Matthew McConaughey (pictured with Noureen DeWulf) stars in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past as Connor Mead, a successful photographer who is an unrepentant, callous womanizer. At his younger brother’s wedding, which is being held at the Newport estate of his dearly departed Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas) —from whom Connor learned to be such a skirt-chaser—he’s informed by the spirit of his uncle that he will be visited by the ghosts of three former girlfriends, given an overview of his prodigious sex life and, if lucky, a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the woman (Jennifer Garner) that he never really wanted to let slip away.
Director Mark Waters, who has made a series of audience-friendly but hardly challenging movies (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Just Like Heaven, Mean Girls), stays safely within the confines of the worked-over script by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. McConaughey shows his dazzling smile (although he doesn’t remove his shirt nearly enough for my tastes) and Garner flashes her dimples while Robert Forster, Emma Stone, Lacey Chabert and Noureen DeWulf provide laughs and Breckin Meyer, Anne Archer and Daniel Sunjata offer heart. It’s not easy to make a romantic comedy centered on an egocentric guy who’d rather “fork than spoon” audience-friendly, but the Christmas Carol template helps Waters do the trick. As the film neared its inevitable conclusion my mind conjured up nice twists on the title and the central conceit—wouldn’t a gay version of this be a hoot?
At the other end of the love spectrum is Sita Sings the Blues, which filmmaker Nina Paley has given the tongue-in-cheek subtitle “The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told”—and she may be right. Paley, a cartoonist and sometime animator, takes the story of the abrupt end of the relationship with her husband and artfully links it to the myth of the Hindu goddess Sita, who was also spurned by her warrior husband, Rama, after being kidnapped by an evil king. Paley envisions Sita as a sort of curvaceous variation on Betty Boop and gives her the same kewpie-doll sexiness. In a series of trippy musical numbers, Paley has Sita sing via the sublime vintage recordings of ’20s torch-song vocalist Annette Henshaw. (So pervasive and winning is this unique idea that Henshaw is credited as the “star” of the movie.)
The dazzling musical numbers have the same trippy animated quality and wry humor that pop artist Peter Max brought to the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. (The movie’s a persuasive argument for the continuation of 2-D animation—this is anti-Pixar.) Sita’s story is narrated by three shadow puppets who gently and playfully argue with one another over variations in the myth and are contrasted by Paley’s own sudden marital breakup.
Startling in its delightful originality, Sita Sings the Blues—Paley’s feature debut—is a cogent example of an artist drawing on her experience and shaping it into a unique vision. The film makes its Chicago debut at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, beginning Friday, May 1. Although Paley prefers filmgoers see it in a theater (where ticket sales will benefit her), the movie is also being offered online as a free download in order to reach the widest audience. See www.sitasingstheblues.com.
Film notes:
—There will be an encore screening and advance DVD release of the Chicago indie feature Mass Romantic at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark, Thursday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. A meet-and-greet with the cast and director Richard Paro will kick off the event at 6:30 p.m. Mass Romantic is a relationship drama that follows a group of activists and academics in search of love while working on political art. Queer politics and transphobia are just two of the topics touched on in the film; see www.mudgeonsoul.org.
—Facets Night School is a new, weekly midnight movie series focusing on offbeat cult films chosen and hosted by Facets Cinematheque’s resident staff of film buffs. The initial lineup—set to run beginning Saturday, May 2, at Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton, and continuing through Saturday, June 27—encompasses a large assortment of genres, including horror, sci-fi, kung-fu, exploitation flicks and a healthy slice of oddities. The series kicks off with Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain from 1973. A lecture by host Brian Elza precedes the screening. $5 per lecture/screening. www.facets.org/cinematheque
—Queer Cinema 101, the five-week LGBT film series hosted by local gay film critics, continues Monday, May 4, with 1986’s Parting Glances, hosted by Chicago Free Press film critic Gregg Shapiro. Parting Glances, a loving examination of a gay couple living in New York City at a turning point in their relationship, was one of the first indies to deal frankly with AIDS and other issues relevant to the LGBT community. Richard Ganoung, star of the movie, will be in attendance and will participate in a post-screening Q&A with audience members. The film will screen at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, in the Hoover-Leppen Theatre. A $5 suggested donation is requested. Visit www.centeronhalsted.org or call 773-472-6469, ext. 245.
Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com. Readers can leave feedback at the latter Web site.