[CIFF] 49th Chicago International Film Festival Recap
[Ruby Hornet will be attending the 49th Chicago International Film Festival from 10/10 - 10/24. Be sure to follow along as we bring you coverage from the longest-running competitive international film festival in the country. You can find all of our coverage from this year's CIFF here.]
After screening 180 films representing over 60 different countries over the past two weeks, the 49th Chicago International Film Festival came to a close last night. With reviews going up practically everyday, it was a bit hard to keep track of all of our coverage. Luckily, as the very responsible and organization nerd that I am, I have compiled our entire CIFF coverage into one nice and neat package for all of you.
I hope you enjoyed Ruby Hornet's first film festival coverage as much as I did. We have our eyes set on some of the film industry's biggest and most influential festivals in 2014, so we'll have a whole lot more reviews and interviews from some of next year's biggest films. For now, enjoy our 49th Chicago International Film Festival recap.
[CIFF Capsule Review] Stray Dogs
[CIFF Capsule Review] Blue is the Warmest Color
[CIFF Capsule Review] Under the Rainbow
[CIFF Capsule Review] Tanta Agua
[CIFF Capsule Review] Blue Ruin
[CIFF Capsule Review] Hide Your Smiling Faces
[CIFF Capsule Review] Like Father, Like Son
[CIFF Capsule Review] La Jaula de Oro
[CIFF Capsule Review] Chasing Fireflies
[CIFF Capsule Review] The Harvest
[CIFF Capsule Review] Life Feels Good
[CIFF Capsule Review] Breathe In
[CIFF Capsule Review] How I Live Now
[CIFF Interview] Diego Quemada-Diez (La Jaula de Oro)
[CIFF] The 49th Chicago International Film Festival begins tonight
[CIFF] 15 Films to see at the 49th Chicago International Film Festival
[CIFF Capsule Review] How I Live Now
[Ruby Hornet will be attending the 49th Chicago International Film Festival from 10/10 - 10/24. Be sure to follow along as we bring you coverage from the longest-running competitive international film festival in the country. You can find all of our coverage from this year's CIFF here.]
How I Live Now
Director: Kevin MacDonald
Country: United Kingdom
Release Date: October 15, 2013 (CIFF)
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Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) is a selfish nihilist sent to the English countryside to stay with family friends due to growing military strife in the United States. While her "cousins' (not blood-related) try their best to make her feel welcome and at home, she's cold and unjustifiably mean-spirited towards them. When she begins to open up and fall for the eldest child, Edmund, she lets down her guard in the name of live. However, like clockwork, the terrorist threat reaches England, causing the country to fall under military control. When Edmund and his brother Isaac are separated from Daisy and little sister Piper, Edmund and Daisy make a pact to find each other at the countryside home.
How I Live Now is a sappy romance story posing as a survival film... or maybe it's the other way around? The emotional cues that should bring empathy to audiences are so wooden and unbelievable. Daisy's "transformation" from total bitch to selfish bitch is maddening. Even while the country quickly becomes a military state and she has her younger cousin under her responsibility, it's obvious that she only cares to return to Eddie. The ending itself is so sappy and uncharacteristic. What about mourning over Isaac? Total blame can't be laid on director Kevin MacDonald and the film's writers, since How I Live Now is based off of a novel. Still... still... I'm shaking my head just thinking about this film.
Score: 4.5 out of 10
[CIFF Capsule Review] Breathe In
[Ruby Hornet will be attending the 49th Chicago International Film Festival from 10/10 - 10/24. Be sure to follow along as we bring you coverage from the longest-running competitive international film festival in the country. You can find all of our coverage from this year's CIFF here.]
Breathe In
Director: Drake Doremus
Country: United States
Release Date: October 19, 2013 (CIFF)
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Keith (Guy Pearce) is a piano teacher and aspiring cellist for the New York Symphony Orchestra with a loving wife (Amy Ryan) and daughter (Mackenzie Davis). When Sophie (Felicity Jones) arrives as part of a foreign exchange program, she opens up deep questions within Keith's mind that he already had, including relocating to Manhattan from the suburbs and leaving his teaching job. However, as Sophie and Keith grow closer, their relationship tiptoes into romantic territory, threatening to ruin the family's lives.
Breathe In is similar to director Drake Doremus' previous film, Like Crazy, with its intimate look at relationships. However, he expands on his style by focusing more on the auxiliary characters outside of the main relationship. The film's perspective is still coming from Keith and Sophie, but you can still see the strife and devastation the two are causing. Like Crazy was insular, which fit the film's premise, but it's good to see that Breathe In retains the relationship depth of Like Crazy while still being able to not be so closed off. If she wasn't already one of my favorite young actresses, Felicity Jones' performance in Breathe In solidifies her stance as one of the actresses you have to keep your eyes on.
Score: 7 out of 10
[CIFF Capsule Review] La Paz
[Ruby Hornet will be attending the 49th Chicago International Film Festival from 10/10 - 10/24. Be sure to follow along as we bring you coverage from the longest-running competitive international film festival in the country. You can find all of our coverage from this year's CIFF here.]
La Paz
Director: Santiago Loza
Country: Argentina
Release Date: October 18, 2013 (CIFF)
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Returning home after a stay in a psychiatric clinic, Liso finds himself coddled by his parents and unable to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend. The only people he can connect with, however, are his elderly grandmother and his parents' maid. La Paz examines Liso's attempts to simply find himself and connect with his loved ones while not relapsing into a schizophrenic episode.
La Paz is a quiet film (as have the majority of the Latin American films from CIFF this year), but not all too compelling. The film doesn't exactly tug on your emotional heartstrings the way films like this normally would. Instead, it's a boring tread through Liso's recovery without giving any deep insight into his mind.
Score: 5 out of 10
[CIFF Capsule Review] Miele
[Ruby Hornet will be attending the 49th Chicago International Film Festival from 10/10 - 10/24. Be sure to follow along as we bring you coverage from the longest-running competitive international film festival in the country. You can find all of our coverage from this year's CIFF here.]
Miele
Director: Valeria Golino
Country: Italy
Release Date: October 15, 2013 (CIFF)
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Miele is a young woman who delivers assisted suicides for families whose loved ones want to dictate how they die rather than succumb to the prolonged process of death. When she's assigned to assist a wealthy, physically healthy man, she has a change of morality and does what she can to prevent the man from killing himself. Will she be able to deal with the moral conflict the assignment presents while she deals with her own personal problems?
I was expecting Miele to be this cerebral character study analyzing the conscience of a young woman who essentially kills people for a living. The problem with going into films with expectations is that, nine times out of 10, those expectations are never met. Miele did touch upon the psychology conflicting the protagonist's mind, but also muddies it all up with a sexual affair she has as a means of balancing her "professional" life with her "personal" life. What results is a film that feels like it's attempting to do and say too much in a limited space.
Score: 5 out of 10
[CIFF Interview] Diego Quemada-Diez (La Jaula de Oro)
[Ruby Hornet will be attending the 49th Chicago International Film Festival from 10/10 - 10/24. Be sure to follow along as we bring you coverage from the longest-running competitive international film festival in the country. You can find all of our coverage from this year's CIFF here.]
La Jaula de Oro was one of my favorite films of this year's Chicago International Film Festival. The story about three teenagers escaping Guatemala to achieve their dreams in America was a captivating look at the struggle many migrants face in their journey for a better life. It was recently awarded the Chicago International Film Festival's Gold Hugo, which is given to films making their American premiere during the festival. I had the chance to meet with La Jaula de Oro's director Diego Quemada-Diez to discuss some questions I had about the film, the back story behind the film's production, and his personal thoughts on American immigration policies.
[CIFF Capsule Review] A Pact
[Ruby Hornet will be attending the 49th Chicago International Film Festival from 10/10 - 10/24. Be sure to follow along as we bring you coverage from the longest-running competitive international film festival in the country. You can find all of our coverage from this year's CIFF here.]
A Pact
Director: Denis Dercourt
Country: Germany and France
CIFF Screenings: October 20, 2013 (8:30pm), October 21, 2013 (1:00pm)
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During the mid-'80s in Germany, Paul tricks Georg into "handing over" his girlfriend, Anna, by forging a handwritten love letter. In exchange, Georg makes Paul agree to a pact stating he can have Anna or someone exactly the same whenever he wants. Paul then chooses a girl for Georg to take. Decades later, Paul and Anna are happily married with two teenage kids when Georg returns as Paul's boss. Following his arrival, multiple situations arise, causing Paul's paranoia to grow over his old friend. However, who is really threatening whom?
A Pact is a dark psychological thriller about one secret that inexplicably took over the lives everybody involved, both directly and indirectly. The film plays out much like a play or an opera with its extremely high dramatic tone, classical, orchestral musical scores, and even leitmotifs that set the tone for upcoming scenes. A Pact sets a tense tone that most other so-called thrillers wished they could create and maintain. Once you begin to get a grasp on the narrative and what's at play, multiple twists and surprises occur, leaving audiences on the edges of their seats and constantly guessing what comes next.
Score: 7 out of 10
[CIFF Capsule Review] Salvo
[Ruby Hornet will be attending the 49th Chicago International Film Festival from 10/10 - 10/24. Be sure to follow along as we bring you coverage from the longest-running competitive international film festival in the country. You can find all of our coverage from this year's CIFF here.]
Salvo
Directors: Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza
Country: Italy
CIFF Screenings: October 20, 2013 (6:15pm), October 22, 2013 (8:00pm)
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Salvo is about the eponymous Salvo, a hitman for the Sicilian mafia, who inexplicably shows grace on the blind sister, Rita, of a mob boss that betrayed and took a hit on him. After taking her to an abandoned warehouse for protection, the mafia questions whether he completed the job or not. Once they find out that he kept the visually-impaired witness alive, Salvo must find a way to protect both of their lives.
The first half of Salvo is amazing, shot in extremely low lighting/high shadows, with the pinnacle of the first half being a long, quiet cat-and-mouse between Salvo and Rita in the latter's house. The scene begins with her listening to the radio counting money to frighteningly wandering around her house, both in search of the silent assassin and not displaying awareness of his presence. The cinematography in the scene is shot spectacularly with long shots that build the already high tension of the scene.
However, once the scene is over and the film moves into the second half where Salvo keeps Rita "safe" in the aforementioned warehouse, the film's tone drops out from a cerebral psychological thriller into a meditative, quiet character study. Normally, I'm a fan of such films, but the shift in nature just made Salvo feel like two incomplete halves rather than one full package. There are some plot holes and lingering questions, the most problematic of these is the true nature of Rita's disability, which itself leads to the majority of plot holes. A simple explanation or exposition on her case would have cleared many of the narrative problems up, but much like the first half of Salvo, audiences are left in the dark wanting more.
Score: 6 out of 10