In French, la petite mort—”the little death”—refers to orgasm and its aftermath. There are lots of little deaths (and rebirths) of both the erotic and emotional variety in Hello Again, a lush, sexy adaptation of the 1993 chamber musical by composer-librettist Michael John LaChiusa that opens this year’s Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival. Based loosely on La Ronde, the scandalous 1897 drama by Viennese playwright Arthur Schnitzler (which also inspired films by Max Ophuls and Roger Vadim), this beautifully cast and gorgeously shot movie is a suite of sung-through vignettes exploring themes of seduction and betrayal.
Against the Law This somber BBC production, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1967 British law decriminalizing homosexuality, intercuts eyewitness accounts from grizzled survivors of homophobia in postwar England with a dramatic treatment of the life of journalist and activist Peter Wildeblood. Openly gay, Wildeblood (Daniel Mays) is imprisoned in the mid-1950s for his affair with an RAF corporal (Richard Gadd); their tender, erotic, and necessarily secret encounters make the corporal’s betrayal in court all the more devastating. In a later scene Wildeblood, now freed, testifies on behalf of legal rights for homosexuals but excludes “effeminate men” from his crusade—a particularly chilling moment when you consider that the UK’s last antigay laws weren’t repealed until 2009. Fergus O’Brien directed. —Andrea Gronvall 85 min. Sun 9/24, 2:45 PM. Landmark’s Century Centre
Thu 9/21-Thu 9/28 Music Box 3733 N. Southport
Landmark’s Century Centre 2828 N. Clark $12, $10 for screenings before 5 PM; passes are $45 (five screenings), $80 (ten screenings), $100 (all screenings), and $130 (all screenings and events) For more information and a complete schedule visit reelingfilmfestival.org
