Limited runs and special events:
@ Butler Field/Grant Park, Lake Shore Drive and Monroe: Chicago Outdoor Film Festival -
In The Heat of The Night - Aug. 5, Only Angels Have Wings - Aug. 12, Pillow Talk - Aug. 19, Rear Window - Aug. 26
@ Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, 312/846-2600: Salo, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom (Salo O Le 120 Giornate Di Sodoma)
July 31
Black Harvest International Film and Video Festival features include: If I Wuz Yo Gyrl - Chicago filmmaker Coquie Hughes
directed this Mini-DV video that explores the controversial and somewhat taboo subject of domestic violence within 'the world of
women who partner with women.' Starring Gisla Stringer, Erica Bond, Markietha Singleton and Dayna Guest, If I Wuz Yo Gyrl focuses
on 'two interrelated couples: an emotionally cold attorney and her much younger 'girl toy,' and an aggressive butch lesbian and her
longtime victim.' - Aug. 10 & 12
Double feature: Of Men And Gods (Des Hommes Et Des Dieux) - Directed by Anne Lescot and Laurence Magloire, this Beta SP
short looks at the 'daily lives of openly gay Haitian men, and their relationship to a vodou belief that gay men have been singled out
by a goddess as 'children of the gods' although homosexuality is still taboo in their society.'
A Red Ribbon Around My House, also a Beta SP short feature, is described as 'a rousing and joyful portrait of a flamboyant South
African AIDS activist' called Pinky, 'a middle-aged, middle-class wife and mother,' who 'publicizes her HIV-positive status and
embarks on a uniquely personal educational campaign despite the acute shame of her family.' - Aug. 8 & 11
Sisters In Cinema - African-American lesbian filmmaker Yvonne Welbon's documentary about her search for 'sisters in cinema'
(other Black women directors), in which she unearths 'neglected colleagues, from forgotten figures like race-movie pioneer Tressie
Souders to more recent talents such as Cauleen Smith, Bridgett M. Davis, Alison Swan, and Vanessa Middleton.' Aug. 8 & 12
French Noir films include: Quai Des Orfevres (a.k.a. Jenny Lamour) - Director Henri-Georges Clouzot's 'mood-drenched, richly
perverse thriller' tells the story of a 'lecherous producer' who is bludgeoned to death with a champagne bottle. The suspects include
a 'music-hall floozy, her jealous husband, and her lesbian admirer' (played by Simone Renant). In French with English subtitles. -
Aug. 1 & 4
The Irreplaceable Katharine Hepburn features films by the late actress such as Bringing Up Baby - Aug. 3 & 5, Adam's Rib - Aug.
10 & 14, Long Day's Journey Into Night - Aug. 16 & 19, Summertime - Aug. 23 & 26, The Philadelphia Story - Aug. 29 & 31, and Stage
Door - Aug. 30 and Sept. 1
@ Women in the Director's Chair, 941 W. Lawrence, 773/907-0610: Gorge: Films about food by independent (female)
mediamakers -
Program (subject to minor change): Jelly by Sarah Shapiro; Sugar & Plastic by Aileen Leitjen; Wake Up by Beth Linden; De*Fat*Ing
by Michelle Lewis; Information Trace by Caitlin Berrigan; Donne-moi à manger by Nwenna Kai; Some More by Delphine Bacri; Kickin'
Chicken by Joy Phillips; A Cow At My Table by Jennifer Abbott - Aug. 7 (7:30 - 9:15pm) $5-8 sliding scale
In theaters:
Dirty Pretty Things (Miramax) - Stephen Frears, director of gay-themed films My Beautiful Laundrette and Prick Up Your Ears, as
well as The Grifters and High Fidelity, returns to the gritty side of London life that he has captured on film so well in the past for this
disturbing, yet rewarding, movie about 'the people you don't see.' Juan (Sergi Lopez), called Sneaky by his employees, is the sleazy
manager of The Baltic Hotel. Many of the people employed in the hotel are illegal immigrants, two of whom include Okwe (Chiwetel
Ejiofor), a doctor in his native Nigeria, who now drives a cab during the day and works the hotel's front desk at night, and Senay
(Audrey Tautou), a devout Muslim, who left Turkey so that she wouldn't have to be like her mother, working as a hotel maid. After
discovering a human heart in one of the hotel toilets, Okwe learns that Juan has employed a butcher of a surgeon so that he can sell
his illegal employees' kidneys in exchange for passports, work visas and new identities. Upon ascertaining that Okwe is a doctor, and
uncovering the mysterious reasons for his departure from his homeland, Juan tries to pressure him into performing the surgeries so
that he may also afford a new identity. The movie's title, a reference to the 'dirty things' that take place in a hotel at night, and the way
it is made 'pretty' for the newly arrived guests, is also a metaphor for the things that people living in less fortunate economic
circumstances will do to stay alive. (A-)
On TV:
Starz! (premieres Aug. 2 - check listings) - Unconditional Love (Starz! Pictures/New Line Cinema): Middle-aged Midwestern
housewife Grace (Kathy Bates), lives for the gushy, romantic songs of British crooner Victor Fox (Jonathan Pryce), who is known as
'the Lark from Lark.' At the same time that she is attempting to call in to win tickets to a Chicago taping of Victor's TV Christmas
special, her husband Max (Dan Aykroyd) tells her that he wants a divorce. On top of all of this newfound stress, Grace learns that her
son Andrew (Jack Noseworthy) has left his wife, a sassy midget named Maudey (Meredith Eaton), and infant son. As Grace's world
collapses around her, she maintains her sanity by fantasizing about Fox, and eventually wins tickets to the taping. Unconditional Love
suffers from trying to please everyone, and ends up being an unsatisfying jumble. There are numerous comedic, over-the-top
moments and a few touching scenes. (C-)
