Chicago filmmaker Hurt McDermott’s feature follow-up to his Slamdance-premiered “Nightingale in A Music Box” (2002), filmed under the title “Silent E Squared,” is a latterday adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” centering around the farcical romantic failures of the owner of a Lincoln Avenue art-house (the late Three Penny Cinema, shot after its closing in 2007) and spiraling outward with extremely tepid results. Taylor Nichols (“Barcelona”) stars as the fired-film-critic-turned-theater-operator who programs double features like “Safe” and “Poison” and expects to make a living; McDermott is the type of writer-director-editor who shows the letterboard as “Safe Poison” and expects an audience to chortle. Bits by local theater veterans Jim Ortlieb and Andy Rothenberg are pleasing as they go through their paces. The DePaul-area locations, even beyond the Three Penny, are time-capsule material already. 100m. (Ray Pride)
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
Reading Pictures: Movies In Black-And-White Almost nothing has been written about Walter Hill or his great work. A new book, which the director cooperated with, is "A Walter Hill Film" by critic Walter Chaw. There's much I learned even as a lifelong student of Hill's work: "The Warriors." "Streets of Fire." "48 HRS."
Talking Screens, July 9-15, 2021: The Bite of the Black Widow | The Ferocity of Lydia Lunch | The Rage of The Forever Purge Talking Screens, A Week In Chicago Film, July 9-15, 2021 Disney continues its experiment with simultaneous releases on screen and on premium-priced streaming video with quarter-billion-dollar investment “Black Widow”; “Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over” is a necessary portrait of a powerful artist; and “Platform” captures the fight of Wushu world champion Iranian sisters. “The Forever Purge” seeks hope…
Talking Screens, June 30-July 6, 2023: "Revoir Paris" Glistens | Black Women Heroes of Sci-Fi | Christopher Nolan Redux This week: "We Can Be Sheroes" at FACETS; "Come Back To The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean," "Inception" and “Dunkirk” at Alamo Drafthouse; "Matthias & Maxime" at Chicago Filmmakers; “Nashville" and "Car Wash" at Doc Films; "Ugetsu" at Chicago Film Society at NEIU; "Raging Bull" and "Revoir Paris" at Siskel; "Lost In America" and "Babe: Pig In The…
Chicago filmmaker Hurt McDermott’s feature follow-up to his Slamdance-premiered “Nightingale in A Music Box” (2002), filmed under the title “Silent E Squared,” is a latterday adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” centering around the farcical romantic failures of the owner of a Lincoln Avenue art-house (the late Three Penny Cinema, shot after its closing in 2007) and spiraling outward with extremely tepid results. Taylor Nichols (“Barcelona”) stars as the fired-film-critic-turned-theater-operator who programs double features like “Safe” and “Poison” and expects to make a living; McDermott is the type of writer-director-editor who shows the letterboard as “Safe Poison” and expects an audience to chortle. Bits by local theater veterans Jim Ortlieb and Andy Rothenberg are pleasing as they go through their paces. The DePaul-area locations, even beyond the Three Penny, are time-capsule material already. 100m. (Ray Pride)
