Chicago International Film Festival - (My) Day Three

Very Semi-Serious

Released:  April 19^th, 2015

Starring:  Bob Mankoff, Adam Salky, Roz Chast, George Booth, Liana Finck, Ed Steed

Directed by:  Leah Wolchok

Personal Bias Alert:  doesn’t read the New Yorker

8 of 10

            A documentary about the inner workings of the cartoon department of the New Yorker will ostensibly seem aimed at a very particular kind of person.  The cartoonists themselves certainly seem of a type (i.e. white, Jewish men), but just as editor Bob Mankoff is shown making an effort to expand that voice, so does director Leah Wolchok broaden this film to appeal to a much larger audience.  She present a cavalcade of the offbeat, twitchy cartoonists who peddle their wares to Mankoff each week, only for him to brutally lay out what he thinks of their work and send them skittering back to their caves.  The dichotomy of this phenomena, of the painfully introverted showing up week after week only to get beaten down is where much of the intellectual interest derives from, but largely Wolchok is content to parade out the cartoonists and let them do their stuff, namely win you over with their humor.  Wolchok brings a matching wry tone to the film, editing their punchlines into some big, belly-laugh moments.  This is lighthearted fare, a dip into an oddball community that lives on the fringes of society while making it a much better place for everyone else.

_______________________________________

Barash

Released:  October 22^nd, 2015

Starring:  Sivan Shimon, Jade Sakori, Divr Benedek, Bar Ben Vakil

Written and Directed by:  Michal Vinik

Personal Bias Alert:  likes coming-of-age flicks

7.2 of 10

            Barash is a tale of first love that’s both traditional and subversive, dreamily evoking the wonder and the pain that inevitably comes with this situation.  Set in Israel, Naama (Sivan Shimon) falls for the more experienced Hershko (Jake Sakori), who introduces her to the lesbian community in Tel Aviv.  It’s a familiar story, but writer/director Michal Vinik makes it seem immediate, drawing you in with excellent music choices, lilting camerawork, and natural lighting.  Although the lead actresses were novices, there’s never a moment when they appear to be reaching for something or fading into themselves.  They’re always these two characters, continually facing us head on.  There’s also a B plot where Naama’s sister goes missing which confronts the heated Jewish-Arab relationships in Israel with a certain amount of honesty and wit, but the storyline always seems like a distraction and never connects fully to the main love story.  With the exception of this aside, Barash proves to be an expressive entry in the gay coming-of-age genre.

_______________________________________

Cemetery of Splendor

Released:  March 4^th, 2016

Starring:  Banlop Lomnoi, Jenjira Pongpas

Written and Directed by:  Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Personal Bias Alert:  not familiar with Southeast Asian cinema

            It’s easy to acknowledge that other cultures can have a radically different outlook on life than your own, but until you encounter a piece of art that comments on a worldview that’s entirely foreign to you, you really won’t understand how deep that divide can be.  Enter Apichatpong Weerasethakul of Thailand, who is most prominently known for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.  Like that film, Cemetery of Splendor is laconic and drifting, evoking mood and theme in the same obscure way as a Terrence Malick film.  If you are from a Western culture like myself, Malick would be a good barometer for Weerasethakul’s work.  If you can stomach Malick, then proceed with caution into Cemetery of Splendor.  If not, then run far, far away.  To be honest, I didn’t understand Cemetery of Splendor at all, hence the lack of numerical rating.  It’s beautiful, but I never had a clue what was happening or why I was watching a man poop for a solid minute.  I’ll stop wasting your time now.

_______________________________________

Girls Lost

Released:  October 16^th, 2015

Starring:  Emrik Öhlander, Olle Wirenhed, Louise Nyvall, Mandus Berg

Written and Directed by:  Alexandra-Therese Keining

Personal Bias Alert:  excited by the acceptance of gender fluidity

7 of 10

            Following three tomboy/lesbian/general outcast girls who find a flower that temporarily turns them into boys, Girls Lost is modern-day fable about the concept and ramifications of gender fluidity.  It starts as a tender introduction to the idea, an excited game changer for the put-upon group, but as one of them embraces their masculine side more firmly than the others, the once tight-knit clan quickly begins to unravel.  Girls Lost takes big risks, which I vigorously applaud, and it gets a tantalizing amount of things right.  The young actors dig deep into their complicated roles and emote the hell out of them, complimented wonderfully by writer/director Alexandra-Therese Keining lush visual style.  The film grabs you and takes you on this journey with the girls, and early on that is enough to circumvent the provocative subject matter.  Unfortunately, the film loses its way a bit as it barrels towards its finale, sidestepping or over-simplifying some ideas it had previously handled so well.  Still, it keeps you invested in these characters, and you’ll find yourself cringing as their glee goes to hell.  Also, this has one of the best face morphing effects I’ve ever seen.

Chicago International Film Festival - (My) Day 2

Three Days in September

Released:  October 16^th, 2015

Starring:  Irena Ristic, Kamka Tocinovski, Adem Karaga

Directed by:  Darijan Pejovski

Written by:  Igor Ivanov Izi, Darijan Pejovski

Personal Bias Alert:  likes women-centric stories

8.5 of 10

              A slow-burn thriller, Three Days in September is all about what people aren’t saying.  Most of the characters don’t know each other or haven’t seen each other in years.  Their secrets run deep and don’t come out easily, but as they’re all isolated in a remote town, it’s only a matter of time before the veneer comes off.  It’s as classic a story as you can get, and first-time director Darijan Pejovski plays his characters and their surroundings nearly perfectly.  His Q&A referenced influences from film noir and ‘70s American cinema, an apt representation of the film’s gritty entertainment.  You’ll connect with his leading ladies very easily, but you won’t quite be sure why.  In the end, they’ll take you down a path you weren’t aware that you wanted to take, but in Pejovski and these excellent actors hands, it’ll be impossible to resist.

_______________________________________

Full Contact

Released:  October 17^th, 2015

Starring:  Grégoire Colin, Lizzie Brocheré

Directed by:  David Verbeek

Written by:  David Verbeek

Personal Bias Alert:  not big on abstract storytelling

1.5 of 10

            Upping the arthouse ante is Full Contact, a decidedly ambiguous film about a French drone pilot.  The first section is rather straightforward, with the military man bombing targets from a secure facility in Nevada.  One of his targets, though, turns out to have been based on bad information, and the second and third sections unravel the mental and emotional consequences of such an act.  While there’s nothing wrong with going abstract, Full Contact goes about it in all the wrong ways, with textbook film school visual metaphors and minimal dialogue.  The second section is an almost unbearable ‘wandering through the wasteland’ type scenario, complete with an underwater sequence and a dog that gazes knowingly into the pilot’s eyes.  If you were one of the people who complained about the similar sequence in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, then avoid this film like the plague.

_______________________________________

James White

Released:  November 13^th, 2015

Rated:  R

Starring:  Christopher Abbott, Cynthia Nixon, Scott Mescudi, Makenzie Leigh

Directed by:  Josh Mond

Written by:  Josh Mond

Personal Bias Alert:  dislikes movies about irresponsible adults

6 of 10

            When a group of NYU graduates band together to make their first films, sporadically great things can happen.  Josh Mond’s James White sprang from just such a group, which has already produced the memorable Martha Marcy May Marlene.  With his debut feature about a troubled twentysomething caring for his dying mother, Mond shows a willingness to dig deep into characters and hold on their less than attractive sides.  This, along with some strikingly close camerawork, leads to some riveting moments that just lift James White out of the restless slacker mold that has fatigued many viewers (including myself).  Dragging it back down towards this branding is the casting of Girls star Christopher Abbott as the titular James, who successfully pulls off the role without ever making it feel like too much of a stretch.  There’s excellent supporting turns here by Cynthia Nixon and Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi), but the clichéd self-destructive behavior exhibited by James often is nothing more than tiresome.  A broader scope to pair with the well-observed smaller moments may have made this film into something great, but it’s still a solid, if familiar, little indie.

_______________________________________

They Look Like People

Released:  January 25^th, 2015

Starring:  MacLeod Andrews, Evan Dumouchel, Margaret Ying Drake

Directed and Written by:  Perry Blackshear

Written by:  Perry Blackshear

Personal Bias Alert:  generally averse to low-budget asthetics

7 of 10

            You may have heard whispers about The Look Like People, as it has been racking up festival awards throughout 2015.  It’s a micro-budget psychological horror film, light on the horror but heavy on the suspense, centered around two friends reconnecting while one of them possibly goes insane.  It’s that or there’s an alien invasion on the way, and by the end, it’s hard to tell which outcome would be worse.  That’s because much of the movie’s charm is in watching the two young men find in each other a partner more solid than they’ve otherwise encountered.  There’s a pleasure in watching movies about genuinely good people, and these two guys form one of the sweetest friendships you’ll see this year.  The film is noticeably limited by its budget, and a bit more money for effects may have upped the horror aspect to a more respectable level.  Still, the little group of friends who made this film deserve to reveal in the recognition they’re getting, and hopefully someone acknowledges them with a healthier budget.

Chicago International Film Festival - (My) Day 1

I Smile Back

Released:  October 23^rd, 2015

Rated:  R

Distributor:  Broad Green Pictures

Starring:  Sarah Silverman, Josh Charles, Skylar Gaertner, Thomas Sadoski

Directed by:  Adam Salky

Written by:  Paige Dylan, Amy Koppelman

Personal Bias Alert:  big Sarah Silverman fan

6 of 10

            Based on the novel by the same name, I Smile Back follows housewife Laney (Sarah Silverman) as she struggles with depression and addiction.  It’s familiar territory, to be sure, and while the dialogue is often too on-the-nose and the film is not particularly well lit (it’s apparent because Silverman’s black hair often bleeds into the background), there are enough genuine moments observed here to remain engaging.  Silverman gives a rare and assured dramatic turn, digging into her own history of depression to make Laney a recognizable figure to anyone familiar with these issues.  Having seen her do comedy for so many years, it’s difficult not to see the ticks she’s leaned on throughout her career crop up, but it’s a testament to her that, by the end of the film, these things aren’t passing through your mind at all.  Josh Charles is his usual steady self as her husband, and the scenes between the two are highlights of the film.  But the main thing that I Smile Back gets right is the understanding that people can choose to do things that hurt the people they love without any intent to cause them harm.  This is a great source of tragedy in life, and I Smile Back mines this for an affecting amount of pathos. 

_______________________________________

Embers

Released:  October 16^th, 2015

Rated:  NR

Starring:  Jason Ritter, Iva Gocheva, Greta Fernández, Roberto Cots, Rucker Smallwood, Silvan Friedman, Karl Glusman

Directed by:  Claire Carré

Written by:  Charles Spano, Claire Carré

Personal Bias Alert:  likes post-apocalypse stories

5.2 of 10

            Embers opens with a young man and woman (Jason Ritter and Iva Gocheva) waking in a filthy apartment, unable to remember each other.  In fact, they can’t remember themselves, and after some awkward bantering and the discovery of matching bracelets, they decide that they must be lovers.  Every morning begins this way for the two, who live in a world where everyone has been struck with amnesia.  They know how to walk and talk and eat, but they have no memory of themselves or seemingly anything past their immediate surroundings.  It’s a world of heightened emotions, and in its absence, director Claire Clarré explores the far-reaching effects of memory on individuals and society.  It’s ambitious, to be sure, slightly experimental, and expectedly uneven.  Embers follows a few different members of this new society, and certain of these sections work better than others.  The lovers provide the film a backbone, but the other stories are too fragmented to feel complete.  There’s interesting moments of observation here, particularly with an almost feral young man played by Karl Glusman (look for him in the new Gaspar Noé film Love), but there are alternately long periods of boredom.  Clarré is a first-time filmmaker who also serves as co-writer and editor, and the fact that she was able to pull off this kind of film with so little help is a testament to her potential.  Anyone looking to explore fresh blood in the film industry should give Clarré’s Embers a chance.

_______________________________________

The Abandoned

Rated:  NR

Starring:  Louisa Krause, Jason Patric, Mark Margolis

Directed by:  Eytan Rockaway

Written by:  Ido Fluk

Personal Bias Alert:  prefers character-driven horror

4.5 of 10

            Appearing in their After Dark series, The Abandoned is a fairly traditional horror film that just doesn’t have anything behind it.  It follows a young woman starting work as a security guard in a vacant building, and it’s filled with the requisite jump scares and shocking images that litter modern horror.  On the plus side, the building they patrol is a creepily ornate monstrosity, utilized wonderfully in some early, mood-setting sequences.  Louisa Krause and Jason Patric as the two security guards are the film’s strongest elements, bringing banter and some genuine terror to their underwritten roles.  The problem is that the whole thing is underwritten, and the ending flat out makes no sense.  Director Eytan Rockaway, who did a Q&A after the screening, didn’t seem too bothered by the audience’s probing questions, brushing away requests for explanations with the old ‘it’s just a movie’ excuse.  His flippancy about plot is evident in this film, and it doesn’t bode well for Rockaway’s long-term success.