*indicates a capsule review from Chicago Tribune archives.
(diamond) indicates a film that is not reviewed, but of interest.
BACinema
Beverly Arts Center
2407 W. 111th St.
773-445-3838
beverlyartcenter.org
*’Young@Heart’ *** 1/2 (U.S.; Stephen Walker and Sally George, 2008.) The eponymous chorus (average age 80) puts a signature spin on the classics such as The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” “Life During Wartime” by the Talking Heads and, naturally, that old chestnut “Schizophrenia” by Sonic Youth. Led by chorus director Bob Cilman, the troupe is populated by a range of characters whose vigor and enthusiasm make it easy to temporarily forget, or at least ignore, the realities of their collective age. 7 p.m. Wed.
Block Cinema
Northwestern University
40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston
847-491-4000
blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/block-cinema/
*’Touch of Evil’ **** (U.S.; Orson Welles, 1958.) Welles’ byzantine thriller still seems close to the pinnacle of film noir. Set in two hellish Mexican and American border towns, where a corrupt-but-brilliant California homicide detective (Welles’ Hank Quinlan) battles a righteous Mexican narc (Charlton Heston). 8:30 p.m. Wed.
Doc Films
University of Chicago
Ida Noyes Hall
1212 E. 59th St.
773-702-8575
docfilms.uchicago.edu
*’Sunrise’ **** (U.S.; F.W. Murnau, 1927.) Murnau’s silent masterpiece about a troubled young country couple (Janet Gaynor and George O’Brien), a vamp from the city (Margaret Livingstone), murder plots, fate and redemption contains some of the most glorious visual set-pieces in the history of cinema. (Silent with English intertitles). 7, 9 p.m. Fri.
Facets Cinematheque
1517 W. Fullerton Ave.
773-281-4114
facets.org/cinematheque
(diamond)’ As Tears Go By’ (Hong Kong; Wong Kar-Wai). New 35 mm print of Wong Kar Wai’s directorial debut, this Hong Kong gangster picture features Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung and heralds brilliant careers in the making. In Cantonese with English subtitles. Plays Fri.-Thu.
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 N. State St.
312-846-2800
siskelfilmcenter.org
‘Take’ ** 1/2 (U.S.; Charles Oliver, 2007). Writer-director Oliver’s parallel-tracks narrative gives us Ana (Minnie Driver), an economically straitjacketed wife and mother trying to do the best for her developmentally challenged son, and Saul (Jeremy Renner), a lowlife with lethal debt problems who grows increasingly desperate about his situation. Guessing how these lives tragically intersect isn’t terribly hard — present-day scenes show us Saul on death row and Ana driving to witness his execution — but it gives the movie an exploitatively creepy dramatic pall in which we’re just waiting around for the voyeurism of a shattering moment of violence and someone’s subsequent grief. Which is a shame, since both Driver and Renner are talented actors. Plays various times Fri.-Thu. — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times.
The Music Box Theatre
3733 N. Southport Ave.
773-871-6604
musicboxtheatre.com
‘Contempt’ **** (France-Italy; Jean-Luc Godard; 1963). Shot in widescreen Franscope, Godard’s paradox — a sun-splashed Dear John letter to old Hollywood and the studio heyday — hinges on the rusty, precarious marriage of Michel Piccoli (as a screenwriter hired to rewrite a Fritz Lang-directed version of “The Odyssey”) and Brigitte Bardot as his obscure, contemptuous object of desire. Godard wanted Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak to play the roles, but the way the film turned out, it’s unimaginable that way. Much of “Contempt” teases out wry variations on the theme of filmmaking and artistic whoring and what we do in the name of what we love, however inconstantly. But the key scenes between Piccoli and Bardot make it all matter in human terms. Godard’s widescreen compositions and ravishing sense of color can only be appreciated on a big screen. Plays Fri.-Thu. — Michael J. Phillips
*’Road House’ ** (U.S.; Rowdy Herrington, 1989). It’s outrageous in terms of its cartoon-like plotting and dialogue involving a legendary professional bar bouncer (Patrick Swayze), whose method is to walk softly but carry a big shtick, involving his ability to suffer thugs silently until he explodes in violence. When he isn’t kicking heads, he is busy refusing the charms of women who throw themselves at his feet and bare chest. Midnight Fri., Sat.
*’Eraserhead’ **** (U.S. ; David Lynch, 1978.) From its dysfunctional hero — introverted Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) with his upswept Bride of Elvis/Frankenstein hairdo and his skittish girlfriend, Mary X (Charlotte Stewart) — to its stunningly weird visual style (which suggested classic pre-Hitler German cinema and, less obviously, ’60s Eastern European films), to its wildly askew take on ’70s America, “Eraserhead” is one of a kind. Midnight Fri., Sat.
*’The Tenant’ *** 1/2 (France; Roman Polanski, 1976) Like Polanski’s “Repulsion,” it shows the descent into madness of a lonely apartment-dweller, but, in this case, the victim is Polanski himself, as Trelkovsky, a sexually ambivalent young man in a Paris flat who fiercely identifies with a young woman suicide victim whose occupancy preceded his. Terrifying and darkly funny. 11:30 a.m. Sat., Sun.
Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Lane
847-272-6224
northbrook.info/lib(underscore)programs (underscore)films.php
*’X – The Man with the X-Ray Eyes’ *** 1/2 (U.S.; Roger Corman, 1963). In the ’50s and ’60s, Corman made his mark as movie king of low-budget movies of raffish charm, energy and surprising intelligence, highly prized by hip teenage and drive-in audiences. “X,” a Corman personal favorite, is a classic chiller about the perils of seeing too far and too deep, with Ray Milland as the scientist who unhappily invents “X-ray vision” serum. 1, 7:30 p.m. Wed.
