Preview: Final Four Nights of 2015 Chicago Critics Film Festival

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”The Second Mother”

When Val (Regina Casé) left her home to work thousands of miles away in Sao Paulo as a live-in housekeeper for Fabinho (Michel Joelsas), she maintained the guilt of leaving her young daughter Jessica behind with relatives. 13 years later, the teenage Jessica (Camila Márdila) shows up at the household, and her presence throws into the unspoken class barriers within Fabinho’s home structure into disarray. Directed by Anna Muylaert. (CCFF Synopsis)

Wednesday, 5/6, 5pm

”The End of the Tour”

’ The End of the Tour,’ Directed by James Ponsoldt
Photo credit: Chicago Critics Film Festival

Based on David Lipsky’s critically acclaimed memoir “Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace,” this is the story of a five-day 1996 interview between Rolling Stone reporter and novelist Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) and acclaimed writer David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) following the publication of Wallace’s groundbreaking epic novel, Infinite Jest. A tenuous-ye-intense relationship develops between journalist and subject as the two men bob and weave, sharing laughs and revealing hidden frailties – but it’s never clear how truthful they’re being with each other. (CCFF Synopsis)

Director James Ponsoldt and featured actor Joan Cusack will appear at the screening.

Wednesday, 5/6, 7pm

”Night Owls”

Adam Pally (“The Mindy Project” and “Happy Endings”) and actress Rosa Salazar (“Insurgent”) spar off in this twisting comedy from director Charles Hood, set over the course of one night. Both provide promising turns as characters who meet by strange circumstance and discover bizarre connections, while initially despising each other. This is the indie version of “Waiting for Godot,” if one of them was trying to keep the other awake after a mysterious drug overdose – and that’s just the beginning. (NA)

Wednesday, 5/6, 10pm

CLOSING NIGHT “The Overnight”

Alex (Adam Scott), Emily (Taylor Schilling), and their son, RJ (R.J. Hermes) have recently moed from Seattle to the Eastside of Los Angeles. Feeling lost in a new city, and desperate to find new friends, they meet Kurt (Jason Schwartzman) at the neighborhood park – and gladly agree to join his family for pizza night at Kurt’s home. But after the kids go to bed, the family “playdate” becomes increasingly more revealing. (CCFF Synopsis)

Director Patrick Brice will appear at the screening.

Thursday, 5/7, 6pm

CLOSING NIGHT ”Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”

’Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ is the Closing Night Film
Photo credit: Chicago Critics Film Festival

This year’s “Whiplash” - a winner of both the Audience Award and Jury Prize at the most recent Sundance Film Festival - is the perfect closer to the Chicago Critics Film Festival, considering the rampant cinephilia credibility that distinguishes it. In a pitch, it’s a coming-of-age movie about a teenage film director befriending an girl who is indeed dying, but this future indie sensation aims higher than just being the hip version of “The Fault in Our Stars.” Here’s the first movie to mix a sickness dramedy with heavy film title puns and Werner Herzog shout-outs, and one that became an overnight success at Sundance partly because of those elements (performances from Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke, RJ Cyler, Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon and Jon Bernthal don’t hurt either). Brace yourself for this movie’s approaching domination of the indie film summer, and be one of the very first to see it this Thursday, the final screening of the 2015 CCFF. (NA)

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon will appear at the screening.

Thursday, 5/7, 8:30pm

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com