Film buffs welcome at my movie club
•For the first time in our long friendship, I will team up with former James Bond novelist Raymond Benson of Buffalo Grove to present a movie discussion/lecture series at the Schaumburg Township District Library, 130 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg. We call it "Dann & Raymond's Movie Club" and it starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Free admission!
First up will be "In the Library, No One Can Hear You Scream!" This will be an overview of the horror film from the silent era through the 1930s. On Oct. 4, we'll whisk through the rest of the maligned and misunderstood genre into the modern age of horror.
In November, Raymond and I will examine films depicting presidents, politics and elections in "Hail to the Silver Screen." In December, we'll cover holiday movies.
Call (847) 985-4000 or go to
http://www.stdl.org.
•For the second consecutive year, Palatine's Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center hosts the International Microcinema Film Festival starting Thursday and running through Sept. 9 at 150 E. Wood St. The fest, now in its seventh year, will show shorts and features covering drama, comedy, sci-fi, horror, action and documentary genres from as far away as Japan and New Zealand. Admission costs $5 with an all-fest package for $59 (not including the awards brunch Sept. 9). For tickets, call Theatre Nebula at (847) 359-9378, or go to www.microcinemafest.com.
• The Flash Gordon Marathon to benefit the Des Plaines Theater Preservation Society will go on Sept. 8 after being rudely interrupted by power outages last week. It starts at 7 p.m. at the Stage One Theater in the Old Masonic Temple Building, 620 Lee St., Des Plaines. All 12 chapters of the 1940s Buster Crabbe serial will be shown. Tickets cost $15 with discounts for members, seniors, students and children. Previously purchased tickets will be honored. Call (312) 550-7283.
•"Crime Fiction," made with an all-Chicago cast and crew, will be screened as part of the ongoing Midwest Independent Film Festival starting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark St., Chicago. The festival was co-founded by Buffalo Grove native Mike McNamara and Glenview native Michael Kwielford. For information and tickets, go to www.MidwestFilm.com.
• Speaking of independent movies, filmmaker Tom DiCillo claims to have been inspired to make his indie feature "Delirious" by two other movies: "Midnight Cowboy" and "A Hard Day's Night." The influences are obvious.
"Delirious" slowly absorbs you into its seedy world of have-nothings and have-everythings, then finishes with a surprise twist: a jolt of sweetness and humanity that practically left me in tears.
The story involves a New York homeless lad named Toby Grace (played by Michael Pitt like an emotional open wound). He ingratiates himself with a low-level photographer named Les Galantine (the always-stellar Steve Buscemi). Les claims to be a high-class cameraman, but Toby sees him only as a pathetic paparazzo.
Les "hires" Toby as his assistant, although he pays nothing. The two become reluctant friends, pushed together more by circumstance than choice. While Les deals with painful issues of seeking his parents' approval, Toby goes on to win success in a TV soap opera, produced by Gina Gershon's perfectly hardened TV executive.
When Toby falls for a sad Britney Spears pop diva named K'Harma Leeds (Alison Lohman), Les feels betrayed and abandoned. He simmers in resentment until frustration and anger overrule his conscience and set the stage for revenge.
DiCillo calls "Delirious" a fairy tale in which Toby, an innocent, wanders through a dangerous forest and meets a hideous troll (Les) while on his way to rescue a trapped, melancholy princess (Leeds).
DiCillo laces his contemporary fairy tale with a moral about the importance and power of self-validation. It's a well-crafted drama that defies cliches and quietly reminds us that kindness, not fame or money, is the prize.
"Delirious" opens today at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. No MPAA rating; for mature audiences (sexual situations, language). 102 minutes. ...½
•Christophe Honore's very French domestic drama "Dans Paris" examines family members in crisis. As much as I wanted to share their pain, these characters were so detached and given to simpy philosophizing about life and love, I was tempted to put a nail gun to my head after five minutes.
While the bearded, depressed Paul (Romain Duris) remains morose from a personal loss, his bright but jerky brother Jonathan (Louis Garrel) apologizes for directly looking at the camera and introducing the movie.
"I'll turn back into a character who doesn't know you or the plot," he promises.
His divorced, sad dad (a realistic portrait by Guy Marchand) tries to deal with Paul's blackness and Jonathan's immaturity, but can't. Former 1970s sex bomb Marie-France Pisier is still luminous as the mother. Joana Preiss plays Anna, Paul's lover.
"Being loved doesn't mean everything's fine," she says. "Being loved doesn't mean I'm yours and you're mine!"
She missed "Love means never having to say you're sorry." But then, that's false.
"Dans Paris" opens today at the Century Centre Cinema in Chicago. No MPAA rating; for mature audiences (nudity, sexual situations, language). 92 minutes. ..