1
The Volcanic Anna Magnani
(Siskel, July)
From Italy with gusto: twelve roles by one of the fiercest females in film history; often heartbreaking and heart-punching in a single breath or flash of the eyes.
2
Noir City Film Festival
(Music Box, August 19-25)
The return of nights dark and sinister in an annual compilation of newly found films and classics from the backstreets of the twentieth century
3
Chicago Underground Film Festival
(Logan Theatre, June 1-5)
The world’s oldest underground film festival turns twenty-three, earnestly expanding the creative boundaries of contemporary narrative and experimental storytelling.
Chicago Underground Film Festival
(Logan Theatre, June 1-5)
The world’s oldest underground film festival turns twenty-three, earnestly expanding the creative boundaries of contemporary narrative and experimental storytelling.
4
Indignation
(July)
Indignation
(July)
Ang Lee’s screenwriter-producer/Dreyer scholar/studio executive extraordinaire James Schamus turns first-time director at the fine age of fifty-six in an adaptation of Philip Roth’s 2008 novel, starring Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, and in a show-stopping extended confrontation, Chicago’s own Tracy Letts
5
De Palma
(Music Box, June)
Filmmakers Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow take a cue from the decades-long French “Cinéma, de notre temps” series of director profile-interviews in a 111-minute survey of the talented filmmaker’s long career. Also being shown: “The Phantom of Paradise,” “The Untouchables,” “Dressed To Kill,” “Body Double,” more.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s film critic and a contributing editor to Filmmaker magazine.
His history of Chicago “Ghost Signs” in words and images is in the works. Previews on Twitter (twitter.com/chighostsigns) as well as photography on Instagram: instagram.com/raypride.
Twitter: twitter.com/RayPride.
Related Stories
Film Top 5: May 2018 Cinema from Euro elders, including Philippe Garrel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Paul Schrader, Wim Wenders and a look at the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.- Film Top 5: May 2019 What to watch this spring.
- Film Top 5: November 2018 Vigo's body of work is small, but one of the most essential in all of cinema.
- Film Top 5: September 2018 David Byrne's only directorial outing; Bergman's most beloved and most reviled; a "lost" 1986 feature by Godard; and Dennis Hopper's "Last Movie" regained in a glorious restoration.
- Film Top 5: October 2018 Chicago International turns fifty-four; David Gordon Green (and Danny McBride) retool Halloween; snapping Garry Winogrand; Robert Greene confronts historical documentary; "Wanda" is a one-off for the ages.
- Film Top 5: August 2019 Chicago in the 1930s; Houston in the 1970s; a world of water; and the streets of Sheffield as if destroyed by distant nuclear war.
