The 56th Annual Chicago International Film Festival – Here are capsule reviews of those we’ve seen and we will add more throughout the Festival. You can see films i on big screens in Drive-ins and virtual in the comfort of your own home. For tickets and information go to ChicagoFilmFestival.com. A * before titles indicates those we have already seen with some of our zoom interviews. We’ll be adding more throughout the festival.
*Belushi – Opening night, this World Premiere, directed by RJ Cutler (see our interview) lets you get to know Belushi through never-before-heard audio tapes of his wife, Judy Jacklin’s about their life together. Plus, Cutler collected candid interviews with everyone from Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and so many who knew and worked with John Belushi, one of the most talented comedians of his or any generation. As one of the founding cast members of Saturday Night Live and the star of The Blues Brothers, his fame grew, but so did his struggles with substance abuse which led to his death at a very young age. Stay to hear Jacklin sing a song she wrote about her life with him over the credits. Will be released on Showtime.
*Nomadland – Frances McDormand is compelling as Fern, a woman who packs her van and sets off aimlessly on the road exploring a life outside of all she knew after losing her job in Nevada. She has ups and downs wandering as a modern-day nomad meeting real ones, Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells, who show her the way. This is the third feature film from director Chloé Zhao which delves into life on the road. Zhao creates a platform for McDormand’s intense and subtle but stellar performance.
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*The Road Up – See our interview with directors Greg Jacobs & Jon Siskel who create an inspiring, powerful and emotional documentary featuring the work of a charismatic leader named Jesse Teverbaugh. Jesse mentors four Chicagoans during their difficult journey from homelessness, addiction, or incarceration to stable life and employment. The program is called Cara which makes people confront themselves as well as their problems. It’s so hard for those who still struggle, but so exciting for those Jesse is able to help find ways to help them succeed. The structure of the film keeps you curious and involved, wanting to know what will happen to these men and women. Wait till you hear Jesse’s story.
*One Night in Miami – Oscar award winning actress, Regina King, in her directorial debut. Adapted from an award-winning play it’s more theatrical than cinematic. The premise is exciting but the film drags. The fight scenes provide the only action at the very beginning. Most of it takes place in Malcolm X’s fairly dingy motel room. It’s a fictional account in 1964 when underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), defeats Sonny Liston for the heavyweight crown. Clay is shown celebrating the occasion with Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). Perfect casting for each character. Great to hear Odom sing Cooke’s classics, but the film gets bogged down when it turns into a Black philosophical debate.
*City So Real –Steve James covers Chicago from one end to the other like a blanket showcasing the dimples and pimples of “The City That Works.” The twice Oscar nominated director captures the neighborhoods, the people, the passion and the politics with the gloves off to show why it’s called ” The City That Works.” The 5 part series covers the contentious Mayoral race that resulted in the first female, Black, LGBTQ Mayor to win and she won big. James added a 5th segment in the series once COVID hit and the protests over racism following the death of George Floyd. It is not only a portrait of the city of Chicago and it’s people, but of the issues cities across the country are facing right now. Premiered at this festival. Debut on National Geographic Films. Now on Hulu.
*Bad Hair – We’ve all had bad hair days, but Writer/Director Justin Simien, (Dear White People) combines comedy and horror in this film about race, Black identity, and American society. Elle Lorraine plays a Black woman trying to change how she is perceived and gets a weave to be cool and glamorous to get more respect at her job. She thinks it will help her standing in the world of TV music programming, but the fun just begins when she realized that her hair has a life of its own and turns on her. Simien amassed an all-star cast: Lena Waithe, Kelly Rowland, Usher Raymond, and Vanessa Williams as her boss-from-hell. Hold onto your hats for a hair raising experience similar in tenor to Get Out. This film has been getting buzz since it premiered at Sundance 2020.
*David Byrne’s American Utopia – Oscar-winning director Spike Lee brings the Talking Heads frontman’s critically acclaimed Broadway show to vivid life in an unusual concert-style performance we saw on the big screen at the Drive-in. Spike Lee directed shooting the performance in early 2020 with 11 cameras from backstage, on and over the stage. In this uplifting musical extravaganza. Byrne joins an ensemble of 11 extraordinary musicians, singers, and dancers from around the globe—including Chicago bassist Bobby Wooten III and Milwaukee guitarist Angie Swan. The audience at home and in the theater is drawn into this stark but incredibly creative and surreal experience. Featuring Byrne’s philosophical and fan favorite songs from his 2018 solo album with Talking Heads, plus a cover of Janelle Monáe’s protest song “Hell You Talmbout.” It is a concert experience worth seeing more than once and was almost a premonition relevant to the isolation we’re all feeling now.
*Forty-Year-Old Version – Radha Blank is a talented triple threat. She wrote, directed and stars in this semi-autobiographical film about a playwright, teacher, rapper who is looking for the success she hoped for when she won an award for her work at 30. But this film is much more. It’s a social statement from Radha’s point of view, not only on ageism, but racism, social and economic inequality, gentrification, education, friendship and love. Her characters are well developed and there is a lot of emotion and humor in her relationships, and in her frustration to be recognized for her talents. Harlem is shot in black and white to show the more gritty side of her life, while Manhattan is juxtaposed in color, to make a point. Radha Blank has a lot to say and she knows how to put together a movie to say it and rap it.
*Kubrick by Kubrick – Who better to hear how his films were made than by Kubrick himself and those who worked with him? You get to hear Kubrick, himself, tell in incredible detail why and how he made his films. Plus there are interviews with Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall (The Shining), Sterling Hayden and Peter Seller (Dr. Strangelove) Marisa Berenson (Barry Lyndon), and many more actors and editors talk in this methodically documented film about working with the perfectionist filmmaker. This is truly an amazing insiders look at the genius of Kubrick and where his ideas came from, including why he took so many takes.
*MLK/FBI – Sam Pollard is known for his collaborations on powerful documentaries with Spike Lee and others. Here he shows how J. Edgar Hoover put his agents to work to get whatever he could to demean and throw shade on revered civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King. In this documentary, Pollard presents in detail, FBI Head, Hoover’s, racist and politically sparked systematic efforts to harass and tarnish the moral reputation of Dr. King. Hoover, went after Dr. King, with everything the Bureau had, accusing him of being a Communist threat to the security of the United States and a womanizer of the highest order. Surveillance was the key. You can see and read microfilmed classified transcripts of wiretaps and private conversations with King recorded through walls in the 1960’s. Interviews with James Comey, Andrew Young, Beverly Gage, Clarence Jones, Donna Murch and many more.
Ammonite – Set in 1800s England, an unlikely bond develops between to women who have to confront the true meaning of their relationship. Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) is an acclaimed but unrecognized fossil hunter, but her famed discoveries now behind her, she has to search for common fossils to sell to tourists to support herself and her ailing mother. A wealthy visitor entrusts Mary with the care of his wife Charlotte Murchison (Saoirse Ronan) which she reluctantly takes on. Despite the distance between their social class and personalities, there’s something happening with their relationship. Seeing Winslet and Ronan in performance together is something to behold.
Things We Dare Not Do – In the small town of El Roblito, 16-year-old Ñoño has a secret. He loves to dance and he also loves to dress in women’s clothes. He does it in secret, but the camera follows his thoughts in closeups where you can see he’s hiding something. It’s the boy’s own self identity. He is afraid he will be ostracized by both kids and adults, but finally gets up enough nerve to tell his secret to his parents and ask if it’s ok. what will his mother say? What will his father do! This beautiful shot and edited film studies the young boy and you can almost see what he’s thinking. It is a sensitive portrait of a boy becoming comfortable with his identity against what society dictates.
