The average human tear contains about 2% electrolytes. Especially emotional droplets need even more salt ions to maintain balance in the eye. Therefore, there is no more supportive place to weep than the Salt Shed. Running from February 12 through Valentine’s Day, the annual series Crying at the Shed is back to wring your eyes dry.
This year’s lineup focuses on recent classics laced with yearning, messiness, and lost love. The local film pillars the Music Box Theatre and the Chicago International Film Festival are co-presenting the event along with Seaside Coastal Wine and Southwest Airlines.
The Shed will start the series with a Valentine—Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), that is—in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza (2021). The '70s high school fantasy mines the first forbidden love with which many of us wrestle: the dream girl just a few grades too far removed. To immerse the crowd into the experience, the venue will transform its tavern, Elston Electric, into Fat Bernie’s Arcade from the film. Before the screening, Lael Neale will prime the audience with her proprietary blend of soulful drone-pop.
Starting with Beginners (2010), Night Two will center on non-binary romances. In the role that netted him his long-overdue Academy Award, Christopher Plummer paints a portrait of an older man who embraces his sexuality against the odds. After Mike Mills’ film comes Y Tu Mamá También (2001), Alfonso Cuarón’s ravishing Mexican road movie dripping with angst and sensuality. My Own Private Idaho (1991) will cap Friday night with Gus Van Sant’s offbeat take on Shakespeare, hustling, and self-discovery. The Salt Shed went duct hunting with this curation.
Night Three will start with a family matinee, Lady and the Tramp (1955), before delving into Crying at the Shed’s most psychologically complex lineup. The appetizer is La Chimera (2023), in which Josh O’Connor’s Arthur seeks to unearth ancient treasure and romance in 1980s Italy. Never before have grave robbing and love kept such intimate company.
To end the final night, the Shed has curated a particularly thoughtful couplet. Her (2013) follows Joaquin Phoenix’s Theodore through a near-future Los Angeles. This film plays as a chilling yet tender picture of today, suffused with soft reds and pinks, apt for the holiday. Writer-director Spike Jonze not only foresees the screen-addled 2020s—he preemptively empathizes with them and mourns them. I’d be surprised if someone hasn’t already fallen for their AI operating system as Theodore does for Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).
Jonze’s film shares a deep connection with Lost in Translation (2001), the last film of the series. On the surface, Sophia Coppola’s breakthrough shares a lead actor and depicts solitary souls drifting through a strange land: Charlotte (Johansson) and Bob (Bill Murray) in Tokyo. But it has also been speculated that each director drew from their failed marriage in crafting the films. To watch the films back-to-back, attendees will witness a call-and-response between two artists whose real-life romance was not meant to be. Just one more reason to bawl at the Shed.
This event is a Valentine’s Day tradition for the lovebirds and the lonely alike. Regardless of romantic status, everyone convenes under one roof to sob at, laugh at, and celebrate that precious feeling binding us all: love. You’d better stuff those pockets full of tissues.
Tickets to Crying at the Shed are available through the Salt Shed.
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