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. 

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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.

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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.