RECOMMENDED
Dipping into a few months in the life of small-town Sidney, Ohio in Fall, “45365” is a luscious, impressionistic essay film, a dream-like patch of cinema vérité (without narration) that’s more trance than nonfiction lockstep. The film’s gentle intimacy and easy access to the town’s citizens and routines may spring from the fact that producer-director-editor-brothers Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross grew up there. Their eyes, however, offer up near-rapturous visuals: this is one of the most beautiful-looking shot-on-high-definition films to come around in recent memory. If every native son could do their patch of land and the weave of interconnection of friends and neighbors this kind of funny, tender, lyrical justice, we’d have all-American storytelling from sea to shining sea. I’d like to see more movies that are this generous and giving. 93m. (Ray Pride)
“45365” plays Saturday 8pm at Chicago Filmmakers 5243 North Clark, Second Floor.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s film critic and a contributing editor to Filmmaker magazine.
His multimedia history of Chicago “Ghost Signs” will be published soon. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram as Ghost Signs Chicago. More photography on Instagram.
