The 56th Chicago International Film Festival runs from October 14th to the 25th, 2020. Most of the films will be virtually streamed throughout those dates. Some other special presentation films will be projected live at the ChiTown Movies Drive-In located at 2343 S. Throop St. in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. You’ll also be able to livestream filmmaker Q&As as part of the price of your ticket. Download the festival program to purchase tickets and get more information.
The 83-year-old Russian director Andrey Konchalovsky is still creating films of a very high order. His most recent film, Dear Comrades! (Dorogie Tovarishchi!) (Russia, 2020) follows Lyuda Syomina (Yuliya Vysotskaya, the director’s wife, excellent here), a loyal Communist official, a member of her local Regional Committee and an avid acolyte of the hard-nosed Lenin / Stalin model of Communism. But even she, discreetly, senses the erosion of those presumed high standards in Soviet governance. Forthright and resourceful, she keeps her ear to the ground and fosters her informational resources diligently, occasionally even sleeping with them. As the primary breadwinner for herself, her daughter and father, she works her longtime friends and acquaintances to reasonable advantage when it comes to the basics of food, clothing, grooming, etc., and graciously returns the favors. Even among local friends and neighbors, any time a government creates restrictions or prohibitions, smaller black markets are created to counterbalance them.
The Central Party has recently declared (it’s 1962, by the way) that the prices of general goods will be raised, which also coincides with the announcement of wage reductions at the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant. A labor strike is declared there, much to the surprise and indignance of government officials from Lyuda’s local cohorts to Nikita Khrushchev and his inner circle. But, despite thousands of protesting workers entering the city, Lyuda, even then, is confident that the government will handle the uprising… until the gunfire starts and bloody bodies start dropping; then she realizes that her daughter Svetka is in the middle of it all. After the uprising is quelled, Svetka is still missing. Lyuda undertakes her own fevered search for her daughter, even as Party officials, the military and the KGB start erasing evidence that any such event even occurred.
This event, the Novocherkassk massacre, actually did occur, but Khrushchev’s party successfully covered it up until the 1990s. Konchalovsky’s screenplay, written with his frequent collaborator Elena Kiseleva, is a masterful dissection of how totalitarianism degrades common humanity, and how difficult that humanity is to regain once lost. There’s dark humor as we watch competing party dignitaries scrambling to present themselves as strongmen while simultaneously protecting themselves from any real consequence. But Konchalovsky never winks or diminishes the seriousness of the overall narrative. Lyuda, our protagonist, is a marvelous character, even if, like many of our own wrong-headed politicians, her overarching convictions must “evolve” once those aforementioned consequences hit home, literally. It’s also a beautifully looking movie, shot in the square ‘Academy’ 4:3 aspect ratio by Andrey Naydenov. This excellent film joins the others I’ve seen so far as highly, highly recommended.
The recorded Livestream Q&A with director Andrei Konchalovsky is available to watch here.
The Middle East has no shortage of repressive hotspots, and it’s only natural for filmmakers to create tense thrillers or tragic dramas out of these circumstances. So, it’s a pleasant surprise that the Nasser Brothers, Arab and Tarzan, have fashioned a somewhat old-fashioned romantic comedy within this environment. Playfully referring to the great Alain Resnais film of fatalistic romance overshadowed by tragedy, Gaza Mon Amour (Palestine, 2020) introduces us to Issa (Salim Daw), a 60-year-old modestly-living fisherman whose living is as threadbare as everyone else’s on the Gaza Strip under Hamas rule. Nonetheless, Issa decides to improve his own personal life by taking a wife. He has long admired Siham (the wonderful Hiam Abbass), and starts a tentative courtship with her. Siham works in a retail women’s clothing store and does a fair amount of tailoring, helped by her divorced daughter Leila (Maisa Abd Elhadi). Neither Issa nor Siham are what others might think of as marketable prospects, but one night, while dragging his fishing nets within the three miles he’s allowed into the Mediterranean, he pulls up a bronze statue of Apollo – a notably erotic bronze statue of Apollo. It’s no doubt an historical treasure, but Issa’s only interest in it seems to be as a good omen for his own romantic aspirations. But Hamas military officials get wind of Issa’s find, and predictably complicate things.
There are rarely laugh-out-loud elements in the story, but the Nasser Brothers are very good at presenting the gentle philosophical humor that peeks out from under the hard shells their characters have understandably developed, and there’s a well-earned happy ending. It’s an extraordinarily likable film, and recommended.
Livestream Q & A with directors Tarzan & Arab Nasser on Thursday, October 22st at 4:00 pm.
Periscope In The Bathtub 