Laura Bretan on Her Extraordinary Year
Of all the joyous moments on television this year, few were as memorable or as awe-inspiring as the audition of Northbrook’s own Laura Bretan on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” Her […]
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Michael DiBiasio and Rebecca De Ornelas on “The Videoblogs”
Long before the Internet existed, filmmakers were fascinated by the human face. Some of the most transfixing moments in a film by Ingmar Bergman or Woody Allen occur when the […]
The Communal Magic of Filmfront
At first glance, Filmfront may appear to be a microcinema. Located in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood just off the 18th station on the Pink Line, this venue offers free screenings of […]
Sadie Rogers on “RPG”
I’ve often thought of Sadie Rogers as Stephen Cone’s good luck charm. She would always pop up in his early films, including “The Wise Kids,” which is one of the wisest […]
Christopher Jason Bell on “The Winds That Scatter”
Christopher Jason Bell’s feature directorial debut, “The Winds That Scatter,” is an independent film in the purest sense. It lacks the stars and derivative formulas that have caused so many […]
Valerie Weiss on “A Light Beneath Their Feet”
“By turns endearing, unsettling, and ultimately moving, ‘A Light Beneath Their Feet’ is a triumph of empathetic filmmaking. There are no heroes and villains in this story, just ordinary people […]
Joanna Arnow on “Bad at Dancing,” “i hate myself :)”
There’s a scene in Joanna Arnow’s galvanizing 2013 documentary, “i hate myself :)”, where her ex-boyfriend, fearless poet-provocateur James Kepple, defends his use of offensive words, arguing that they exert […]
Stephen Cone, Cole Doman, Nina Ganet, Pat Healy and Elizabeth Laidlaw on “Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party”
“Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party,” the seventh feature from director Stephen Cone, is a masterpiece of nuance. It assembles a large cast of characters, observes their behavior as they interact during […]
Jeffrey Westhoff on “The Boy Who Knew Too Much”
There were three film critics whose work I read on a weekly basis while growing up in Northern Illinois: Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times, Michael Wilmington at the Chicago […]
Prashant Bhargava and Craig Marsden on “Radhe Radhe: Rites of Holi”
Two men, each armed with a DSLR camera and two assistants, dove headfirst into the crowded streets, frenzied rituals and unbridled passion of Holi, the ancient Hindu religious festival held […]
