CHICAGO | Although I have been quite a busy person (and radio host) this fall quarter, I was able to keep up my annual-ish tradition of watching a slate of new and foreign films at the Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF). For the uninitiated, every fall numerous international, local and auteur filmmakers have their films programmed and screened at Chicago International, for all the public to see. While this year, I didn’t get to see the “centerpiece” films at the festival — usually from names of a larger recognition — I did get to see films I was highly anticipating and excited for. However, I did eventually get to see the centerpiece of the festival through DePaul’s Visiting Artists Series (VAS), where director Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) screened and discussed her new film, “Saltburn”.
Per usual, the Festival was spread throughout the major repertory theaters in Chicago — including the Music Box Theatre, the Gene Siskel Film Center and a local AMC theater. In previous years, CIFF has been hosted at AMC River East however, this year the Festival shifted locations to AMC New City, located right on North and Clybourn.
As for the films I saw as a part of the festival, this year was my most jam-packed. From “Fight Club” and “Se7en” director, I saw David Fincher’s newest film “The Killer,” which was made for Netflix. While “The Killer” was definitely my least favorite of the festival, I still (at least somewhat) enjoyed it. Michael Fassbender plays an unnamed hitman who takes up various identities and pseudonyms, as we learn early on in the film through his plane tickets, train rides, credit cards and forged papers.
Fincher takes us on an international tour of the world, portraying Fassbender’s mysterious assassin as a commuter of sorts; starting in Paris and bringing the audience to the Dominican Republic, New Orleans, Florida, Beacon, NY and then finally to Chicago. The killer’s routine is almost odd as he listens to The Smiths while doing yoga in a decrepit room across from a luxury hotel, waiting to murder a member of the Parisian elite. He might not be great at his job, but he sure has an end goal in sight while traveling the world for his targets. Compared to Fincher’s previous film, “Mank,” Fincher still maintains the grittiness that has always existed in his work, toning it down as time goes on. “The Killer” doesn’t seem as much of a global let-down as “Mank” was, but I support both.
They’re not great. But they’re fine and they’re good. And they work.
By sheer mistake, I happened to see the Hungarian film “Explanation for Everything,” instead of my originally scheduled film – “Fallen Leaves” – which I did end up seeing. More on that later. “Explanation for Everything” follows the relationship between a teenage boy and his history teacher at the end of their high school term in Budapest. As the film is set in Hungary, we are dealing with intense political themes, especially as the country is quite politically conservative, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. During an oral exam for his history final, the boy, Abel, wears a ribbon with the national flag on it, displaying some sort of nationalism to the exam board. One of the professors visibly reacts to Abel’s statement, thus leading the boy to believe that the professor’s political ideology was related to Abel’s failing of the exam.
A scandal erupts from this, even as all of Abel’s family members attended the same high school and passed their history exam. His father insists that he needs to study more, which given the boy’s personality, doesn’t happen. Given that I wanted to see another film, I wasn’t as intrigued by “Explanation for Everything,” as I was also put off by its political subtleties. Was it trying to defend those being “canceled” or “attacked” by the media? It felt off. Abel himself was quite insufferable and annoying to me as a viewer, given that I clearly saw he wasn’t studying, highlighting a clear cause and effect, rather than what the film was focusing on, which was the bias of the professor. Said bias was not shown as far as I was concerned, and didn’t contribute much substance to the film either. I couldn’t even side with Abel, he is just an insolent child aspiring to consorting around Budapest and complaining about school.
After that frustrating disappointment, I saw the cute and heartfelt coming-of-age “Paradise is Burning” from Sweden. Three young (extremely young) sisters of the ages 16, 12 and 7, are all left by their parents to roam free in their working-class locale. “Paradise is Burning” feels even more youthful than the typical coming-of-age stories, especially for its focus on the seven-year-old girl, who provides us much comfort throughout the film. In the film is this feeling of freedom and openness, something all of us can sympathize with. Since I saw it after “Explanation for Everything,” I couldn’t quite settle on “Paradise is Burning,” but I came to appreciate it and the warm feeling that stemmed from it, almost reminiscent of the youthfulness in Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun.”
Next, because of a class I am taking on Latin American Cinema, I elected to see “Isla Alien” (“Alien Island”), a short documentary about Chilean radio operators in the 1980s communicating with a remote island called “Friendship Island.” I was fortunate enough to listen to the director Cristóbal Valenzuela speak after the film about both the political themes and aesthetics of his film. “Isla Alien” is about a deep historical niche of the radio operators and their relationship to the Chilean military dictatorship, touching on conspiracy theories, the subjectivity of the truth, persuasion and influencing beliefs. Valenzuela discussed the stylistic choice to make the film look like the shadowy alleyways of film noir, as the interviewees talk about UFO sightings and their constructed truth.
Another Latin American film I saw was from Argentine filmmaker Rodrigo Moreno “Los delicuentes,” (“The Delinquents.”) Two years ago, I took a class on heist films, focusing on the historical trajectory of the heist subgenre, highlighting its origins in film noir, passing through the sixties and evolving towards the contemporary crime aesthetic. “Los delincuentes” is fascinating not only in its runtime of three hours, but also not entirely being a heist film itself. A disgruntled bank worker steals a load of money under view of security cameras and decides to split the take with his coworker, who keeps the crime a secret. The film paces itself incredibly slowly, but never really reveals where the story is exactly headed; as the two aim to free themselves from the chains of capitalism and the bore of their daily 9 to 5’s. I would highly recommend this!
Wim Wenders, the iconic German auteur director of such masterpieces as “Paris, Texas,” “The American Friend,” and “Wings of Desire,” released two films at CIFF, one of which I got to see: “Perfect Days.” The film stars Japanese actor Koji Yakusho, who has starred in a plethora of Japanese films from Kiyoshi Kurosawa and other classics like “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Babel,” “Tampopo,” and the recent animated film “Belle.” Yakusho barely (if at all) utters a single line of dialogue throughout the film, simply acting through facial expressions and physical movement. Similar to “Los delicuentes,” Yakusho’s character spends his time meandering throughout his daily routine as a lavatory janitor in Tokyo; occasionally taking pictures of trees, listening to music in his truck, and reading at night. Very little actually happens as we learn more about this silent bathroom cleaner’s past during the film’s runtime.
Lastly, “Fallen Leaves” was by far my favorite film at the Festival. I had only seen one film by Aki Kaurismäki before, “Le Havre.” “Fallen Leaves” takes place in Helsinki, Finland and centers around the somewhat cynical-yet-romantic relationship between Ansa, who was fired from her grocery store job for stealing food and the alcoholic Holappa, also fired from his factory job for his drinking on shift. Just like “Los delicuentes” and “Perfect Days,” “Fallen Leaves” centers around the working class of its city and their problems. Kaurismäki’s deadpan humor always hit the spot, delivering on all emotions and the existentialism of the bores of capitalism.
Overall, the 59th CIFF was quite a success this year — even among the films I did not see — and I would highly recommend everything I saw (mostly) and the festival itself in the following years to newcomers.