German acting great Barbara Sukowa (“Marianne and Juliane,” “Lola”) rejoins Margarethe Von Trotta (“Rosa Luxemburg”) for a stirring portrait of smart people in troubled times, aka the twentieth century. Hannah Arendt, in neatly appointed Manhattan exile, covers the trial in 1961 of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem for the New Yorker. As events trundle dutifully past, Sukowa’s magnetic, unflusterable presence holds the frame. Cigarettes are smoked philosophically. Moral statements are spoken and bitten straight through. Ideas and notions roll past at the speed of fine conversation. They could talk for hours, and do, at least for two. Janet McTeer’s eyes-wide, eye-rolling Mary McCarthy amuses. Klaus Pohl’s Martin Heidegger is seen in flashback, illuminating swathes of the basis of her thinking and her arrival at her argument about “the banality of evil.” Sukowa has several fine scenes, but a climactic speech is a marvel all around. In German, English, Hebrew and French with subtitles. With Axel Milberg, Julia Jentsch, Nicholas Woodeson, Ulrich Noethen. 113m. Widescreen. (Ray Pride)
“Hannah Arendt” opens Friday, October 4, for two weeks at Siskel.
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.
Seeing The Elephant: A Review Of Babylon The boisterous, brawling yet melancholy "Babylon," is a variation on film history, but more drawing for drama. It's gaudy and mean, celebratory and sorrowful.
Heart: A Review of Soul The real world is soulful, too, in Pixar's bountiful life of the mind.
Uncanny Ally: A Review Of M3GAN "M3GAN" sells itself in its first handful of seconds in how it introduces the handiwork of roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams, "Get Out") and her present product, PurrPetual Petz from Funki.
Fine Line: A Review Of Shortcomings It's a season for the comeuppance of a curmudgeon in Randall Park's smart, biting "Shortcomings," adapted by Adrian Tomine from his graphic novel of the same name.
RECOMMENDED
