The following table of contents includes our complete coverage of the 2023 Chicago International Film Festival, as written by Brian Tallerico, Nick Allen, Robert Daniels, Marya E. Gates, Peter Sobczynski, Zachary Lee, and Chaz Ebert. CIFF 2023: All Happy Families, Bike Vessel, Departing Seniors, Memorial by Robert Daniels CIFF 2023: The Taste of Things, Fallen Leaves, La Chimera by Peter Sobczynski CIFF 2023: … Read more
At a brisk 59 minutes, “Food Roots” embodies, for better and worse, the frantic and voracious hunger (pun intended) Dec himself felt once he set foot in the Philippines. He goes from island to island, often meeting a family member and learning to cook a new food item. But the film is sometimes rushed, especially … Read more
Abel (Adonyi-Walsh Gáspár) is a student in Budapest who is taking his final exams, but he finds himself more distracted by a crush on a classmate named Janka (Lilla Kizlinger), who has her own crush on her married, much older teacher, Jakab (András Rusznák). Whether or not what unfolds in “Explanation for Everything” is a … Read more
Berger’s story, adapted from the graphic novel by Sara Varon, uses the immediate cuteness of a wholesome, lonely dog looking for a new friend to slowly break down its themes. Its first act is funny and endearing, in which Dog and Robot bond in a series of events often accompanied by the boogie of “September.” Most of all, … Read more
I also want to ask you about filming at the Art Institute. It was really challenging to film there. We had, I think, two and a half hours or something. Three hours, max. I was wondering how long you could shut down an entire museum. I think it’s three hours. And we were very limited … Read more
There’s also a fearlessness to Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn,” but it’s in pursuit of a hollow, misguided venture. With elements of Sofia Coppola and Patricia Highsmith, the latest from the Oscar-winning director of “Promising Young Woman” is a gorgeous misfire, a film that looks stunning but ultimately has nothing to say. It’s a movie that twists … Read more
Happily, Kaurismaki’s filmmaking skills have not slackened in the interim. While not quite as bleak as those earlier movies, he does an intriguing job of taking classic rom-com tropes and finding new ways of approaching them. The deadpan style of humor he has always favored ends up fitting in nicely with the romance that he … Read more
Written and directed by Lucy Kerr, “Family Portrait” takes place on a sprawling estate in Texas as a large family attempts to take their annual group photo for their holiday card. Kerr sets the mood with a lingering, almost silent pan as the family gathers in a field during a more successful previous portrait outing. … Read more
These are important themes, but the father-son relationship between Donnie and Eric really provides this documentary with the warmth of seeing two Black men share a life-changing experience. I couldn’t help but smile through every second, especially during the film’s final ten minutes when their hard work comes to fruition. Having seen director Claire Cooney’s … Read more