Gire: Blue Whiskey series presents 'When Harry Met Sally'
<b>Film critics notebook:</b>
The Blue Whiskey Cinema Series continues its mission to reacquaint the public with marvelous movies by showing Rob Reiner's 1989 romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, at the Star Cinema Grill, 53 S. Evergreen Ave., Arlington Heights. Tickets cost $8 at the door, but only $5 if you buy them at BlueWhiskeyCinema.com. Blue Whiskey Cinema is a not-for-profit film organization founded by several friends who graduated Fremd High School in Palatine. They've got a humdinger of a fall schedule: The horror film "Oculus" Oct. 1, "All The President's Men" Nov. 5 and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" Dec 3.
We're back for our unprecedented eighth season! Dann & Raymond's Movie Club returns to the Schaumburg Township District Library at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, for a ranking of the greatest female sex symbols of the silver screen. Will Mamie Van Doren make the list? Sharon Stone? Jessica Alba? Megan Fox? Be there for the countdown as James Bond 007 novelist Raymond Benson and I reveal our list. With film clips and free admission, too! Go to stdl.org.
<b>5 Qs with Ira Sachs</b>
Q. Do you think "Love is Strange" would make a good musical?
A. Yes, I think this film, emotionally and with its tone, would make a really beautiful musical. There could be duets and group scenes. It touches the heart, which is something musicals like to do.
Q. Alfred Molina said that he and his co-star John Lithgow are the gayest straight people on the planet because they'd rather go shopping than play sports. Is that true?
A. Alfred Molina's a funny guy. They're sensitive. More seriously, they understand that intimacy is similar for any two people, regardless of their sex. They brought a lot of their own marriages into these roles. So they think of these roles as human characters.
Q. Your movie really touches on universal themes far beyond aging gays in a committed relationship.
A. We wanted to make an intergenerational family story that includes the different perspectives that each of us has on love at different stages in our lives. I think of the movie as an epic multigenerational story told in a small, cramped New York apartment.
Q. Seriously, how did you wind up financing your movie through a group of retired, lesbian business women?
A. As a filmmaker, you're salesman. I'm also a community organizer. So I know a lot of people in the city. A few women got involved in the film and they showed the script to friends. This is the first movie that I have opened in the black. We've already made our money back before we started. So I would say these women are smart.
Q. Thanks for coming to Chicago.
A. Chicago writers are really important. I am always sent on tour in Chicago. I'm no longer sent to Boston. They don't have the market and they don't have the writers that are in touch with their readers anymore. There's a direct relationship between the writers and the readers here, which means there's a still a robust film life in a city like Chicago and Minneapolis. So, thank you!
<i> Dann Gire's Reel Life column runs Fridays in the Daily Herald.</i>