Chicago Critics Film Festival – Day Five Report

The Chicago Critics Film Festival Runs May 17th – 23rd. Stephen Tronicek is covering the event for We Are Movie Geeeks

Today I had to arrive at 5 pm instead of 3 pm, so I had more time to explore the city. The great thing I’ve noticed about the past few days is that because CCFF replays films, it gives you time to explore and have time to yourself. Chicago is really a beautiful place to spend a day walking around.

The first film of last night’s lineup was already strong. The Short History of the Long Road, directed by Ani Simon-Kennedy is the type of optimistic, sentimental fare that we need in the trying times that we live in. Long Road follows Nola (a never better Sabrina Carpenter), a teenager living in a vintage van with her father (Steven Ogg). After a devastating event changes her life forever, Nola must pick up the pieces running into Miguel (Danny Trejo) and a few other characters. The best thing about Long Road, besides the cast, is that it never feels fake in its sentimentality. The filmmakers (and in extension the film) are fully aware that the world surrounding Nola is awful and naturally develop the positive developments from within that framework. This film is short (no pun intended) and will make your day.

Then came Tom Cullen’s monumental Pink Wall, starring Tatiana Maslany and Jay Duplass. Those two talented actors play Leon and Jenna, a couple who we observe over six different snapshots in their relationship. Cullen, an actor who has worked with the talent of Andrew Haigh before, displays a natural (or rather very practiced) hold on his job. In a Q&A following the screening with him and Duplass, Cullen seemed brutally confident, yet brutally honest. Duplass was even more so. The work shows too. Pink Wall is a perfect directorial debut, that wraps you in its hypnotic imagery and never lets you go. Duplass and Maslany don’t either. The chemistry they possess is on the level of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy of the Before trilogy (a possible inspiration for this piece).  Pink Wall should be applicable to anyone who has ever fallen in love and Cullen mentioned during the Q&A that love is something that we all experience.

Last, but certainly not least, was Josephine Mackerras’ Alice. Alice covers familiar territory but covers it better. It’s main subjects, prostitution, and family, seem lofty until you realize that Mackerras is going to direct the film like one of Paul Verhoeven’s intimate dramas, that the script to make all the right choices, and that Emilie Piponnier creating a beautiful character out of Alice. The performance is astonishing. As the festival comes into its final stretch, I can only think of the many great films I’ve seen over the past five days and look forward to the few that are left. Monos, my favorite film of the fest so far plays tomorrow at 3 pm and The Short History of the Long Road plays again Thursday at 1:30 pm. There’s still time to see great cinema at the Chicago Critics Film Festival.