Thinking Person's Films

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 28, 2006 5:16PM

As we’ve completed a solid two hours of work, Chicagoist is now turning its attention to its weekend plans. Unfortunately, all the cinephiles we know have declined our invitations to enjoy the beautiful weekend coming our way with a simple “Well, there’s this screening…”

Challenging and thought-provoking films abound this weekend from the South Side to the North Side and other points in between. At the Music Box, L’Enfant begins a weeklong run tonight. The winner of the 2005 Palm D’or at Cannes, it’s the story of a man who’s a sure winner for Worst Dad Ever and whose amorality is far more frightening that any standard screen villain. The Music Box will also show Douglas Sirk’s Magnificent Obsession in two screenings on Saturday and Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

Also playing tonight is the third program in The Memo Book: The Films and Videos of Matthias Müller. A German filmmaker who redefines how art is created in cinema, his works have mainly been seen in exhibitions overseas. Tonight’s free screening at Cobb Hall in U of C’s Film Studies Center will begin at 7 p.m. with Album, nebel, Phantom and Vacancy. Ocular Loci hipped us to this essay on Müller so we can hang with the Serious Film Students.

We’ve already told you about the Nova Art Fair this weekend. Four video programs will screen as part of the fair. Check out their website for full details on those films. Tickets are only $10 for each program, including the Miranda July retrospective (director of Me and You and Everyone We Know).

Screening Disability: Chicago’s International Disability and Deaf Film Festival will play throughout the weekend as part of the larger Bodies of Work festival of arts and culture. Screenings begin tonight at 6 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center downtown. Synopses of each film are available at the Bodies of Work website.

On Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., In These Times (2040 N. Milwaukee) presents Battleground: 21 Days at the Empire’s Edge. The 2004 film distinguishes itself by letting the story of the Iraq war be told through those living it, and not by forcing the film into a ideological box. On Saturday night, Chicago Filmmakers combine music and dance in their Syncopated Vision: Bodies in Motion show at 8 p.m.

Finally, if you’d rather spend the weekend crapping yourself with fear, then don’t forget about the Chicago Horror Festival at the Three Penny.