Limited runs: @ Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, (312) 742-8497: “International Dinner & A Movie”…The Vanishing (Dutch cuisine served) 10.15; Amarcord (Italian cuisine served) 11.12; Rashomon (Japanese cuisine served) 12.10
@ Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W Fullerton, 773/281-4114: The Piano Teacher 10.12, 13, 19 & 20; Dog Run 10.27
@ Gene Siskel Film Center (312-846-2800) : Nightclubbing: Live From CBGB’s 10.4, 10; Film and Video by Elisabeth Subrin 10.10; Nightclubbing: Modern Music 10.11.
@ The Music Box 773/871-6607: Lawrence of Arabia: To mark the 40th anniversary of David Lean’s multiple Academy Award-winning 3.5-hour cinematic epic, a new 70mm print with digital sound is being shown in theaters. Peter O’Toole starred as British soldier T.E. Lawrence, who led a Bedouin army during World War One. According to Vito Russo in The Celluloid Closet, Lawrence’s homosexual tendencies are whitewashed in Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson’s screenplay. However, in Out Of The Past, Neil Miller writes about Lawrence’s “truest sexual inclinations” that were “awakened in the desert.” (opened 9.20)
In theaters:
The Banger Sisters (Twentieth Century Fox) : Seriously disappointing comedy about a pair of groupies in their 50s, nicknamed the Banger Sisters by Frank Zappa, who are reunited in Phoenix after 20 years. Suzette (Goldie Hawn in a role spookily reminiscent of the part played by her daughter Kate Hudson in Almost Famous) is a bartender at a rock club on Sunset Strip who never let go of her legendary groupie status. When she loses her job, she decides to track down Vinnie (Susan Sarandon), her one-time partner in crime, and ask for a loan. She hooks up with failed writer Harry (a completely miscast Geoffrey Rush) who is on his way to Phoenix to settle a score with his father. When Suzette and Vinnie come face to face, it seems they no longer have anything in common. Vinnie, who now goes by the name Lavinia, is an uptight mother of two daughters, married to a successful lawyer, with a big, beautiful home and blank slate of a memory. Eventually, Suzette gets through to Lavinia who re-evaluates her life and finds it lacking. The Banger Sisters just barely avoids being embarrassing because of the endearing performances of Sarandon (who I would swear was playing Diane Keaton) and Hawn. Sarandon’s real-life daughters Eva Amurri plays one of Lavinia’s daughters, Ginger, and outshines Erika Christensen as older sister Hannah. Rating: 4/10
Secretary (Lions Gate) : Based on a short story by edgy fiction writer Mary Gaitskill, Secretary is a biting black comedy with jagged teeth and nipple clamps. Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal, sister of Jake), a cutter with many body scars to show for her self-destructive behavior, is released from a six-month mental institution stay on the day of her sister’s wedding. Living at home with her clinging mother (Lesley Ann Warren) and alcoholic father (Stephen McHattie) gives her the incentive to look for employment. After scoring well on a typing test at a community college, Lee is hired by seemingly mild-mannered attorney E. Edward Gray (James Spader). Before you can say, “hit me baby, one more time,” a dominant/submissive relationship develops. Spader is downright spooky, while Gyllenhaal gives new meaning to taking dictation. Rating: 7.5/10 (opens 9.27)