4 Films We Love (And 1 We Don't) Screening At The Chicago Critics Fest
By Joel Wicklund in Arts & Entertainment on May 17, 2016 7:05PM
Scene from "Demon." (Photo courtesy of The Orchard.)
For most of its 26-year history, the Chicago Film Critics Association's signature event has been its awards announcements—part of the same dull, consensus-building tradition that makes every awards season redundant. Hopefully, though, the Association will soon be known for something better: their Chicago Critics Film Festival (May 20 to 26 at the Music Box Theatre). Now in its fourth year, the festival's profile has been on the rise recently thanks to its admirably eclectic lineups, showcasing art films and genre movies from America and abroad.
This year's festival has star power, too, both on the screen and in person. Ethan Hawke, John Travolta, Ellen Page, Nick Jonas, Nick Kroll and Emma Roberts are featured in movies on the schedule. Michael Peña, Craig Robinson and Martin Starr not only appear in featured films, but will also attend the festival. This isn't so much an event for the red carpet crowd, though, as it is as welcome spotlight on the kind of independent movies that get fleeting, under-publicized theatrical runs, if they get any at all.
A critic-curated festival raises questions of possible press coverage cronyism. In full disclosure, I was a CFCA member many years ago, but I currently belong to a different group, the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle. Per my comments on their awards ceremony, I'm not a cheerleader for the CFCA, but I do think this festival’s early editions have shown it to be a plus for Chicago’s movie culture.
I had the chance to see five festival entries prior to the event, and all but the first mentioned below are well worth your time.
Dazzling special effects and production design can't mask the emptiness of this French adaptation of the oft-filmed fairy tale. Vincent Cassel makes a fine beast, but Léa Seydoux (Spectre, Blue Is the Warmest Color) is miscast as Belle. The real problem, however, is that director Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) seems only concerned with proving he can match the massive spectacle of Hollywood blockbusters. Cassel's beast looks vaguely like the one from Jean Cocteau's revered 1946 film, but the movie doesn't earn any other comparison to that classic.
After accidentally digging up a human skeleton, a groom is possessed by the spirit of the deceased on the eve of his wedding. But the celebration goes on with drunken abandon, with the bride's family mainly worried about keeping up appearances. Social satire blends with ghost story traditions in this unique work that, sadly, is the last we will see from promising Polish writer-director Marcin Wrona. He committed suicide last year, just as this film was beginning to make the festival circuit. Much more a surreal dark comedy than a horror film, Demon at times recalls Luis Buñuel's absurdist masterpiece, The Exterminating Angel.
A brooding character study punctuated by moments of high suspense and violence, the success of this French drama lies mainly in Matthias Schoenaerts' lead performance. The terrific Belgian actor (also in the current release A Bigger Splash) excels as Vincent, a discharged veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who is hired as security for a Lebanese businessman with dangerous affiliations. Writer-director Alice Winocour uses some interesting sonic dissonance to suggest Vincent's hearing loss and troubled mind, but otherwise the movie is pretty conventional style-wise. Thanks largely to Schoenaerts, though, it's never less than compelling.
The latest from filmmaker and comedian Taika Waititi is a laugh-out-loud buddy comedy set in the bush of New Zealand, where a troublemaking orphan leads his reluctant foster father into jeopardy as they flee from child welfare agents, bounty hunters and the police. Sam Neill, young newcomer Julian Dennison and a great supporting cast generate plenty of laughs in this charming crowd-pleaser. Waititi showed a gift for gags with the faux vampire documentary, What We Do in the Shadows. Here he shows more polished visual and dramatic craft without losing any of the humor.
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
This was shown in Chicago very recently, as part of the DOC10 series, and will undoubtedly hit local theaters again when it officially opens later this summer. Whether you catch it at the festival or later, though, Werner Herzog's latest documentary is a must-see. Covering positive, negative and unknown implications of our increasing immersion in the "Internet of Everything," the film confronts the unnerving truth about our technological evolution: It is permanently changing the very nature of human existence.
Other Screenings
Among the festival offerings I've yet to see, I'm especially excited about War On Everyone, the latest from writer-director John Michael McDonagh, whose first two features (The Guard and Calvary) announced him as one of the boldest new talents around. His new film seems to be in the black comedy vein of The Guard, with Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña as rogue cops blackmailing and framing the criminals they pursue.
Also on my must-see list is In a Valley of Violence, a Western revenge saga from Ti West, who made a mark in indie horror with The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers. With Ethan Hawke and John Travolta headlining the cast, this seems like a movie bound to bring more attention to an uneven but often impressive director. West will appear for a Q&A following the film.
In all, the Chicago Critics Film Festival will show 26 features and two short film programs over its weeklong run. Individual tickets range from $10 to $15 each (depending on show time and if a guest is appearing), with full festival passes for $150. For the complete schedule and more information, visit the festival website.