A WHOLE WIDE WORLD OF FILM Cemetery of Splendor
Why the Chicago International Film Festival is the fall fling we keep coming back to. By Madeline Wolfson
Look, we love our big buttery popcorn flicks and action-packed thrill rides as much as anyone, but after this summer, we’re a little overstimulated. The good news? The return of fall means the return of indies, foreign films and under the radar documentaries. Even better news this season is that the usually Cannes- loving auteurs and visionaries who made those movies are coming to Chicago for two whole weeks (woot!). They’ll showcase 150 films in categories like New Directors, Out-Look, ReelWomen and Black Perspectives, and there’ll also be several U.S. premieres (woohoo!). Here are the top films we’re dying to see.
The Infinite Happiness Dirs. Ila Bêka, Louise Lemoine. 2015. N/R. Denmark. Documentary.
Unless you happen to be an architecture buff (or you studied abroad in Copenhagen), 8 House may not ring any bells, but The Infinite Happiness is about to school you. The POV-shot documentary takes audiences on a journey through architect Bjarke Ingels’s incredible self- contained neighborhood and architectural achievement. Across 21 days, the documentary filmmaking couple, Bêka and Lemoine, explored not just this incredible structure, but what we can learn of humanity through this social experiment. Rather than elevate the work abstractly, the filmmakers present the building’s vitality, fragility and vulnerable beauty through
THE REVIEWS ARE IN!
We get an early look at two must-see films. By Dave Calhoun
45 Years ttttt Dir. Andrew Haigh. 2015. N/R. U.K.
This eerie drama is a haunting look at marriage and what it
means to love someone over many years. It gives us retired Norfolk couple, Kate (Charlotte Rampling) and Geoff (Tom
the eyes of those who inhabit the incredible complex. Architecture and film come together in this visually engrossing tour of the quirky and fascinating design project.
Cemetery of Splendour Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul. 2015. N/R. Thailand.
Coming off his Palme d’Or win with Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Thai director Weerasethakul’s new visually stunning, hauntingly sad and, at times, humorous Cemetery of Splendour is proving a buzzworthy follow up. The film takes place in a clinic where a group of soldiers has fallen ill with a mysterious sleeping sickness. Slow and dreamy cinematography, a bare soundscape and borderline sci-fi lighting create a world in which reality, dreams and the otherworldly are indiscernible. The visually hypnotic film appears to slowly ponder Weerasethakul’s reoccurring
Courtenay), whom we meet in days before their 45th anniversary party. This contained piece, full of true emotion without relying on overblown hysterics, is a triumph for Haigh, whose search for meaning in the everyday and ordinary and his sensitive concern for the meaning and limits of intimacy between two people is captured by the cast’s superb performances. Writer-director Haigh, adapting a short story by David Constantine, casts the dark shadow of time and mortality over this restrained, thoughtful story. Aging Geoff imagines Kate’s youth preserved forever in death in this ghostly story with no ghost. An infidelity tale with no mistress, no lover, no secret texts. Can you betray someone with just your thoughts and memories?
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TIMEOUT.COM/CHICAGO September–November 2015
The Infinite Happiness
themes like animism and the intangible. It may not have captivated Cannes like his previous film, but the buzz suggests the snub is no indicator of flub.
The Orphans of Eldorado Dir. Guilherme Coelho. 2014. N/R. Brazil. U.S. premiere. Writer and director Guilherme Coelho breaks away from documentary filmmaking to adapt the words of Brazil’s Milton Hatoum’s novel of impossible love, lust and obsession for the big screen. The film follows protagonist Armando, who, upon returning to his childhood town, falls for an irresistible and unattainable woman who longs for the mythical city of Eldorado. His passions turn to madness and he descends into an Amazon steeped in myth, losing both his family’s wealth and his own sanity. Shot entirely in the lush Amazonian region, we’ll admit we’re pretty excited to see the eroticism and passion
Dheepan tttt Dir. Jacques Audiard. 2015. N/R. France.
Jacques Audiard’s Palme d’Or-winning Dheepan is the story of
a Sri Lankan man, woman and child who masquerade as a family to escape to France in the aftermath of their country’s civil war. Dheepan is a Tamil Tiger whom we first meet surrounded by burning bodies in his homeland. He pretends that two strange women, Yalini and Illayaal, are his wife and daughter so they can seek asylum in France, where they relocated to a grim Parisian housing estate. Gradually, this trio
PHOTOGRAPHS: ORPHANS: OCTAVIO CARDOSO; DHEEPAN: COURTESY CANNES
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