There are two overwhelmingly positive developments to this year’s Chicago International Film Festival. One is that the fest will present a program of experimental cinema for the first time in decades; that screens on Monday, October 15, at 8:30 PM and features short works by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and local filmmakers Melika Bass and Deborah Stratman. The second is that the festival will screen more features directed by women than ever before, most of them first- or second-time filmmakers. The festival is also trying out a new virtual reality sidebar, with five “immersive cinema” experiences that attendees can engage with for free (admission is on a first-come, first-served basis). I’ve never experienced VR myself, so I can’t speak to its quality as a storytelling medium, but its inclusion in the festival speaks to the programmers’ willingness to explore new ideas.
Chicago International Film Festival 10/10 through 10/21: screening dates and times vary; see website, AMC River East, 322 E. Illinois, 312-332-3456, chicagofilmfestival.com, individual screenings $15, $12 students and seniors; $8 Mon-Fri before 5 PM; $20 special presentations; $140 10-admission pass; $265 20-admission pass.
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Ben is Back Conspicuously sterile, this opportunistic drama tackles the opioid crisis in white middle-class suburbia. Ben (Lucas Hedges) visits home from rehab; his mother, Holly (a compelling Julia Roberts), is overjoyed, while his sister and stepfather are rightfully suspicious. After Ben’s former associates steal the family’s beloved pup, he and his mom embark on a journey through his nefarious past to rescue it. Writer-director Peter Hedges (Pieces of April, Dan in Real Life) seems to grasp the seriousness of the crisis, but only insofar as it affects people who look and live like him—a throwaway comment from Holly’s black husband about how Ben would be in jail if he weren’t white doesn’t count for much. The film’s didacticism, evidenced in a scene where Holly learns how to use the overdose reversal drug naloxone, is artless if well-intentioned. Anxious handheld camera work presents the illusion of realism, but the film’s sentiment is contrived. With Courtney B. Vance and Kathryn Newton. 103 min. —KS Director Peter Hedges will attend the screening. Sun 10/14, 7:30 PM
Directors Marouan Omara and Johanna Domke shot this offbeat documentary in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheik, where the tourism industry has been decimated in recent years due to social upheaval. The movie profiles several men and women who work at a luxury hotel; they go through elaborate routines to keep the place attractive, even though tourists are never seen. Declining to touch on Egypt’s political climate, Omara and Domke mine the situation for cutesiness, and the whimsy gets stale pretty quickly. In one recurring scene, employees lead dance exercises in front of an empty swimming pool; in another, various subjects converse with a large inflatable monkey on the back of a moving truck. Some of the images are arresting, but the film lacks insight. In English and subtitled Arabic. 86 min. —BS Omara will attend both screenings. Sun 10/14, 5:15 PM, and Mon 10/15, 3:30 PM
The Good Girls With this subtle drama about high-society social maneuvering, writer-director Alejandra Márquez Abella essentially transplants Edith Wharton’s thematic concerns to Mexico City in 1982. The heroine is a callous socialite who gets taken down a notch after her businessman husband, a self-important drunk, loses one too many deals in the midst of Mexico’s currency crisis. Márquez Abella employs a supple visual style, rooted in Ophülsian camera movements, to convey the seductive charm of the characters’ ostentatious milieu and the graceful flexibility they need to navigate it; art director Claudio Ramirez Castelli and costume designer Annai Ramos clearly have fun re-creating the tacky styles of the early 1980s. This isn’t bad, but I wish the film’s bitter humor were more pronounced, as the social observations, when presented straight, don’t feel particularly fresh. In Spanish with subtitles. 101 min. —BS Márquez Abella will attend both screenings. Wed 10/17, 6 PM, and Thu 10/18, 8:15 PM
Rafiki Lively but a little too on the nose, this Kenyan drama delivers a straightforward lesson about antigay bigotry in Africa. It concerns the romance between two teenage girls in Nairobi whose fathers are running against each other in a local election. They try to keep their love a secret, knowing they would harm their fathers’ careers (and bring untold punishment upon themselves) if they were to be exposed; after a short period of happiness, their worst expectations come true. Cowriter-director Wanuri Kahiu elicits sensitive performances from the cast, and her use of color is attractive as well. But it’s hard to escape the feeling that the film is basically an extended public service announcement; Kahiu has few discernible goals apart from drawing attention to an important subject. In English and subtitled Swahili. 82 min. —BS Thu 10/11, 6 PM; Sat 10/13, 1:30 PM; and Thu 10/18, noon
Through 10/21: screening dates and times vary; see website, AMC River East, 322 E. Illinois, 312-332-3456, chicagofilmfestival.com, individual screenings $15, $12 students and seniors; $8 Mon-Fri before 5 PM; $20 special presentations; $140 10-admission pass; $265 20-admission pass.
