CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Festival Feature: The Films of the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival
STOCKHOLM
’Stockholm,’ Directed by Robert Budreau
Photo credit: Tribeca Film Festival
Ethan Hawke is embarking on the character actor phase of his career, and “Stockholm” is a classic role for him. He plays a clueless American criminal who takes hostages at a bank in the titular city, and mucks it up pretty spectacularly. This is based on a true story, and has a “Dog Day Afternoon” quality to it, but with a European spin. One of the other remarkable performances in the film is Noomi Rapace as Bianca, whose connection to Hawke’s character became the genesis for the term “Stockholm Syndrome” (when hostages become sympathetic to their captors). Like Dog Day, it’s a situation that becomes surreal through the nature of the time and place.
No American distributor or release date yet.
WOMAN WALKS AHEAD
’Women Walks Ahead,’ Directed by Susanna White
Photo credit: A24
Jessica Chastain continues a character run that is more appropriate to her carriage as an actor, as she portrays the real-life Catherine Weldon, an East Coast portrait artist who lived in late 19th Century America. She wants to paint the famous Indian Chief Sitting Bull (Michael Greyere) and heads to the Wild West Dakotas to do so. She is shunned by the American Military presence there, who desire her to go home, and gets involved in the politics and treaties between “manifest destiny” and the Native Americans. Chastain creates a perfect spirit for the character, the harshness of the territory isn’t romanticized and the film passionately uses the vistas of the region.
Nationwide release scheduled for June 29th.
DISOBEDIENCE
‘Disobedience,’ Directed by Sebastián Lelio
Photo credit: Bleecker Street Media
This unusual story features Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams as lovers, against a background of their Orthodox Jewish roots. The film has been released, and the full review can be read by clicking here.
The film has been released in the last two weeks to theaters nationwide. See local listings for theaters and showtimes.
BLOWIN’ UP
’Blowin’ Up,’ Directed by Stephanie Wang-Breal
Photo credit: Tribeca Film Festival
The view inside a courtroom, specializing in hearing cases regarding sex workers, prostitution and human trafficking – tied inextricably to immigration – is the subject of this fly-on-the-wall style documentary. The court is located in the New York City borough of Queens, and exists to rehabilitate the offenders, creating a community outreach-based lifeline for the often desperate women who come before the sympathetic judge and defense lawyers. It really comes down to the titans who want to help, personified by the all-woman legal staff who seek redemption for the victims and their “crimes.”
No distributor or release date set.
BACK ROADS
‘Back Roads,’ Directed by Alex Pettyfer
Photo credit: Tribeca Film Festival
Based on a 2000 novel by Tawni O’Dell, “Back Roads” has had a precarious and almost 10 year journey to the big screen, with director Adrian Lyne (who shares screenwriting credit with O’Dell) once attached. The directing reins were taken by Alex Pettyfer, who also portrays the lead role of Harley, a 20-year-old man trying to keep his family together, after his mother (Juliette Lewis) kills his abusive father. The film is somewhat miscast and hyperbolic, and lacks the flavor of the novel’s roots.
No distributor or release date set.
For a “Love Gilda” Opening Night Slideshow at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, CLICK HERE.
For a Red Carpet overview of “Blue Night,” CLICK HERE.
For an interview with author Tawni O’Dell of “Back Roads,” CLICK HERE.
For the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival Award Winners, CLICK HERE.
By PATRICK McDONALD |