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.
4 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.
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: December 2018 Restorations rule the roost, with Siskel's smorgasboard smacking on "Detour," "Wings of Desire" and "Andrei Rublev," while the Music Box goes yo-ho-ho for thirty-five with the Christmas Singalong, "White Christmas" and "It's a Wonderful Life." And Clint Eastwood, at 88, directs himself once more as a wizened, if not wise codger daring the law.
Film Top 5: June 2019 Classics time with Cassavetes, Hartley, Jarmusch, Pasolini and Chicago Underground turning twenty-six.
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.
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