Each year I attend the Chicago International Film Festival, I end up seeing a handful of movies I find truly impressive, another handful I despise, and at least a dozen I’d rate as decent. That ratio of great to mediocre to bad movies is more or less the same as what I encounter in my regular moviegoing. The difference is that I go into most CIFF films with far fewer expectations. Programming director Mimi Plauché estimates that about 70 percent of the selections arrive at the fest without U.S. distribution; some have been reviewed at other prominent festivals, but for the most part they arrive without a trail of online criticism—and certainly without an ad campaign.
On the whole, though, CIFF belongs to itinerant movies still searching for (and often failing to find) audiences outside their native countries. This gives the festival a certain egalitarian spirit, with filmmakers and audiences alike hoping for new prospects but uncertain of what to expect. If you attend in a spirit of aesthetic or cultural curiosity, that uncertainty can be a very good thing; on some occasions at the fest, I’ve stumbled onto something so alien that it revises the basic expectations I bring to a movie. Here’s hoping we’re all so lucky this year. —Ben Sachs
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Hong Kong filmmaker Scud accepts the Q Hugo Award for excellence in LGBT film and screens his feature Voyage. A 6 PM cocktail reception precedes the screening, and an afterparty follows at Sidetrack; tickets are $20. Mon 10/21, 7 PM, Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted.
Director spotlights
Italian horror master Dario Argento presents Dracula 3D in person.
James Gray, director of We Own the Night and Two Lovers, presents The Immigrant.
Chicago native John McNaughton‘s The Harvest is the director’s first film in over a decade.
Tsai Ming-liang‘s Stray Dogs follows in the tradition of Chaplin and Ozu.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Similar to Miguel Gomes’s Tabu, this eccentric drama uses black-and-white cinematography and an opaque, deeply symbolic narrative to contemplate Portugal’s history of imperialism in Africa. A native of Guinea-Bissau, returning home from Europe for his daughter’s wedding, is haunted by memories of the African country’s war with Portugal. The film’s intriguingly elusive first half recalls the visual style of Jean-Luc Godard and the affectless characterizations of early Jim Jarmusch; when tragedy befalls the characters, the tone veers toward magical realism as the country’s spiritual heritage begins to penetrate the contemporary setting. Director João Viana deftly handles the story’s allegory, ensuring the film’s poetic qualities without underplaying its sociopolitical themes. The overall effect is that of a fable anchored by history. In Mandinka with subtitles. —Drew Hunt 78 min. Viana attends the screenings. Sat 10/12, 4 PM, and Sun 10/13, 7 PM.
The Blinding Sunlight
Thanks to recent advances in consumer-grade video, a new wave of politically charged cinema has emerged from mainland China, with enterprising filmmakers (often working clandestinely and with very small crews) creating works of social criticism outside the control of government censors. This independent production by Yu Liu, shot in Beijing with first-time actors, is representative of the ongoing trend. The episodic plot centers on a long-unemployed man who runs an illegal taxi service to supplement the meager financial assistance he receives from the state; when his adolescent son turns to petty crime, it seems like a viable alternative to flailing at an honest living. The simple, deadpan visual style gives this the feel of a live-action comic strip, which befits the movie’s blunt anger. In Mandarin with subtitles. —Ben Sachs 85 min. Liu attends the screenings. Fri 10/11, 8:30 PM; Sun 10/13, 3:15 PM; and Wed 10/16, 3:30 PM.
Chasing Fireflies
Not many movies could live up to a title as vapid as Chasing Fireflies, but this Colombian drama comes pretty close. A churlish old water rat (Marlon Moreno), living on the Caribbean coast and guarding a salt mine, receives an unexpected visit from his puckish teenage daughter (Valentina Abril), whose mother has just passed away. This sad news constitutes not the story’s premise, as you might expect, but a major plot revelation—sorry about that, but you should know going in that incident is in short supply here. Director Robert Flores Prieto makes dramatic use of his widescreen frame as he surveys the rustic seaside locale, which supplies some visual distraction from the bland two-hander. (Three if you count the old man’s dog, which makes more noise than the old man does but doesn’t have hands per se.) In Spanish with subtitles. —J.R. Jones 102 min. Prieto attends the screenings. Wed 10/16, 8 PM; Fri 10/18, 5:30 PM; and Sat 10/19, 11:45 AM.
