March 2008

CHICAGO – Welcome to a new HollywoodChicago.com column called CineOnSceneChicago. “Cine” is a French word derived from “cinematograph,” is pronounced like its connector word “scene” and roughly means “moving picture”. Our goal is to present a moving picture of the Chicago film scene and have fun with it, too. The debut focuses on Chicago filmmaker Darryl Roberts.

CHICAGO – Adi Refaeli, who’s currently touring the U.S. with her short film debut “Empathy,” has taken a circuitous route to the finished project. Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, she spent three years in Toyko to start a family. All the while, she never let go of her interest to pursue filmmaking.

CHICAGO – Free or half-price Chicago theater and comedy tickets. No catch. Just click the link, take just a moment to make a free Goldstar account (or log into your existing Goldstar account) and you’re on your way.

CHICAGO – In one of the great light bulb ideas that could only happen in association with making movies, along comes “Teeth” to bite us in the – well, to bite us hard. Writer and director Mitchell Lichtenstein has fashioned a one-of-a-kind horror epic (based, of course, on a Japanese film) that at the same time tangles with significant social and cultural issues.

CHICAGO – History eludes us. It’s what happens when we’re busy making other plans. In his new film “Beaufort,” director Joseph Cedar turns his lens toward the history and misery of a Mideastern soldier’s outpost eight years ago that was both defended and attacked while highlighting the human element that has to endure when protecting the territory of warfare.

CHICAGO – Tucked surreptitiously at the way-way-way-off-Loop location of the Prop Thtr – Chicago’s oldest-surviving non-equity theater in the area – the signature that is “Ceres” is its high-octane energy. The cast act in harmony much in the same way as the “X-Men” character Juggernaut: once their momentum is synthesized, it can’t be stopped.

CHICAGO – Film is often at its best when it offers a “window to the world” or surprising and personal stories about other countries and cultures dealing with issues that life in the U.S. never imagines. “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” is a meticulous, fascinating and tender story of Brazil in 1970 when revolution was in the air and the World Cup was the hope of bringing a country back together.

CHICAGO – Staying sane is truly an edge-of-the-knife proposition. We are all the sum of our past environments, our present circumstances and our future worries. The sludge that is generated by such a mixture becomes the psyche that’s ready to interact with other psyches we deem important or are forced to be around through family or commerce.

CHICAGO – The immigrant “crisis” in the United States is discussed mostly in political generalities as if those seeking a better life are subhuman. “Under the Same Moon” focuses on the real faces of these people through a 10-year-old Mexican boy who risks everything in a journey to reunite with his mother in Los Angeles.

CHICAGO – When we speak of conflicts between people or ideologies, there’s a tendency for broad categorization. Who are the liberals or the conservatives? What type of people make up the Israelis or Palestinians? Who are the people of color and who are white?

CHICAGO – The publicist for “My Blueberry Nights” with Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Norah Jones and David Strathairn just sent us the poster art for the new film, which will open in limited U.S. theaters on April 4, 2008.

CHICAGO – “Wild Ocean 3-D” – an unforgettable nature documentary playing now in IMAX at Chicago’s Navy Pier – dives to the depths of the ocean and through the vastness of the sea with breathtaking 3-D cinematography and a profound message for all mankind.

CHICAGO – HollywoodChicago.com on Monday learned about yet another Chicago film that can be added to the local list with a wide array of first-time talent: “Helix”.

CHICAGO – For “Paranoid Park,” cult director Gus Van Sant returns to high school, which is the setting of his previous chilling look into the Columbine incident in 2003’s “Elephant”. Though not as successful as “Elephant,” “Paranoid Park” evokes a dream-like meditation on the trials and extreme tribulations of a skateboarding teenage boy trying to find his way.