Here are capsule reviews for films (listed in chronological order) that critics were able to view in advance for Monday’s festival lineup (a complete schedule is on the Internet at metromix.com). Check Tempo daily for capsule reviews of films showing through closing night, Thursday. Film screenings will take place at Loews Cineplex Theatres (abbreviated as Loews), 600 N. Michigan Ave.; Music Box Theatre (Music Box), 3733 N. Southport Ave.; and University of Chicago DOC Films at the Max Palevsky Cinema (DOC), 1212 E. 59th St.
For tickets and other information, call the festival’s 24-hour hotline: 312-332-FILM.
– “The Season of Men” (star)(star)(star) 1/2 (Moufida Tlatli; Tunisia). From the writer-director of the intriguing feminist drama, “The Silences of the Palace,” comes another gem: the tender but excruciating tale of a Tunisian wife and rugmaker who — like all her fellow wives — lives in isolation on the island of Djerba, while their husbands work and live in Tunis, except for one month of conjugal union: “the season of men.” Suffocating in the repressive Djerban household, the wife yearns to escape, but her only ticket off the island is her agreement to produce a son: a bargain that creates immense complications and conflict. Subtle, perceptive, beautifully shot, this was one of the big critical hits at the last Cannes Film Festival. Arabic; subtitled. Tlatli to attend. (3 & 6 p.m., Loews) — Michael Wilmington
– “Backlash” (star)(star)(star) 1/2 (Bill Bennett; Australia). On the few real masters of the improvised drama form, Australia’s Bill Bennett first made his mark with this exciting, gritty adventure-thriller about two cops transporting a defendant through the desolate Outback to her trial. Since the defendant is an Aboriginal barmaid accused of castrating her abusive boss — and since the two cops are a tough, prejudiced male and a more tolerant female — the movie is an extreme look at sexual politics. Once this volatile trio gets lost in the desert, with a mysterious stranger on their trail, it becomes a nerve-tearing suspense-and-survival tale as well. Part of the Critics’ Choice Series, with New City’s Ray Pride. Bennett to attend. (6:30 p.m., Loews) — M.W.
– “Of Women and Magic” (star)(star) 1/2 (Claude Miller; France). An unhappy female student tormented by migraine headaches checks into a hospital, where she becomes enmeshed in the mysterious affairs of her silent, possibly insane old roommate. Weird events abound, as two lives unravel. Miller can be an expert thriller-maker (“Garde a Vue,” “Class Trip”), but this one, despite good moments, is not his best. French; subtitled. (6:30 p.m., Music Box) — M.W.
– “This I Wish and Nothing More” (star)(star) (Kornel Mundruczo; Hungary). A gloomy, bleak portrait of squalor and desperation about the complicated sexual adventures of a man trapped in an unexciting marriage who turns tricks with his brother-in-law for fun and thrill seeking, not realizing the other man’s deep, unrequited passion for him. The director plays off the harsh, unrelenting material with deeply stylized fantasy sequences of escape, but overall his style is so invasive and oppressive, especially his penchant for close-ups, that it chokes off the dramatic possibilities, allowing little emotional investment in the plight of its characters. Hungarian; subtitled. (8:30 p.m., Loews) — Patrick Z. McGavin
– “The Goddess of 1967” (star)(star)(star) (Clara Law; Australia). One of the strangest love-on-the-run road movies ever from top-notch Hong Kong filmmaker Clara Law (“Autumn Moon”), who is now a Melbourne resident. A Japanese car freak embezzles money to buy the legendary “Goddess” sports car, a 1967 Citroen DS (which he first saw in Melville’s classic noir, “Le Samourai”), and winds up fleeing through the desert with a blind runaway, whose life has been blighted by sexual abuse by her demented grandfather. As the runaway, the lively and touching Rose Byrne won a Venice acting prize; Law’s images are, as always, lush and mysterious. (8:40 p.m., Loews) — M.W.
– “Divided We Fall” (star)(star)(star) (Jan Hrebejk; Czech Republic). A good Czech World War II tale about a young couple hiding a Jewish concentration camp escapee — their former neighbor — in their apartment under the eyes of the authorities and also of a fussy, nosey friend, who happens to be a Nazi collaborator. Surprisingly, the overall tone is not grim and tragic but comic and racy, giving the suspense — and the full-blown characters — an added edge. Czech; subtitled. Hrebejk to attend. (8:45 p.m., Loews) — M.W.
– “Non-Stop” (star)(star)(star) (Sabu; Japan). Like “Run, Lola, Run,” most of this movie is structured around a foot race through the city: an inept young would-be thief pursued by a drug-addicted grocery-store clerk chased by a disgraced young yakuza. Interspersed with the race are a series of parallel events and flashbacks into the lives of the hard-charging trio. Playful, fast and highly kinetic, this is an enjoyable modern crime thriller — a Walter Mitty tale gone berserk — from an imaginative young genre stylist. Japanese; subtitled. Sabu to attend. (9 p.m., Loews) — M.W.
