This Week at Facets! July 31 - August 6!

Facets is all about mall culture and cult murders at critical levels this week!

Opening tonight, Friday, July 31st, is an acclaimed doc that hits the mall to uncover the global obsession with the popular (and profitable) enclosed shopping center.

Malls R Us, by director Helene Klodawsky, combines nostalgia, dazzling architecture, pop culture, economics, politics and visits to malls around the world to examine how we confuse the good life with the world of goods.

"A studious, instructive look at the rapacious creep of mall culture" -The Village Voice
"A fascinating, sumptuously filmed investigation...Malls R Us is instant classic" -Vanity Fair
"Dexterously balances seduction and repulsion" -Artforum

Ze trailer:


Malls R Us runs Friday, July 31 - Thursday, August 7. For additional info, showtimes, tickets and more, available here.

And don't forget to join Facets Night School this Saturday, August 1st at midnight for Mystery Play Freakout!: or, What Would Manson Do?, a wild evening devoted to God Told Me To, the epic 1976 thriller by famed cult director Larry Cohen (Q - The Winged Serpent, It's Alive)!

God Told Me To (also released as Demon) blends horror, sci-fi, mystery, cinema verite and '70s police procedural as its follows a religious New York City cop hunting the mysterious cult leader behind a series of bizarre, motiveless murders. Facets staffer Bruce Neal digs into all of the craziness to reveal the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of a film that anticipated The X-Files by 15 years!

Beware, the trailer!


Lecture begins at midnight! Only $5! Admission includes lecture, screening, post-screening discussion, an extensive educational pack on the film, and more. Grindhouse trailers and DVD giveaways round out the experience!

For tickets, additional details on the film and lecturer and more, click here.

Coming Soon: Rumba: "Like an episode of Sesame Street scripted by Luis Buñuel and helmed by Jacques Tati" (Variety), and a Facets Night School devoted to Viva Las Vegas, hosted by Susan Doll, author of the new book, Elvis for Dummies!

Yes or No on Munyurangabo

Roger Ebert called it a "masterpiece," NewCity Chicago said that "Ousmane Sembène might have been impressed," and Variety dubbed it was "the finest and truest film yet on the moral and emotional repercussions of the 15-year-old genocide that wracked Rwanda."

But what what do you think of Munyurangabo, now playing at Facets Cinematheque?

Let us know!

This Week at Facets! July 24-30!

It's another big week at the Cinematheque!

Opening Friday, July 24, Munyurangabo is an exquisite, deeply moving feature from Korean-American filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung (which he developed and shot in Rwanda as part of a filmmaking class he taught there) that paints a sensitive portrayal of two friends of different ethnic backgrounds struggling with the legacy of the genocide that devastated their country.

"The finest and truest film yet on the moral and emotional repercussions of the 15-year-old genocide that wracked Rwanda"
-Variety

RECOMMENDED! A taut, atmospheric drama" -Chicago Reader



Munyurangabo runs Friday, July 25 - Thursday, July 30. For additional info, showtimes, tickets and more, click here.

On Saturday, July 25, blood, guts and kung-fu hit Facets Night School as Facets staffer Lew Ojeda dissects one of the most violent, gory martial arts films ever made--Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky!

"If you can handle the torrent of grisly violence, you'll find yourself royally entertained" -Chicago Reader

The trailer is tame in comparison to the film itself, but interesting nonetheless!



Lecture begins at midnight! Only $5! Admission includes lecture, screening, post-screening discussion, an extensive educational pack on the film, and more. Grindhouse trailers and DVD giveaways round out the experience! Don't miss this one!!

For tickets, additional details on the film and lecturer and more, click here.

Coming Soon: The doc Malls R Us and a Night School session devoted to Larry Cohen's thriller God Told Me To!

Public Enemy Number One

Michael Mann's take on the glory days of gangster John Dillinger, Public Enemies, is still the talk of the town (at least here at Facets since we're just a short walk from the Biograph Theater where Dillinger was killed and where Mann shot the film's finale), but let's not forget Dillinger, the 1973 film starring the great Warren Oates!


-Phil Morehart

In the News and On the Web

Saudi film fest in Jeddah forced to cancel. -BBC

"The Nazis' rise to power in 1930s Germany led to an exodus of artists, writers, musicians and composers, many of whom found sanctuary in Hollywood's fledgling film industry." Jonathan Kirsch looks at Dorothy Lamb Crawford's book, A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler's Émigrés and Exiles in Southern California, for the Los Angeles Times.

New perspectives on Poor Cinema: one on the career of Cuban director Humberto Solas at Cubanow.net, and "Towards a Poor Cinema: A Credo of Recycled Cinema" at The Recycled Cinema.

I don't remember Gort having laser-blast eyes....Eight blatantly misleading movie posters, from Empire.

Final Thoughts on The End of the Line

Share your thoughts on the environmental documentary on the effects of global overfishing, The End of the Line, currently playing at Facets Cinematheque!

Did it grab you hook, line and sinker? Or did it float belly-up?

Let us know!!

This Week at Facets! July 16 - 23!

It's another packed week at Facets Cinematheque!

Opening tomorrow, Friday, July 17, The End of the Line, directed by Rupert Murray (Unknown White Male), is the first major documentary that reveals the impact of overfishing on our oceans.

In the film, we see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food. Filmed over two years, The End of the Line follows investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts politicians and celebrity restaurateurs, who exhibit little regard for the damage they are doing to the oceans. One of his allies is the former tuna farmer turned whistleblower Roberto Mielgo - on the trail of those destroying the world's magnificent bluefin tuna population.

Filmed across the world - from the Straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Senegal and Alaska to the Tokyo fish market - featuring top scientists, indigenous fishermen and fisheries enforcement officials, The End of the Line is a wake-up call to the world.

"An apocalyptic documentary that is as beautiful as it is damning" -Los Angeles Times
"Vital... impressive in scope" -New York Times
"A sobering call to arms" -TimeOut London

Trailer:


The End of the Line runs Friday, July 17 though Thursday, July 23. For more info, showtimes, tickets and more, visit the Cinematheque online.

Facets Night School continues this Saturday, July 18 at MIDNIGHT with Turning Back The Clock Around Flavor Flav's Neck: Hip-Hop in a Time Capsule, a special class on the hip-hop classic, Wild Style (1982).

Facets' Jason Makman travels back to the Eighties to examine the first hip-hop movie, a document not only of an exploding cultural movement, but also a love story; a tale of an anti-hero struggling for a place in the world; and the spark between downtown and uptown art scenes in early 80's New York!! Stars Fab Five Freddy, the Rock Steady Crew, The Cold Crush Brothers, Grandmaster Flash and more!

Trailer:


Lecture begins at MIDNIGHT!! Only $5! Admission includes lecture, screening, post-screening discussion, an extensive educational pack on each film, and more. Grindhouse trailers and DVD giveaways round out the experience!

Pitchfork Music Festival ticket stub holders receive $1 off admission price!

For info, tickets and more, visit Facets Night School online.

Coming soon! The drama centered on the Rwandan genocide, Munyurangabo, the doc, Malls R Us, and a Facets Night School devoted to the martial arts/gore great, Riki Oh: The Story of Ricky.

In the News: Festival Edition

Jon Amiel’s Charles Darwin biopic Creation, starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, will open the 34th Toronto International Film Festival. -Cineuropa

An expanded partial Toronto line-up, with features by Jane Campion, Bruno Dumont, Alain Resnais, Neil Jordan, Corneliu Porumboiu, Johnnie To and more, can be found at TIFF.net.

The 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival closed this weekend, with Frédéric Dumont’s Angel at Sea (Un ange à la mer) taking home the Crystal Globe. -IndieWire

Iranian filmmaker Abdorreza Kahani’s Twenty won the jury special award at Karlovy Vary. -Tehran Times

The Melbourne International Film Festival has defied calls from China not to show a documentary about an exiled Uighur leader. -BBC

The Austin Film Fest will honor Ron Howard this year. -Hollywood Reporter

The 10th Annual Chicago Outdoor Film Festival kicked off last night with a screening of Sunset Boulevard. -Chicagoist

You're the Critic: Favorite Son

Did you catch a screening of Favorite Son at Facets Cinematheque? What did you think of Howard Libov's award-winning drama (shot independently with a crew of film students) about a ballplayer's tumultuous homecoming?

Was the film big league material? Or should it be sent back to the minors? Let us know!

This Week at Facets! June 10-16!

Facets Cinematheque is bustling this weekend, with offerings ranging from new independent features to certifiable classics!

Favorite Son, the story of a bittersweet homecoming that leads to obsession and violence, was directed by Howard Libov from the College at Florham in Madison, New Jersey with a crew made up primarily of Florham students!

The winner of the Best Director and Best Cinematography awards at the Hoboken International Film Festival stars Pablo Schreiber (brother of Liev and co-star Woody Allen's Vicki Cristina Barcelona), Connor Paolo (Gossip Girl) and features music by Murray Attaway of the band Guadalcanal Diary and R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills.

"When you do a movie like this, you rely on as many friends as possible," Libov said. Read the whole story behind Favorite Son at Bloomberg.com, then head to Facets Cinematheque for a screening.

Favorite Son runs Friday, July 10-Thursday, July 16. For additional details, showtimes, tickets and more, visit the Cinematheque online.

Facets Night School returns this Saturday, July 11 with another session devoted to dissecting cult faves and obscurites--all presented at MIDNIGHT complete with lectures by Facets' staff, discussions and more!

For the inaugural evening of Session Two, Facets staff writer Brian Elza presents Ivan the Terrible: Ruling After Midnight, an examination of Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible: Part One (1944).

In J. Hoberman and Jonathan Rosenbaum's Midnight Movies book, the critics offered up suggestions for dusty gems that would shine anew at the witching hour. "Other sublime mixtures of the lurid and profound which have a distinctive poetic midnight flavor: Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible, Parts I and II, which intermittently comes across as the greatest Flash Gordon serial ever made." Facets Night School puts that throwaway line on page 317 to the test.

Brian will bring Part I's jam-packed mise-en-scène down to earth, and explain how to make room for yourself amidst all the excess in Sergei Eisenstein's dense, enchanting, and surprisingly campy historical epic.

The trailer!



Lecture begins at MIDNIGHT!! Come early for the opening night reception! Only $5

Admission includes lecture, screening, post-screening discussion, an extensive educational pack on each film, and more. Grindhouse trailers and DVD giveaways round out the experience!

For info, tickets and more, visit Facets Night School online.

Coming Soon: The End of the Line, Munyurangabo and a Facets Night School devoted to the hip hop classic, Wild Style!

See you there!


- Phil Morehart

Avoiding the Poison: The Immaculately Quiet Beauty of Red Desert

Emma Zbiral-Teller gets down with Antonioni's classic, Red Desert, for Facets Features.


When it comes to first impressions of a film, I am completely biased in a sense. If the first 10 minutes capture my full attention, which is incredibly admirable, I’m usually set for the rest of the film. If they find a way to immediately pull me in, no matter what the remaining content, I will at least respect it for its attempt.

I recently attended a Facets Film School class called Light Narrative: The Rhetoric of Exposure where we watched and discussed Michaelangelo Antonioni’s Red Desert (1964). It enraptured me. Not only did it pull me in within the first minute, it kept my eyes glued to the screen and my brain suctioned to the plot and all recurring themes. I’ve never been able to pay full attention to something that isn’t at least slightly beautiful, and this was stunning. I was obsessed with Red Desert the moment it started and all I could think about was how awesome the rest of it was going to be.

The opening credits appear over an out of focus background of treetops, and pans to factory smokestacks billowing out fuzzy smoke. It spends the entirety of the next three minutes with these same factory shots, completely out of focus yet easy to decipher as monstrous human inventions. By softening them, they were made much more innocent and dreamlike, signifying the theme of the film, that being a disconnection with reality.

With these shots, Antonioni jumps right in, asking the audience the think, to say to themselves, “Focus…focus…focus… why isn’t it focusing?!” In just the first three minutes, he starts an argument with his viewers, asking them to participate with what they are seeing. I was drawn in because I knew it was about to get real; this was serious, Antonioni wasn’t fooling around. This wasn’t going to be an entertainment flick; I was about to witness a heavily meaningful art film. I knew I was about to spend the next two hours intently thinking as well as watching.

I’m drawn to the obscure and the unique--to the different--and Red Desert’s beginning was unlike any I had seen. Thus, I couldn’t look away. It didn’t matter that it was my tenth hour at Facets; that I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before; that I was previously bemoaning these facts, wondering how I was going to keep myself awake for this class. Suddenly all that mattered was how the rest of this film was going to look.

Now, this may not be everyone’s reaction to the film. The pace is excruciating at times, but if you’re willing to interpret the meaning behind this excruciation and if you’re able to see its stunning visual glory, then it is completely and totally worth it. I am also easily obsessed with discreetly beautiful things, so it was easy for Red Desert to serve as a Mecca of passion for me.

As the opening credits end, the factory comes into sharp focus and balls of bright orange fire are seen spurting out of the top of a smokestack. The camera pans down to a crowd of people--seemingly workers in the midst of a strike. It is raining. It is grey. It is gloomy. There are factories all around, everything is metal and concrete; everything is focused on the grey pallet. Every surrounding is a human invention.

A woman, named Guiliana (played by Monica Vitti), is seen walking towards the camera in a green coat with her young son who is clad in a yellow coat. It is apparent that she is the protagonist. It was easy to automatically notice the intensity in her eyes and the lines on her forehead. You can’t introduce a character with a furrowed brow without spending time to discover why the brow is furrowed, so, the moment I saw her, I immediately thought, “We’ll be seeing A LOT of this woman.”

Although their coats are the only dash of color thus far, making them important characters, Guiliana and son do not contrast with their surroundings. They are apparent as deep colors, yet remain in the same range of color with everything else. Though full of brilliance, there is a slight sadness in their coats, simply because of the relation to their surroundings or the way they tiptoe through the mud. Guiliana’s desperation is easily noted when you see her bribe a man for his half eaten sandwich and then rush away to devour it amidst a thicket of bare, dark and twisting branches.

There is no explanation to her actions--she doesn’t seem to be penniless and afterwards she contently walks away with her son--but even before seeing her face, you know something is not right. She is different; trapped. Although her coat stands out, it is natural in its surroundings. It is supposed to be there. It will not change settings. This is all there is.

Many shots throughout start with the same blurriness the film opened with, yet only for mere seconds because someone immediately walks into the scene, in perfect focus. Antonioni grapples with the theme of physical space in that he puts an overwhelming amount of sky and atmosphere in this film. He gives it this space. He makes you look up into all of it, yet there is nothing to look up into because it is always overcast.

The viewer is forced to look up and up and up, and there is nothing. Antonioni begins with a space and has characters enter into them, attributing the control of the scene to the surroundings and the environment, not the characters themselves. This can go on to assume that he was trying to convey our sense of non-control over the land. No matter how much we try to tame it; to build on it; to throw slabs of concrete over it, we will always remain prisoners to the land. We will always be trapped, and the only character in the film that knows this is Guiliana.

Throughout the entirety of the film, she grapples with the throws of insanity. With intensely bizarre mannerisms, she is consistently on the brink of reality. She even talks about how she tried committing suicide because she felt like she was on a consistent decline, slowly sinking into her environment and soon to be engulfed. Though still alive, Guiliana is still constantly disturbed by her surroundings and can never leave. Several times, she is wedged in a corner, up against a wall, stuck on a pole, and so on; pigeon holed into the dark, little corners of her life.

Patience is essential with this film. As the viewer, you keep waiting for things to happen that you know are going to happen, but sometimes never do. There is an orgy scene in which no orgy takes place. The subject is alluded to; talked about and minimally shown, yet it never really occurs.

Instead, the characters tear down the interior wooden slats that make up the bedroom wall of a tiny shack that teeters on the edge of a mysterious and foggy dock where the “orgy” takes place. They throw the slats into the fireplace, feeding it for warmth, but leave them sticking out of the fire. It’s a strange scene, because while they are doing this, they are hysterically laughing and jumping up and down with joy. You, the viewer, are either waiting for an actual orgy or for the entire place to go up in flames and sink into the sea. The scene is ridden with anxiety--something Guiliana is constantly struggling with regardless of what is happening. They are tearing at the slats of the house just as time and space are tearing at Guiliana’s soul.

The shack is an odd setting, extremely theatrical in its outlook and obviously metaphorical of the bleak and bizarre human condition. You don’t know why these people live in a run-down shack on the edge of a foggy dock, or why they think it would make for a great party location, but it doesn’t matter because the poetics are outstanding.

Every single aspect is a perfect metaphor of Guiliana’s feelings of isolation, desperation, anxiety and depression. It is dark, grey and mysterious. They are in the middle of nowhere. No one (including the characters) has any idea what is going to happen next, and they revel in it. Just like Guiliana, you keep thinking that if they rattle the shack enough, it will suddenly slip into the unforgiving sea.

Guiliana’s husband is a plant manager, attributing to their location of residence, so the majority of the film is placed within factories and between smokestacks. Many reviewers link this to a statement about the deterioration of the environment, but I think it is much more representational.

I found these monstrosities stunning in that they represent both banality and beauty. They show the unintentional aesthetic behind human innovation and how it will pollute our souls if we stand close enough to breathe it in. Yet, from a distance or behind a window where safety is contained and survival imminent, these smokestacks are quiet, looming giants; classic and simple in their demeanor.

The last line of the film sums up this theme perfectly. Guiliana and her son are walking through a factory field.Nearby, a smokestack billows yellow smoke. The boy asks his mother why the smoke is yellow. Guiliana tells him that it is poison. The boy inquires about the safety of the birds that fly through it. Guiliana responds that the birds have learned not to do that. Antonioni leaves the viewer with this statement, asking them to meditate on what it means. I saw it as an explanation of Guiliana’s sanity and how maybe there is hope because she’s learning not to fly through the yellow smoke. With her son at her side, she is discovering how to avoid the poison.

This was Antonioni’s first color film and it was exploding with an immaculate color palate, perfectly attuned to a central range. Cinematographer Carlo Di Palma crafted the feel of Red Desert with genius, keeping its tonal range smack in the middle of perfection. This point would be proven if one removed the color making it a black and white film—the result would be incredible gray: the sign of a great cinematographer.

True blacks and true whites would be sparse. You would think intense contrast in a color film would be essential, but it’s the opposite. Perfection on the color scale of a film comes when every one of its colors is in the same range. Contrast can be exciting, but if you want a film that is consistent in its tonality, a central range must be achieved. An honest theme can only be reached if filmmakers are aware of every detail; if they craft it so that the visuals create a constant feel. No matter what its texture, the look and feel of the film must mirror its voice. Otherwise it will attain no deeper meaning.

Cinematography has always been alluring to me, since I am extremely interested in and obsessed with the visual aesthetic of things, especially film and art. Thus, Light Narrative: The Rhetoric of Exposure (taught by cinematographer, professor and genius, Michael Wright) completely blew me away. It was laden with understanding the perceptions of the cinematographic mindset and thought process. Red Desert was a perfect foray into this mindset. It is one of the only films I’ve seen displayed exactly what I find essential in a film. That being the creation of deep meaning through odd beauty.

Thanks Michaelangelo, I appreciate it.

In the News & On the Web: The MJ Edition

Hitler didn't take news of Michael Jackson's death well...

Tippi Hedren told Michael Jackson's tigers of his death...telepathically. -The Guardian

Michael Jackson: An icon representing what? -Beliefnet

MTV remembers The Wiz -MTV Movies Blog

Also...

More thoughts on why Sony cancelled Soderbergh's Moneyball.
-Defamer

In the wake of Transformers 2 success despite critical pans, are film critics irrelevant when it comes to affecting boxoffice results?
-Washington Post.

Julia: Hot or Not?

Did you see Julia at Facets Cinematheque? What did you think? Love it? Hate it? Tell us!

What are your thoughts on Tilda Swinton's performance? Were you won over by her portrayal of a manipulative alchoholic involved in a kidnapping plot, or did you find it false? Spill your guts! We want to know!!

This Week at Facets! July 3-9!

July 4th weekend is all about explosive performances, particularly here at Facets!

Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) delivers one of her finest as the eponymous title character in Julia, the English-language debut of French director Erick Zonca (The Dreamlife of Angels). A manipulative alcoholic and compulsive liar, lonely Julia gets by on nickel-and-dime jobs between shots of vodka and one-night stands. For all of its strife, though, Julia's life takes an even darker turn when she becomes involved in a kidnapping plot.

What the critics say:

"Tilda Swinton doesn't merely act the title role...she devours it..."
-Village Voice.
"(A) stylish indie thriller" -Der Spiegel.
"Follows its own unsteady rhythm, careening from comedy to suspense to pathos" -The Onion A.V. Club.

The trailer:



Julia runs at Facets Cinematheque Friday, July 3 - Thursday, July 9.

For tickets, showtimes, additional info and more, visit the Cinematheque online.

Film School Summer Session 2 Opens Soon!

New classes open July 13th! Enroll today!

*Fall in love with the films of a French auteur in...
MISALLIANCE, MISUNDERSTANDING ANDMISSED OPPORTUNITY:
The Comedies and Proverbs of Eric Rohmer
Mondays, July 13 - August 17, 7-10 pm

*Experience the unforgettable work of a true French original in...
CHRIS MARKER: CINEMA'S ENIGMA
Tuesdays, July 14 - August 18, 7-10 pm

*Walk on the wild side of French cinema in...
FRENCH LIVING ON THE EDGE:
Outsiders, Bandits, Rebels and Misfits
Wednesdays, July 15 - August 19, 7-10 pm

*Uncover secrets behind cinema's fascination with surveillance in...
CINEMA AND SURVEILLANCE
Thursdays, July 16 - August 20, 7-10 pm


For full course descriptions, enrollment info, instructor bios and more, visit Facets Film School online here.

Enroll today or at Facets before classes begin! Space is limited. Enroll now to guarantee yourself a seat!

Facets Patron Circle Members get priority and an additional $45 OFF the regular class price of $125. For membership information, click here.

For additional info, call 773-281-9075 or visit Facets.org.

First Time I Met the Blues

Ah, the things you find on Youtube...

Buddy Guy sings and plays the hell out of the blues in this clip from the 1970 film, Chicago Blues. His performance is blistering, but the interspersed backing footage of Chicago in the late '60s is the true highlight.


- Phil Morehart