The 28th Chicago International Film Festival moves into its top-heavy second week, with a disproportionate number of high points scheduled for this weekend. The first four features that I cited last week as my favorites among the festival selections I’d seen so far–Actress, Angel of Fire, Hyenas, and Reservoir Dogs–will all be showing simultaneously this Friday night. Admittedly, all except Hyenas will be screened again, and two (including Hyenas) have been screened already, but a few more scheduling conflicts crop up again later, e.g., Actress and Angel of Fire overlap a second time on Saturday, and another of my favorites, Another Girl, Another Planet overlaps with Angel of Fire when the latter shows for the third and last time on Sunday. A certain number of such conflicts is no doubt unavoidable, and the Chicago Festival is certainly not alone–some of the conflicts at the Toronto Festival of Festivals over the last couple of years have been equally acute. But I do hope that in the future more effort can be made to distribute the goodies more evenly throughout the week rather than pile them together like the ingredients in a banana split.
On the basis of what I’ve seen, I can offer only one minor recommendation after the weekend–In the Soup–although some of the reviews that follow will offer others. (Once again, those films that our reviewers strongly recommend will be indicated by a check mark.*) You may want to make some choices on the basis of what you’re likely to be able to see elsewhere in the future. For instance, Reservoir Dogs will open commercially here next week, while Angel of Fire–which drew only small audiences in Toronto–will probably never get a commercial run. If Actress and Hyenas come back to Chicago, it will most likely be at the Film Center, not the Music Box or the Fine Arts. Considering that Another Girl, Another Planet runs for only about an hour and was shot on cheap black-and-white video (and actually looks better in that format than on the big screen), it’s difficult at this point to know how or when you’ll get another chance to see it.
Screenings are at the Pipers Alley Theatre, 1608 N. Wells, the Music Box, 3733 N. Southport, and the Apertus College of Judaica, 618 S. Michigan. Tickets can be purchased at the festival store at Pipers Alley and at the theater box offices an hour in advance of show time; they are also available by phone (for a service charge) at 559-1212 and 644-3456. General admission to each program is $7, $6 for Cine ma/Chicago members; the first show of the day before 6 PM at both theaters are $1 cheaper. For further information, call 644-3456 (644-FILM).
* Archive note: the check mark has been replaced by an asterisk for the electronic version of the festival listings.