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2012 FALL CALENDAR
AUGUST 24th THROUGH NOVEMBER 29th
Highlights:
Story Of Film: An Odyssey pg. 10
Ira Glass introduces
Sleepwalk With Me pg. 13
David Byrne in person!
pg. 17
Music Box of Horrors!
pg. 22
Chicago International
Children’s Film Festival
pg. 26
Méliès
pg. 26
Sound of Music Sing-A-Long
pg. 29
a Film by
LAZHAR
Philippe Falardeau
MONSIEUR
AN OSCAR-NOMINATED CLASSROOM
CROWD-PLEASER THAT SURPASSES THE CLASS!
CRITICS' REPORT CARD
Welcome
to the Music Box Theatre!
As one of the hottest summers on record draws
to an end, it’s a relief to look forward to cooler
days and a terrific fall line-up at the Music Box.
96%
Tomatometer
Regular patrons know that, along with the turning
of leaves, the fall means another edition of our
24-hour horror movie marathon (Music Box of
Horrors), the Halloween Edition of The Rocky
Horror Picture Show, and Chicago’s favorite
Thanksgiving tradition, Sing-a-long ‘Sound of
Music’ (this year we are adding performances
to meet overwhelming audience demand).
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS | NEW YORK NEWSDAY
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE | WASHINGTON POST
N
ominated for an Oscar for Best
Foreign Language Film, Monsieur
Lazhar tells the moving and poignant
story of a Montreal middle school class
shaken by the death of their well-liked
teacher, and the 55-year-old Algerian
immigrant who offers his services as a
substitute teacher and aids the process
of collective healing.
We thank you for all the positive feedback you
have given us regarding the new magazine style
of our quarterly schedule. One of the reasons we redesigned the schedule is so that
we would have additional space for editorial content. The fall 2012 edition takes full
advantage of this by offering two insightful interviews with talented filmmakers.
BONUS FEATURES
From Stage to Screen • Big Talk Interview with Philippe Falardeau
Alice and Simon Audition Tapes • Bachir’s Story • Alice’s Report
AVAILABLE FROM
© Southport Music Box Corporation d/b/a Music Box Films 2012
2
MISS MINOES
MOZART’S SISTER
THE DEEP BLUE SEA
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM MUSIC BOX FILMS
www.musicboxfilms.com
Music Box Theatre
Mike Birbigelia, comedian and first-time director (Sleepwalk with Me), talks about translating
his one-man show to the big screen, and what it was like collaborating with Ira Glass, host
of public radio’s “This American Life.” By the way, Ira Glass will be with us on opening
weekend to introduce select screenings of Sleepwalk with Me and take your questions.
Also, within these pages is an interview with award-winning independent filmmaker Ira
Sachs in which he discusses the literary and cinematic influences on his new film Keep
The Lights On and the legacy of the New Queer Cinema. Keep the Lights On is one of
three films on the fall schedule distributed by our own Music Box Films; The other two
are the dark German comedy Snowman’s Land and The Story of Film: An Odyssey.
Actually, The Story of Film: An Odyssey is much more than a film. It is an extraordinary
look at the history of world cinema, an epic 15-hour journey hosted by film historian Mark
Cousins. Starting October 6 we will present two new parts in the series every weekend
at 11:30 am (for those of you who aren’t morning people, you can catch the first four parts
when they repeat on the evening of October 15). The Daily Telegraph called The Story
of Film: An Odyssey the “cinematic event of the year” so you won’t want to miss it.
We hope to see you many times this fall!
Brian Andreotti
Director of Programming
Music Box Theatre
PS: Did I mention that David Byrne will visit the Music Box on September 17?
Fall 2012
3
Matinees
Forbidden Cinema: Infamous Pre-Code Classics
It seems like a glimpse into an alternate universe, but there was a brief, glorious moment
in early cinema history during which Hollywood censorship was all but vanquished.
Thanks to a gentlemen’s agreement by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors
of America, studios promised to police their own content and abide by the Production
Code. For four years, from March 31, 1930 when the formal pledge of the Code was made,
until the Production Code Administration’s strict enforcement of it began on July 2, 1934,
Hollywood gave itself a free pass to produce and promote whatever morally ambiguous
material it dared. Often salaciously advertised, hyping the bawdy or violent content
promised within, Pre-Code films were the epitome of everything the Catholic League
despised about Hollywood. When MPPDA president Will H. Hays finally brought the
hammer down and appointed the zealously administrative Joseph I. Breen to chair the
PCA, Hollywood’s wild ride was over.
sept. 22-23
sept. 29-30
OCT. 6-7
GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933
Three gold-digging
roommates aim to skip the
breadlines in this Busby
Berkeley musical. Coin-clad
Ginger Rogers warbles
“We’re In The Money”
while Ruby Keeler falls for
tunesmith Dick Powell and
Joan Blondell fends off
upperclass lecher Warren
William. Including the
downright smutty “Pettin’ in
the Park” number. (Mervyn
LeRoy, 1933, 97m)
RED-HEADED WOMAN
Jean Harlow plays Lil
Andrews, the titular
scheming vixen who targets
her rich married boss,
and any other dimwitted
male, to siphon his funds
and advance her financial
and social standing. After
wrecking one marriage, Lil
can’t help but keep climbing
the ladder ‘til there’s no
more rungs to grab! (Jack
Conway, 1932, 79m)
BLONDE VENUS
While her impoverished
and sickly husband can’t
even sell his body to
medical science for radium
treatment, Marlene Dietrich
has to beat back those
who’d gladly purchase hers.
Hitting the streets to pay
for her hubby’s medicine,
Dietrich climbs up and down
the socioeconomic ladder,
including a lucrative affair
with Cary Grant. Featuring
Dietrich’s gorilla-suited
number “Hot Voodoo”!
(Josef von Sternberg, 1932,
93m)
OCT. 20-21
nov. 11
NIGHT NURSE
Spunky nurses Barbara
Stanwyck and Joan Blondell,
in between a quick change
of their uniforms for
negligees, uncover a plot by
a wealthy society doctor to
starve two children to death
in order to seize their trust
fund. Aided by the evil
chauffeur (Clark Gable),
the doctor keeps the
mother hopped up
on pills and booze to
advance his scheme!
(William A Wellman, 1931,
72m)
TWO SECONDS
That’s how long it takes for
Edward G Robinson to die
in the electric chair! In those
moments, Robinson relives
the events that brought him
here, from a loveless marriage
to a scheming taxi dancer
and the psychotic crimes
he’s committed. Robinson’s
outstanding performance
brings to life the story of a
high-rise construction worker
whose grand ambitions were
crushed by a cruel world.
Print courtesy of the Library
of Congress. (Mervyn LeRoy,
1932, 67m)
Scarface
4
sept. 1-2
sept. 9
sept. 15-16
nov. 17-18
SCARFACE
Of all the gangster films
produced in the 30s,
SCARFACE was the most
controversial and violent.
Thinly disguising an Al
Capone biopic, Ben Hecht’s
screenplay keeps a near
forensic level of detail to
the ordered killings Capone
organized, as Hollywood
double Tony Camonte (Paul
Muni in a maniacal role)
wastes his boss and takes
over the racket, aided by
the coin-flipping George
Raft. (Howard Hawks, 1932,
93m)
I’M NO ANGEL
Go West and see Mae! With
I’M NO ANGEL, Mae West
wrote the plot for her own
star vehicle, thanks to a
surprise hit in SHE DONE
HIM WRONG. Tira (West)
is a dancing beauty at a
carnival sideshow, prancing
and preening in a formfitting dress before her
dumbstruck male audiences.
Before an all-male jury, she
brings a similar wiggling
panache to the courtroom
to defend her modern ways.
(Wesley Ruggles, 1933, 87m)
BABY FACE
Barbara Stanwyck stars
in the most notorious
sex-in-the-workplace vice
film made during the PreCode era. Arriving in the
big city after a stint in a
speakeasy dive to work at
Gotham Trust Company,
Lily (Stanwyck) starts at the
bottom floor but resolves
to leap to the executive
suite, two floors at a time!
Screening in a restored,
unedited print from the
Library of Congress. (Alfred
E. Green, 1933, 76m)
SEARCH FOR BEAUTY
Larry “Buster” Crabbe and
Ida Lupino (in her American
screen debut!) are a pair
of Olympians duped into
running a nudie rag dressed
up as a fitness magazine.
When the two want out to
start something a bit more
wholesome, their patrons
have other ideas. This
playfully dirty comedy runs
true to the tabloid at the
story’s center, often making
the film an excuse to parade
cheese- and beefcakes
around. (Erle C Kenton,
1934, 78m)
Music Box Theatre
Gold Diggers
of 1933
Fall 2012
5
2nd Saturday
Silent Cinema
Great movies call for great food!
The second Saturday every month at noon!
Named by Chicago Magazine as the Best New Film *October's Silent Cinema will be
Series of 2011 and recently hailed by the Chicago
a special presentation on Friday,
Reader’s J.R. Jones as one of the best movie matiOctober 12 of Nosferatu. (pg. 21)
nee series in the city; the Music Box Silent Cinema
Series is presented on the second Saturday of each
each
month at noon! All films are shown “authentically” in
$8
for
students
and
seniors
35mm at proper silent film speed and aspect ratio
with live accompaniment by Dennis Scott at the
Available at the Box Office and online.
Music Box theatre organ!
Tickets: $10
15% off your food!
Bring in your Music
Box ticket stub from
that day!
Just across the street from the
Music Box Theatre!
SATURDAY, september 8 at noon
THE CROWD (1928) Directed by King Vidor
Poignant and uncompromising, The Crowd is
a timeless tale of the American everyman. A
classic story of a young man from a small town
who heads to New York to pursue his dreams of
big success in the big city but soon finds himself
just one of many faceless workers in a large
company. The film tells the story of John (James
Murray) and Mary (Eleanor Boardman) without
sentimentality or melodrama and eloquently
captures the reality of their lives, regrets, brief
triumphs and disappointments in an impersonal
metropolis. While not a box office success when
it was first released, The Crowd has consistently
been hailed as one the best and most enduring
silent films and was one of the first 25 films to
be selected for preservation by the Library of
Congress National Film Registry.
98m
saturday, november 10 at noon
THE CAMERAMAN (1928)
Directed by Edward Sedgwick
6
Music Box Theatre
The Cameraman was Buster Keaton’s first film
for MGM Studios and made while he was still at
the height of his career. Buster plays a sidewalk
tintype portrait photographer who develops a
crush on Sally (Marceline Day), an MGM secretary.
In order to be near her, he uses all of his savings to
purchase an old film camera and tries to get a job
as one of MGM’s cameramen. Despite his complete
lack of ability and experience, Sally encourages
Buster to film everything he can and a wild series
of comedic mishaps ensues. From a dazed monkey
to a war in Chinatown and a boat race gone wrong,
The Cameraman delivers a classic, unforgettable
Buster Keaton performance! In 2005, this film,
once thought lost but rediscovered in Paris in 1968,
was added to the Library of Congress National
Film Registry having been deemed “culturally,
historically or aesthetically significant.”
69m
www.bluebayouchicago.com
Fall 2012
7
Midnight Movies
8/24-25 The Big Lebowski
8/31 - 9/1 Fast Times at Ridgemont High
9/7-8 Bone
(Larry Cohen, 1972, 95m)
40th Anniversary!
9/14 The Room
(Tommy Wiseau, 2003, 99m)
9/15 The Rocky Horror Picture Show
(Jim Sharman, 1975, 100m)
9/21-22 The Telephone Book
(Nelson Lyon, 1971, 80m)
New restoration w/ producer
Merv Bloch in person!
9/28
Miami Connection
(Y.K. Kim, 1987, 90m)
9/29
Bike Smut: Turning TriXXX
Back by popular demand!
10/5-6 The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, 1972, 120m)
40th Anniversary!
10/19-20 They Live
Picture Show
11/2 Dune
11/3 Xanadu
(David Lynch, 1984, 137m)
(Robert Greenwald, 1980, 93m)
presented by Camp Midnight!
11/9 The Room
11/10
(Tommy Wiseau, 2003, 99m)
Clue (Johnathan Lynn, 1985, 94m)
Closet sing-a-long!!
11/23-24 Tron (Steven Lisberger, 1982, 96m)
30th Anniversary!
the Telephone Book - september 21 &22
New restoration w/ producer Merv Bloch in person! Co-Presented with Mr. Skin!
A major, though forgotten, work from New York's underground film scene of the late 60s and
early 70s, Nelson Lyon's THE TELEPHONE BOOK tells the story of a sex-obsessed hippie who
falls in love with the world's greatest obscene phone caller and embarks on a quest to find him.
Her journey introduces to her to an avant-garde stag filmmaker, a manipulative psychiatrist, a
bored lesbian housewife and more. Photographed in high-contrast black-and-white and punctuated with a remarkable, surreal animated sequence, THE TELEPHONE BOOK is one of the
greatest cult films you've probably never heard of.
XANADU sing-a-long - November 3
Presented by Camp Midnight, hosted by Dick O’Day
For one magical night only, Xanadu will be experienced the only way a classic musical roller
disco film should be presented - in a theater filled with leg-warmers, drag queens and screaming
Xanadu fans of all shapes and sizes belting out the film’s well known songs! Sing-Along
Xanadu promises a tacky, hilarious extravaganza filled with roller skating, neon, spandex, and
lots and lots of glitter.
Trapped in the Closet Sing-A-long - november 16 & 17
R. Kelly, Jim Swaffield
To say that R&B artist R. Kelly’s hip-hopera Trapped in the Closet is astounding would
severely undersell the audacity, wonder and (possible) genius of this “work.” The film is as melodramatic as Douglas Sirk and as earnest as Ed Wood. The only thing that could improve it would
be to present it as a Sing-Along, and that’s exactly what we will do.
8
Music Box Theatre
october 17 at 7:00pm
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
adapted for the stage by Simon Stephens
based on the international best-selling novel by Mark Haddon
Christopher, 15, stands beside Mrs Shears’ murdered dog.
Under suspicion himself, he records each fact in his book
to solve the mystery. He has an extraordinary brain but is
ill-equipped to interpret everyday life and has never ventured
alone beyond the end of his road. Now, his detective work
takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.
w/ shadowcast by Midnight Madness!
11/16-17 Trapped in the Visit www.musicboxtheatre.com
for advance tickets and more information
(Jim Sharman, 1975, 100m)
National Theatre Live is a groundbreaking
initiative to bring the best of British theatre to
cinemas around the world.
(John Carpenter, 1988, 93m)
10/26-27 The Rocky Horror NT Live
november 7 at 7:00pm
THE LAST OF THE HAUSSMANS
a new play by Stephen Beresford
Anarchic, feisty but growing old, high society drop-out Judy
Haussman holds court in her dilapidated house on the Devon
coast. She’s joined by wayward offspring Nick and Libby,
granddaughter Summer, local doctor Peter, and Daniel, a
troubled teenager. Together they share a few sweltering
months in the chaotic world of all-day drinking, infatuations,
long-held resentments, free love and failure.
NOVEMBER 28 at 7:00pm
TIMON OF ATHENS
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Nicolas Hytner
Wealthy friend to the rich and powerful, Timon of Athens
is surrounded by free-loaders and sycophants. Finding his
coffers empty, he reassures his loyal steward that all will be
well. When he calls upon his associates, instead of offering
help, they hang him out to dry. After a final, vengeful banquet,
Timon withdraws to a literal and emotional wasteland, pouring
curses on a morally bankrupt Athens.
www.ntlive.com
Fall 2012
9
“The cinematic event of the year…extraordinary!” – Daily Telegraph
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
A film by Mark Cousins
The Story of Film: An Odyssey is an unprecedented cinematic event and an epic journey
through the history of world cinema. Film historian Mark Cousins takes a personal and
idiosyncratic approach in this bold 15-part love letter to the movies; beginning with the
invention of motion pictures in the 19th century and concluding with the multi-billion
dollar globalized digital industry of the 21st.
Distinct in the world of documentaries about film The Story of Film: An Odyssey is unique
in its focus on not only the history of film but also the artistic vision and innovations of
filmmaking pioneers.
TSOF_1200x1800_ART_V1.indd 1
11/10/2011 14:40
This landmark documentary is filled with glorious clips from some of the greatest
movies ever made and features exclusive interviews with legendary filmmakers,
writers and actors.
Part 1 - October 6, 7 at 11:30am & October 15 at 7:00pm
Birth Of The Cinema (1900-1920)
-The birth of a great new art form and the ideas and passion that drove the development of film and the creation of
Hollywood.
The Hollywood Dream (1920’s)
-The Silent Era and movies in the roaring 20s. Star directors like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton emerge
and some of the greatest movies ever made are produced by directors like Eric Von Stroheim and Carl Theodor Dreyer.
Part 2 - October 13, 14 at 11:30am & October 15 at 4:30pm and 9:30pm
Expressionism, Impressionism and Surrealism: Golden Age Of World Cinema (1920’s)
-The 1920s, a golden age for world cinema. From Paris to Tokyo to China movie makers push the boundaries of the
new medium. Expressionism, impressionism and surrealism appear as passionate new movements.
The Arrival Of Sound (1930’s)
-The coming of sound in the 1930s upends everything. New genres are born: the screwball comedy, gangster pictures, horror films, westerns and musicals and directors Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock become masters
of mood.
Part 3 - October 20, 21 at 11:30am
Post-War Cinema (1940’s)
-The trauma of war takes cinema down new and more daring paths. Part 3 charts the darkening of American film, in
the work of Orson Welles and the drama of the McCarthy era. Interviews with screenwriters Paul Schrader and
Robert Towne and director Stanley Donen are featured.
Schrader discusses his screenplay for Taxi Driver, Robert Towne explores the dark ideas in Chinatown and
director Charles Burnett talks about the birth of Black American cinema.
Movies To Change The World (1970’s)
-Movies try to change the world in the 70s. Bold and moving films are made around the world by Wim Wenders, in
Germany and Ken Loach in Britain as well as by directors in Japan, Africa, Australia and South America.
Part 6 - November 10, 11 at 11:30am
The Arrival of Multiplexes and Asian Mainstream (1970’s)
-Innovative films like Star Wars, Jaws and The Exorcist usher in the age of the multiplex. In India, movie star,
Amitabh Bachchan, discusses Bollywood and Bruce Lee’s movies and the action films of Master Yuen Wo Ping
kickstart the kinetic Hong Kong film scene.
Fight The Power: Protest in Film (1980’s)
-The 1980s, are years of protest in the movies. Director John Sayles talks about truth and power in film, In Beijing,
Chinese cinema blossoms before the Tian’anmen crackdown and in Poland the master director Krzysztof Kieslowski emerges.
Part 7 - November 17, 18 at 11:30am
New Boundaries: World Cinema in Africa, Asia, Latin America (1990’s)
-World cinema enters a golden age in the 90s. Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s discusses realism in film. In
Japan, Shinya Tsukamoto, lays the groundwork for bold new Japanese horror films and director, Claire Denis, talks
exclusively about her work.
New American Independents & The Digital Revolution (1990’s)
-Brilliant, flashy and playful, the movies of the 90s flourish through Tarantino’s new style of dialogue and the edgy
work of the Coen Brothers. The writer of Starship Troopers and Robocop discusses irony and Baz Luhrmann talks
about Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge. The digital world changes movies forever.
Cinema Today and The Future (2000’s)
-The story of film comes full circle. David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive becomes one of the most complex dream films
ever made, Inception turns film into a game and in Moscow Alexander Sokurov talks exclusively about his innovative films. Finally, The Story of Film goes beyond the present, to look at film in the future.
Bring in your
Music Box Theatre
ticket stub to
receive a
FREE
appetizer*
for your table
Sex & Melodrama (1950’s)
-Sex and melodrama are key in the movies of the 50s. From On the Waterfront and the films of James Dean to
passionate world cinema from Egypt, India, China, Mexico, Britain and Japan. Features interviews with actress
Kyoko Kagawa and the first great African director, Youssef Chahine.
Part 4 - October 27, 28 at 11:30am
European New Wave (1960’s)
-The explosive story of film in the late 50s and 60s. Actress Claudia Cardinale talks exclusively about Federico
Fellini, Lars Von Trier discusses Ingmar Bergman and Bernardo Bertolucci remembers his work with Pier Paolo Pasolini.
New Directors, New Wave (1960’s)
-World cinema dazzles in the 1960s. Cinematographer Haskell Wexler discusses the influence ofdocumentaries on
mainstream movies. Easy Rider and 2001: A Space Odyssey begin a new era in America cinema and the new wave
in world cinema is realized in the films of Roman Polanski, Andrei Tarkovsky and Nagisa Oshima.
Part 5 - November 3, 4 at 11:30am
American Cinema of the 70’s
- American cinema matures in the 70’s. Buck Henry, who wrote The Graduate, talks about satire in film, Paul
10
Music Box Theatre
*Free appetizer available when
other purchases exceed $15. Dine
in only. Not valid with other offers.
Limit 1 appetizer per table.
Lunch | Dinner | Late Night
Daily Specials | Private Parties
Sunday Brunch Buffet
2.5 BlockS South of MuSic Box
3443 N. Southport | 773.529.8550 | mysticceltchicago.com
Fall 2012
11
Featured Presentations
STARTS AUGUST 24
“Both winsome and sophisticated, Chicken with
Plums unfolds like a rich Persian carpet woven of
memories and nostalgia.” – Hollywood Reporter
“What Satrapi and Paronnaud have really
achieved is an evocation of a lost world,
much as they did in Persepolis.” – Variety
Chicken
Plums
with
www.sonyclassics.com
From the
Filmmakers of
‘Persepolis’
Directed by Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud
Chicken With Plums is a romantic thriller with flashbacks and flash forwards where the pieces of the
puzzle gradually fit together and the poignant secret of his life comes to light. Since his beloved violin was
broken, Nasser Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost all taste for life. Finding
no instrument worthy of replacing it, he decides to confine himself to bed to await death. As he hopes for
its arrival, he plunges into deep reveries, with dreams as melancholic as they are joyous. A romantic thriller
with flashbacks and flash forwards, the pieces of the puzzle gradually fit together and the poignant secret of
his life comes to light: a wonderful story of love which inspired his genius and his music.
august 24 - 30
Based on a true story, The Imposter, is documentary filmmaking turned Film Noir. In 1994, a 13 year old boy
disappeared without a trace from San Antonio, Texas. Three and a half years later he is found alive, thousands of
miles away in a village in southern Spain telling an elaborate story of kid­nap and torture. His family is overjoyed
to have him back but everything may not be as it seems. His strange accent and changes in appearance all
seem to be suspicious inconsistencies, yet the family seems not to notice. It’s only when an investigator starts
asking questions that this story takes an even stranger turn. With all of the twists of a true thriller, The Imposter
challenges our perceptions of the truth and every new revelation leaves the viewer on the edge of their seat.
“This documentary begins in mystery and ends in
horror – a disturbing vision of the lengths we go to,
to fool ourselves.” —The Guardian
The Imposter
Directed by Bart Layton
12
Music Box Theatre
STARTS august 31
Ira Glass in person Friday, Aug 31st and
Saturday September 1st
for intro and Q & A
“An endearing indie feature about the day-to-day indecisions and nocturnal
perambulations of a commitment-phobic New Yorker.” – Variety
“As an artistic coming-of-age story and intimate, affectionate peek inside the
tight-knit community of stand-up comedians, Sleepwalk With Me is as charming
as it is winningly modest.” – AV Club
“I’m going to tell you a story and it’s
true… I always have to tell people
that,” so asserts comedian-turnedplaywright-turned-filmmaker Mike
Birbiglia directly to the viewer at
the outset of his autobiographically
inspired, fictional feature debut.
We are thrust into the tale of a
burgeoning stand-up comedian
struggling with the stress of a
stalled career, a stale relationship
threatening to race out of his
control, and the wild spurts of severe
sleepwalking he is desperate to
ignore. Based on the successful oneman show, SLEEPWALK WITH ME engages in the kind of passionate and
personal storytelling that transfigures
intimate anguish into comic art.
INTERVIEW WITH
MIKE BIRBIGLIA
PAGES 14-15
sleepwalk
with me
Directed by Mike Birbiglia
www.sleepwalkmovie.com
Fall 2012
13
Wide Awake with Sleepwalk With Me writer-director-star
Mike Birbiglia
By Steve Prokopy
Although Mike Birbiglia began his career as a stand-up comedian, his act has
evolved to the point where he has become more of a comedic storyteller, retelling some of the most painful events of his young and adult life in across comedy
albums, appearances on the Public Radio series “This American Life,” a book, and in
theater performances, including a successful off-Broadway run.
Birbiglia’s debut as a feature director-writer-lead actor is Sleepwalk With Me, based
on his one-man show, which chronicles his early years as a comic suffering from a
chronic sleepwalking disorder that occasionally endangers his life and the lives of
those around him. The story deals with stress that comes from his condition, as well
as his limp act and a fading relationship. The film is funny, charming, and front-loaded
with universal, anxiety-laden truths about pitting expectations others place on you
against simply following one’s life ambition. I sat down to talk with Birbiglia to discuss
the transition his story took from stage to book to the big screen, and working with
Ira Glass (credited as a co-writer) to fine tune the screenplay.
SP: Was the transition of your comedy career from joke-joke-joke to more talking
about your life really as simple as someone saying, “Hey, you should talk about
your life.”
MB: That’s the movie version for sure.
SP: So it wasn’t a single incident, but was that how it worked for you where you
thought “This is where it’s probably going to work best for me.”
MB: That was based in a few different people, like one person was Mark Maron, who was a disciple of that school of
comedy, and I knew him a little bit. In New York, we had a love-hate relationship [laughs]. My first manager gave me
this piece of advice once where he said, “If you write abut yourself, no one can steal it,” and there’s a lot of truth to
that. That is one of the frustrations of being a stand up comedian, we’re all swimming in the same pond and you do get
frustrated. I don’t watch many stand-up comedy specials, but I saw a clip of someone’s special the other day where
almost verbatim they have a bit that is in my notebook and I just have to go, “Alright, can’t use that one.” And it’s a bit
I really like.
The more I found the audience was engaged and the more I thought, “They are engaged because I’m engaged and
I’m giving myself to this to some extent.” There’s something I realized in my 20s about observational comedy or clever
comedy where you look at someone doing it and to some degree you just have this thought in your mind like, “Yeah,
I could have written that.” And when someone tells you something personal and revealing about themselves, you’re
like “Oh thanks.” It’s a different reaction. I’ve never watched someone who tells a truly inspired personal story and
thought, “I could have thought of that.” No, you couldn’t have. That happened to that person. Something happened
where I was put in these situations and was asked to tell stories, and I realized, “I’m actually better at this, and there’s
something happening that’s more exciting to me.”
SP: Observational storytelling comedy has opened up stand up for a lot of people. When I hear people like you tell
stories about their life, it’s identifiable. More than likely somewhere in your show, we will think, “I’ve been through that.
I’ve lived through that.” I think it’s opened up comedy for people who weren’t maybe that interested in just hearing
joke after joke.
MB: I agree. There’s something special about being in an audience and having one person on stage say something that
in a different context would be off the wall. If someone had said it at work, you would be like, “Oh my God!” But you’re
in a room where everyone is laughing, and there’s something deeply cathartic about that.
SP: The version of you in this movie, there might be some people in the audience who might not ever like him, and I
don’t mean that’s because you are unlikable; it’s because he does some unlikable things. Is it more important that we
like him or that we understand him?
MB: No, I don’t think you have to like him. I’m always afraid of the word “likable” when writing anything. I try to use the
word “relatable” and I think that the character is relatable, because the character is misunderstood. No one in his life
thinks that he can do what he wants to do and no one really believes in him, and I feel like that’s relatable. I feel like
that all of the time.
14
Music Box Theatre
SP: His girlfriend seems very supportive.
MB: I think that that’s the paradox if the film. She is the one person he’s closest to in his life, and he can’t tell the truth to
her anymore, because of his changing feelings. That was painful in real life, and I think that’s what works about the film.
For most people when they watch the film, the moment where it makes you cringe is when he starts talking about her on
stage, because you’re just going, “Oh no. We like her. Why is he doing this?”
SP: It’s very clear he doesn’t ever want her to see him perform. We don’t ever see her in the audience of one of his
shows. Did the girlfriend who was sort of the model for this never see that material?
MB: The reality of it was, she knew that I had jokes about her, but I feel like the more I went on the road, the more specific the jokes got and the less she saw them. For film construction, we had to assemble it that way story-wise. That’s also
why I’m “Matt Pandamiglio” and not Mike Birbiglia.
SP: The condition you have is called…”?
MB: REM Behavior Disorder. Something like 60 percent of Americans sleepwalk, or some really high number. I was
shocked by it. A guy whose real name is Dr. Demented [who appears in the film as himself] wrote a wonderful book on
sleep and sleep habits, and it’s a big problem. People are sleep deprived in our country. It’s a really common and dangerous thing.
SP: In addition to co-writing the screenplay and being the lead actor, why did you decide piling directing on top of those
was a good idea?
MB: I always wanted to direct films, since I was about 19 or 20 years old, and what I discovered was that I couldn’t afford
to financially. It’s so expensive. I was directing shorts and just burning through money and I realized that making movies
is the opposite of having a job. You are spending money, so it’s the opposite of taking in money. So it was a little like a
suppressed dream all through my 20s. When push came to shove with this movie, I wasn’t going to direct it. It was with
a company that makes a lot of films and it was going to be a larger-budget film—maybe as much as $7 million, but then
they decided that they didn’t think the script was ready, and Ira and I felt like the script was ready. So we parted ways
amicably, and we said “Let’s try to make it for $1 million.”
I’m friends with Lena [Dunham], and she made TINY FURNITURE; I’m friends with like Jeff Garland who had made I
WANT SOMEONE TO EAT CHEESE WITH. There were a lot of people who I was friends with, like Craig Zobel who did
COMPLIANCE this year. They all said to me, “You should direct it, because you’re the closest to the
material.” Jeff Garland literally said to me, “If you hire a
director, you’re just going to fight with him the whole time. It
was other filmmakers who gave me the confidence to direct.
SP: What were Ira’s contributions to the screenplay?
MB: It’s a really complex crediting, but all three of the other
writers (Glass, brother Joe Birbiglia, and Seth Barrish] are
people who I have collaborated with intensely over many
years. Ira and I worked with each other over the last four or
five years; Seth I worked with for about eight year; and my
brother I had been working with since I was 19 years old.
I always held the master document, but we would have
sessions of just me and Ira or just me and Seth or me, Ira,
Seth, and Joe. I’ve always felt that the thing about Ira is
that he’s a real “story Jedi.” He’s a real stickler for perfection in telling stories. In a lot of ways, that’s the reason
the film works, because there were scenes that I really
liked, and he would go, “We are not feeling anything from
this character,” and I would be “But it’s funny, because of
this, and it moves the story.” He would just go, “No, we
need something that is more along the lines of this.” In
many ways, he did a lot of dramaturgical work on it. His
standards on his radio show, his TV show, and with this
movie are absurdly high.
SP: The relationship with the girlfriend, and almost
equally the relationship you have with your parents in the
film, are fueling these dreams and sleepwalk incidents.
MB: Sure.
White Birch
Trading Co.
A Boutique for the Home.
3735 N. Southport Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60613
ph: (773) 698-6984
www.whitebirchtradingco.com
Steve Prokopy is the Chicago Editor for Ain’t It Cool News
(www.aintitcool.com), where he has contributed film reviews and filmmaker & actor interviews under the name “Capone” since 1998. In 2005,
he also joined the staff of the Chicago-based media outlet GapersBlock.
com as the site’s Friday film critic with his Steve@theMovies column.
Fall 2012
15
(Les Bien-Aimes)
Directed by Christophe Honore
“Exquisitely romantic”
-Screen International
www.sundanceselects.com
This sly and exquisitely romantic musical drama
from Christophe Honoré spans over three decades
as it follows a mother and daughter’s misadventures
in love. Beloved was featured as the centerpiece of
this year’s Chicago French Film Festival, and it returns to the Music Box for this limited engagement.
From the 1960s era story of a young Madeleine
(Ludivine Sagnier) and her Czech husband to the
romance of Madeleine’s daughter, Vera (Mastroanni), thirty years later and the rekindling of an affair
between a re-married Madeleine (Deneuve) and her
former husband Jaromil (Milos Forman). Beloved is
a light-hearted
but ultimately moving exploration of
DeleeceHalf.pg.ad.B. 4.625x3.75.revised.pdf
the changing nature of relationships.
OFFICIAL
SELECTION
2011
CANNES FILM
FESTIVAL
1
5/9/12
3:13 PM
Dinner & a Movie!
2011, France, 139m
ALL ACCESS SERIES
Beloved
PRESS PASS
SPECIAL EVENT MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 AT 7:00 pm
september 14 - 20
Greg Kot
with
David Byrne
& Bettina Richards
Join Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot for a special evening with
author and Talking Heads cofounder David Byrne and Thrill Jockey
Records founder Bettina Richards. The three will discuss Byrne’s
new book, “How Music Works,” in which the legendary artist
explores the joy, the physics and the business of making music.
“How Music Works” will be available for sale at the event.
SEPTEMBER 17
Tickets: $20
Location: Music Box Theatre,
3733 N. Southport Ave, Chicago
Time: 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6 p.m.)
SPECIAL EVENT FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
Come to Deleece restaurant before or after the show,
just a few doors North of the Music Box.
Serving dinner, lunch and weekend brunch.
3747 N. Southport Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613
773.325.1710
AN AFFORDABLE, ECLECTIC, NEIGHBORHOOD HAUNT
16
Music Box Theatre
www.deleece.com
Fall 2012
17
STARTS september 21
STARTS september 28
“Words like “important” and
“inspiring” tend too often to
be meaninglessly attached
to non-fiction filmmaking,
but in the case of David
France’s compelling snapshot
of a revolutionary period
in AIDS treatment, they are
amply justified.”
– Hollywood Reporter
Directed by David France
www.sundanceselects.com
Faced with their own mortality an improbable group of young
people, many of them HIV-positive young men, broke the
mold as radical warriors taking on Washington and the medical
establishment. This is the story of two coalitions—ACT UP and TAG—whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a
death sentence into a manageable condition. These self-made
activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped
identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental
trials to patients in record time. Filmmaker David France puts
the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the
heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant
breakthroughs of heroes in the making.
SPECIAL EVENT SEPTEMBER 22 - 27
United Film Festival - Chicago is excited to
be returning for its 4th year at the Music Box
Theatre! United Film Festival screens cuttingedge independent films and highly acclaimed
classics with the audience in mind. Our focus
is to bring together talented filmmakers from
diverse backgrounds, thus creating a “United”
showcase of creative energy and talent.
There’s truly something for everyone, and this
dynamic lineup of features, documentaries,
and shorts is not to be missed! www.theunitedfest.com
“Few names conjure “style” with
the zest of Diana
Vreeland, and
the documentary
“The Eye Has to
Travel” gets the
zing just right.”
-Variety
Diana Vreeland:
The Eye Has To Traval
Directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland
DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL is an intimate portrait and a vibrant celebration
of one of the most influential women of the 20th century, an enduring icon whose influence
changed the face of fashion, beauty, art, publishing and culture itself forever. Along the way,
the story of Vreeland illustrates the evolution of women into roles of power and prominence
throughout the 20th century, and travels through some of the century’s greatest historical and
cultural eras, including Paris’ Belle Epoque, New York in the roaring twenties, and London in the
swinging sixties. www.samuelgoldwynfilms.com
september 28 - October 4
In this German dark comedy,
Walter is a professional hitman
who has botched a job. Forced
to leave the city, he takes up an
offer from crime boss Berger to
protect his house in a remote
region of the Carpathian
Mountains. At his side is his
old friend Mickey. By accident,
Berger’s young and pretty wife
Sybille is killed, and Walter
and Mickey hide her body,
fearing Berger’s vengeance.
What seemed to be a nice,
easy holiday trip for Walter and
Mickey soon becomes a fight for
survival for all parties involved.
Snowman’s Land
Director by Tomasz Thomson
www.musicboxfilms.com
“A Teutonic mix of Tarantino and Jarmusch, ‘Snowman’s Land’ provides considerable diversion with its
deadpan take on befuddled urban hitmen assigned to a far-flung winter wonderland. Impressively handled
sophomore feature by writer-helmer Thomasz Thomson” - Dennis Harvey, Variety
18
Music Box Theatre
Fall 2012
19
SPECIAL EVENT TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2
LCD Soundsystem:
The Final Concert
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012
7:30
“Shut Up and Play the Hits” the film that documents the last LCD Soundsystem concert
at Madison Square Garden has already drawn huge audiences in Chicago and across the
country and now the Music Box Theatre will be showing the filmed version of the entire
concert! This will be a totally different experience from the documentary. This farewell
concert was a celebration, a send-off extraordinaire and a once in a lifetime experience for
those who were lucky enough to be there. october 5 - 11
ABOUT CHERRY challenges assumptions about
sexuality and pornography, while addressing the
common struggle of finding one’s role in life.
Angelina (Ashley Hinshaw) is an 18-year-old on the
verge of finishing high school, rushing to escape
her broken family life. She skips town with her
best friend (Dev Patel) and gets a job cocktailing
in a San Francisco strip club where she meets
Frances (James Franco), an affluent lawyer who
introduces her to a high-class world beyond her
wildest dreams. At the same time, Angelina begins
exploring San Francisco’s porn industry, using the
moniker Cherry. But Angelina’s newfound ideal
lifestyle soon comes apart at the seams.
Starring
co
m
Ja es Fran
d
an
Dev Patel
This event is also the EARLY RELEASE PARTY for “Shut and Play the Hits” on DVD and
Blu-Ray; both these and SUAPTH posters will be on sale at the theatre that evening!
Directed by Stephen Elliott
friday, october 12 at 7:00 pm
S
(La Fille Du Puisatier)
“Imbued with the
bucolic charm and
the conspicuous
lack of villains
that is typical of
Pagnol’s work,”
Variety
www.kinolorber.com
20
Music Box Theatre
A remake of Marcel Pagnol’s
eponymous 1940 film, Set in preWWII France, the film tells the
moving story of Pascal Amoretti
(Daniel Auteuil), a hardscrabble
well digger who is forced to
come to terms with his 18-yearold daughter’s early pregnancy.
The film begins with Patricia
Amoretti’s (Astrid Berges-Frisbey)
first romantic encounter with
26-year-old fighter pilot Jacques
Mazel (Nicolas Duvauchelle).
Class struggle, social norms and
the war get in the way of a happy
life as Jacques is drafted and
the young Patricia finds herself
pregnant with his child.
A silent film classic, Nosferatu never fails to strike
fear into the hearts of audiences. F.W. Murnau’s
unsettling and unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s
“Dracula” is a masterpiece of German Expressionist
horror. Real estate agent Thomas Hutter (Gustav
von Wagenheim) has come to the Carpathian
Mountains to finalize the sale of a property to the
eerie Count Orlok (Max Schrek). The Count’s
obsession with blood and his strange habit of
sleeping in a coffin soon leads Hutter to realize the
truth about his client’s monstrous nature but too
late! The Count has already made his way to the city
of Wisborg setting off a series of mysterious deaths. Hutter’s wife, Ellen (Greta Shröder), also realizes
the truth and nobly decides to pay the ultimate price
by “entertaining” the vampire until dawn when the
rays of the rising sun will rid the world of the hideous
menace Count Orlock! 94m
cial
friday
night
Pr
The Well-Digger's Daughter
pe
es
n
OCTOBER 5 - 11
e n tat i
o
LCD Soundsystem themselves said, “If it’s a funeral, let’s have the best funeral ever” and
it’s clear that they did just that.
NOSFERATU
Directed by F. W. Murnau
Fall 2012
21
friday, october 12, at 9:30 pm
STARTS october 19
“Dazzling! May well
be the crime film
of the year, or the
decade.” -Salon
Actress Sybil Danning in person!
Music Box Of Horrors
Noon, Saturday October 13th until Noon, Sunday October 14th experience Horror on the big screen.
Film Line-Up to include:
THE BURNING (uncut print!)
CHILD’S PLAY
(Terror in Lincoln Park!)
HOWLING II: Your Sister is a Werewolf
(with queen of the werewolves herself Sybil Danning in person!)
SQUIRM
(with director Jeff Lieberman in person!)
Check the website for more titles!
Plus Vendor tables, prizes, and Charity auctions
TICKET INFO
$30 from 8/15 – 9/15
only 350 available at this price!
$35 from 9/16 – 10/12 only 220 available at this price!
*$40 day of show * A Swedish crime thriller based on the international best-selling novel "Snabba Cash" by
Jens Lapidus. Lower-class business student JW lives a double life mingling with Stockholm’s
wealthy elite while also being lured into a world of crime. Jorge is a petty fugitive on the run
from the both the police and Serbian mafia. Mafia enforcer Mrado is on the hunt for Jorge,
but his efforts are complicated when he’s unexpectedly saddled with caring for his young
daughter. As JW’s journey ventures deeper into the dark world of organized crime, the fate
of all three men becomes entangled and ends with a dramatic life and death struggle.
STARTS october 26
KEEP THE LIGHTS ON
Read Interview
with Ira Sachs
Page 24-25
Directed by Ira Sachs
“(A) beautifully aching love
story. Sach’s stunner is a
front-runner for best
American film of the year.”
- Eric Hynes, The Village
Voice
NEW DIGITAL
RESTORATION
STAR TREK I I: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982)
Directed by: Nicholas Meyer
30 years after its release, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is regarded as the best of the Star Trek films. Continuing a story thread begun in an episode of the television series, The Wrath of Khan finds Captain Kirk
and his crew once again battling the revenge-seeking, genetically-enhanced Khan. Ricardo Montalban still
reigns supreme as the most bad-ass of the Star Trek villains, and this film is still one of the best edge-of-yourseat sci-fi thrillers.
Music Box Theatre
www.weinsteinco.com
only 80 available at this price!
Available at the door for day of sales only!
october 12 - october 18
22
Directed by Daniel Espinosa
“STUNNING! Moving and
totally engrossing.”
- Simon Abrams, indieWIRE
Keep the Lights On chronicles an emotionally and sexually charged journey of two men in
New York City through love, friendship, and addiction. Documentary filmmaker Erik (Thure
Lindhardt) and closeted lawyer Paul (Zachary Booth, Damages) meet through a casual
encounter, but soon find a deeper connection and become a couple. Individually and together,
they are risk takers—compulsive, and fueled by drugs and sex. In an almost decade-long
relationship defined by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his
own boundaries and dignity while being true to himself. Harrowing and romantic, visceral and
layered, Keep the Lights On is a film that looks at love and all of its manifestations, taking it to
dark depths and bringing it back to a place of grace. www.musicboxfilms.com
Fall 2012
23
A Conversation With Ira Sachs
By Patrick Z. McGavin
Keep the Lights On is the beautiful,
emotionally devastating new film by New
York independent filmmaker Ira Sachs
(“40 Shades of Blue”). It is autobiographically-inflected piece charting the intricate,
complicated decade in the relationship
between a documentary filmmaker
(Thure Lindhardt) and a closeted lawyer
(Zachary Booth).
The movie premiered in the competition at
Sundance, and has won prizes at festivals
in Berlin and Outfest. Music Box Films is
releasing the movie around the country. In
a recent Interview Ira Sachs spoke about
the entwining of his life and art.
The movie lives or dies with the casting. How did you decide on the somewhat unorthodox choice of
Danish actor Thure Lindhardt in the lead.
Ira Sachs: Given the nakedness of the material, both physically and emotionally, I had a sense that this would
be a hard film to cast in America. We are a country of Puritans, and sex is still something that is rarely seen in
our films. Early on, I sent the film to an agent I know well in Hollywood. His response was that, “No one in our
agency will be available for these roles.” That gave me a good idea of the hurdles I was going to face, and I had
a feeling I might have to look outside the US for casting.
At about that time, I heard about Thure Lindhardt, who I was told was “the bravest actor in Denmark,” as well
as one of the very best. I sent him the script; he recorded himself performing a few of the scenes. I saw the
material, and I cast him immediately. He was it, all the energy, and all the vulnerability, and all the risk I could
want rolled into one.
Given how personal, even autobiographical the material is, did you try to find some distance or was the
point to simply mediate something more direct or private through its making.
Ira Sachs: I didn’t begin to write the script until I had achieved the two things I need before starting any new
project, which is a great intimacy with the subject along with a certain analytical distance. I think without both
of those you can’t be a good storyteller. So by the time we were shooting, for me, my own personal experiences were just one of many resources the actors could access in the process of creating their own reality.
Ultimately, I think of every film as a kind of documentary, and what the camera is recording is the present, what
happens right at the moment of shooting between the actors in front of the lens. When people leave Keep
the Lights On, what they remember is the reality of the characters on the screen, not the emotional history
that I brought to it as the filmmaker.
For me, part of what’s so powerful about the film is the glancing style you interpolate throughout. It’s
almost Jamesian, so much is felt rather than expressed.
Ira Sachs: Henry James is my favorite author, and I’ve read all his books except the two last, and most difficult,
ones. To me what I try to do in making a film is to have a strong story with a beginning, middle, and end, but
then how you get there needs to be made up of a series of moments that contain as many contradictions as
possible. I want as much life in the film as I can get, and that includes all the mess, and all the conflicts. [John]
Cassavetes has also been a big influence on me, and Maurice Pialat from France.
24
Ira Sachs: I knew Thimios would be the perfect collaborator for this project for a number of reasons. First and
foremost, he has the eye of a painter, as much as a cinematographer. His understanding of light and of the
frame is instinctual and brilliant.
Secondly, he shoots sex better than anyone else I see working today. Affectionately, and with humor, as well as
an openness. For Thimios, sex is just a part of life. The camera doesn’t have to shoot it any different than a
dinner scene, or a birthday party. This is a very important theme in the film: it’s a story driven by shame, but we
wanted to tell it shamelessly, with all the lights on. What I didn’t know about Thimios until we worked together
– and I think is maybe the most important element in his work – is his warmth and kindness. He is someone
who relishes life, and he brings that joy to every frame.
All of your films seem predicated on relationships that either cannot be consummated or survive, so
there’s an underlying melancholy and sadness.
Ira Sachs: Looking back at the four features I’ve made, I see that they are all about the conflict between how a
person appears in the world, and what they keep hidden. I am then interested in how that individual conflict
affects the relationships one has, and particularly how this secretiveness corrupts romantic intimacy. All my
films have also been coming of age films, whether that be for a young man, as in “The Delta,” or a middle-aged
one, like Chris Cooper in “Married Life.” I am interested in how we learn to know ourselves. It’s not surprising, I
guess, that I spent many years in psychoanalysis. I think if I hadn’t been a film director, the only other job I
would have been equipped for is an analyst, in fact. The criteria are quite similar.
My next film, I’m glad to say is about a different kind of love relationship, one between
two men who have been together, mostly happily, for 40 years. In many ways the story
reflects a new way of being in the world – and a new way of being in relationships – that
came for me in the wake of the difficult experiences that Keep the Lights On depicts.
At Sundance, you introduced the largest artistic delegation I’ve ever seen there. It underlined what a labor
of love the project is for everybody involved.
Ira Sachs: My co-screenwriter Mauricio Zacharias and I finished the script in January of last year, and with my
fellow producers, Marie Therese Guirgis and Lucas Joaquin, we committed to going into production by July of
the same year. In a way, we went back to the idea of “independent” cinema not as a Hollywood genre, as it has
become since the rise of Indie Cinema, but as a declaration of a type of production. Truly independent. Free.
But you need a community of support to have this opportunity, and we found that community for Keep the
Lights On, from institutions like Sundance and Cinereach, to hundreds of individuals who gave us money for
the film, to companies like Kodak and Panavision, who made it possible for us to shoot on film. This film came
out of the city of New York, and it was people who wanted to see a film that was honestly about that city, and
its inhabitants, that made it possible.
This was the 20th anniversary of the rise of the New Queer
Cinema. Do you consider an heir of that movement, or do you
belong to your own tradition.
Ira Sachs: We are all products of our time and of our history, and I
very much feel that I came of age as a filmmaker in an exciting time
where it felt important and necessary to make work that was
unafraid of being extremely open and queer. I was deeply influenced
by [Todd Haynes’s film] “Poison,” as I was by my experiences in ACT
UP, and by the urgency we all felt to make films that mattered, and
that were not ashamed of. In my life now, my sexuality is less
something that separates me, and I think Keep the Lights On
reflects that change.
Gratefully, whether in Denver or in Tulsa, London or Paris, many of us
live in communities where gay and straight no longer live in separate
universes. That doesn’t mean that the experience for each of us is
the same – there is always specificity in life, and in one’s place in
culture – but the truth is the differences now are less pronounced
than the were 20 years ago.
These are directors who believe in telling a good story, but the audience always feels when watching their films
that the actors have a certain freedom. The characters drive the film, not the plot, and at any moment they
could shift its direction.
In that way, I think Keep the Lights On is something very new. It’s not a film that struggles with identity. It’s a
film about people struggling with life, and love. Something most of us know well.
You shot in Super-16mm, and the movie feels warmer, even sensual. What about your collaboration with
the cinematographer, Thimios Bakatakis. Again, this is much different film stylistically than the Greek films
I know him through, like “Dogtooth” or “Attenberg.”
Patrick Z. McGavin is a Chicago writer and film critic. His reviews, essays and film
festival reports currently appear in “Time Out Chicago,” “Boston Phoenix” and
“Cineaste.” He also maintains the film blog, www.lightsensitive.typepad.com
Music Box Theatre
Fall 2012
25
Join us as we do the Time Warp again!
n
ee !
ecial w gs
Sp o nin
e
re
Hall
Sc
The largest festival for kids film in North America!
The Cast of Midnight Madness ensures that what’s happening in the audience is just as entertaining as what is on screen!
The Rocky Horror
Picture Show
Friday
Oct 27 at 11:59pm
Saturday
Oct 28 at 11:59pm
Wednesday
Oct 31st at 10pm
Adults $9, children $6 (ages 2-16)
Saturday, Oct. 27th 10am - “ParaNorman” Sunday, Oct. 28th 9:30am – “Laura’s Star and the Dream Monsters”
Sunday, Oct. 28th 11:30am – “Pirates! Band of Misfits”
Saturday, Nov. 3rd 9:30am – “Tribute to Pixar Shorts”
Sunday, Nov. 4th 9:30am – “Tad, the Lost Explorer”
Sunday, Nov. 4th 11:30am – “Coming Home”
Special presentation follows the film!
Disney Pixar’s Brian Larsen, the story
supervisor for Pixar’s newest release
“BRAVE.” Larsen will give a presentation
on animation production. This is a rare
chance to learn from a master in the field!
For information on LAIKA, Aardman and Pixar animation workshops during the Festival, visit cicff.org.
Special event saturday, october 27
Ciné-Concert:
Presented by
26
Music Box Theatre
MÉLIÈS
Georges Méliès, the father
of cinematic special effects
revolutionized the history of
cinema with his creativity and
originality. This masterful
craftsman deserves credit for
conceiving film as an original
performance, recreating newsreels,
advertising films, extravaganzas
in color, and science fiction. One
hundred years later, his films are
still relevant today. To celebrate
the 150th anniversary of his birth,
his family presents a series of
performances in the true family
tradition: This film-concert is
designed as homage to this brilliant
magician through a narrated
performance accompanied by
piano for if the film was silent, the
room was never so!
For 33 years, The Rocky Horror Picture Show has delighted audiences and terrified parents.
The Music Box Theatre is the proud Chicago home of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Every
screening has a shadow-cast of the film (that’s actors acting in front of the screen during
the film), and the Halloween screenings are known to sell out!
STARTS november 2
“Breathtaking. A strikingly successful piece of daring.”
–The Wall Street Journal
“powerful, exquisitely
lensed.” – Variety
Starring
Gael Garcia Bernal
the lonliest planet
Directed by Julia Loktev
Alex (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Nica (Hani Furstenberg) are young and in love and backpacking
in the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia. The couple hire a local guide (Bidzina Gujabidze) to
lead them on a camping trek, and they set off into the beautiful wilderness. While trekking
they experience a moment that threatens to tear the young couple apart but they continue
their journey, dealing with the regret and fallout of instinctual actions. This is a tale about
love, forgiveness, coming to terms with someone else’s choices and rebuilding a relationship
with a new view of your partner. www.sundanceselects.com
Fall 2012
27
STARTS november 9
STARTS november 16
“An exhilarating tour
de force… The most
astonishing film at
Cannes.” –Vogue
Directed by Leos Carax
After a long hiatus Leos Carax, the
director of the cult classic Pola X, is back
and in rare form as he takes us on a mad
journey into the darkness of the virtual
world. Holy Motors shows us the life
of one Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant)
who, during a 24 hour period, transforms
himself into eleven different personas
including a leprechaun lulled to sleep in
the arms of a supermodel (Eva Mendes)
all while being chauffeured around the
city by his dedicated driver Celine (Edith
Scob). Strange and surreal, Holy Motors,
defies explanation and invites us to sit
back and enjoy an inexplicable, weird,
wonderful night of surprises, questions
and breathtaking imagery.
november 16 - 22
“You’ve never seen images like this
before…it deserves to be seen and felt
on the big screen”-Robert Redford
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino
Starring
indominia.com
CHASING ICE
Directed by Jeff Orlowski
Acclaimed National Geographic photographer,
James Balog was once skeptical about climate
change but, through his Extreme Ice Survey, he
discovers undeniable evidence of our quickly
changing planet. Using revolutionary timelapse cameras he captures a multi-year record
of the world’s melting glaciers. His hauntingly
beautiful videos compress years into seconds
and we see these ancient mountains of ice
disappearing at an astonishing and troubling
rate. Travelling with a team of adventurers
across the brutal Arctic, Balog risks his career
and well-being in pursuit of the biggest story
facing humanity. As the debate polarizes
America and the intensity of natural disasters
ramps up globally, Chasing Ice depicts a heroic
photojournalist on a mission to deliver hope to
our carbon-powered and endangered planet.
28
Music Box Theatre
Cheyenne (Sean Penn) is a former rock star. At
50, he still dresses ‘Goth’ and lives in Dublin off
his royalties. The death of his father, with whom
he wasn’t on speaking terms, brings him back to
New York where he discovers his father had an
obsession: to seek revenge for a humiliation he
had suffered. Cheyenne decides to pick up where
his father left off, and starts a journey across
America to finish what his late father started.
www.weinsteinco.com
sean penn
“Funny, Charming and Stylish…unlike anything Penn’s done before!” -Total Film
This Thanksgiving weekend, give thanks for some of your “Favorite Things”
The classic film with
on-screen lyrics so
that everyone can
sing along!
Fun Packs Included! Costume Contest!
Sing-A-Long
FUN
whole
family
for the
Tickets to go on sale
October 1st
Sound of Music
Friday
November 23, 2012
4:00pm and 8:30pm
Saturday
November 24, 2012
11:30am, 4:00pm and 8:30pm
Sunday
November 25, 2012
11:30am and 4:00pm
Advance Tickets
Available
Fall 2012
29
Free november 26 - 29
posters!
MONTY PYTHON
and
the
Free
Coconuts!!
Holy Grail
Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
The greatest tale of
King Arthur's Court
digitally remastered!
Featuring an
additional 12
minutes of
rediscovered
animations,
narrated by
Terry Gilliam!
S
E
I
V
O
M
D
L
O
NOW
H
C
T
A
TOW
In this classic comedy from Monty Python, the gallant
King Arthur gallops off, on foot, to recruit bold knights
to help him in his quest for the Holy Grail. Along the
way, they encounter such horrific obstacles as the
dreaded Black Knight, a richly-accented French castle
guard, the legendary cowardice of brave Sir Robin, a
voracious Killer Bunny and the mighty Tim. Finally, a
chance to see the special restored version of the film
on the big screen!
special event tuesday, november 27
Sound Opinions at the Movies:
The Blues Brothers
RE AMIN G
T
S
S
IE
V
O
M
R
FO
LU S
P
U
L
U
H
D
O U R RE VIE WS
N
A
O N NE TFLIX
Tuesday, November 27th, 7:30pm
O M
A D E R . C
E
R
O
G
A
C H I C
Join Sound Opinions hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot for a special
screening of The Blues Brothers. See this film up on the big screen and
hear Jim and Greg discuss its musical importance in the Chicago canon of
film and music and enjoy this musical comedy love letter to Chicago
30
Music Box Theatre
Fall 2012
31
calendar of events
RUN DATE
Starts August 24
August 24 - 30
Starts August 31
September 1 - November 18
Saturday, September 8th
Starts September 14
September 17
September 21
September 21 & 22
Starts September 21
September 22 - 27
Starts September 28
September 28 - October 4
October 2
October 5 - 11
October 5 - 11
October 6 - November 18
October 12
October 12
October 13 - October 14
October 12 - 18
October 17
Starts October 19
Starts October 26
October 27- November 4
October 27
October 27, 28, & 31
Starts November 2
November 3
November 7
Starts November 9
November 10
November 16 - 22
Starts November 16
November 16 & 17
November 23 - November 25
November 26 - November 29
November 27
November 28
PRESENTATION
Chicken with Plums The Imposter
Sleepwalk with Me Forbidden Cinema: Infamous Pre-Code Classics
Second Saturday Silent Cinema Presents: The Crowd
Beloved
PAGE
12
12
13
4
6
16
Press Pass All-Access Series: Greg Kot with David Byrne and Bettina Richards 17
Superstars of Burlesque
17
Midnight Movie: The Telephone Book
8
How To Survive a Plague
18
Chicago United Film Festival
18
Diana Vreeland
19
Snowman’s Land
19
LCD Soundsystem: The Final Concert
20
Well Digger’s Daughter
20
About Cherry
21
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
10
Second FRIDAY Silent Cinema Presents: Nosferatu 21
Chained Heat
22
Music Box of Horrors
22
Restored Print of Star Trek II the Wrath of Kahn
22
NT LIVE Presents: The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time
9
Easy Money
23
Keep The Lights On
23
29th Annual Chicago International Children’s Film Festival
26
Ciné-Concert: Méliès
26
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
27
The Lonliest Planet
27
Midnight Movie: Sing-A-Long Xanadu
8
NT LIVE Presents: The Last of the Hausmans
9
Holy Motors
28
Second Saturday Silent Cinema Presents: The Cameraman
6
Chasing Ice
28
This Must Be The Place
29
Midnight Movie: Sing-A-Long Trapped in the Closet
8
Sing-A-Long Sound of Music
29
Monty Python and the Holy Grail: REMASTERED!
30
Sound Opinions Presents: The Blues Brothers
30
NT LIVE Presents: Timon of Athens
9
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