of thousands, and you’ve only begun to imagine the force of THE SINGING REVOLUTION.”--Matt Zoeller Seitz, The New York Times
This stirring documentary tells the amazing true story of Estonia’s fight for independence, and the way that culture changed a nation. The small Baltic country of Estonia has for centuries been overrun by conquerors, most recently the Soviet Union. Estonia has an extraordinarily strong musical tradition, and the flame of freedom was kept burning at the quinquennial Laulupidu Song Festival, where as many as 30,000 singers would take the stage to sing the unofficial national anthem, “Land of My Fathers, Land That I Love.” In the face of intensive “Russification,” Estonia’s cultural traditions preserved its national identity, enabling it to accomplish a bloodless revolution that harbingered the collapse of the Soviet Empire. In English, Estonian, and Russian with English subtitles. 35mm. (MR)
Special added attraction! Co-director James Tusty will be present for audience discussion at the 8:00 show on Friday.
May 23--29
Fri. and Tue.-Thu. at 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm;
Sat. and Sun. at 3:15 pm, 5:15 pm, and 7:45 pm;
Mon. at 3:15 pm and 5:15 pm
Chicago premiere!
BAB ‘AZIZ, THE PRINCE WHO CONTEMPLATED HIS SOUL
2007, Nacer Khemir, Switzerland/
Hungary/France/Germany/Iran
/Tunisia/UK, 96 min.
With Parviz Shahinkhou, Maryam Hamid
“An Arabian dream that weaves timeless story threads with mystical and Sufi elements...As fascinating as reading a new chapter of 1,001 Nights.”--Deborah Young, Variety
“You’ll remember the dreamlike state the film induces long after the credits roll.”--New York Magazine
A sumptuous vision with a story as ephemeral as smoke, BAB ‘AZIZ traverses time and place as a blind dervish and his young granddaughter journey to a fabled desert convocation of musicians that may be sighted only in the mind’s eye. The old man entertains the restless child Ishtar with his trove of ancient tales, and each one comes colorfully to life: the handsome Persian prince enthralled by his own image, the temptress at the bottom of a well, the murderous red-haired dervish, and a host of mythical beings. Shot in Tunisia and Iran, including in the city of Bam before its destruction in the 2003 earthquake, the film features entrancing Middle Eastern music and dervish dances. In Arabic and Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)
May 30--June 5
Fri. and Mon.-Thu. at 6:15 pm and 8:15 pm;
Sat. at 3:15 pm, 5:15 pm, and 7:45 pm;
Sun. at 3:15 pm and 5:15 pm
Chicago premiere!
Keith Dukavicius in person!
EGON
2008, Keith Dukavicius, USA, 90 min.
With Keith Dukavicius, Andy Hannon, Catherine Larson
Keith Dukavicius, the talented Chicago-based filmmaker whose I AM JAMES MASON and DANIEL WONG previously premiered at the Film Center, returns with his latest and most ambitious film yet. This ostensible biopic portrays the controversial Austrian artist Egon Schiele, but art-history mavens should be on guard for flagrant doses of dramatic license, including Schiele’s incestuous fixation on his sister/model and, most outrageously, his fondness for fighting duels in the snowy woods. As in his previous films, Dukavicius demonstrates a flair for low-budget elegance, self-mocking angst, and tour-de-force performances. Dukavicius, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Schiele, himself plays the artist in a wonderfully stylized assortment of angular postures and volatile outbursts. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Director Keith Dukavicius will be present for audience discussion at all screenings.