1 Loveless (Opens February 23) Andrey Zvyagintsev’s latest permafrost portrait of contemporary Russia is savage, engrossing and as troubling as any recent work of art that contains a disappeared child.
2 Underground (Siskel, February 3, 5, 7) Emir Kusturica’s long-neglected crazed carnivalesque of the history of former Yugoslavia across fifty years after World War II returns in a digital restoration.
3 Golden Exits (Opens February) Alex Ross Perry’s latest pitched drama pits two familie in Brooklyn, with Emily Browning, Adam Horovitz, Mary-Louise Parker, Jason Schwartzman, Chloë Sevigny and Analeigh Tipton caught in the equation and inevitable conflagrations.
4 Bob le flambeur (Siskel, February 23-25, 28, March 1) Romantic melancholy and killer storytelling clockwork crackle in Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1955 masterpiece, in a new 4K restoration.
5 The Party (Opens February 23) Sally Potter’s coolly choreographed, hot-to-the-touch dinner-party comedy is black-hearted farce eaten alive by Patricia Clarkson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy and Timothy Spall.
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.
Film Top 5: February 2021 Frances McDormand hits the road and the road hits back; Fred Hampton lights up the screen; a Korean family makes an Arkansas home; a regal if rocked Michelle Pfeiffer; and a pandemic-shot black-and-white relationship fizzle chamber drama.
Talking Screens: A Week in Chicago Film, February 12-18, 2021 OPENERS The delay of the Oscars until April 25 was one of many changes in the movie industry in the past year; movies released in the U. S. through February 28 are deemed eligible if there was an intention to have released them theatrically. The standard-bearers opening this week include Shaka King's sleek Chicago-set marvel, "Judas & The Black Messiah,"…
Talking Screens: A Week in Chicago Film, February 19-25, 2021 OPENERS Searchlight Pictures' "Nomadland" expands its theater reach while debuting on Disney sibling Hulu; its reception from critics' groups continues, with nods last week from the Toronto circle (adding to a lengthy roster including the National Society of Film Critics, Boston and London) for best film, director Chloé Zhao and a flinty Frances McDormand. McDormand's Fern is on the road…
