New prints!
IVAN THE TERRIBLE
(IVAN GROZNYY)
PART I
1944, Sergei Eisenstein, Russia, 96 min.
With Nikolai Cherkassov, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya
PART II
1946/1958, Sergei Eisenstein, Russia, 90 min.
With Nikolai Cherkassov, Serafima Birman
“Eisenstein’s greatest cinematic achievement, a vast, hypnotic epic charged with operatic splendor.”--Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
In collaboration with Seagull Films and Concern Mosfilm, we present newly struck 35mm prints of Eisenstein’s ultimate masterpiece. IVAN was originally conceived as a trilogy on the life of the notorious 16th-century Czar who united Russia, but only the first two parts were completed before the director’s death at age 50. Shifting from the montage-based aesthetic of Eisenstein’s silent films, the two IVAN’s are a triumph of shadowy, claustrophobic mise-en-scene, filled with looming icons, gargoylish close-ups, and the Kabuki-like postures struck by imposing lead actor Cherkassov.
PART I charts the young Czar’s ruthless rise to power in the face of treacherous nobles, Asian armies, and near-fatal illness. In the more flamboyant and eccentric PART II (banned by Stalin and not released until 1958), an epic of national unity turns into a nightmare of despotic paranoia, capped by the most sinister musical number (one of the film’s two color sequences) this side of SWEENEY TODD. Music by Sergei Prokofiev. In Russian with English subtitles. 35mm. (MR)
April 3--9
Part I
Fri., Mon-Thu. at 6:15 pm;
Sat. at 2:45 pm and 6:30 pm;
Sun. at 3:15 pm
Part II
Fri., Mon., Tue., and Thu. at 8:15 pm;
Sat. at 4:45 pm and 8:30 pm;
Sun. at 5:15 pm;
Wed. at 6:00 pm and 8:15 pm
IVAN THE TERRIBLE discount!
Buy a ticket at our regular prices to PART I and get a ticket to any performance of PART II at this discount rate (tickets must be purchased at the same time): General Admission $7; Students $5; Members $4. (This discount rate applies to the second film only.)
Chicago premiere!
GIGANTIC
2008, Matt Aselton, USA, 98 min.
With Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman
“A lovely, funny, unabashedly odd romance.”--Steve Ramos, IndieWIRE
First-time writer-director Aselton’s dry wit, sure sense of setting, and skill with ensemble acting herald the arrival of a fresh new talent. This “mostly comedy” stars Dano (THERE WILL BE BLOOD) as a Manhattan bed salesman who becomes involved with a wealthy customer (Goodman) and his alluring daughter (Deschanel) while dodging an assassin and attempting to adopt a Chinese baby. The sardonic Dano and the spacey Deschanel make one of the most appealing romantic couples to hit the screen in years. 35mm widescreen. (MR)
April 10--16
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
New 35mm print!
JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES
1975, Chantal Akerman, Belgium, 201 min.
With Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte
“Supremely sensual...JEANNE DIELMAN changed the face of contemporary European cinema.”--J. Hoberman, Village Voice
“Like CITIZEN KANE, not merely a masterpiece but also a landmark work.”--Amy Taubin, Artforum
“I don’t think it’s minimalist. I think it’s maximalist. It’s big!”--Chantal Akerman
Compared by critics to Hitchcock, Kubrick, and Michael Snow, and a major influence on modern directors such as Pedro Costa, Todd Haynes, Jia Zhangke, and Gus Van Sant, Akerman’s landmark film has grown in stature with the passing years. Filmed in elegantly composed extended takes, JEANNE DIELMAN takes a long, hard, mesmerizing look at the domestic life of a single mother and daytime prostitute whose rigorously ritualized routine begins to slip its tracks, with devastating results. Long available only in 16mm, this masterpiece of monumental minutiae is a must in 35mm. In French with English subtitles. 35mm. (MR)
April 17--23
Fri. and Mon.-Thu. at 6:30 pm
Sat. at 3:00 pm and 7:30 pm
Sun. at 3:00 pm
Chicago Premiere!
FIERCE LIGHT: WHEN SPIRIT MEETS ACTION
2008, Velcrow Ripper, Canada, 97 min.
An audience favorite at the Vancouver Film Festival and Amsterdam Documentary Festival, FIERCE LIGHT continues the quest for a fusion between spirituality and activism previously explored in Ripper’s award-winning 2005 documentary SCAREDSACRED. The 2006 murder of friend and filmmaker Brad Will in protest-torn Oaxaca, Mexico, is the impetus for Ripper’s journey, which takes him to “ground zeroes” of spiritual activism around the world, including Montgomery, Alabama; Robben Island, South Africa; Andrah, India; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and South Central Los Angeles, where a months-long protest against the razing of a vital community garden provides a highly dramatic spine for the wide-ranging film. En route, Ripper encounters a number of eloquent icons, including Congressman John Lewis, Daryl Hannah, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Alice Walker, bell hooks, and Julia Butterfly Hill. 35mm. (MR)
Still-unconfirmed guest appearances are planned for screenings of FIERCE LIGHT. Please phone 312-846-2600 or visit our website for updates.
April 17--23
Fri. at 8:15 pm;
Sat. at 3:00 pm;
Mon., Tue., and Thu. at 6:00 pm
Chicago premiere!
FORBIDDEN LIE$
2007, Anna Broinowski, Australia, 104 min.
“A cinematically cool, imaginative flick...recalls Orson Welles’ F FOR FAKE.”--G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
RASHOMON was an open-and-shut case compared to this real-life thriller that unfolds as a Russian-doll series of enigmas within enigmas. In 2003, Australian immigrant Norma Khouri writes a best-selling account of how she came to flee her native Jordan after the “honor killing” of her best friend Dalia. Khouri becomes an international celebrity and spokesperson for women’s rights, until journalists discover gaping holes in her story. Identified as a wanted con-woman who had deserted her family in Chicago, Khouri staunchly maintains that she had altered some facts only in order to protect the innocent, and filmmaker Broinowski is drawn into an ever-shifting maze of fiction and truth by a modern-day mixture of Scheherazade and Baron Munchausen. 35mm. (MR)
April 24--30
Fri., Tue., and Thu. at 6:00 pm;
Sat. at 7:45 pm;
Sun. at 5:00 pm;
Mon. and Wed. at 8:00 pm
Chicago premiere!
Martha Nussbaum in person!
EXAMINED LIFE
2008, Astra Taylor, Canada, 88 min.
As demonstrated in her 2006 Film Center hit ZIZEK!, filmmaker Astra Taylor knows how to draw maximum wattage from the rock stars of the intellectual world (salon.com described EXAMINED LIFE as “’American Idol,’ post-Heidigger edition”). Taylor accompanies nine uncloistered philosophers through public spaces that invigorate their ideas: Cornel West compares philosophy to the blues while riding in a Manhattan cab; Martha Nussbaum discusses the ethical implications of disability on the Chicago lakefront; Kwame Anthony Appiah glosses globalism on an airport people-mover; Peter Singer critiques consumerism while strolling past Fifth Avenue boutiques; and the ever-provocative Slavoj Zizek declares “We need more alienation from nature!” while rummaging through a London garbage dump. Also discoursing are Judith Butler, Michael Hardt, Avita Ronell, and Sunaura Taylor. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Dr. Martha C. Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, will be present for audience discussion on Saturday.
April 24--30
Fri. at 6:15 pm;
Sat. at 3:00 pm;
Mon. at 6:15 pm;
Wed. at 6:15 pm;
Thu. at 8:00 pm
Chicago premiere!
TAKING FATHER HOME
(BEI YAZI DE NANHAI)
2005, Ying Liang, China, 101 min.
With Xu Yun, Liu Xiaopei
“A stunning introduction to a rare new talent.”--Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times
“A triumph of vision and talent.”--Jay Weissberg, Variety
Shot on a shoestring with a borrowed video camera, Ying’s impressive first film is a deceptively simple tale that packs as much potent commentary on contemporary China as any of Jia Zhangke’s recent epics. As his village is about to be evacuated in the name of progress, 17-year-old Xu Yun sets out to Zigong City to search for his long-missing father, with little but the clothes on his back and two snowy-white geese who provide a priceless running sight-gag throughout the film. After strange encounters with a street punk and a paternalistic cop, Xu’s quest leads to an apparent dead end at the Happiness Hotel, but, with flood waters threatening the city, he discovers another clue to a truth that might be better left hidden. In Mandarin with English subtitles. DV-CAM video. (MR)
April 24--29
Fri. at 8:00 pm;
Sat. at 3:15 pm;
Tue. at 8:00 pm;
Wed. at 6:00 pm
Chicago premiere!
OUR CITY DREAMS
2008, Chiara Clemente, USA, 87 min.
“Exquisitely crafted...Clemente’s compelling group portraiture paints a vibrantly diverse Gotham art scene.”--Ronnie Scheib, Variety
“A joyous infusion of life in these perilous days. Clemente gives us all a reason for jubilation.”--Paul Brenner, Filmcritic.com
Artists, New York artists, New York women artists--this evocative combination is the subject of Chiara Clemente’s inspiring documentary. The five artists profiled are wildly diverse in their ages, cultural backgrounds, and artistic styles, but they share a common commitment to creativity forged in what one of them calls “the biggest, loudest, dirtiest, most intense city that we have.” Florida native Swoon, the youngest of the group, pastes life-size cut-out figures on walls and subways; Cairo-born Ghada Amer’s hand-embroidered erotic canvases challenge puritanical preconceptions of Islam and feminism; New Jersey-raised Kiki Smith prepares for a massive retrospective of her body-oriented work; former Yugoslavian Marina Abramovic’s fearless performance art encompasses self-mutilation and outrageous Biblical conceits; and octogenarian ex-Clevelander Nancy Spero maintains the activist flame that was ignited during the Vietnam War. DigiBeta video. (MR)