Some Not-So-Silent Movies

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 24, 2005 2:01PM

If you missed Buster Keaton’s The General back in December, you could head down to your local Blockbuster, ask for a copy, and get a blank stare in return. Or you could stop in at your local independent and suffer through a poorly transferred print. So why not do the smart thing and head over to Block Cinema and see a nice, clean, 35 mm print this Saturday night at 8 PM? Need another reason? How about accompaniment by Quasar Wut-Wut from Glorious Noise Records? Plain ol’ piano is sooooo early 20th century.

We’ve written about Quasar Wut-Wut before: They describe themselves as the soundtrack from an Edward Gorey cartoon while we’ve described them as the sound of drunken pirates composing the great American musical. Add all that up and it seems like the perfect fit for Keaton’s brand of lunacy. With QWW providing the music for the entire 75-minute film, it's like a rock opera...without words...a silent rock opera...a sockera.

Also coming to town this weekend is the latest work of revolutionary cinema from Big Noise Films (This Is What Democracy Looks Like). The Fourth World War tells the story of the anti-war movement on many different fronts, from Argentina to Palestine to Afghanistan to Seattle. Youth Struggling For Survival, a non-profit group that uses arts and culture to bring indigenous traditions into the modern world, presents the film at 6 PM at the Trucker’s Union Hall, Local 705 in the West Loop (328 S. Marshfield). A discussion of the film and a spoken-word performance by YSS will follow.

Finally, tonight’s the last night to see Nobody Knows at the Music Box with showtimes at 5 and 8 PM.

Image: quasarwut.gloriousnoise.com