Facets Is Your Black Friday HQ!

Bypass the Black Friday masses and shop Facets online!

Our gift certificates and gift memberships are perfect for the movie lovers in your life! We also have tens of thousands of DVDs, boxed sets, imports and rarities available, so you're guaranteed to find the right gift for that special film fan!

Find it all and more at Facetsdvd.com!

Win a Vampire Classic on DVD!

Hey Twilight fans! Win a vampire flick done up Czech New Wave style!

We have one DVD of Jaromil Jires' surreal classic, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, to give away. How can you win it? Easy. Sign up for Facets' weekly newsletter, This Week at Facets, for details!

Tout Le Monde Travaille Pour le Weekend

Start your weekend with a Jean-Pierre Leaud musical break from Godard's Weekend.

All Tomorrow's Parties Hits Facets! One Night Only!

Facets, Pitchfork and Warp Films are proud to present All Tomorrow's Parties at Facets Cinémathèque on Friday, Nov. 20 at 11:30pm!

Co-directed by Jonathan Caouette (Tarnation), the film is a kaleidoscopic journey into the parallel musical universe of the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival, as well as an ingenious testament to alternative music, communal living, and iconoclastic creativity, featuring performance footage of Battles, Sonic Youth, Belle and Sebastian, Patti Smith, Animal Collective, Grinderman, Iggy and the Stooges, Portishead, Mogwai, Slint, Grizzly Bear, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Gossip, Daniel Johnston, The Boredoms and more!

Founded by Belle & Sebastian's Barry Hogan in 1999 as an alternative to larger, more corporate festivals, ATP is a sponsorship-free festival where the organizers, artists, and fans all stay in the same chalet-style housing complex. Every year the event is curated by a specific artist or band, essentially making each festival a concert as ultimate mix tape.

The film captures this energy via Super8, camcorder and mobile phone footage contributed by over two hundred filmmakers, fans and musicians over the festival's recent history, with key contributions Caouette and cinematographer Vincent Moon (The Take Away Shows), creating a semi-found bricolage. A truly immersive experience, All Tomorrow's Parties captures the experience from the perspective of fan, artist, and curator alike, celebrating the uncompromising vitality of this unique festival experience.

For advance tickets, visit the Cinematheque online. This promises to sell out, so get those tickets early!!

Facets Film School Opens Monday!

Hey all! This is the last weekend to enroll in Facets Film School Fall Session 2!

Two new classes open this Monday, Nov. 16, and they're both exceptional. If you haven't experienced Facets Film School, you don't know what you're missing. This isn't your typical film school--no tests, just great lectures and in-depth discussions led by some of Chicago's finest instructors!

Fall Session 2 includes...

LES NOUVELLE EGOTISTES
Mondays, Nov. 16 - Dec. 21
7-10 pm

Instructor Ronit Bezalel examines the work of Les Nouvelles Egotistes, an informal group of documentary filmmakers who place themselves squarely into their films. Films screened include Kurt and Courtney (Nick Broomfield, 1998), Roger and Me (Michael Moore, 1989), Manufacturing Dissent (Rick Caine & Debbie Melnyk, 2007), Super Size Me (Morgan Spurlock, 2004), Louis and Michael (Louis Theroux, 2003) and Parallel Lines (Nina Davenport, 2004).


AFRICAN CINEMA:
MYTH, MAGIC AND RESISTANCE
Thursdays, Nov. 19 & Dec. 3-17;
Tuesday, Dec. 29; Wednesday, Dec. 30
7-10pm

Instructor Kristen Barnes explores the rich cultural landscape of Africa by reviewing groundbreaking works that have been instrumental in defining African cinema. Films screened include Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambety, 1973), Yeelen (Souleymane Cisse, 1987), Camp de Thiaroye (Ousmane Sembene & Thierno Faty Sow, 1987), Hyenas (Djibril Diop Mambety, 1992) and Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembene, 2004).

*Note: Classes will not be held on November 26 or December 24.

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

Enroll online here or sign-up at Facets before class begins!
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.

Facets Features' College Corner

In October, Oakton Community College student Katarzyna Porkop attended Facets Fright School, Facets' month-long Night School lecture series devoted to the horror film. Katarzyna learned about the Universal classic, The Mummy, and found a lot to think and write about, especially about the film’s visual style. We thank her for attending and gladly post her thoughts and insights on The Mummy to Facets' blog.


GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM AND ITS INFLUENCE ON HOLLYWOOD

The Mummy was directed by German cinematographer and director Karl Freund and released in 1932.

The story involves a British archeological expedition to Egypt led by Sir Joseph Whemple in which the mummy of High Priest Imhotep is discovered. Imhotep, a priest of an ancient Egyptian temple, was condemned and buried alive for attempting to resurrect his lover, Princess Anck-es-en-Amon, with a sacred Scroll of Thoth, which contains a spell that raises people from dead. Whemple's assistant reads the magic spell aloud, bringing the mummy back to life. Imhotep walks away with the Scroll of Thoth into the desert night. The story continues 11 years later when Frank Whemple, son of Sir Joseph Whemple, and Professor Pearson are on expedition in the desert. They are visited by Imhotep who is disguised as Egyptian scholar Ardath Bey. He shows them where to dig to find Anck-es-en-amon's tomb, because he wants to use his mystic powers to bring his ancient love to life. He needs Helen Grosvenor to die in order to revive the princess and make her a living mummy.

The film was influenced by German Expressionism. We can notice the film techniques, characters and symbolism that are Expressionistic. In the opening scene we see the room in which the mummified body of Imhotep is located. Low-key lighting that dominates in this scene creates tension. The play of darkness and shadow portends that something bad is going to happen, particularly that the mummy Imhotep will be brought back to life. In the following scene when Ardath Bey visits the English archeologists we have a close-up of his face. His facial expression barely resembles a human face. Covered with wrinkles, his skin looks unnatural and in some way painful and monstrous. His makeup expresses his internal state. He has been buried alive, so he went through terrible and excruciating tortures. There is nothing more terrifying than the awareness of your own death. The pain he experienced is reflected in the lines and decrepit skin on his face. The dark circles under his eyes and the extremely wrinkled face suggests a dead person—one that has been awakened from the grave and is now a monster.

We also notice Expressionistic symbolism in the scene where Ardath is praying by the sarcophagus of Princess Anck-es-en-Amon and attempts to raise her body to life. While he's reading the spell written on the Scroll of Thoth, he's kneeling down on the floor next to the glass box that protects museum artifacts. We see a clear reflection of his face in the glass surface. This symbol suggests a doppelganger personality. A doppelganger is a person whose personality has two sides, a good one and a dark one. There are two sides to Imhotep's personality. He's a man deeply in love with his ancient princess, who would do everything for her. He wants to be united with her for any cost, even if that means profanation to her dead body by attempting to bring her back to life. On the other hand, he's a monster who tries to kill an innocent woman, Helen Grosvenor, or any person who stands in his way. Without any human emotions or remorse, he kills Sir Joseph Whemple and manipulates his slave to steal the Scroll of Troth. The exact shadow shape of Ardath is also a visual clue that tells us his doppelganger. In the death scene of Sir Joseph, there's a high-contrast shot of Ardath. His exact shadow on the wall symbolizes the dark side of doppelganger personality.

In the scene when Ardath's disguise is revealed, we see another close-up of his face. The mummy looks at the viewer. Dark circles around his eyes and bright light coming out of them make him look like a powerful and evil monster. In Expressionism and in classic horror films, the monster generally symbolizes the dark side of another character, or something that he is suppressing. By extension, the monster symbolizes something dark that every person is suppressing. It is generally something abnormal, which as a society we fear, or it’s a hidden desire that we're holding back. All of us have a dark side that we can't release, because of social norms or common morality. In the end scene, Ardath talks to Helen who's dressed as an Egyptian princess. High-contrast lighting creates exact shadows of both of them against the wall. This symbol tells the viewer that there are also two sides to Helen. One is the modern-day young woman and the other is Princess Anck-es-en-Amon. She's torn between two lives. In the end, though, thanks to her love for Frank, Helen overcomes her ancient self.

Understanding the visual symbolism and themes of German Expressionism helps to get more out of the movie. It certainly allows the viewer to go under the surface of the film, and realize what the inner message or subtext is. It tells us that deep inside of everyone is a suppressed dark side and desires that want to be unleashed. We have to make sure that our good and evil sides stay in equilibrium.

Lecture series like Facets Night School are wonderful and educating types of programs. Not only do they bring back to life old, forgotten movies that are true masterpieces of film history, but they also encourage people to be active viewers. These types of programs ask audiences to start thinking of movies in terms of filmmaking techniques and to treat film as an art form, and not just as entertainment. They teach viewers to be aware of film history and appreciate the films aesthetically. Night School at Facets Multi-Media, by having brief lectures discussing the movies before hand, tries to make us turn from passive entertainment consumers into media literate audiences.

To Rent This Week: Paranoid Park

Hallie Borden tells you why you should add Paranoid Park to your rental list this week.


"It's like The Hills, but with skater kids," said my boyfriend last night on the dialogue of Paranoid Park. On one hand, this is a spot-on comparison. On the other, Gus Van Sant's tense teen drama is much closer to a work of genius than the musings of Lauren Conrad.

Paranoid Park follows a 16-year-old kid from Portland in the days surrounding a mysterious murder by the legendary skate park. Snippets of conversations and disordered sequences create a chaotic environment that a mellow overlay of ambient music balances perfectly. The soundtrack is a brilliant mix of Nino Roto (of Fellini's films) and Portland natives like Elliot Smith and Menomena.

Slow, staggered speech and an abundance of 'ums' and 'likes' give the exchanges in Paranoid Park that 'Je ne sais quois' of Heidi and Spencer, but in the context of a dark and dreary high school far from Orange County, the technique seems incredibly realistic. It also gives ample time to focus on the gorgeous long takes that Gus Van Sant scatters about. The film retains the confusion and discomfort of adolescence without slipping into angsty territory— a commendable feat.

Paranoid Park makes an excellent rainy day rental, so traipse on over to the Videotheque— this weekend calls for showers.

Friday Spotlight: The Earrings of Madame de...

After the month-long immersion in spookiness that was The 31 Days of Horror, I needed to take a breather with something altogether different. Max Ophuls' The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) fit the bill perfectly.

The film about a high society love triangle set into motion by a pair of earrings is deceptively simple, beginning light as a Parisian breeze, only to slowly become absolutely engrossing as the emotional melodrama unfolds. And unfold it does, ingeniously building and shedding intricate layers of deceit, romance and circumstance--all captured by Ophul's pioneering roving camera.

Leads Charles Boyer and Vittorio de Sica are ace, but the film belongs to Danielle Darrieux as the beautiful, manipulative Madame. I challenge anyone to see this film and not fall for her charms.

*Note: the clip contains a mess of spoilers. It's in French, though, so only half the battle is lost.


-Phil Morehart

Remember Claude Levi-Strauss

Claude Levi-Strauss, the pioneering French anthropologist, has passed away at the age of 100. Though his research into "primitive" cultures was extensive, the thinker was rarely documented on film. Luckily, Facets Video's Claude Levi-Strauss in His Own Words amasses years of interviews in which the intellectual plainly discusses his groundbreaking theories on culture and mythology.

This French television documentary recounts the extraordinary career of the father of structural anthropology, whose theories not only impacted that field, but linguistics, mythology, and pop culture studies. Author of Tristes Tropiques and The Savage Mind, Levi-Strauss is a profound intellectual, a confirmed ecologist, a fierce defender of the diversity of peoples and cultures, and all with the temperament of an artist or poet. Consisting of selected interviews from the 1960s through the present, Claude Levi-Strauss Par Lui-Meme presents the anthropologist's story in his own words.

Claude Levi-Strauss in His Own Words is available for purchase at Facets.