After Hours Film Society
Tivoli Theatre
5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove
630-534-4528
afterhoursfilmsociety.com
“Lorna’s Silence” *** (France; Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2009) Arta Dobroshi holds the screen as an Albanian emigre trying to secure her Belgian citizenship and create a new life with her lover. The scheme involving a phony marriage to a heroin addict, a quickie divorce and a Russian mobster with his own designs on Lorna. 7:30 p.m. Mon.
BACinema
Beverly Arts Center
2407 W. 111th St.
773-445-3838
beverlyartcenter.org
“Trucker” ** (U.S.; James Mottern, 2009) Michelle Monaghan play a world-weary long-haul trucker whose estrangement from her preteen son comes to an abrupt bend in the road. 7:30 p.m. Wed.
Bank of America Cinema
4901 W. Irving Park Rd.
312-904-9442
“Chandu the Magician” (U.S.; William Cameron Menzies, Marcel Varnel, 1932) A magician battles a madmen for world dominance via use of a death ray. 8 p.m. Sat.*
Doc Films
University of Chicago
Ida Noyes Hall
1212 E. 59th St.
773-702-8575
docfilms.uchicago.edu
“Bruno” ** (U.S.; Larry Charles, 2009) Extraordinarily raunchy, occasionally funny, “Bruno” takes everything “Borat” did so well three years ago and pushes it further, swapping one primary target (American anti-Semitism) for another (American homophobia). But comic nerve has little to do with sheer excess. The fashionista at the center of “Bruno” (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) is a pretty tedious fellow. 7, 9, 11 p.m. Fri., 1 p.m. Sun.
“Public Enemies” *** (U.S.; Michael Mann, 2009) Cool, calm and collected, this is more love story than gangster picture — Marion Cotillard, Oscar winner for “La Vie En Rose,” plays Billie Frechette, lover of John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) — and it’s more vivid around the edges than at its center. Yet a genuine filmmaking intelligence guides every scene, even the frustrating ones. 6:30, 9:30 p.m. Sat., 3:30 p.m. Sun.
The Music Box Theatre
3733 N. Southport Ave.
773-871-6604
musicboxtheatre.com
“The Big Lebowski” *** 1/2 (U.S.; Joel Coen, 1998) “The Big Lebowski” does for Los Angeles what the Coens’ “Fargo,” did for small-town Minnesota. It takes a largely undocumented chunk of reality and twists it into a surreal comic film noir wonderland, full of delightfully bent characters and darkly hilarious set-pieces. Midnight Fri, Sat.
Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Lane
847-272-6224
northbrook.info/lib(underscore)programs(underscore)films.php
“Horsefeathers” *** 1/2 (U.S.; Norman Z. McLeod, 1932). In their cockeyed prime, the Marx Brothers dismantle higher education by taking over Huxley College and setting it on a collision course with football arch-rival Darwin. With Thelma (“Hot Toddy”) Todd and a cast of rubes, patsies and stuffed shirts, ripe for the brothers’ verbal and physical attacks. 1, 7:30 p.m. Wed.
*indicates a film not reviewed by the Chicago Tribune, but of interest.
