Join us for the Roger Ebert's Film Festival!!

Schedule of Events:

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

6:30 pm: The Searchers

John Ford's "The Searchers" contains scenes of magnificence, and one of John Wayne's best performances. There are shots that are astonishingly beautiful. A cover story inNew Yorkmagazine called it the most influential movie in  american history. And yet at its center is a difficult question, because the Wayne character is racist without apology-and so, in a less outspoken way, are the other white characters. Is the film intended to endorse their attitudes, or to dr amatize and regret them? Today we see it through enlightened eyes, but in 1956 many audiences accepted its harsh view of Indians.

Thursday, April 24, 2025

9:00 am: Megalopolis

Ignore the star rating at the top of this review. It's there because it has to be, and it's high enough to indicate that you should see "Megalopolis," Francis Ford Coppola's four-decade passion project finally brought to the screen in all its insane splendor. That doesn't mean you'll like this movie. I wouldn't argue that strongly with someone who hated or loved it. And I truly think my rating could be higher or lower on the next watch. There's too much to take in on first viewing, especially in the throes of exhaustion. The truth is that I'm not sure a traditional review of this cinematic insanity can possibly convey what it's like to watch it, an experience that sometimes feels like wandering through the dre ams of one of the most important filmmakers of all time.

1:30 pm: Desperately Seeking Susan

I love to read the "personals" on the classified pages - not because I'm looking for the perfect mate, but because I'm a romantic and perhaps a bit of a voyeur; I'm intrigued by the thought of all those strangers going out on dates with each other. I  am also a little frustrated by the time-honored abbreviations used in the personals. How can a complex and interesting human being be compressed into "SWM" or "DBF"? I squint, trying to read between the lines: Does "full-figured" mean she's voluptuous, or a candidate for the fat farm?

"Desperately Seeking Susan" is a movie that begins with those three words, in a classified ad. A time and place are suggested where Susan can rendezvous with the person who is desperately seeking her. A bored housewife (Rosanna Arquette) sees the ad and becomes consumed with curiosity. Who is Susan and who is seeking her, and why? So Arquette turns up at the rendezvous, sees Susan (Madonna), and inadvertently becomes so involved in her world that for a while she even becomes Susan.

5:00 pm: Harlan County U.S.A.

The film retains all of its power, in the story of a miners' strike in Kentucky where the company employed armed goons to escort scabs into the mines, and the most effective picketers were the miners' wives - articulate, indominable, courageous. It contains a f amous scene where guns are fired at the strikers in the darkness before dawn, and Kopple and her c amer aman are knocked down and beaten.

9:30 pm: His Three Daughters

Grief tears down what we think of ourselves. It's cruel. It's harsh. It's inevitable. It shatters the walls we put up around our personalities that so often reduce us to easy descriptions like sister, daughter, and mother. Azazel Jacobs' stunning "His Three Daughters" opens with a scene that defines its title characters, then spends 100 minutes revealing how those definitions don't really capture who they are. Yes, they are sisters and daughters (and two are mothers). But in the days leading up to their father's death, they're reminded of the complexity of human emotion, behavior, and understanding. Anchored by three of the best performances in a very long time and a graceful script from Jacobs himself, this is one of the finest films of the year, a movie that moves me so much that I can get emotional just thinking about it. Because it's not just a showcase for powerhouse acting at its finest. Because it feels true in ways that movies about death are rarely allowed to be.

Friday, April 25, 2025

10:30 am: A Little Prayer

The truth is that, especially when you hear it's from the writer of "Junebug," Angus MacLachlan's "A Little Prayer" has a relatively predictable path to follow. However, that doesn't stop it from having an impact. There's a reason we watch well-done f amily dr amedies like this one over and over again. We see ourselves or the people we know in them. And if we believe the emotion of these characters, the f amiliarity of it all doesn't matter. "A Little Prayer" is an old-fashioned f amily dr ama, a movie that cares about its people more than any high concept, and one that wants you to get to know them in a way that makes you care for them. One of the most moving films you'll see this year, it's also a fantastic platform for the phenomenal Jane Levy and the legendary David Strathairn, a performer who seems incapable of delivering a false performance.

2:30 pm: I'm Still Here

Within the assured wooden confines of a church, a frightful Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), the wife of former congressman Ruben Paiva (Selton Mello), arrives hoping for answers. But not from God. She is confronting her children's former schoolteacher, who after being arrested, detained and possibly tortured by Brazil's military dictatorship, is now trying to keep a low profile in a space that offers people spiritual protection. "My husband's in danger," says an exasperated Eunice. "We're all in danger," retorts the teacher. That pervading risk, the terror felt by a life suspended or ended, took over Brazil during the violent military dictatorship that gripped the South  american country from 1964 to 1985. It's also the tragedy, as felt in Torres' incredible performance, at the heart of Walter Salles' engrossing period dr ama "I'm Still Here."   

7:30 pm: Rumours

Guy Maddin makes films that burst with creativity, usually fueled by what feels like personal interests in projects like "Brand Upon the Brain!" and "My Winnipeg." Roger himself wrote, "If you love movies in the very sinews of your imagination, you should experience the work of Guy Maddin." So I went into his latest, the Cannes-premiering "Rumours," with the expectations set by his previous groundbreaking work.

Saturday, April 26, 2025

9:00 am: The Adventures of Prince Achmed
11:30 am: Color Book

At this year's Chicago Film Festival, I've noticed a prominent connection between intimate f amily tales in my viewing lineup. As a youngest daughter and little sister to two older brothers, I admit the domestic stories I gravitate towards are often ones with which I can identify. However, at this year's festival, I found myself moved immensely by stories of sons. It reminded me of a quote that's stuck with me for years: "Seeing someone with their parents is a tangible reminder that we're all composites" (Iain Reid, I'm Thinking of Ending Things). The question this statement arises is which pieces in the parental puzzle fit, which do not, and why. The films I outline in this particular dispatch investigate these ideas as they bear witness to sons and fathers (or father figures) as they collide in love, competition, pride, and petulance.

4:00 pm: Touch

"Touch," from Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur, is vast in scope, stretching over decades, languages, continents, and cultures, with themes of memory, aging, loss, and love. But its sensibility is as exquisitely tender as the flutter of a butterfly wing.

9:00 pm: The Hangover

The tiger, the baby and the missing tooth, okay. But the chicken?

Now this is what I'm talkin' about. "The Hangover" is a funny movie, flat out, all the way through. Its setup is funny. Every situation is funny. Most of the dialogue is funny almost line by line. At some point we actually find ourselves caring a little about what happened to the missing bridegroom - and the fact that we almost care is funny, too.

Date:
April 23 - 26, 2025

Location:
Virginia Theatre,
203 West Park Avenue,
Champaign, IL 61820

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