Welcome back to Part 2 of my Chicago Critics Film Festival coverage!
We’re starting off on a more somber note with Sara Dosa's Time and Water. Right from the beginning, we’re told this documentary serves as a time capsule, narrated by Icelandic writer Andri Snaer Magnason, to preserve Iceland’s history of glaciers. The documentary is also about the history of Magnason’s family, particularly his grandparents, who played prominent roles in exploring those very same glaciers before climate change became a threat to their existence (and in one particular case, the cause of death). As with any ecocritical doc, the facts are harrowing, but its focus on intergenerational memory and the love Magnason has for his grandparents and their impressive accomplishments is heartwarming.
Less moving, but a lot more fun, was Tuesday night's screening of Chili Finger. The viewing brought a sold-out crowd to check out directors Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad's dark comedy, starring the hugely underrated Judy Greer, who plays a wife and mother experiencing empty nest syndrome and financial woes. Fate, however, extends an olive branch in the form of a severed finger found in her bowl of chili at a fast-food restaurant, Blake Jr.’s. This allows her to blackmail the beloved chain into paying her off, but its founder is suspicious of its placement and recruits an ex-marine to dig a little deeper.
Performing a balancing act between absurd comedy and suspenseful crime-drama, the comparisons to the Coen Brothers are endless, right down to a supporting act by Coen regular John Goodman as the fast food chain’s founder. The characters in Chili Finger, however, come off as less sinister, thanks to the presence of likeable actors Sean Astin and Bryan Cranston. The love and humor in this film resonated well with the audience, which included some of the Chicago-based cast, whose on-screen moments had some attendees breaking into enthusiastic cheers.
The night continued with something a little more macabre: Maya Annik Bedward's Black Zombie. This documentary chronicles the resurrection of "zombie cinema," from its haunting Haitian origins to its Hollywood heyday, thanks to the films from George Romero like Night of the Living Dead, and TV shows like The Walking Dead. What most horror fans consider a go-to for bloody good thrills has earnest (and very real) Caribbean connections in Vodou, a belief in serving spirits that has been white-washed and misunderstood for centuries. As someone who has seen their fair share of zombie flicks, this documentary was quite insightful and pulls from a vast array of zombie-related content, but by the film's end, I was a bit more spooked knowing Vodou is still practiced today!
Loafers captures that moment in time when we're fresh out of college and don't know what to do with the rest of our lives, aside from hanging out with our friends. Perhaps that's why it didn't appeal to me as much as the other films did. It's been a while since I had any free time to "loaf" around with my pals, but I sort of found writer/director Zach Schnitzer's script just a little too generic. That said, his cast has a comfortable chemistry that would suggest this ensemble is a tight-knit group of friends making a movie together, where the camera just rolls and captures whatever thoughts and conversations spring up.
Finally, the last film on my to-see list was Broken English, a documentary that presents the late Marianne Faithfull's legacy in a refreshingly original concept. This film isn't so much about “remembering” her, but rather a way of "not forgetting" her (yes, apparently there is a difference). To encapsulate her sixty-year career in the best way imaginable, the fictitious “Ministry of Not Forgetting” (supervised with eccentric authority by The Overseer, portrayed by Tilda Swinton) manages a skilled group of archivists, experts, and musicians to collect, debate, and perform Faithfull's contributions in popular culture.
Even more poignant are the interview segments where an astute interviewer, played by actor George MacKay, sits down with Faithfull to discuss some of the highs and lows of her life. Faithfull, looking frail from a string of health issues (and would pass away before this documentary was completed), remains lucid and candid throughout, and perhaps the biggest highlight of the film is capturing her last singing performance just before her death. A swan song worthy of an icon who won't soon be forgotten.
There were a lot of unforgettable films at this year's Chicago Critics Film Festival, and it is always a pleasure getting to see a sneak peek of a few titles that haven't been released yet. As the festival ends, it's also a time to reflect on all the commonalities between the films. It's interesting that most of the narrative films involve desperate characters struggling with various degrees of conflict, surrendering to extreme measures that only compound the issues they're trying to solve. During a time when our problems are also exacerbated, these films not only provide us with an escape from them, but also the reassurance that we're not fighting them alone. Until next time!