The Chicago Crusader has, again, earned credentials, and in advance of the Festival starting on October 16 and running through October 27 at venues across the city, I have screened a few exciting titles.
Under the Black Perspectives banner, I’ve seen “Color Book” and what should turn out to be a Chicago fan favorite, “The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells.”
The first is a film about a single father named Lucky who decides to take his 11-year-old son Mason to experience an American rite of passage: his first baseball game. It seems simple enough. But Lucky, bereft after a recent personal tragedy and navigating his son’s Down Syndrome on his own, encounters a series of obstacles that will test his patience and his confidence as the two set out across Atlanta.
Photographed in vivid black-and-white with echoes of neorealist landmarks like Charles Burnett’s “Killer of Sheep,” David Fortune’s subtle and elegantly conceived feature debut is brimming with authenticity and heart. Will Catlett delivers another magnetic and sympathetic portrayal of a strong, nurturing Black man. “Color Book” is an intimate and resonant portrait of the unique, tender relationship between father and son.
This film was both heartfelt and triumphant, as the relationship between father and son unfolds. A great look at love and true kinship between the two in the face of adversity.
Screenings: Fri., Oct. 18 @ 8:00 p.m. at AMC NEWCITY 14.
Sat., Oct. 19 @ 1:00 p.m. at Logan Center for the Arts.
The next film is “The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells.” Chicago icons past and present come together in this inspiring documentary about artistic practice and political activism. As the late celebrated sculptor Richard Hunt crafts his monument to Civil Rights icon Ida B. Wells, the film weaves together Hunt’s story with the captivating history of Wells. In connecting artist and activist through Hunt’s towering 35-foot-high Bronzeville-based sculpture, the film reveals their analogous missions to battle racism and forge new paths for Black Americans.
A moving testament to Hunt, an influential artist, and Wells, notable for her anti-lynching organizing and role in the suffragist movement, “The Light of Truth” is a monument to public art, the spirit of protest, and two essential Black Chicago pioneers dedicated to freedom and perseverance.
Screening: Sun., Oct. 27 @ 12:00 p.m. at Chicago History Museum
A couple of films from Finland held my late-night attention.
“A Man Without A Past” tells the story of a man who is brutally beaten in a Helsinki park. He’s a middle-aged welder (Markku Peltola) who falls into a coma. When he wakes up, he cannot recollect a single detail about his life. Unable to provide information to the authorities, the man has no legal way to regain his life.
He finds a community of homeless people, and creates a home out of a metal container. He eventually meets Irma (Kati Outinen), a Salvation Army worker, and they fall in love while he rebuilds a life with new friends and a new job.
Remarkable how this anonymous man picked himself up and started a new life. After many obstacles and even beginning a career as a band manager, his wife recognizes him, and he returns home to unforeseen results. It’s a film of resilience in a world of unknowns.
Screening: Thu., Oct. 24 @ 5:45 p.m. at AMC NEWCITY 14.
Here’s a trailer:
“Long Good Thursday”
Set in the lush days of a Finnish summer, Mika Kaurismaki’s “Long Good Thursday” is a gentle comedy of growing older and of accepting the never-ending possibility of finding joy. Finnish comedy star Heikki Kinnunen plays an aging farmer intent on finishing his life in the home he shared with his late wife. Much to his surprise, he finds himself smitten with a free-spirited artist (the ever alluring Jaana Saarinen) intent on using him as a model for her photography.
Similar in tone to Hannes Holm’s “A Man Called Ove,” this film perfectly balances deadpan humor with simple yet profound observations about our shared journey of aging.
This was a cute film that softened this old man’s heart when he was very much prepared to be a sourpuss forever.
Screenings: Wed., Oct. 23 @ 5:30 p.m. at AMC NEWCITY 14.
Thu., Oct. 24 @ 2:30 p.m. at AMC NEWCITY 14.
“Alpha.” In the Snapshots Series from The Netherlands.
After his mother passed away, Rein (31) moves to a small village in the Alps to be in nature, meditate and work as a snowboard teacher. His quiet bubble bursts when his extroverted father Gijs (60) comes to visit.
Gijs quickly takes center stage on a back country ski tour with Rein and his friends. He charms the youngsters and flirts with Rein’s new girlfriend Laura, leaving no room for his son. It isn’t long before Rein has had enough. He drags his father away from the group and they continue their hike up the mountain alone.
The tension between the two men is palpable. Gijs feels increasingly uncomfortable with the steep and dangerous terrain, but Rein presses on to the top, ignoring his father’s pleas to walk back down.
It isn’t long before nature violently lashes out, turning their petty struggle for dominance into a full-blown quest for survival.
“I was interested in the concept of one person dominating another, while nature dominates everybody,” said the director.
Screenings: Fri., Oct. 25 @ 7:45 p.m. at Gene Siskel Film Center.
Sat., Oct. 26 @ 6:00 p.m. at AMC NEWCITY 14.
Take a look at an interview with the director, Jan-Willem van Ewijk.
https://cineuropa.org/en/video/rdid/465513
”Transplant” is in the Coming-of-Age category.
In this intense psychological drama, Jonah (Eric Nam), a highly motivated Korean-American surgical resident, is committed to getting ahead. When he gets the chance to train under the notorious Dr. Edward Harmon (Bill Camp), a legendary heart transplant surgeon, Jonah must choose between appeasing his abusive mentor and staying true to his values, as well as between career and family, ambition and morality.
Following the success of his award-winning Chicago-made short “BJ’s Mobile Gift Shop,” Chicago native Jason Park’s feature debut operates like Whiplashmeets Grey’s Anatomy, with Jonah and Dr. Harmon on an increasingly unnerving collision course.
As the tensions between teacher and student come to a head and conflicts escalate with surprising — and sometimes shocking — outcomes, Jonah learns that perfection comes at a high cost.
Oh, I just couldn’t stand Camp in his role as the teacher. He runs Nam through the wringer and back. This is a great film; you get up close and personal with transplants and an even closer look at the cutthroat world of medical academia, while rooting for the resident.
Screenings: Fri., Oct. 18 @ 7:30 p.m. at AMC NEWCITY 14.
Sat., Oct. 19 @ 2:15 p.m. at AMC NEWCITY 14.
For more information about programming, locations, ticket prices, and everything film in this 60th year, visit the Festival’s website at https://www.chicagofilmfestival.com.
