This week Tal Rosenberg looks at cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, the overlooked auteur of the Oscar-nominated wilderness adventure The Revenant, and I sample two features—Tokyo Drifter and Fighting Elegy—from the Gene Siskel Film Center’s monthlong retrospective on Japanese B-movie director Seijun Suzuki (Pistol Opera).
Check out our new reviews of: Anomalisa, a grown-up animation from screenwriter-turned-director Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind); Band of Robbers, a modern-day update of Mark Twain’s books about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn; The Benefactor, starring Richard Gere as a meddling philanthropist; Mustang, a Turkish drama about five orphaned sisters who run afoul of their conservative community; and Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, a documentary profile of the wealthy collector.
Best bets for repertory: Born to Boogie (1972), starring Marc Bolan of T. Rex, and Head (1968), starring the Monkees, Tuesday at Parts & Labor; George Cukor’s Dinner at Eight (1933), screening in 35-milimeter on Wednesday at Northbrook Public Library; David Lynch’s The Elephant Man (1980), Wednesday at University of Chicago Doc Films; Robert Flaherty’s Moana (1925), screening in a restored print with a new soundtrack by Flaherty’s daughter, Monica, and documentary maker Richard Leacock; Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice (1986), Wednesday at Northeast Illinois University Auditorium; and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1975), Friday and Sunday at Doc.
University of Chicago Film Studies Center is back in business after the holiday break, kicking off a three-part lecture series on experimental film in Eastern Europe, and the New Romanian Cinema Film Festival takes place Saturday at Gallery 400 and Sunday at Doc Films.
