Films I Saw at CIFF: Leaving aside competition films I saw elsewhere, and usually later Ranked in order of preference My Golden Hugo Syndromes and a Century A (Thailand, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul) - Apichatpong's fascination with repetition and with jungle/office contrasts may wear thin, but here it remains clever, insinuating, special Summer Palace C+ (China, dir. Lou Ye) - Enticed to the movie by its reputation for infuriating Chinese government, I had hoped for something less sludgy; still, it's worth a look Why Not More? A newly arrived naïf in the Windy City, I didn't know about the festival until it had all but played itself out. Films from the Main Competition: Listed alphabetically Most graded titles seen subsequently to CIFF 12:08 East of Bucharest B+ (Romania, dir. Corneliu Porumboiu) Aviva My Love (Israel, dir. Shemi Zarhin) Chronicle of an Escape (Argentina, dir. Adrián Caetano) Climates (Turkey, dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan) The Collector (Poland, dir. Feliks Falk) Darkbluealmostblack (Spain, dir. Daniel Sánchez Arévalo) Days of Glory (Indigènes) B (France/Algeria, dir. Rachid Bouchareb) The Family Friend (Italy, dir. Paolo Sorrentino) Fireworks Wednesday (Iran, dir. Asghar Farhadi) The Free Will (Germany, dir. Matthias Glasner) Invisible Waves (Thailand, dir. Pen-ek Ratanaruang) Renaissance (France, dir. Christian Volckman) Requiem B+ (Germany, dir. Hans-Christian Schmid) A Soap (Sweden/Denmark, dir. Pernille Fischer Christensen) The Spot (Russia, dir. Yuriy Moroz) Suburban Mayhem (Australia, dir. Paul Goldman) Syndromes and a Century A (Thailand, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul) Taxidermia (Hungary, dir. György Pálfi) Time (South Korea, dir. Kim Ki-duk) The Zero Years (Greece, dir. Nikos Nikolaidis) Films from the New Directors Competition: Listed alphabetically Graded titles reviewed above Day Night Day Night A (USA, dir. Julia Loktev) Dirt Nap (USA, dirs. Mark Estep & Kurt Reid) God Willing (Sweden, dirs. Amir Chamdin & Erik Eger) Host & Guest (South Korea, dir. Shin Dong-Il) The Italian (Russia, dir. Andrey Kravchuk) Just Sex and Nothing Else (Hungary, dir. Krisztina Goda) Madeinusa (Peru, dir. Claudia Llosa) Midnight My Love (Thailand, dir. Kongdej Jaturanrasamee) Ode to Joy (Poland, dirs. Anna Kazejak-Dawid, Jan Komasa & Maciej Migas) Steel City (USA, dir. Brian Jun) Taking Father Home (China, dir. Ying Liang) Thicker Than Water (Iceland, dir. Árni Ásgeirsson) The Unforgiven (South Korea, dir. Yun Jong-bin) The Violin (Mexico, dir. Francisco Vargas) Yacoubian Building (Egypt, dir. Marwan Hamed) Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing films are Stranger Than Fiction (USA, Forster), Babel (Mexico/USA, González Iñárritu), and Venus (UK, Michell), respectively Special and Gala Presentations include Candy (Australia, Armfield), Chicago (USA, Urson), The Fountain (USA, Aronofsky), A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (USA, Montiel), Jasmine Women (China, Hou), Paris, je t'aime (France, Misc.), The Queen (UK, Frears), Shortbus (USA, Mitchell), and Shut Up & Sing (USA, Kopple & Peck)
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