Critics pick the premieres at Music Box fest
Writing reviews is how a critic usually brings films to readers’ attention. Starting a festival for those readers to attend is a novel step. The Chicago Film Critics Association took that leap and can now tout “the first film festival to be created and curated by film critics.”
For its second year, the Chicago Critics Film Festival relocates to the Music Box Theatre, from the Muvico in Rosemont. Twenty-three local premieres and appearances by out-of-town filmmakers mark this up-and-coming festival: Michel Gondry’s latest whimsy will screen and Bobcat Goldthwait is coming with his new woodsy horror film.
“They Came Together,” pairing Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd, is a sendup of romantic comedies. Writer-director David Wain will come for opening night at 7 p.m. Friday. Another meta-rom-com is “El Critico,” distributed by Music Box Films. A film critic in Buenos Aires falling in love with a cliche laments: “I’m trapped in a genre where I don’t belong.”
“To compile the best films we can from all corners and get them the attention we believe they deserve” is the agenda of CCFF co-producer Erik Childress from
eFilmCritic.com. That mix includes “The Congress” by Ari Folman (“Waltz with Bashir).” Robin Wright plays an actress reincarnated via animation.
The fine indie on closing night (8:30 p.m. May 15) is “Animals,” a junkie love story shot in Uptown and the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Music Box Theatre manager Dave Jennings thinks the critics’ festival might propel its lineup to wider acclaim: “In the future, filmmakers might seek out this festival in order to get a distributor.” This year, a third of them lack one.