Gire, Benson to break down Bond
Join me and novelist/film scholar Raymond Benson as "Dann and Raymond's Movie Club" looks at the 007 films in "No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Die!" Clips from 16 films plus "Quantum of Solace." Free admission! (847) 985-4000 or www.stdl.org.
Facts: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6 at the Schaumburg Township District Library, 130 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg.
"I've Loved You"
Philippe Claudel's quietly evocative "I've Loved You for So Long" casts Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein as estranged sisters struggling to reconnect after the elder (Thomas) is released from prison for killing her son. Why did she do it? That's the catnip Claudel uses to lure us through his cautionary story about labeling people. In French with subtitles. (PG-13) for smoking and "thematic elements." 117 minutes.
Facts: At Pipers Alley in Chicago, Renaissance Place in Highland Park and Evanston CineArts 6.
"Ballast"
Without scored music, Lance Hammer's impressive indie drama "Ballast" quietly affirms the ability of people to rise above dire circumstances in the Mississippi Delta. A man's suicide prompts his twin (Micheal J. Smith Sr.) to shoot himself. His sister-in-law (Tarra Riggs) struggles to raise her 12-year-old son (JimMyron Ross), already succumbing to the local drug culture. A thoughtful, leisurely paced essay on daily survival. Not rated; language. 96 minutes.
At the Music Box in Chicago.