'Woman in Black' poster a poor ploy
The woman in bleck?
While hanging out at the South Barrington Theaters last weekend, I came upon one of the scariest one-sheets (posters) I've seen since 1979's “Alien.” It was for CBS Films' upcoming thriller “The Woman in Black.” It depicts an old photograph of two children with their eyes scratched out, leaving white jagged sockets on their faces.
An extremely unsettling, subtle and very effective poster ... until I noticed a faint, silly monster face in the background that rendered the poster obvious, cheap and sensationalistic.
So, one round of sarcastic claps to the marketing division at CBS Films for almost creating a really effective movie poster. “The Woman in Black” opens Friday, Feb. 3.
Teen film fest entries
Students in fifth through 12th grades have until March 19 to submit their movies for the annual Screen Test Student Fest at Schaumburg's Prairie Arts Center April 27.
Now, a new twist has been added to the contest: Students in fifth through eighth grades can submit group-made films up through April 13, with selected entries to be shown on April 27. Team applications must be submitted at http://bit.ly/yHyJee.
‘Into the Abyss'
The After Hours Film Society presents “Into the Abyss” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23, at the Tivoli Theater, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. Filmmaker Werner Herzog calls his documentary “a gaze into the abyss of the human soul” which isn't all that good. Herzog uses a Texas triple homicide case to investigate violence and killing, not only interrogating a death-row inmate, but also a state executioner and a pastor who deal with the condemned.
Tickets cost $9 ($5 members). Go to afterhoursfilmsociety.com or call (630) 534-4528.
iPic film fest entries
Aspiring filmmakers can compete for a $4,000 top prize in the iPic Earth Day short film festival scheduled for April 22. Entries must be two to six minutes long and be based on a theme of Earth preservation. Deadline is Friday, Feb. 10. Go to ipictheaters.com/ipic-membersfilmfestcontest.aspx for contest rules and details.
Reel Life mini-review: ‘Norwegian Wood'
If a movie asks us to spend 133 minutes hanging out with suffering characters who are in pain and may be clinically depressed, we need to have a stake in those characters, an emotional investment so that we can be concerned for their welfare and be an ally in their journeys.
This is what Tran Anh Hung's visually striking and highly moody drama “Norwegian Wood” sorely lacks.
The soap operatic story (based on the best-seller by Haruki Murakami) takes place during the tumultuous 1960s in Japan where Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), an introverted, personality-challenged Japanese student, yearns for the affections of the pretty Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi). But she can't shake the memory of her longtime boyfriend Kizuki (Kengo Kora), who has committed suicide without so much as sending up a distress signal.
During their first sexual experience, Watanabe blunders by asking the virginal Naoko why she and Kizuki never consummated their relationship, and his question sets off an apparent guilt attack that eats away at Naoko's soul so much, she checks herself into a clinic.
Watanabe's passivity and Naoko's slow slide into mental illness are a stark contrast to the effervescent Midori (Kiko Mizuhara), who inexplicably falls hard for the milquetoast Watanabe, who can't break his infatuation with Naoko.
Hung, a Vietnamese director probably most noted for his 1993 film “The Scent of Papaya,” receives high-grade contributions from Mark Lee Ping-bing's high-def widescreen camera works and Yen Khe Luguern's soaring 1960s costumes.
But Hung's adaptation of Murakami's book is rife with dulling voice-over narrations that make it even easier for his actors to skate by on emotions that seldom connect with each other, or with us.
“Norwegian Wood” opens at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. Not rated by the MPAA, but contains sexual situations and nudity. 133 minutes. ★ ★
• Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire's column runs Fridays in Time out!