' ' Cinema Romantico: CIFF Day 2011

Thursday, October 13, 2011

CIFF Day 2011

Every year during the Chicago International Film Festival, which generally runs the first couple weeks of October, I always - always - have other things going on. And thus, rarely am I able to take advantage of it like I should, if I'm able to take advantage of it all. So this year I said no. This year I took a stand. This year I took an entire day off and proclaimed it to be my CIFF Day 2011! Yay!!! And so tomorrow I'm partaking in three movies on the big screen. That's three. I can't remember the last time I saw three movies in one day on the big screen, mostly because I'm pretty sure I've never seen three movies in one day on the big screen.


My 10/14 CIFF Schedule (each synopsis is taken directly from the CIFF web site):

Take Me Home at 2:15. "Thom (Sam Jaeger, NBC’S Parenthood) just can’t win. After losing a job offer and getting evicted, he decides to buckle up as an illegal New York City cab driver. When he picks up Claire (Amber Jaeger), they embark on a trip neither one anticipated. This comedy finds solace in the back seat of a cab, the landscape of the USA, and even in a complete stranger. This classic road movie shows how a little cross-country drive can lead you to a different exit."

Nobody Else But You at 5:40. "The ambiguous suicide of local beauty, weathergirl, cheese model, and Marilyn Monroe look-a-like finds an eager sleuth in David Rousseau, best-selling crime novelist. When Rousseau visits a remote Alps village for the reading of his friend’s will he unwittingly, but irresistibly, gets caught in the tangled web of murder and small town politics in this off-beat mystery."

Note: This was the #1 movie I wanted to see at CIFF. And the only other two shows were 1.) Sold out and 2.) The same night as the Zola Jesus concert (which was last night and which I'm mentioning solely so I can shamelessly link to my current favorite song ever). Which is why I made Friday my day. I mean, sure, My Week With Marilyn and We Need To Talk About Kevin and A Dangerous Method and all those sorts of things are here but, hey, I can see those when they come to Chicago later in the year. I want to see a freaking French film with an absolutely bodacious synopsis that I might not ever get to see otherwise.

The Silver Cliff at 8:00. Violeta, a dentist in Rio de Janeiro, is happily married and still engages in passionate morning lovemaking with her husband. Then he leaves on business and calls to tell her he never plans to return. Confused, she begins to wander the streets, trying to figure out what happened and why. Rio is as much a protagonist as Violeta, its energetic and melancholic landscapes a reflection of her changing moods in this ode to resilience in the face of heartbreaking loss from Gold Hugo winner Karim Aïnouz (Madame Sãta).

So that's my CIFF Tripleheader. America to France and back to the Americas by way of Brazil. And there is also a Norweigan movie on Sunday I'd really like to check out too but in case I don't make it I'm not officially holding myself to it. Here's hoping it lives up to how excited I am about it.

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