Chi Film Fest: "Summer of 85"

Coverage from the 56th annual Chicago Film Festival

by Nick Taylor

One fun thing about not really watching trailers anymore is that a movie can surprise me pretty easily. For example, I knew from teasers that François Ozon’s Summer of 85 was pitching itself as the French answer to Call Me By Your Name. The story sees two incredibly handsome teenagers named Alex (Felix Lefebvre) and David (Benjamin Voison) have a life-altering romance during a life-changing special summer. But I completely missed the trailer that revealed a whole second narrative where a zombie-like Alex is being tried for an unspecified crime that sounds a lot like murdering David. 

So, there’s the part of Summer of 85 that’s very much Ozon doing a Call Me By Your Name-style romance and the part that's the melancholic aftermath...

Click to read more ...

Chi Film Fest: "Undine"

Coverage from the 56th annual Chicago Film Festival

by Nick Taylor

Undine opens immediately after the titular character (Paula Beer) has been told by her boyfriend Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) that he’s leaving her for another woman. Seated at an outdoor café, Beer’s expression remains piquant and internalized as Johannes explains himself, half listening to him talk and half deciding how to respond. When she makes up her mind, she informs Johannes they’re still in love, and if he’s not at the café when she gets back from work in half an hour she’ll kill him. He’s not there, obviously. But after hearing an unexpected figure call out her name, she meets a man named Christoph (Franz Rogowski). The two are instantly captivated by each other, and their meet-cute is so strange, heartfelt, and semi-chaotic I’d hate to spoil it. It might be the best scene in the film...

Click to read more ...

NewFest: Alice Junior

By Abe Friedtanzer

Attitude can make a world of difference in a difficult situation. Sage advice dictates that a person can only change themselves, not others. Positivity may not prevent pain or misery, but when it’s the only option, it’s better than nothing. A strong front doesn’t mean that assailants will be deterred, and it may even encourage offenders to only continue what they are doing. But bravery and acceptance can, in certain circumstances, help lead to a better future in which others won’t need to shield themselves in the same way thanks to the creation of a new culture. 

Alice Junior (Anne Celestino Mota) is a social media star with many followers who ask her admiring questions about the experience of being trans. When her father (Emmanuel Rosset) gets a new job, she is forced to move to a conservative town and attend a Catholic school where the close-minded principal insists that she wear a male uniform...

Click to read more ...

AFI Fest: New Order

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

It’s not often that I truly regret watching a movie. The rare occasions on which it does happen make me question my policy of reading as little as possible about a film before I see it. I might have, for instance, read these important disclaimers from Elisa’s brief rave review of Venice Film Festival Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize winner New Order: “it feels like your hope for the future of humanity is being beaten to death” and “‘Chilling’ does not even begin to describe the act of witnessing this story play out. Do not get attached to any of the characters.” I agree fully with those warnings and would add a few of my own when it comes to breaking down this brutal film…

Click to read more ...

AFI: Riz Ahmed in "Sound of Metal"

by Eurocheese

When putting together my list of films to catch at the festival, I threw this film in because I’d heard that it had an incredible sound design. Nobody told me that Riz Ahmed gives one of the best leading male performances that we’ve seen in years. Nobody told me that this passion project would have me emotionally on edge from start to finish, or that I’d leave feeling that it was unlike any film I’d seen before. The fact that the sound design buzz on the sound design proved true was the delicious cherry on top.

Ahmed plays Ruben, a drummer in a rock band, and the movie kicks off immersing us in one of his performances...

Click to read more ...