Italy

CHICAGO – A film that goes deep into lives thrown together by circumstance highlights DAY THREE of the 55th Chicago International Film Festival. The Polish/Italian “Sole” is part of the new directors competition, a debut by Carlo Sironi on October 18th, 2019 (8pm) at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago.

CHICAGO – What’s up with Clint Eastwood, and why in the Sam Hill did he attach himself as director to this film? Also, why was the decision made to use the actual rescuers as the actors in a true terrorist train incident? Nothing adds up in the strangely disconnected “15:17 to Paris.”

CHICAGO – Last week, one of the most diverse film festivals of the year in Chicago opened with the Swedish film “The Paradise Suite.” The 19th Annual Chicago European Union Film Fest will be at the Gene Siskel Film Center on State Street. With countries ranging from Austria to Slovakia, European cinema voices will be available to the Chicagoland area through March 31st, 2016.

CHICAGO – Don’t you hate it when you figure out where a film is going long before it gets there? That could be a problem with “Third Person,” but writer/director Paul Haggis (“Crash”) also adds enough secrets to chew on and enough multiple pathways to explore. Enter at your own risk.

CHICAGO – Not many Oscar winning screeenwriters change the course of their professional lives because of a dream (story below), but Paul Haggis is an exceptionally brilliant writer whose credits include “Crash” (2005) and “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) – which both won Best Picture – and his new film, “Third Person.”

CHICAGO – As the envelope was opened at the 86th Academy Awards on March 2nd, announcing the winner of the Best Foreign Language Film – “The Great Beauty” – it was Toni Servillo who was the lead actor in the movie. His long career as a an actor and director has culminated with this honor, to go along being named Best Actor at the 26th European Film Awards for the same film.

CHICAGO – Creating the lofty name for this film, “Love is All You Need” – from a translation of its original title, “Den skaldede friser” – is intently ambitious considering its source is a lyric from one of The Beatles most famous songs. The film has its moments, but cannot sustain itself in a stew of high drama and mixed emotions.

CHICAGO – What if the most dangerous and pursued assassin in the world began to develop a flaw in his delivery, due to the vulnerability of simple human contact? Where does religion, carnality and love fit in that connection? George Clooney plays that assassin-type in “The American,” holed up for one more job, the job that might answer both of those questions.

CHICAGO – Cinema/Chicago is proud to announce the first 20 new films scheduled to appear at the 2010 Chicago International Film Festival, October 7th – 21st. The Chicago festival continues to combine the films of established directors/talent with promising newcomers. Expect some foreign and domestic film surprises.

CHICAGO – Christopher Egan is an Australian actor portraying a Londoner on holiday in Italy. That internationalism has helped him tackle his first major lead role opposite Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave in the new film “Letters to Juliet.”