1 Thirtieth Anniversary Festival of Films from Iran (Siskel) Highlights include two documentaries painstakingly assembled from clips of hundreds of pre-1979 films, all sourced from surviving home video tapes of work from the theocracy’s destruction of Iranian pre-revolution cinema. Opening night features Taghi Amirani’s “Coup 53,” dramatizing the United States and Britain’s overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected government, edited by Walter Murch (“The Conversation,” “Apocalypse Now,” “The English Patient”). Throughout February 2 Angel Face (Chicago Film Society at NEIU) The bitterly, bracingly noir “Angel Face,” shown in 35mm, has always been the coin of the realm of those who revel, agog, in the camera mastery of Otto Preminger: this icy charmer is not a test case for his work, but a formidable gateway drug. With Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons. February 19
3 Winchester ‘73 (Siskel) Speaking of coin of the realm: Anthony Mann’s magisterial, even sublime 1950 Western with Jimmy Stewart, Dan Duryea and Shelley Winters is shown in a 4K digital restoration. Terse, biting and brilliant; the first of five game-changing Westerns made by Mann and Stewart. February 7, 8 & 10
4 Hi, Mom! (Siskel) Brian DePalma has always been one of American cinema’s foremost satirists: Discuss after seeing a 35mm print (in near-mint condition) of his early, politically wary Robert De Niro-starring social satire. February 7 & 13
5 Disco Godfather (Chicago Film Society at Music Box) Rudy Ray Moore and his pugnacious polyester presence battle PCP dealers while investing screen acreage with kung fu, psychedelia and black disco culture. “Dolemite” was no mad fluke. Bonus: a Blaxploitation trailer reel. February 10
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 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…
