There is something so unique and special about Canadian films. I’m not talking about filmmakers or actors from Canada—we’re got plenty of those in Hollywood—or movies that are shot in Canadian cities, […]
If there ever was the perfect match of filmmaker and source material, having Marjane Satrapi (who adapted and directed her own graphic novel about growing up in Iran, Persepolis) direct the life […]
Something weird happens at the beginning of Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, but it’s so subtle, so smoothly incorporated that it’s nearly imperceptible. Following the opening credits (displayed in a throwback fashion in cards […]
Last October during the Chicago International Film Festival (remember film festivals?), I saw two films within days of each other, and it struck me that they had similar haunting vibes and arguably […]
Written by J.M. Coetzee (based on his novel) and directed by Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the Serpent), Waiting for the Barbarians is set in a rundown but peaceful North African outpost that […]
There has rarely been a time in literary history where the writings of Flannery O’Connor were not problematic to some. That being said, there also hasn’t been a time when her words […]
Who among us hasn’t wanted to watch the great Udo Kier pluck out another man’s eyeballs with a spoon in a jealous rage, shot in glorious black-and-white 35mm? I’m guessing more than […]
In some other timeline, we’re out enjoying a real Chicago summer, complete with street fairs and beach days and rooftop drinks and yes, summer blockbuster movies. Instead, this summer will go down […]
This is a guest post by Chloe Fourte. Director, producer and art curator Cheryl Haines takes on human rights and the far-reaching powers of free expression in her documentary, Ai Weiwei: Yours […]
As premises go, The Tobacconist has an interesting one: a young man moves to Vienna to apprentice in a tobacco shop, only to become friendly with one of the store’s regular customers, […]
What haunts in Relic, the debut feature film written and directed by Natalie Erika James, is something sinister, but also something essentially unseen and, therefore, all the more terrifying. A horror film much […]
Like most of you, I’m guessing my exposure to the work of the supreme actor Olympia Dukakis began with her Oscar-winning turn in Moonstruck (which came out around the same time her […]
