Limited runs and special events:
@ Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, 312/744-6630: International Dinner and A Movie – Rififi (French cuisine served) – May 20 & 21
@ Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton, 773/281-4114: Hush! – Gay-themed Japanese film about a gay couple and their desire to have a child. – May 30-Jun. 5; Tosca – Film version of Puccini’s opera. – Jun. 13-19
@ Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, 312/846-2600: Schedule highlights include –
From The Other Side (directed by Chantal Akerman) – May 16 – 22; Nina Simone, Love Sorceress (1998 documentary about the late Ms. Simone’s 1976 European concert) – May 18 & 22; Model – May 23 & 29; Farewell, My Concubine (starring the late Leslie Cheung, who ‘played many straight romantic roles throughout his career’ and ‘also played numerous gay, bisexual, transvestite, and cross-dressing characters, and was considered to have pioneered a new era of freedom and openness in portrayal of such characters in Asian cinema’) – May 24 & 27
@ 19th Annual Israel Film Festival – 312/670-8182 (festival info) – various theaters including Piper’s Alley, 1608 N Wells; Esquire Theater, 58 E. Oak; Highland Park Theater, 445 Central Avenue: Eighteen films to be featured, including Round Trip, reviewed below. – May 14 & 15
@ Women in the Director’s Chair, 941 W. Lawrence, 773-907-0610: WIDC Encore Festival Schedule (tickets on sale at the door 30 minutes before each show – admission $8, $6 for WIDC members, students and seniors) – Girlhood – May 15 (7 p.m.); Made You Laugh – May 15 (9 p.m.); I Call Myself Persian: Iranians in America and The Unapologetic Life of Margaret Randall – May 16 (7p.m.); Rebel without a Pause: Unrestrained Reflections On September 11th – May 16 (9p.m.); Odds of Recovery – May 17 (7 p.m.); Thunder Perfect Mind, Baba de perico, I Was a Teenage Prostitute, Bad Girl – May 17 (9 p.m.)
In theaters:
The Shape of Things (Focus): As he has done in some of his past films, including In The Company Of Men and Your Friends And Neighbors, Neil LaBute examines the subtle, yet destructive, art of deception. In the film adaptation of his play The Shape of Things, Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), an MFA candidate in art at the ironically named Mercy College, seduces overweight and unkempt Adam (The Object of My Affection’s Paul Rudd), an unsuspecting undergraduate, and turns him into her thesis project: a living work of art. Along the way, she tests the boundaries of her creative powers by stirring up trouble between Adam and his two best friends; the bland and prudish Jenny (Gretchen Mol) and her fiancée Philip (Frederick Weller, who made his film debut in 1995’s Stonewall), who was Adam’s former roommate. All four actors appeared in the original stage version of LaBute’s play, which may have something to do with the ‘theatrical’ quality of their performances. However, as the story progresses, the stilted dialogue soon makes way for LaBute’s trademark colorful language and the characters seem to shed their confining inhibitions in favor of actions nearly as colorful as their discourse. (B)
X2: X-Men United (20th Century Fox): Gay director Bryan Singer has delivered what is easily the most gay-oriented movie of the year, so far. Singer, who also directed the first installment of the live-action film adaptation of the comic book series, hits his stride with this sequel. With all of the introductory information that cluttered the first film behind him, Singer can get down to the business of creating stirring entertainment. A visually astounding allegory for LGBT discrimination, X2: X-Men United begins with a terrorist-style attack on the President (Cotter Smith) in the White House by Mutant activist Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner (Alan Cumming), to make a statement about Mutant rights. Maniacal military man Gen. Stryker (L.I.E.’s Brian Cox) is put in charge of the investigation and uses the opportunity to promote his anti-Mutant plot. Stryker, the father of a mutant who was once a student of Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), wants access to Xavier’s Cerebro device so that he can round up all mutants and dispose of them. There are some new characters introduced in X2, including Iceman/Bobby Drake (Shawn Ashmore), who has a wonderful ‘coming out’ as a mutant scene with his parents, and the other characters from the first movie, such as the hirsute, leather-clad, cigar-smoking Wolverine/Logan (Hugh Jackman), Storm/ Ororo Munroe (Halle Berry), Rogue/Marie D’Ancanto (Anna Paquin), Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Cyclops/Scott Summers (James Marsden) are more fleshed out and, well, less cartoonish. Even evil-doers Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr (Sir Ian McKellen) and Mystique/Raven Darkholme (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) are made more human. The combination of compelling storytelling and fantastic special effects makes X2: X-Men United the first great movie of the summer of 2003. (A-)
On TV:
CAN-TV (Channel 21) cablecasts from Collegiate Pride Fest and Amy Armstrong – May 17; Media & Activism, Dramatic Diversity and Chicago Drag Kings – May 24.