It’s not Toronto and it’s not New York, and God knows it’s not any of the European fests, but the Chicago International Film Fest is my film fest, and I feel the need to pimp it out. With reservation. The schedule (available at their impossible ill-designed website) was released over a week ago, but due to some truly shoddy and haphazard bureaucracy, it took me over a week to get my tickets. So I’m not feeling exceptionally generous towards them right now.
Not to mention, the fest seems kind of deflated compared to years past. Usually, there are at least a few major studio films, but this year the big opening film is The Kite Runner, (marking the second year in a row that a Marc Forster film opened the fest), and most of the other major mainstream films will be opening literally within one week of their festival appearance (e.g. Lars and the Real Girl, Michael Clayton, Gone Baby Gone). Only the closing night film The Savages is any kind of major advance screening. Given the recent festival successes of No Country for Old Men and I’m Not There – both of which, incidentally, I want to see with a burning passion – that’s really frustrating.
There are a few more foreign films that have been tearing up the world, but not much: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is here, and Silent Light, but that’s really it. No Persepolis, no Secret Sunshine. On the other hand, five of the films were in the Cannes Sélection Officielle, which is more than usual.
On some level, that excites me: it means that there is going to be a bigger chance than usual of finding great surprises. My own slate is a combination of tried-and-true directors and things that fit well into my schedule; and is there any better way of finding amazing little films than the old “what fits into my schedule” routine? I haven’t found one. Anyway, I’m going to:
–Control, an Ian Curtis biography
–Meteoro, a Brazilian movie that fit really well into my schedule
–Scream of the Ants, the only Iranian film at the fest (and a co-production, at that)
–4 Elements, a really odd-sounding documentary
–La León, whose synopsis in the guide mentions “high definition black and white,” and who needs more than that?
–Noise, an Australian film that is an avant-garde study of sound
–The Last Mistress, because we all need to see our first Catherine Breillat film sometime
–You, the Living, the new film from my favorite living Swedish director (God, typing it that way makes me sad)
-Aforementioned Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Day
–The River, a restored 35mm print of Jean Renoir’s first color film
–I Served the King of England, from Jirí Menzel, one of the great old men of Czech cinema
-Aforementioned Sélection Officielle Silent Light
–The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Julian Schnabel’s newest unspeakably depressing biopic
–Becky Sharp, a restored 35mm print of the first Technicolor feature ever
–Flight of the Red Balloon, the first French language film made by the brilliant Hou Hsiao-Hsien, that master director whose films are virtually impossible to find in this country
–My Brother’s Wedding, which has technically never been released in the 24 years since it was shot
–Honeydripper, the new John Sayles film, because if there’s one director whose recent output has been consistent, it’s John Sayles
–Faro: Goddess of the Waters, one of only two African films at the fest and the only one I didn’t schedule myself out of
It is my sincere hope that my descent into madness is as easy to track as it was last year. 18 films in 12 days (plus two short film programs) is no worse than last year, but then again last year nearly killed me. Fun times!