Readings & Lectures Chris Elliott

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22 CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER 14, 2005 | SECTION TWO Readings & Lectures

or 312-842-5036. $3 plus a $5 food/drink Critic’s Choice purchase. Billy Collins In November 2001, dur- R ing his tenure as U.S. poet laureate, Collins charmed an SRO audience at a Poetry Center event held at the Chicago Historical Society. He’s back to read from his new collection, The Trouble With Poetry and Chris Elliott Other Poems. A Poetry Foundation program. Mon 10/17, 6 PM, Art Institute, Fullerton Hall, Michigan & Adams, 312-575-8000. $15, $10 students. Reservations required. lacker antihero Chris Elliott put himself on the pop-culture map with recurring appearances on Late Night With David Letterman, starring roles in Get a Life and Cabin Boy, and his buddy/vil- “Crinolines, Cannons, and Croquet: S lain turn in There’s Something About Mary. But he’s been a writer from the get-go—for Late Night Clothing, Social Customs, and Leisure and SNL in addition to his own vehicles—which gives his stab at celebrity authorship a little more cred- Activities of the 1860s” Talk by EHS cos- ibility than most. On its surface The Shroud of the Thwacker (Miramax Books) is the unholy spawn of tume curator Janet Messmer. Thu 10/20, 7- Gideon Defoe (The Pirates!) and Bruce Campbell (If Chins Could Kill), hilarious but lacking the focus 9 PM, Evanston Historical Society, 225 of either. But in his ambling parody of historical fiction, Elliott finds the funny that such stay-on-target Greenwood, Evanston, 847-475-3410. $5. writers can miss. Weaving swipes at Caleb Carr, Patricia Cornwall, and Dan Brown into his far-fetched Reservations recommended. tale of “Mayor” Teddy Roosevelt’s hunt for Gilded Age serial killer Jack the Jolly Thwacker, he sends up both the sluggish prose and speculative nostalgia that mark best sellers like The Alienist, delivering “The Cutting Edge: Young Scholars Share sucker punches whenever he’s lulled the reader into a sepia-toned trance. “He had been kept on the Their Work” Purdue scholar Eric Hall pres- gang because his lack of vision had heightened his other senses,” he writes of a blind street urchin, ents “Destroyer Delts, Nuke Legs, and Macho “specifically the senses of irony, outrage, and cruelty to animals.” In the meantime the crazed plot— Men: An Examination of the Contentious involving a complex yet stupid time-travel mechanism, Harry Houdini, Yoko Ono, Boss Tweed, and Relationship Between Bodybuilders and the human sacrifice at Vista Crag in Central Park—piles cheerful anachronism up alongside enthusiastic Gay and Lesbian Community” for this series. inaccuracy. There are lulls aplenty, but—perversely—the deepest of them conceal Elliott’s sharpest bits. Tue 10/18, 7 PM, Gerber/Hart Library, 1127 W. VID NEEDLEMAN

a Mon 10/17, 12:30 PM, Borders, 150 N. State, 312-606-0750. —Brian Nemtusak DA Granville, 773-381-8030.

Shirley Damsgaard reads from her mystery Witch Way to Murder. Tue 10/18, noon, Book Stall at Chestnut Court, 811 Elm, through 10/29; for more call 312-747-1194 or about the economics of equitable coopera- City Club of Chicago British Consulate Esme Raji Codell presents her kids’ books Winnetka, 847-446-8880. see www.chicagopubliclibrary.org. tion.” Tue 10/18, 6-8 PM, Univ. of Chicago consul general Andrew Seaton speaks at a Hanukkah, Shmanukkah! and Diary of a Social Sciences Bldg., room 122, 1126 E. public policy breakfast. Tue 10/18, 8 AM, Fairy Godmother. Tue 10/18, 4 PM, 57th Joseph Delaney signs his YA novel The Chicago Poetry Project Andrew Joron 59th, chicagoparecon.org. Maggiano’s Banquets, 111 W. Grand, 312- Street Books, 1301 E. 57th, 773-684-1300. Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch. ( Fathom) and Patrick Pritchett (Burn) are 565-6500. $20. Reservations requested. Wed 10/19, 4 PM, Barnes & Noble, 55 Old Wed 10/19, 3:30 PM, Book Stall at Chestnut the featured readers. Sat 10/15, 1 PM, Chicago Seminar on Sport and Culture Orchard Center, Skokie, 847-676-2230. Court, 811 Elm, Winnetka, 847-446-8880. Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago Historian Carson Cunningham speaks on Brock Clarke reads from his latest story col- Authors Room, 400 S. State, 312-747-4050. “Melbourne Massacre: Russell and Boys lection, Carrying the Torch; he’ll be joined by College of Complexes Joanne R. Reid “Democracy, Development, and the Revolutionize the International Game.” Fri students in Northwestern’s creative writing holds forth on “God, the Bible, and Creation of Regenerative Societies” “The Chicago School of Economics” 10/14, 3:30-5 PM, Newberry Library, 60 W. program. Fri 10/14, 7 PM, DvA Gallery, 2568 Humanism.” Sat 10/15, 8 PM, Lincoln Presentation by authors Hector Sabelli Economist Robin Hahnel offers a “teach-in Walton, 312-255-3524. N. Lincoln, 773-871-4382 or 312-503-2978. Restaurant, 4008 N. Lincoln, 312-326-2120 continued on page 31 The41 Readerst’s GuidChie to the cago International Fı lm Festival 24 CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER 14, 2005 | SECTION TWO Chicago Interna tional Fı lm Festival

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Friday, October 14 sitcom veteran who’s been quietly shot of China today. In Mandarin None of the melodramatic expecta- in her excellent How I Killed My building up an impressive body of and Korean with subtitles. 109 min. tions set up in the story are met, but Father, ventures even further into That Man: Peter Berlin work in movies) stars as a world- (SK) a Landmark, 6:30 PM the very dry comedy makes this one shadow with this heartless psycho- With his Tarzan physique, Dutch-boy weary student trying to unravel the of Oliveira’s more accessible works. logical thriller. An attractive insur- haircut, and cucumber crotch, model disappearance of his ex-girlfriend, Mongolian Pingpong In Portuguese with subtitles. 137 ance investigator (Isabelle Carré) and gay erotica legend Peter Berlin and Lukas Haas is his nemesis, a A nine-year-old boy living on the min. The 96-year-old Oliveira is with a husband and child crosses set a standard for masculinity in the ruthless, clubfooted heroin dealer Mongolian steppes finds a Ping-Pong scheduled to attend all three screen- professional paths with a contentious 70s. Jim Tushinski’s video documen- who does business out of a paneled ball floating down a stream. After ings. (JR) a Landmark, 6:45 PM veterinarian (Benoit Poelvoorde), tary reveals how the German-born den in his parents’ basement. It’s a concluding that it isn’t an egg, he who begins to pursue her sexually, Berlin cultivated his iconic image by limited conceit—gone is the noir carries around the “glowing pearl” as The Devil’s Miner showing up at her workplace and photographing himself for magazine sense of being trapped by bad life a talisman, learns that it’s China’s Kief Davidson and Richard winning her over despite her better layouts and directing two Warholian choices—but it’s worth seeing for the “national ball,” and winds up fighting R Ladkani’s documentary is a judgment. He may also be a psychotic porn features before abruptly retiring tightly coiled plot, well-realized char- over it with a friend. This sounds like powerful indictment of the horren- ripper who’s been dispatching from filmmaking. Now in his 60s acters, and novel take on rapacious a slender premise on which to hang a dous treatment of children who toil women left and right, and in the and living in relative seclusion in San teen culture. 119 min. (JJ) feature, but director Ning Hao is in hellish Bolivian silver mines. The finest Hitchcockian fashion, her Francisco, the proudly narcissistic a River East, 6 PM more interested in ethnography and filmmakers are better at fashioning physical fascination with him star of That Boy reflects on his career landscapes than narrative and often haunting images than offering hard- increases with her fear. Fontaine in interviews that are intercut with Grain in Ear holds our interest by concentrating nosed analysis, yet they never senti- and Julien Boivent adapted a novel vintage footage and the reflections A quietly chilling melodrama of on how folklore, technology—motor- mentalize their young protagonists’ by Dominique Barberis. 90 min. of people such as Armistead Maupin R alienation and repressed fury, bikes, cars, trucks, films, TV—and plight. At the center of their story is (JJ) a Landmark, 7 PM and John Waters. Despite Berlin’s Zhang Lu’s second feature merciless- imagination affect a nomadic way of 12-year-old Basilio Vargas, who frankness about his personal love ly exposes the disempowerment and life. In Mongolian with subtitles. 102 endures both a suffocating mine and Low Profile life and his preference for being dispossession that all too frequently min. (JR) a River East, 6:45 PM the taunts of more prosperous class- An aimless high school graduate watched when he’s not having sex, characterize life in today’s ferociously mates at school; his daily struggles (Constantin von Jascheroff) in a the Garbo of gay porn remains elu- capitalist China. Cui Shunji is a poor Magic Mirror are emblematic of the lives of hun- small German town can’t land a job, sive, largely because Tushinski doesn’t Korean roadside kimchi seller, mar- Shot last spring, Manoel de dreds of children with little hope of please his obtuse, nagging parents, or seem to see the ironies and contra- ginalized because of her ethnicity. R Oliveira’s lush feature pre- escaping either an accidental death score with the girl he admires. He’s dictions in his subject’s life. He’s She and her son, who share a small miered in Venice last month, and this or the slower agonies of silicosis. jolted out of his boredom after seeing much better when exploring Berlin’s cement-block house with a group of will be its U.S. premiere. Adapted, Davidson and Ladkani wisely refuse the grisly aftermath of an accident aesthetic and working methods. friendly prostitutes, become entan- like many of his other films, from a to inject any sort of moral lift into and on a whim writes an anonymous 80 min. (JH) Digital projection. gled with a local cop and a Korean- Portuguese novel by Agustina Bessa- their grim tale—Basilio is never letter saying he caused it. The secret a River East, 5 PM Chinese businessman, who offer pro- Luis, it concerns a childless, depres- unaware of the looming presence of thrills he gets watching the media tection and sex respectively, though sive rich woman (Leonor Silveira) the “Tio,” the merciless devil of the coverage of his false claim soon sub- Brick with dangerous conditions attached. whose head is turned by a professor mines who offers only death and pri- merge his sense of failure, and he For his debut feature Rian The film’s style and content are in (Michel Piccoli, speaking all his lines vation. In Spanish with subtitles. 82 starts spinning lies about his love life R Johnson meticulously re-cre- perfect equipoise: Zhang’s still cam- in English) and who becomes min. (RMP) a River East, 7 PM and drifting into rape fantasies. ates Dashiell Hammett’s brand of era, a constant since his stunning obsessed with the idea of the Virgin Christoph Hochhäusler’s subdued gumshoe noir but transplants the minimalist debut, Tang Poetry, Mary making a personal appearance Entre ses mains drama is as much an indictment of blind-alley mystery and rat-a-tat dia- draws perfectly calibrated frames in front of her. Meanwhile her ser- French director Anne Fontaine, bourgeois complacency as it is an logue to a modern SoCal suburban around scenes of nearly silent ten- vant (Ricardo Trepa) plots with a R who explored the dark under- examination of psychological crisis, high school. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (a sion. A precise and devastating snap- counterfeiter to fake an apparition. currents of a father-son relationship but it lacks a resonant finish. In CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER 14, 2005 | SECTION T WO 25

R Reviews by: Meredith Brody, Andrea Gronvall, Jim Healy, J.R. Jones, Joshua Katzman, Dave Kehr, Shelly Kraicer, Reece Pendleton, Richard M. Porton, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Martin Rubin, Ronnie Scheib

WHERE River East 21 (322 E. Illinois), Landmark’s Century Centre (2828 N. Clark), Harris Theater for Music and Dance (205 E. Randolph) WHERE $11 after 5 PM ($8 for Cinema/Chicago members), $6 week- day matinees (before 5 PM). Passes for multiple screenings also available. Special presentations, which include “Critic’s Choice” and eight other programs, are $15 ($12 for Cinema/Chicago members). ADVANCE SALES Cinema/Chicago, 30 E. Adams, suite 800; Borders, 2817 N. Clark and 830 N. Michigan. By fax:312-683-0122. By phone: 312-332-3456; Ticketmaster, 312-902-1500. INFO 312-332-3456 or chicagofilmfestival.com LISTINGS ONLINE chicagoreader.com

town to run the family’s general family life in Holland and develop- store, only to find himself enmeshed ment-aid gigs in Egypt when a col- in his neighbors’ problems and facing league’s inexplicable suicide forces the fallout from a traumatic child- her to examine her own life. She hood incident. Lisa France wrote and begins tailing her husband, even directed this well-meaning drama, though his activities seem perfectly which tries too hard to accomplish innocent, and she gamely faces the too many things: one minute it’s a withering resentment of the sister drama about long-standing preju- who was once her husband’s lover. dices, then it’s a road picture involv- A slight and overdeliberate film, but ing a mentally impaired blind man its wide-screen mise-en-scene shim- (though it’s hard to tell if his mental mers, and its emotional payoff packs problems are intentional or the con- a quiet wallop. In Dutch with subti- sequence of Phillip Bloch’s ludicrous- tles. 90 min. (MR) a Landmark, ly over-the-top performance), then 9:30 PM it’s a romantic drama with dollops of heartwarming southern charm. With Bang Bang Orangutang Gale Harold, Catherine Dent, and Swedish filmmaker Simon Staho Judah Friedlander. 99 min. (RP) ( Day and Night) follows a middle- a River East, 9:15 PM class businessman who’s estranged from his family and winds up losing I Am a Sex Addict his home and living in his taxi after Shortly before his third marriage the accidental death of his son. Caveh Zahedi recounts and restages Things come to a head once he events from his life showing how his becomes involved with a much addiction to prostitutes doomed his younger woman. In Swedish with first two. This deconstructive, mini- subtitles. 100 min. a Landmark, malist comedy, like his 1990 A Little 9:45 PM Stiff (codirected by Greg Watkins) and 1994 I Don’t Hate Las Vegas Night of the Living Dorks Anymore , re-creates events with the It might be the novelty of watching vain self-deprecation of one of his American Pie-type antics conducted role models, Woody Allen. Here he in German, but Matthias Dinter’s adds critical commentary, anima- 2004 zombie comedy is a little fun- tion, and playful asides about the nier than most teen gross-out flicks. perils and vicissitudes of low-budg- Three outcasts from Friedrich et filmmaking, and his offbeat Nietzsche High School get stoned intelligence and low-burning wit one night, plow into a tree, and wake recall his inspired rap on film theo- up as the undead. Their new physi- ry in Waking Life. 90 min. (JR) cal prowess feeds their confidence, a River East, 9:15 PM and they’re transformed from losers into party animals and chick mag- Gabrielle nets—until certain key body parts Though based on a short story begin to drop off. This is not your R by Joseph Conrad, Patrice father’s Nosferatu. In German with Chereau’s Gabrielle brings to mind subtitles. 89 min. (AG) a River the plays of Strindberg and Albee. East, 11:30 PM Chereau was of course a man of the theater before becoming a film Feast director, and this highly stylized por- A gory horror-comedy with flesh-eat- trait of a loveless marriage at the ing monsters. The director is John beginning of the 20th century Gulager; the executive producers merges a claustrophobic theatricality include Wes Craven, Ben Affleck, and with dazzlingly cinematic wide- Matt Damon; and among the cast screen compositions (the sumptuous are Krista Allen, Balthazar Getty, cinematography is by Eric Gautier). and Henry Rollins. This was over- The narrative is propelled by the seen by Miramax’s Weinstein broth- decision of Gabrielle (a superb per- ers, which may explain why no run- formance by Isabelle Huppert) to ning time was available at press return to her befuddled husband, time—they’re probably still recutting Jean (Pascal Greggory), after a pas- it. (JR) a River East, 11:30 PM sionate dalliance with another man. By the time she declares near the Initial D end of the film that she’s repelled by The title’s D refers to “drifting,” a rac- Magic Mirror, Mongolian Pingpong the very idea of her husband’s sperm ing maneuver the hero, the too-cool- inside her, their bourgeois house- to-emote Takumi, has mastered German with subtitles. 86 min. (AG) and darkly funny, the film is so Well-Tempered Corpses hold has become a minefield. In through years of driving on a moun- a Landmark, 7:30 PM sharply conceived and richly popu- A black comedy set in postwar French with subtitles. 90 min. tain road to deliver tofu for his abu- lated that it often registers like a Bosnia and Herzegovina, Benjamin (RMP) a Landmark, 9:15 PM sive but loving father. Andrew Lau The Death of Mr. Lazarescu Frederick Wiseman documentary, Filipovic’s feature focuses on a bet and Alan Mak, the team responsible The last day and night in the even though everything is scripted between two coroners at a morgue in Guernsey for the diabolically successful R life of a cranky, ailing 63-year- and every part played by a profes- Sarajevo. In Bosnian with subtitles. The influence of Wenders and espe- Infernal Affairs trilogy, created this old widower in the Bucharest sub- sional. This is only the second feature 92 min. a Landmark, 9 PM cially Antonioni permeates Nanouk slick though featherweight adoles- urbs, with an ambulance carting him of Cristi Puiu, who claims to have Leopold’s dour but intriguing Dutch cent melodrama, and the story, based from one overtaxed hospital to been inspired by his own hypochon- The Unseen drama, with Maria Kraakman as a on a famous Japanese cartoon but another, may sound like an ordeal, dria, but he’s already clearly a master. Following the death of his father, a Monica Vitti-like limbo dweller com- directed and acted by a largely Hong but this 154-minute Romanian In Romanian with subtitles. (JR) black history professor (Steve Harris) ing undone amid elegantly composed Kong cast and crew, gives it a certain odyssey is anything but. Both sad a River East, 8:30 PM returns to his rural Georgia home- angstscapes. She’s floating between cross-cultural allure that invigorates 26 CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER 14, 2005 | SECTION TWO Chicago Interna tional Fı lm Festival

its tightly restrictive genre. But most- Animal ly this is pallid, teched-up mush, as A visually flashy but otherwise flat- visually flat as a video game, and the footed directing debut by screen- battery of Asian hip-hop sounds and writer Roselyne Bosch (1492: double-screen high jinks don’t Conquest of Paradise), set in an obscure the paternalism, reactionary unspecified, vaguely futuristic politics, and crude misogyny. In Euroland. The title refers to our Cantonese with subtitles. 109 min. beastly human selves, and the (SK) a Landmark, 11:30 PM Jekyll-Hyde story centers on a young scientist (Andreas Wilson, robbed by a lisping accent of the Saturday, October 15 charisma he displayed in the 2003 Swedish hit Evil) who believes that Shorts: Personal Revelations man’s inherently predatory nature A 102-minute program of short can be eradicated through neurobi- works from Canada, France, New ological mumbo jumbo. To prove Zealand, the UK, and the U.S. a his point, he inoculates a superstar River East, 1:30 PM serial killer with behavior-altering serums that reduce the once-fear- Bang Bang Orangutang some psychopath to a blubbering, See listing under Friday, October 14. conscience-stricken girly man. Then a Landmark, 1:30 PM the fledgling Faust attempts to enhance his own nerdy self with Grain in Ear booster shots of aggressiveness. See listing under Friday, October Strained and sometimes silly, Animal R 14. a Landmark, 1:45 PM could have used a massive injection of the miracle drug irony. 102 min. Night of the Living Dorks (MR) a Landmark, 4:30 PM See listing under Friday, October 14. a River East, 2 PM The Devil’s Miner See listing under Friday, Initial D R October 14. a River East, See listing under Friday, October 14. 4:45 PM a Landmark, 2 PM Addictions and Subtractions I Am a Sex Addict From Colombia comes this taut See listing under Friday, October 14. R 2004 thriller that explores the a River East, 2:15 PM insidious nature of the country’s drug culture. In 1980s Medellin a strug- Guernsey gling real estate developer named See listing under Friday, October 14. Santiago needs cash fast, so he’s a Landmark, 2:30 PM happy to meet Gerardo, an ambitious new client who, in a show of good Look Both Ways faith, promptly writes a big check. Death comes ripping in this Trouble is, Gerardo’s a loose cannon R novel debut feature by too fond of his own product, cocaine Melbourne animator Sarah Watt, who targeted for export. Santiago’s own integrates live-action drama with an increasing drug dependency blinds Clockwise from top: The Devil’s Miner, Devils on the Doorstep, I Am a Sex Addict endless array of kinetic, hand-drawn him to how enmeshed he’s become in fantasies. Beset by fearful visions, a his client’s business. Director Victor Woman) for big-budget schmaltz. The Behind the Mirror soms over the graveyard of civic cor- bohemian artist (Justine Clarke) wit- Gaviria opts for naturalism over erratic flow of the narrative may be Writer-director Rajkumar Bhan fol- ruption. In Italian with subtitles. 108 nesses a man being killed by a train, lurid violence, and his convincing the consequence of his decision to edit lows a boy who lives in Bombay but min. (RS) a River East, 9 PM an event with profound repercussions narrative derives further power together two stand-alone stories about is sent to stay temporarily with his not only for her but the guilt-ridden from the casting of talented, aver- six love affairs, which crisscross in a father’s mother in the country. Constellation engineer, the victim’s shell-shocked age-looking nonprofessionals. In Paris so antiseptically postcard perfect Unfamiliar with the slower pace of The members of an extended family, wife, and a callous tabloid reporter Spanish with subtitles. 108 min. even its homeless are photogenic. The rural living, the boy quickly bonds reunited in the deep south for the and his coworker (William (AG) a Landmark, 4:45 PM central relationship between two with his grandmother and a painter funeral of the matriarch, confront McInnes), a photographer who’s just singers (one talented, the other not) who encourages him to draw, and it’s racial and sexual issues and the lega- discovered he has terminal cancer. Bee Season justifies the inclusion of many vapid soon apparent that, like his late cy of the older generation. Directed Watt’s script is a bit overstuffed, and Gifted filmmakers Scott McGehee pop songs and an overly lush score by grandfather, he’s a talented artist. In by Jordan Walker-Pearlman; with by the end the roiling animated and David Siegel have directed three Lelouch mainstay Francis Lai. In a direct and unfettered style, Bhan Gabrielle Union, Billy Dee Williams, sequences (drawn by Emma Kelly features over a dozen years: the French with subtitles. 103 min. (AG) contrasts the chaos and alienation of Daniel Bess, and David Clennon. 105 and inked by Watt and Clare unsettling Suture (1993), the less a Landmark, 6:30 PM the city with the warmth and tran- min. a River East, 9 PM Callinan) are wearing out their wel- experimental but disturbing The quillity of the country and stresses come. But the convincing characters Deep End (2001), and now Bee The Unseen the importance of family and tradi- Caché and hearty examination of mortality Season, based on the well-reviewed See listing under Friday, October 14. tion. At times his approach seems This brilliant if unpleasant puzzle make this fresh and oddly uplifting. novel of the same name about a dys- a River East, 6:45 PM overly simplistic, but it’s also utterly without a solution about surveillance 100 min. (JJ) a River East, 4 PM functional family—the father’s a sincere. With Sulabha Deshpande and various kinds of denial finds demanding professor of religious Magic Mirror and Omkar Lele. In Hindi with sub- writer-director Michael Haneke near The Glamorous Life studies whose tight grip on the fami- See listing under Friday, October titles. 88 min. (JK) a Landmark, the top of his game, though it’s not a of Sachiko Hanai ly induces the mother’s fetishistic R 14. a Landmark, 6:45 PM 7:15 PM game everyone will want to play. The The title heroine of Mitsuru Meike’s stealing and the son’s attraction to a brittle host of a TV book-chat show feature is a prostitute who serves cult. The directors exercise their sty- The Boys of Baraka The Fever (Daniel Auteuil) and his unhappy kinky tastes, gets shot in the head, listic flourishes mainly in the imagi- In 2002, 20 black seventh Nice-guy hero Mario manfully wife (Juliette Binoche) start getting has a mysterious object slipped into native sequences depicting the young R graders from Baltimore’s inner embarks on a dreaded government strange videos that track their com- her handbag, discovers that she daughter’s trancelike state while she city, many of them from troubled career to finance the nightclub he ings and goings outside their Paris suddenly understands several for- conjures up the correct orthography homes, were sent to Baraka, an dreams of opening with friends. His home. Once the husband traces the eign languages, and becomes the in the spelling bees her father’s deter- experimental boarding school in cheery helpfulness arouses only vin- videos to an Algerian he abused focus of international attention. In mined she must win, and while the Kenya. Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and dictive envy—the fever of the title— when they both were kids, things Japanese with subtitles. 90 min. film observes the same heartbreaking Rachel Grady spent three years fol- in his boss, who implicates him in a only get more tense, troubled, and a Landmark, 4 PM obsessiveness as the popular lowing four of them, and the result- political scam involving a dug-up unresolved. Haneke is so punitive Spellbound, it has none of that docu- ing documentary is sensitive, intelli- cemetery. But Alessandro D’Alatri’s toward the couple and his audience Shorts: Animation Nations mentary’s cuteness. The parents, gent, enlightening, and sometimes gently incisive satire of government that I periodically rebelled against— Thirteen animated shorts from though physically unattractive in the surprising. Ewing and Grady give us bureaucracy is balanced by an equal- or went into denial about—his rage, Australia, Canada, Russia, Spain, novel, are incarnated by Richard a nuanced sense of these boys’ ly jaundiced view of entrepreneurial and I guess that’s part of the plan. In Sweden, the UK, and the U.S. 113 Gere and Juliette Binoche. 104 min. options, and it’s typical of their initiative, as Mario’s fair-weather French with subtitles. R, 117 min. min. a River East, 4:15 PM (MB) a River East, 6:30 PM attention to detail that during a business partners jump ship. Set in (JR) a Landmark, 9 PM long-distance phone call cameras in the spectacular heart of Cremona, On the One Le courage d’aimer Baraka and Baltimore record both this joyfully sneaky film posits a October 17, 1961 A Los Angeles rap star returns to his This hopelessly convoluted romantic sides of the conversation. 85 min. clear-cut opposition between bour- The title of Alain Tasma’s earnest if roots in Harlem and encourages drama is contrived even by the stan- (JR) a River East, 7 PM geois conformity and youthful aspi- occasionally creaky drama refers to teenagers to join the choir at his dards of its director, Claude Lelouch, rations only to take delightfully one of the most traumatic—and twin brother’s church. Directed by who long ago traded the intimacy of Low Profile unexpected detours as Mario’s love scandalously overlooked—atrocities Charles Randolph-Wright. 100 min. small-scale love stories (such as his See listing under Friday, October 14. affair with a gorgeous grad student- in France since World War II. A a Landmark, 4:15 PM Oscar-winning 1966 A Man and a a Landmark, 7 PM cum-go-go dancer improbably blos- peaceful demonstration, organized CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER 14, 2005 | SECTION T WO 27

Unknown White Male by the Front de Liberation Nationale Automobiles and Analyze This. If Magic Mirror expunged, and their neighbors still affair, driving to Germany to search to protest a curfew imposed on he’d gone a few notches darker and See listing under Friday, view them as ex-cons. 95 min. (JJ) for her long-dead father’s grave and Algerian Muslims living in Paris, deeper he might have had a formida- R October 14. a Landmark, 2 a Landmark, 6:15 PM eventually finding solace with a man culminated in a police riot during ble post-cold war thriller. Still, there’s PM she meets there (Lars Rudolph, in a which countless demonstrators were much to enjoy in Brosnan’s enthusi- Look Both Ways nicely understated performance). beaten and anywhere from 48 to astic scruffing up of his Bond/Steele October 17, 1961 See listing under Saturday, Bonnell doggedly tracks Fanny’s 200 were killed. Tasma astutely image and in Shepard’s energetic, if See listing under Saturday, October R October 15. a River East, 6:30 meanderings in numerous long chronicles the activities of the state lightweight, direction. 97 min. (MR) 15. a River East, 3:45 PM PM shots, depicting her as both a naive and its police accomplices and of the a Landmark, 9:15 PM child trapped in a woman’s body and Algerian militants and French leftist Le courage d’aimer Animal as an adult who can’t quite exit child- fellow travelers battling the status Too Much Romance . . . It’s See listing under Saturday, October See listing under Saturday, October hood. In French with subtitles. 87 quo. Though well acted and compe- Time for Stuffed Peppers 15. a Landmark, 3:45 PM 15. a Landmark, 6:30 PM min. (JK) a Landmark, 7 PM tently directed, this is a rather cau- Sophia Loren and F. Murray tious docudrama that relies on stock Abraham costar in a Lina Constellation In Memory of My Father The Puffy Chair melodramatic contrivances. Viewers Wertmuller comedy about a dys- See listing under Saturday, October Christopher Jaymes directed and Jay Duplass directed this slight but who want a more comprehensive functional family’s reunion. In 15. a River East, 4 PM stars in this American independent engaging road movie about a couple, account of these events should seek Italian with subtitles. 104 min. black comedy about a young film- Josh and Emily (Mark Duplass, who out Philip Brooks and Alan a Landmark, 9:30 PM Brick maker who grants the wish of his also wrote the script, and Kathryn Hayling’s 1992 documentary See listing under Friday, dying father by filming him, while his Aselton), trying to jump-start their Drowning by Bullets. In French with Night of the Living Dorks R October 14. a Landmark, 4 older brothers (Jeremy Sisto and stagnant relationship while trans- subtitles. 106 min. (RMP) a River See listing under Friday, October 14. PM Matt Keeslar) explore their own sex- porting the used armchair Josh has East, 9:15 PM a River East, 11:30 PM ual issues and take drugs. 96 min. bought as a surprise birthday gift for Shorts: Personal Revelations a River East, 6:45 PM his father. Their romantic rekindling Black Brush Feast See listing under Saturday, October is threatened by a series of mishaps The first feature of Roland See listing under Friday, October 14. 15. a River East, 4:15 PM Poet of the Wastes and diversions, including the appear- R Vranik, assistant director on a River East, 11:30 PM Technical problems prevented me ance of Josh’s brother, a blissfully Bela Tarr’s elusive masterpiece Too Much Romance . . . It’s from viewing all of this charming untroubled slacker (Rhett Wilkins). Werckmeister Harmonies, is a black- The Glamorous Life Time for Stuffed Peppers first feature by Mohammad Ahmadi, The movie may not amount to much, and-white absurdist comedy that of Sachiko Hanai See listing under Saturday, October written and produced by the great but the genial tone and exceptionally plays like a bad drug-induced dream. See listing this date above. 15. a Landmark, 4:15 PM Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Salaam good performances from the three The four principal characters work as a Landmark, 11:30 PM Cinema). But I saw enough to know leads make for a winning debut by chimney sweeps in Budapest, mostly Behind the Mirror that the festival’s claim that the film the Duplass brothers. 84 min. (RP) because the job gives them lots of See listing under Saturday, October intends “to steer absolutely clear of a River East, 8:30 PM time to get high and plot get-rich- Sunday, October 16 15. a Landmark, 5 PM political commentary” is inaccu- quick schemes, and they lurch from rate—an Iranian friend reports that Guernsey one disaster to the next like som- The Unseen The Devil’s Miner even the script had problems with See listing under Friday, October 14. nambulists. A strong first film, See listing under Friday, October 14. See listing under Friday, the censors. This is a satirical come- a Landmark, 8:30 PM immensely popular in Hungary, with a River East, 1:30 PM R October 14. a River East, 6:15 dy about a hapless young garbage a tight minimalist script by Vranik PM collector and two of the people on The Trouble With Dee Dee and Gergely Poharnok. In The Fever his route—a poet he wants to emu- Lisa Ann Walter plays the title char- Hungarian with subtitles. 80 min. See listing under Saturday, October After Innocence late and a woman he has a crush acter, a daffy, foulmouthed socialite (JK) a Landmark, 9:15 PM 15. a River East, 1:30 PM Like Katy Chevigny and Kirsten on—and it comments on question- who spends her days purchasing odd Johnson’s Deadline (2004), which able civil service exams and Iran’s stuff for favorite charities and taking The Matador Low Profile examined Illinois governor George high rate of unemployment. In photos of herself accomplishing items Recently bounced by the Bond fran- See listing under Friday, October 14. Ryan’s mass commutation of death Farsi with subtitles. 81 min. (JR) on her “to-do-in-life” list. Dee Dee’s chise, Pierce Brosnan tweaks his old a Landmark, 1:30 PM sentences, this video documentary by a Landmark, 6:45 PM whimsical lifestyle comes to a alter ego and becomes a burned-out Jessica Sanders shows that America’s screeching halt when her wealthy international assassin who crosses The Boys of Baraka criminal justice system may be more Pale Eyes father (Kurtwood Smith) cuts the paths with a struggling Denver yup- See listing under Saturday, criminal than just. She profiles more In the first half of Jerome Bonnell’s purse strings, forcing her to rely on pie (Greg Kinnear) down Mexico R October 15. a River East, than a dozen men who’ve been exon- accomplished if uneven drama her moxie. Second City alumnus City way. The engaging first act chan- 1:45 PM erated by DNA evidence after serving Fanny, a mentally unbalanced Mike Meiners wrote and directed this nels Strangers on a Train, with the years, even decades, for crimes they Frenchwoman in her 30s (Nathalie good-natured comedy, which leans dangerously charming Brosnan play- Initial D didn’t commit. (Since the late 80s, Boutefeu, in a sublimely detailed heavily on Walter’s high-voltage per- ing Bruno to Kinnear’s square but See listing under Friday, October 14. more than 150 convictions have been performance), lives in a room in her formance to compensate for some susceptible Guy. But rather than a Landmark, 1:45 PM overturned on the basis of DNA married brother’s house, playing pretty thin and predictable material. sticking to Patricia Highsmith coun- tests.) Compounding these injustices classical music to quiet the voices Shot in Chicago and Wilmette, the try, writer-director Richard Shepard Black Brush is the fact that only 19 states offer inside her head. In the much calmer movie features plenty of local actors, descends to the lower, safer road of See listing under Saturday, compensation to the wrongly con- second half of the film she flees in including Jeff Clampitt, Mason schmuck-and-schlub buddy come- R October 15. a Landmark, victed; in many cases the released her brother’s car after discovering Gamble, and Ora Jones. 81 min. (RP) dies like Planes, Trains & 1:45 PM prisoners can’t even get their records that her sister-in-law’s having an a River East, 8:45 PM 28 CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER 14, 2005 | SECTION TWO Chicago Interna tional Fı lm Festival

Unknown White Male Giordana’s follow-up to his 2003 The The extraordinary subject and Best of Youth concerns a well-to-do R the filmmaker’s near total 12-year-old boy rescued from an access make for a singular documen- accident on his parents’ yacht by tary. Rupert Murray turned his cam- immigrants bound for Italy. In era on close friend Douglas Bruce, a Italian with subtitles. 115 min. a well-heeled British stockbroker Landmark, 6:15 PM turned photographer who one night left his Manhattan loft only to resur- Housewarming face on Coney Island having lost his Carole Bouquet brings a lot of verve memory. He’s suffering from a rare to her part as a successful lawyer, sin- form of retrograde amnesia, and gle mother, and illegal-alien activist though his intellect remains intact, whose liberal convictions are tested he has to relearn skills and reenter when she hires a team of immigrants long-standing relationships with without papers to renovate the sec- family and friends: absolutely every- ond floor of her apartment and they thing he encounters is new. It’s as wreck it. This farce (the original title though he’s stepped into a parallel is Travaux) is limited mainly to vari- universe, not so much rebuilding his ations on a single premise, apart life but becoming a different person from a few fantasy interludes that in the same skin—and our empathy work only fitfully (such as Bouquet’s and fascination grow as he finds his impromptu dance steps, which seem way. 88 min. (AG) a Landmark, to stand in for her legal maneuvers). 8:45 PM But at least the premise is a good one, and writer-director Brigitte I Am a Sex Addict Rouan manages to sustain her light See listing under Friday, October 14. touch through all the broad turns of a River East, 9 PM her secondary cast. In French with subtitles. 90 min. (JR) a River East, The Hidden Blade 6:30 PM The cataclysmic upheavals R Japan underwent when forced Nordeste to open its doors to the West in the Juan Solanas’s first feature late 19th century inform this quietly R tackles the same topic as John stirring 2004 tale of a lower-caste Sayles’s Casa de los Babys—first- samurai at loose ends. Befuddled by world ladies hungry for third-world the unwieldy new firearms he must babies—but from a tougher, less adopt, Munezo (Masatoshi Nagase) gringocentric perspective. A mater- also faces pressure from his clan to nally unfulfilled French business- marry. But his heart belongs to the woman (the excellent Carole former maidservant he rescues from Bouquet), distraught when a Buenos an abusive marriage, and as she set- Aires adoption goes sour, heads for tles again into his household, the northern Argentine outland, the tongues wag. A threat arises from hub of a thriving child-trafficking another corner when a renegade trade. There she befriends a peasant samurai escapes from prison. woman and her 13-year-old son, Director Yoji Yamada (The Twilight whose desperate lives counterpoint Samurai) is more concerned with their well-meaning visitor’s. Solanas internal battles than swordplay, and is also credited as director of photog- the relative absence of violence raphy, and the heart of the film is the makes the climactic duel all the more subtle rapport between the actors Manderlay powerful. In Japanese with subtitles. and the unobtrusive handheld cam- 132 min. (AG) a Landmark, 9 PM era. His understated approach risks fast idealism with glimpses of the riating to some. This Danish feature through an Internet chat room— dulling the film’s political edge, but tensions that exist between her and picks up where his brilliant Dogville and these characters’ silence reflects Additions and Subtractions his avoidance of easy judgments and her husband, the result of cultural left off, with the young heroine their apartness. Significantly, the See listing under Saturday, neat resolutions gives it an engaging differences that clearly will never (Bryce Dallas Howard, replacing words of the real-life protagonist, R October 15. a Landmark, openness. In Spanish and French entirely disappear. In English and Nicole Kidman) and her gangster Theresa Chan, a deaf, formerly 9:15 PM with subtitles. 104 min. (MR) a subtitled Arabic. 94 min. (JK) father (Willem Dafoe, no substitute mute memoirist who learned to Landmark, 6:30 PM a River East, 8:45 PM for James Caan) driving across the speak English and read braille on a Depression-era U.S. in a heavily for- U.S. scholarship, link them as they Monday, October 17 October 17, 1961 Le courage d’aimer tified auto caravan. After they stum- confront their loneliness. This ellip- See listing under Saturday, October See listing under Saturday, October ble on an Alabama plantation where tical, poetic movie is filled with In Memory of My Father 15. a River East, 6:45 PM 15. a Landmark, 8:45 PM blacks are still held as slaves, the yearning, humor, and warmth. In See listing under Sunday, October 16. daughter uses daddy’s muscle to free English and subtitled Mandarin, a River East, 4 PM Animal Devils on the Doorstep them, then installs herself as a Cantonese, and Hokkien. 90 min. See listing under Saturday, October A Grand Prix winner at Great White Mother bringing the (AG) a Landmark, 9:15 PM Pale Eyes 15. a Landmark, 6:45 PM R Cannes, this darkly comic anti- fruits of democracy. The stage-play See listing under Sunday, October 16. war film (2000) is masterfully artifice—black backdrops, floor a Landmark, 4:45 PM After Innocence directed by actor Wen Jiang (Red markings, minimal sets and props— Tuesday, October 18 See listing under Sunday, October 16. Sorghum), who stars as a hapless has less impact the second time Play a Landmark, 7 PM peasant in 1944 China. His coastal around, and Manderlay’s former Linda & Ali: Two Worlds Within Chilean writer-director Alicia village is occupied by the Japanese, slaves aren’t characterized as force- Four Walls R Scherson, who won the Tribeca Constellation and he’s terrified when a mysterious fully as Dogville’s townspeople were. See listing under Monday, October film festival’s “new narrative film- See listing under Saturday, October stranger orders him at gunpoint to But the story holds up well enough 17. a River East, 4 PM maker” award, went to college in 15. a River East, 8:30 PM hide and interrogate a foulmouthed to deliver a pointed critique of Chicago but shot this delightfully Japanese POW (Teruyuki Kagawa) establishing self-rule at gunpoint. The Puffy Chair fresh first feature in Santiago. She’s Linda & Ali: Two Worlds and his Chinese translator. Much of With Isaach de Bankolé, Danny See listing under Sunday, October 16. remarkably inventive, with a surre- Within Four Walls the comedy derives from the inter- Glover, and Lauren Bacall. 139 min. a River East, 4:30 PM alist eye and a sense of rhythm in Halfway through this compelling preter’s deliberate mistranslations, (JJ) a Landmark, 9 PM her editing. Her film starts with video documentary by Belgian film- but the humor takes a macabre turn Poet of the Wastes boldly styled opening credits over maker Lut Vandekeybus the when the villagers decide their Shorts: Animation Nations See listing under Sunday, October 16. exciting street photography, and it American-born Linda—who married secret guests have outstayed their See listing under Saturday, October a Landmark, 4:30 PM goes on to explore alternative Ali 20 years ago, converted to Islam, welcome. As the war winds down, 15. a River East, 9:15 PM lifestyles, cutting between a wealthy moved to Qatar, and had seven chil- an attempted rapprochement Be With Me man who’s lost in swift succession dren—discusses her abiding love for between occupied and occupiers Be With Me See listing under Monday, his wife, his job, and his briefcase, her adopted culture with a group of leads to a shocking conclusion, sear- There’s little dialogue in most of R October 17. a Landmark, and a live-in nursemaid from the women. Vandekeybus teases out ing in its irony. In Mandarin and R this absorbing biography- 4:45 PM sticks who finds the briefcase short- some of the personal motives for her Japanese with subtitles. 139 min. drama hybrid by Singapore filmmak- ly before losing her ailing patient. In conversion—she reveals that she was (AG) a Landmark, 9 PM er Eric Khoo. It has three intersect- In Memory of My Father Spanish with subtitles. 105 min. just 14 when she became disen- ing fictional story lines—a shopkeep- See listing under Sunday, October 16. (JR) a River East, 6:15 PM chanted with Catholicism and Manderlay er is haunted by his wife’s ghost, a a River East, 6:15 PM turned to the teachings of Lars von Trier is back, so to security guard spends hours alone, Once You’re Born You Can No Muhammad—but it remains largely R speak—he’s never visited the sometimes stalking a glamorous The Trouble With Dee Dee Longer Hide a mysterious act of courage as well States, which makes his snide anti- executive who works in the building, See listing under Sunday, October 16. Writer-director Marco Tullio as faith. He does balance her stead- American allegories even more infu- and a teenager finds first love a River East, 6:30 PM CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER 14, 2005 | SECTION T WO 29

boas and banging every woman in a River East, 8:45 PM sight (especially head turning: a Nazi-gear S-M session between Cold Showers Jones and Anita Pallenberg). Paddy See listing under Tuesday, October Considine (In America) costars as 18. a Landmark, 8:45 PM Frank Thorogood, a construction supervisor at Jones’s palatial home The Puffy Chair who’s drawn into the licentiousness See listing under Sunday, October 16. and develops a crippling envy of his a River East, 9 PM famous party pal. Produced by Finola Dwyer, who also did the Beatles Manderlay biopic Backbeat, this is of interest See listing under Monday, mostly to rock fans, though there are R October 17. a Landmark, 9 no genuine Stones tracks. 102 min. PM (JJ) a River East, 9 PM Stoned Caché See listing under Tuesday, October See listing under Saturday, October 18. a River East, 9:15 PM 15. a Landmark, 9 PM Once You’re Born You Can No Too Much Romance . . . It’s Longer Hide Time for Stuffed Peppers See listing under Monday, October See listing under Saturday, October 17. a Landmark, 9:15 PM 15. a Landmark, 9:15 PM Nordeste April Snow See listing under Monday, This story of two attractive young R October 17. a Landmark, 9:30 South Koreans who fall for each PM other after discovering their spouses have had an affair inevitably brings to mind Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood Thursday, October 20 for Love. But comparisons will be favorable only if you’re a fan of rising Housewarming Seoul cinema star Bae Yong-joon See listing under Monday, October ( Untold Scandal), who plays a con- 17. a Landmark, 4:30 PM cert-lighting director called away to the remote town where his wife and Nordeste her lover lie comatose after a car See listing under Monday, crash. He’s thrown together with the R October 17. a Landmark, wife (Son Ye-jin) of the lover, and 4:45 PM what begins as a strained acknowl- edgment of each other soon blooms Shorts: Animation Nations into mutual appreciation. See listing under Saturday, October Unfortunately, little in this leisurely 15. a River East, 6:30 PM paced drama is compelling beyond the skill and cosmetic appeal of its Cold Showers leads. Directed by Hur Jin-ho. In See listing under Tuesday, October Korean with subtitles. 105 min. (AG) 18. a Landmark, 6:30 PM a Landmark, 9:15 PM Additions and Subtractions See listing under Saturday, Wednesday, October 19 R October 15. a River East, 6:45 PM Nordeste, The Weather Man Devils on the Doorstep See listing under Monday, April Snow Lola Montes Pale Eyes Innocence R October 17. a Landmark, 4 See listing under Tuesday, October A baroque masterpiece by See listing under Sunday, October 16. Sure to spark controversy, Lucile PM 18. a Landmark, 6:45 PM R Max Ophuls, his last film a Landmark, 6:45 PM Hadzihalilovic’s feature debut, based (1955) and his only work in color on Frank Wedekind’s disturbing April Snow Stoned and wide-screen. The producers Cold Showers turn-of-the-century novel, depicts an See listing under Tuesday, October See listing under Tuesday, October were expecting a routine melodra- Judo rarely figures in serious isolated pastoral enclave inhabited 18. a Landmark, 4:15 PM 18. a River East, 7 PM ma with Martine Carol (a bland movies, but together the martial by prepubescent girls. In an atmos- French star of the period); when arts are the third most popular phere of vague unease and lingering Linda & Ali: Two Worlds Within Devils on the Doorstep they saw what Ophuls had made— sport in France, according to direc- enigmas, the girls, divided by age and Four Walls See listing under Monday, with its exquisite stylization, elabo- tor Antony Cordier, an enthusiast. color-coded by hair ribbons, take See listing under Monday, October R October 17. a Landmark, 7 PM rate flashbacks, and infinite subtle- His working-class hero, Mickael care of one another, the only adults 17. a River East, 6:30 PM ty—they cut it to ribbons. The film (first-time actor Johan Libereau), is in attendance being two women who The Weather Man was restored in the 60s and a high school competitor chal- teach ballet and biology. Groomed The Hidden Blade Nicolas Cage isn’t a meteorol- impressed some critics, including lenged to drop weight quickly so for some mysterious, unspoken pur- See listing under Sunday, R ogist, but he plays one on Andrew Sarris, as “the greatest film that he can replace a smaller, pose, the older girls are summoned R October 16. a Landmark, 6:30 local TV, a dishonorable act that ever made,” and certainly this story injured teammate in an important at night for special “lessons.” The PM makes him a cosmic magnet for of a courtesan’s life is among the tournament. Sacrifice isn’t new to community is introduced through drinks thrown from passing vehi- most emotionally plangent, visually Mickael, as his bohemian parents the eyes of a six-year-old who arrives Poet of the Wastes cles. His wife (Hope Davis) has ravishing works the cinema has to are always scrimping, but he faces in a coffin via watery underground See listing under Sunday, October 16. divorced him, and his daughter is offer. With Peter Ustinov, Anton distractions. The biggest is the sexy passages. Hadzihalilovic, the wife of a River East, 6:45 PM unhappily obese. But the bitch Walbrook, Ivan Desny, and Oskar girlfriend (Salome Stevenin) he cinematic agent provocateur Gaspar goddess of big money and national Werner. In French and German edges into a three-way with a rich Noé and his sometime collaborator, Be With Me stardom beckons when a network with subtitles. 110 min. (DK) This pal, in a scene pretentiously chore- has created a work of limpid beauty See listing under Monday, morning show begins courting is Michael Wilmington’s selection ographed as if it were a judo match. and eerie menace that some R October 17. a Landmark, 6:45 him. Cage’s character is too much for the festival’s Critic’s Choice cat- Struggle and self-knowledge are the undoubtedly will dismiss as kiddie PM of a loser to be interesting for long, egory. a Landmark, 6:30 PM themes here, but we realize long porn. In French with sutbtitles. 115 but Michael Caine is magnificent before Mickael does that much of min. (RS) a Landmark, 8:45 PM Housewarming as his troubled and acerbic father, Once You’re Born You Can No his suffering is self-inflicted. In See listing under Monday, October a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who Longer Hide French with subtitles. 100 min. Stoned 17. a Landmark, 6:45 PM correctly sees the son’s unearned See listing under Monday, October (AG) a Landmark, 7 PM The 1969 drowning death of Rolling privilege as the root of his emo- 17. a Landmark, 6:30 PM Stones founder Brian Jones has long Play tional difficulties. Written by Steve The Boys of Baraka been the most mysterious of 60s See listing under Monday, Conrad, this is the smartest script A Year Without Love See listing under Saturday, rock-star flameouts, and this UK R October 17. a River East, 7 PM director Gore Verbinski has ever Anahi Bemeri’s feature explores the R October 15. a River East, drama by Stephen Woolley, a long- had, and he makes the most of it, gay S-M scene in Argentina through 8:30 PM time producer for Neil Jordan mak- The Fever aided by a strong cast. 102 min. the journals of a poet, French ing his directing debut, presents a See listing under Saturday, October (JJ) a Harris Theater, 7 PM teacher, and AIDS patient who’s Play fairly convincing version of what 15. a Landmark, 7 PM based on the film’s cowriter, Pablo See listing under Monday, might have happened. Leo Gregory A Year Without Love Perez. In Spanish with subtitles. 95 R October 17. a River East, plays Jones as a psychedelic Pan, The Trouble With Dee Dee See listing under Tuesday, October min. a River East, 6:45 PM 8:45 PM resplendent in jodhpurs and feather See listing under Sunday, October 16. 18. a Landmark, 7:15 PM 30 CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER 14, 2005 | SECTION TWO CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER 14, 2005 | SECTION T WO 31

continued from page 22 ( Bios: A Study of Creation) and Ottilia Robers (History of the Future That Belongs Festivals to Us). A Chicagoland Urban Permaculture program. Wed 10/19, 7-9 PM, North Park Village Nature Center, 5801 N. Pulaski, 773- 907-1465.

Anita Diamant reads from her novel The Last Days of Dogtown. Mon 10/17, noon, Haunted Houses and Book Stall at Chestnut Court, 811 Elm, Winnetka, 847-446-8880.

E.L. Doctorow reads from his new novel, Other Halloween Events The March. Wed 10/19, 6 PM, Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton, 312-255-3700. Seasonal Halloween parties, parades, by “roleplaying freelancer” Kenneth Mon 10/31 7-11 PM. $10-$30. ing Sat-Sun 11 AM-2 PM or while sup- Emilie Chaddock Egan talks about Flings, haunted houses, and other special Hite. a 2-10 PM. Limited reservations; Excursions Into the Unknown plies last (no pumpkin decorating on Sat visit www.behemoth3.com to register. Frolics And Forever Afters: A Single events are scheduled throughout the Tours of haunted Chicagoland led by 10/22). F $175 (includes dinner at Hotel Woman’s Guide to Romance After Fifty. city and suburbs. Please note that this researcher and author Dale Kaczmarek. Intercontinental). Kinsch’s Autumn Fun Fest Mon 10/17, 7 PM, Book Stall at Chestnut information is subject to change, and a Westfield Chicago Ridge Mall, 9500 S. a Kinsch Village Florist and Court, 811 Elm, Winnetka, 847-446-8880. some events require advance registra- Ridgeland, Chicago Ridge, 708-425-5163, Greenhouses, 301 W. Johnson, Palatine, tion or reservations. We strongly sug- SUNDAY16 www.ghostresearch.org/tours. Through 847-359-1182. Through 10/31; daily 10 Chris Elliott Mon 10/17, 12:30 PM, gest calling ahead to confirm. 11/13: Sat-Sun 7-11 PM; also Mon 10/31 AM-6 PM. $5.50-$7.50; 2 and under free. c Borders, 150 N. State, 312-606-0750. Following is a list of events through 7-11 PM. $35-$45 (some tours include Harvest Festival a North Park dinner and drinks at Rico D’s restau- Midnight Circus The aerialists per- 10/20; a schedule with later events is Village Nature Center, 5801 N. Pulaski, rant); reservations required. form as part of the Chicagoween celebra- “The Epic of Creation: Scientific, posted at www.chicagoreader.com. 312-742-7529, 10 AM-3 PM. F tion. a Richard J. Daley Civic Center Biblical, and Theological Perspectives Fright Light Laser Light Show Plaza, 50 W. Washington, 312-744-3315. Tales of the Tombstones Tour a Cernon Earth and Space Center, on Our Origins” DePauw University reli- Daily 11:30 AM and 12:30 and 2 PM; a Forest Home Cemetery, 836 Des Triton College, 2000 Fifth Ave., River gious studies prof Bernard Batto and FRIDAY14 Thu-Sun also 5:30 and 7 PM. F Plaines, Forest Park, 708-848-6755, 1-3 Grove, 708-583-3100. Through 11/5: Fri- McCormick Theological Seminary Old PM (tours start between 1 and 2 PM and Sat 9 PM. $5-$10. Nightmares! Basement of the Testament prof Ted Hiebert lecture for this Chicagoween The city’s annual last two hours). $15. Frightmare 2005: Midway of Dead a 42 W. New York, Aurora, 630- series. Mon 10/17, 7-10 PM, Zygon Center Halloween celebration kicks off with two 896-2466, www.42fear.com. Through for Religion and Science, Lutheran School performances from Midnight Circus at Terrors a 7759 S. Harlem, Burbank, 708-598-8580. Through 10/31: Fri 6-11 10/31: Thu 7-10 PM, Fri-Sat 7-11 PM, of Theology, 1100 E. 55th, 773-256-0670. the Haunted Village on Daley Plaza; ONGOING Sun 7-10 PM; also Wed 10/26, 7-10 PM ongoing city events are listed below. PM, Sat 1-11 PM, Sun 1-10 PM, Mon-Thu 6-10 PM. $8.50 (10 and over). and Mon 10/31, 7-11 PM. $12. Louise Erdrich discusses her 11th novel, a Richard J. Daley Civic Center Plaza, 50 Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tour W. Washington, 312-744-3315, 5 PM. F Halloween Playland a Carrot Top Seadog Haunted River Tour The Painted Drum, in a live WFMT radio a 610 N. Clark, 773-404-4346, Market, 2740 Old Willow Rd., a 600 E. Grand, 312-822-7200, Avondale Park Haunted House www.chicagohauntings.com. Tue-Thu 7 interview for the literary series “Writers on Northbrook, 847-729-1450. Through www.seadogcruises.com. Through 10/31: a 3516 W. School, 773-478-1410, 6-9 PM, Fri and Sat 7 and 10 PM, Sun 7 PM. the Record With Victoria Lautman.” Sun 10/31: daily 9 AM-6 PM. $5. daily 6 and 8 PM. $15-$25; reservations 10/16, 11:45 AM, Lookingglass Theatre, PM. $2. $20-$30; reservations recommended. Halloween Trails of Terror required. Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan, Fall Campfire Storytelling Demons of the Deep and Ghostly Eighteen outdoor scenes of creeps and Siegel’s Pumpkin Fest Variety of 312-832-6788. Reservations required. a Humboldt Park Boathouse, 1359 N. Gardens Two environmental attrac- ghouls. a Peterson Park, 5801 N. family-oriented attractions, including Sacramento, 312-742-7549, 6-8 PM. F tions at Navy Pier geared for adults and Pulaski, 312-742-7529. 10/21-10/29: Thu- children 8 and under, respectively. a hayrides, cornfield maze, pumpkin patch, Gloria Estefan The singer signs her new Sun 6:30-9 PM. $6-$8; recommended Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand, 312-595-5225, and a petting zoo. a Siegel’s Cottonwood kids’ book, The Magically Mysterious for 8 and over. Farm, 17250 S. Weber Rd., Crest Hill, Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog. Sat SATURDAY15 www.navypier.com. Demons of the Deep Fri-Sun 10/14-10/16, 4-10 PM, then daily The Haunted “L” Quest Theatre 800-304-3276, www.ourpumpkinfarm. 10/15, 10 AM, Borders, 830 N. Michigan, 10/21-10/31, 4-10 PM. $10-$12; 13+ Ensemble offers Chicago ghost stories, com. Through 10/31: daily 10 AM-6 PM. 312-573-0564. Harvest Festival a North Park 3 and over $7, 2 and under free. Village Nature Center, 5801 N. Pulaski, (children ages 9-12 admitted if accompa- along with puppets based on Maurice 312-742-7529, 10 AM-3 PM. F nied by adult). Ghostly Gardens Fri-Sun Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, for Statesville Haunted Prison and “European Jewry: Flourishing or 10/14-10/16, 2-8 PM, then daily 10/21- this elevated tour. a 10/20-29: Thu-Fri City of the Dead a Siegel’s Halloween Pumpkin Patches The Vanishing?” Panel discussion with 10/31, 2-8 PM. $5 (adults must be 7, 7:25, 7:50, and 8:15 PM, Sat 11:40 AM Cottonwood Farm, 17250 S. Weber Rd., Chicago Park District sponsors “patches” University of Munich historian Michael accompanied by a child). and 12:30, 12:55, and 1:20 PM. Tickets Crest Hill, 877-722-7332, featuring pumpkin decorating, hayrides, Brenner and University of Chicago histori- Dream Reapers Haunted House available at 6 PM Thu-Fri and 10 AM Sat www.statesville.org. Through 10/31: Thu and other family-oriented events. at the Visitor’s Center of the Chicago ans Bernard Wasserstein and Michael a 1945 Cornell, Melrose Park, 708-344- 7-10 PM, Fri-Sat 7-11 PM, Sun 7-10 PM; a Archer Park, 4901 S. Kilbourn; Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington (enter 2084, www.dreamreapers.com. Through also Wed 10/26 and Mon 10/31, 7-10 PM. Geyer. Thu 10/20, 6 PM, Goethe-Institut, Horner Park, 2741 W. Montrose; at 77 E. Randolph), 773-744-3315; limit 10/31: Thu 7-10 PM, Fri-Sat 7-11 PM, 150 N. Michigan, suite 200, 312-263-0472. Peterson Park, 5801 N. Pulaski; Rainey four tickets per person. F $25. Reservations requested. Park, 4350 W. 79th, 312-742-7529; 11 Sun 7-10 PM; also Wed 10/26 and Mon 10/31, 7-10 PM. $15-$25; 13+. Stories From the Emerald City AM-3 PM. Tickets for individual activi- Haunted Sanitarium a Theater on the Lake, Fullerton and Lake Shore Dr., The cast of Wicked hosts a storytelling ties $.50-$3; all-inclusive ticket packages Eleventh Hour, Pitch Black, “An Evening With the Nights: Theatrical, 312-742-7994. Mon-Fri 7-11 PM, Sat-Sun and face painting tent. a Richard J. $15; no tickets sold after 2:30 PM. Chain Reaction, and Third Historical, and Literary Explorations of 6-11 PM. $8-$10; 13+. Daley Civic Center Plaza, 50 W. ‘The Arabian Nights’” Theater director Graceland Cemetery History Dementia Four attractions in one, Washington, 312-744-3315. Storytelling including a haunted house, a labyrinth Haunted Village Daley Plaza is trans- Mary Zimmerman discusses her adaptation Walk a Graceland Cemetery, 4001 N. Thu-Sun 4 and 6:15 PM, face painting and a maze, and 3-D artwork. a Cub formed into a Halloween environment, Clark, 312-742-4455, 1 PM. $10. Sat-Sun 2:30 and 5 PM. F of The Arabian Nights; she’ll be joined by Foods parking lot, 1212 W. 75th St., complete with storytellers, pumpkin dec- scholars Warren Schultz and Daniel Occult Architecture Day Trip Downers Grove, www.eleventhhour.info. orating, and more. a Richard J. Daley Uptown Sweets Make-Your-Own Beaumont. Fri 10/14, 6 PM, DePaul Univ. Tour of downtown’s spooky sites, com- Through 10/31: Thu-Sun 10/13-10/16, Civic Center Plaza, 50 W. Washington, Caramel Apple a 1218 W. Wilson, Student Center, room 314, 2250 N. Sheffield, bined with “an original roleplaying then daily 10/20-10/31, Thu 7-10 PM, 312-744-3315. Mon-Wed 11 AM-3 PM, 773-989-0200. Mon-Fri 3-7 PM, Sat-Sun 773-325-4580. A reception precedes. adventure of eldritch horror,” conducted Fri-Sat 7-11 PM, Sun-Wed 7-10 PM, and Thu-Sun 11 AM-8 PM. Pumpkin decorat- 1-7 PM. $3.99 per apple.

“Falling in Love Again” Readings by members of NewTown Writers and the TallGrass Writers Guild. Wed 10/19, 7:30 0234. Reservations requested. A reception Limit Texas Hold’em. Tue 10/18, 7:30 PM, 7:30 PM, Women & Children First, 5233 N. Chestnut Court, 811 Elm, Winnetka, 847- PM, Bailiwick Arts Center, 1229 W. Belmont, precedes. Barbara’s Bookstore, 1218 S. Halsted, 312- Clark, 773-769-9299. Wed 10/19, 7 PM, 57th 446-8880. 773-883-1090. $5. 413-2665. Street Books, 1301 E. 57th, 773-684-1300. Frida Kerner Furman and Elizabeth A. All joint appearances with Alex Sanchez; Wynonna Judd The country singer signs “Faster, Better, Cheaper: A Media Kelly present Telling Our Lives: Great Books Foundation Friday Forum see separate listing. her memoir, Coming Home to Myself. Fri Perspective on Growing Business in Conversations on Solidarity and Difference. Loyola University PhD candidate Tim Lacy 10/14, 7 PM, Borders, 830 N. Michigan, 312- Every Corner of Our Metropolis” Talk by Mon 10/17, 12:30 PM, Barnes & Noble, presents “Mortimer Adler Against History.” “Human Exhibit” Artist talk by Neo- 573-0564. Crain’s Chicago Business publisher David DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson, 312-362-8792. Fri 10/14, 3 PM, Great Books Foundation, Futurists founder Greg Allen. Tue 10/18, 6 Blake. A Concordia University Business 35 E. Wacker, suite 2300, 312-332-5870. PM, Columbia College, room 504, 1104 S. Christopher Kimball The editor of Cook’s Friends breakfast program. Fri 10/14, 7:15- Gallery 400 Voices Photographer Reservations required. Wabash, 312-344-6643. Illustrated promotes The America’s Test 9 AM, Oak Park Country Club, 2001 N. Kaucyila Brooke lectures on her work. Tue Kitchen Family Cookbook. Tue 10/18, 7 PM, Thatcher, River Grove, 708-209-3555. 10/18, 5 PM, Gallery 400, Univ. of Illinois at “Great Conversations: Religion, Science, “Hurricane Katrina: Lessons for Black Borders, 830 N. Michigan, 312-573-0564. Reservations recommended. Chicago, 1240 W. Harrison, 312-996-6114. and Culture” Lecture by philosopher Empowerment” Talk by journalist Farai Robert C. Solomon ( The Big Questions). A Chideya. Thu 10/20, 7-9 PM, International John Knoerle signs his suspense novel The “First Voices: Native American Thomas Geoghegan ( In America’s Court) Graham School of General Studies series. House, Univ. of Chicago, 1414 E. 59th, 773- Violin Player. Sat 10/15, 11 AM, Book Stall Perspectives” Talks by exhibit consultants discusses The Law in Shambles. Tue 10/18, Fri 10/14, 5:30-7:30 PM, Univ. of Chicago 702-8063. at Chestnut Court, 811 Elm, Winnetka, 847- W. Otis Halfmoon, Marjorie Waheneka, and 7:30 PM, Left of Center Bookstore, 1043 W. Gleacher Center, 450 N. Cityfront Plaza, 446-8880. Joint appearance with Randy Pat Courtney Gold. Sat 10/15, 10 AM-2:30 Granville, 773-338-1513. 773-702-8821. $20. Terry Iacuzzo presents her memoirish Richardson; see separate listing. PM, Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton, 312- Small Mediums at Large: The True Tales of 255-3700. Truman K. Gibson Jr. presents his mem- Gwendolyn Brooks Writers’ Conference a Family of Psychics. Wed 10/19, 7 PM, Michelle Larks reads from her novella col- oir, Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for The 15th annual conference features a Transitions Bookplace, 1000 W. North, 312- lection, Crisis Mode. Thu 10/20, 6 PM, ETA “From Creation to Realization: Black America. Tue 10/18, 7 PM, Chicago “Hip-Hop and Politics” panel discussion led 951-7323. Creative Arts Foundation, 7558 S. South Exploring the Process From Vision to Historical Society, 1601 N. Clark, 312-642- by writers Bakari Kitwana (Why White Kids Chicago, 773-752-3955. Implementation” State of Black Arts 4600. A reception follows. Love Hip-Hop) and Adam Mansbach ( Angry “In Wright’s Office” Block senior curator Conference panel with musician-composer White Black Boy). Thu 10/20, 10 AM, Debora Wood discusses Marion Mahony The Literary Gangs of Chicago A new Ernest Dawkins, playwright Mignon Renny Golden The Northeastern Illinois Chicago State Univ. Student Union Bldg., Griffin’s work for Frank Lloyd Wright. A reading series sponsored by the Weep liter- McPherson, visual artist Arlene Turner University justice studies prof talks about 9501 S. King Dr., 773-995-4440. $17-$50. Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust pro- ary organization (chicagolit.org). This edi- Crawford, filmmaker Jonathan Woods, cho- War on the Family: Mothers in Prison and For more on the conference see gram. Sat 10/15, 2 PM, Block Museum of tion features a “mini best-of” the Dollar reographer Lisa Willingham, and spoken- the Families They Leave Behind. A Public www.csu.edu/gwendolynbrooks/. Art, Northwestern Univ., 40 Arts Circle Dr., Store, with Jonathan Messinger, Sean word artist Charles Miles. Mon 10/17, 5:30- Square/Illinois Humanities Council pro- Evanston, 708-848-1976. $25. Gardner, Jeremy Sosenko, and Diana 9:30 PM, South Side Community Art gram. Fri 10/14, 5 PM, Associated Colleges “Hardcore Histories” This series explores Slickman. Poet Cassie Sparkman hosts. Tue Center, 3831 S. Michigan, 773-769-5201. of the Midwest, 314 W. Institute Pl., 312- punk music and culture. For this edition: a “The James Bond Phenomenon” Slide 10/18, 6:30-8 PM, Puck’s at the Museum of 675-0911. A portion of book sales benefits panel considers “Straight Edge: Out of Step talk by Bond novelist Raymond Benson Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago, 312-397- “Front and Center With John Callaway” Chicago Legal Advocacy of Incarcerated or Out of Beer?” Fri 10/14, 8-10:30 PM, ( Zero Minus Ten, et al). Sat 10/15, 2 PM, 4010. Journalist Callaway hosts Northwestern Mothers. Golden lectures. Tue 10/18, 7 PM, Mess Hall, 6932 N. Glenwood, 773-465- Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington, University sociology professor emeritus Dominican Univ. Lewis Hall, 7900 W. 4033. Evanston, 847-866-0300. Lyric Opera Lecture Michael Altman of the Charles Moskos (The Postmodern Military: Division, River Forest, 708-524-6035. Lyric Opera lecture corps discusses Armed Forces After the Cold War, et al) for James Howe reads from his YA novel The Haynes Johnson ( The Best of Times) dis- Rossini’s La Cenerentola. Tue 10/18, 6 PM, a discussion. Thu 10/20, 6 PM, Pritzker Phil Gordon plugs Phil Gordon’s Little Misfits. Mon 10/17, 7 PM, Borders, 1144 cusses The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton, 312-255- Military Library, 610 N. Fairbanks, 312-587- Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Lake, Oak Park, 708-386-6927. Tue 10/18, Terrorism. Thu 10/20, 7 PM, Book Stall at 3700.