Today marks the end of the 54th Chicago International Film Festival, and I feel as if it’s only begun. My crazier-than-usual schedule combined with a lack of pre-festival press screenings […]
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, a.k.a. Lady Gaga, was born just six days after me on March 28th, 1986. Over the past decade, I’ve looked to her as one of the […]
Out of all the performances I saw in 2017, my very favorite was delivered by Haley Lu Richardson in “Columbus,” the brilliant directorial debut of ace video essayist Kogonada. As […]
“I believe that these mysteries are not separate entities but are, in fact, complementary verses of the same song. Now I cannot hear it yet, but I can feel it, […]
Nothing about the cinema of Elizabeth Wood could in any way be defined as timid. I’ll never forget the experience of seeing her solo feature debut, “White Girl,” at Chicago’s […]
When you’re a teenager in the public school system, there are few things harder to be than yourself. Adolescence is such a volatile period of insecurity that kids often create […]
Over the past 11 years I’ve spent on the movie beat in Chicago, there have never been as many contenders for my annual “best of” list as there are in […]
The cinema of German filmmaker Jakob Lass is characterized by an intoxicating energy. His camera and characters are always on the move, involving us in their adventures with such playfulness […]
Ever since I was hired by Chaz Ebert in early 2014, I have accompanied my anniversary retrospectives at Indie Outlook with an annual compilation of my writing for RogerEbert.com. This […]
Few moviegoing experiences from last year rivaled the sheer emotion of taking two of my cousins to see Iranian filmmaker Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s Sundance prize-winning documentary, “Sonita,” at the Chicago […]
