DECEMBER 14, 2018 - FEBRUARY 14, 2019 - Music Box Theatre

DECEMBER 14, 2018 - FEBRUARY 14, 2019

FILM CALENDAR

Chicago’s Year-Round Film Festival

3733 N. Southport Avenue, Chicago www.musicboxtheatre.com 773.871.6607

COLD WARA Pawel Pawlikowski FilmOpens January 18

SHOPLIFTERS2018 PALME D’OR

WINNEROPENS DECEMBER 14

DISNEYLIVE ACTION FILMS

DECEMBER 26- JANUARY 3

THE FOUNDFOOTAGE FESTIVAL

JANUARY 25 & 26

POLICE STORY 1 & 2NEW 4K

RESTORATIONSOPENS FEBRUARY 1

OSCAR-NOMINATEDDOCUMENTARY

SHORTSOPENS FEBRUARY 8

3

FEATURE FILMSSHOPLIFTERSMANDYCAPERNAUMBATHTUBS OVER BROADWAYTHE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILTDRAGON BALL SUPER: BROLYCOLD WARPOLICE STORY 1 & 2OSCAR-NOM DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

COMMENTARY

SERIESCLASSIC MATINEES CHICAGO FILM SOCIETYSILENT CINEMAFROM STAGE TO SCREENMIDNIGHTS

SPECIAL EVENTSCHRISTMAS DOUBLE FEATURE SOLSTICEALTERNATIVE XMAS DOUBLE FEATUREFIDDLER ON THE ROOFLIVE ACTION DISNEYFOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVALDECONSTRUCTING THE BEATLESVALENTINE’S DAY: CASABLANCAVALENTINE’S DAY: THE PRINCESS BRIDE

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Brian Andreotti, Director of Programming

Ryan Oestreich, General Manager

Buck LePard, Senior Operations Manager

Stephanie Berlin, Public Relations Manager

Claire Alden, Group Sales and Membership Manager

Julian Antos, Technical Director and Assistant Programmer

Kyle Westphal, Programming Associate

Rebecca Lyon, Assistant Technical Director

VOLUME 36 ISSUE 153Copyright 2018 Southport Music Box Corp.

MusicBoxTheatre.com

Published by Newcity Custom PublishingNewcitynetwork.com

For information, email [email protected] or call 312.243.8786

Cover Image from the film COLD WAR, opening January 18 at Music Box Theatre.

Music Box Theatre 3733 North Southport musicboxtheatre.com773-871-6604 showtimes 773-871-6607 office

WelcomeTO THE MUSIC BOX THEATRE!

OPENS DECEMBER 14DEC. 26-JAN. 3JANUARY 4-17JANUARY 4-10 OPENS JANUARY 11OPENS JANUARY 16OPENS JANUARY 18FEBRUARY 1-7OPENS FEBRUARY 8

DECEMBER 15-24DECEMBER 18DECEMBER 19 & 20DECEMBER 25DEC. 26-JAN. 3JANUARY 25 & 26JANUARY 29FEBRUARY 10FEBRUARY 13 & 14

4 Music Box Theatre December 2018-February 2019

THE 35TH ANNUAL MUSIC BOX CHRISTMAS SING-A-LONG & DOUBLE FEATURE

One of the most popular and beloved Christmas traditions in Chicago is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. Come celebrate the holidays with the Music Box!

Each year, holiday revelers are greeted by none other than Santa Claus, live and in person. Santa welcomes the audience and, accompanied by the theater organist, leads them in the singing of the most cherished Christmas carols of all time. The lyrics are projected onto the theater’s screen so no one misses a chance to sing their hearts out.

Then the audience sits back and enjoys a Christmas movie classic. Some folks like to keep the music going and opt to see WHITE CHRISTMAS so they can sing the timeless lyrics of Irving Berlin along with Bing Crosby, Danny Kay and Rosemary Clooney. Others prefer to cheer for Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey and hiss Mr. Potter during a showing of the heart-warming IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

And those truly filled with holiday spirit see BOTH films!

DECEMBER 15-24

Advance tickets are:Single Feature: $13.50 • Member Single Feature: $11.50Double Feature: $20 • Member Double Feature: $17

Children under 13: $10 or $15 double feature

Day of tickets (if available) are:Single Feature: $15.50 • Member Single Feature: $13.50Double Feature: $24 • Member Double Feature: $21

Children under 13: $10 or $15 double feature

Saturday, December 1512:00pm: It’s A Wonderful Life

3:15pm: White Christmas6:30pm: It’s A Wonderful Life

9:45pm: White Christmas

Sunday, December 1612:00pm: White Christmas

3:15pm: It’s A Wonderful Life6:30pm: White Christmas

Friday, December 2112:00pm: White Christmas


9:45pm: It’s A Wonderful Life

Saturday, December 2212:00pm: It’s A Wonderful Life

3:15pm: White Christmas6:30pm: It’s A Wonderful Life

9:45pm: White Christmas

Sunday, December 2312:00pm: White Christmas



Monday, December 2412:00pm: White Christmas


FEATURES AND SPECIAL EVENTS

candyality and the music box

a southport tradition

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6 Features and Special Events 7Music Box Theatre December 2018-February 2019

SHOPLIFTERS

OPENS DECEMBER 14 FEATUREFILM

DIRECTED BY: Hirokazu Kore-edaSTARRING: Lily Franky, Ando Sakura, Matsuoka Mayu2018, 121 mins, DCP, In Japanese with English subtitles

On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family.

“A Masterpiece” –Wall Street Journal

“This wise and insightful film is delicate, poignant and

unexpectedly powerful.” –Los Angeles Times

Palme D’Or

Winner - 2018

Cannes Film

Festival

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

DECEMBER 25

Tuesday, December 25 at 7pm(Norman Jewison, 1971, 181 mins, DCP)

The Academy Award-winning musical about family, faith, pride, love and, yes, tradition! The movie adaptation of the Broadway smash centers on Tevye, a poor milkman, and his five daughters. With the help of a colorful and tight-knit Jewish community, Tevye tries to protect his daughters and instill them with traditional values in the face of changing social mores and the growing anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia. Rich in detail, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’s universal theme of tradition cuts across barriers of race, class, nationality and religion, leaving audiences crying tears of laughter, joy and sadness. Featuring such beloved musical numbers as “If I Were A Rich Man,” “Sunrise, Sunset” and “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”!


SPECIALEVENT

THE MUSIC BOX’S ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS 2018

For over three decades, the Music Box has celebrated the holidays with Jimmy Stewart and Bing Crosby. However, if those guys aren’t your cup of eggnog, the Music Box’s Alternative Christmas Double Feature invites you to

spend the season with John McClane in DIE HARD (John McTiernan, 1988, 133 mins, 35mm) & Kevin McCallister in HOME ALONE (Chris Columbus, 1990, 103 mins, DCP).

DIE HARD print courtesy of Chicago Film Society.

Wednesday, December 194:30pm: Die Hard

7:15pm: Home Alone9:30pm: Die Hard

Thursday, December 204:45pm: Home Alone

7:00pm: Die Hard9:45pm: Home Alone

MISTLETOE MAYHEMDecember 19 & 20

Presented in Partnership with

JCC Chicago


LIVE-ACTION DISNEY FILMS

BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS(Robert Stevenson, 1971, 117 mins, 35mm)When young Charlie, Carrie and Paul move to a small village during World War II, they discover their host, Miss Price (a divine Angela Lansbury), is an apprentice witch! Although her early attempts at magic cre-ate hilarious results, she successfully casts a traveling spell on an ordinary bedknob, and they fly to the fantastic, animated Isle of Naboombu to find a powerful spell that will save England!

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA(Richard Fleischer, 1954, 127 mins, 35mm)For its first CinemaScope production, the Mouse House turned to Richard Fleischer, son of Disney’s long-time rival and the results are seaworthy and then some. (Fans of Fleischer’s VIOLENT SATURDAY and THE BOSTON STRANGLER shouldn’t shun this kiddie show.) Adapted from Jules Verne’s novel with rare brio and infectious energy, 20,000 LEAGUES also boasts the most distinguished grown-up cast of any vintage Disney picture: Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Peter Lorre, and a killer squid!

NEWSIES(Kenny Ortega, 1992, 121 mins, 35mm)A teenage Christian Bale (THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY, THE FIGHTER) sings and dances his way through NEWSIES! This early-90s musical tells the true story of the 1899 New York City newsboys strike, as Bale leads a ragtag group of misfits in a rebellion against newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer (A mustache-twirling Rob-ert Duvall). A disappointment at the box office on release, NEWSIES soon gained a cult following, and was later adapted into a Tony-winning Broadway musical.

HOMEWARD BOUND: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY(Duwayne Dunham, 1993, 84 mins, DCP)The adventure begins when the loving own-ers of bulldog Chance (voiced by Michael J. Fox), Himalayan cat Sassy (voiced by Sally Field), and Golden Retriever Shadow (voiced by Don Ameche) are forced to leave them in the temporary care of a friend who lives hundreds of miles away. But after several days, the worried animals begin to think their family must be in trouble, so they decide to head for home. On their incredible journey across the ruggedly beautiful Sierras, they encounter unexpected surprises from man, beast, and nature alike.

December 26, 2018 - January 3, 2019The Music Box rings in the new year with some of our favorite live-action films

from the Disney Vault, from old standbys to new classics. Fair warning, attending any of these presentations WILL make you feel like a kid again!


Wednesday, December 26 at 1:00pmSunday, December 30 at 1:45pmMonday, December 31 at 4:45pm

Wednesday, January 2 at 7:00pmThursday, January 3 at 4:15pm

Wednesday, December 26 at 6:30pmSaturday, December 29 at 2:00pm

Tuesday, January 1 at 11:45am


Thursday, December 27 at 1:30pmFriday, December 28 at 7:00pm

Saturday, December 29 at 11:30am

Sunday, December 30 at 4:15pmTuesday, January 1 at 4:30pm

Wednesday, December 26 at 3:45pmSaturday, December 29 at 4:45pmSunday, December 30 at 7:00pm

Monday, December 31 at NoonTuesday, January 1 at 2:30pm

SPECIALEVENT


PLAYING DECEMBER 26-JANUARY 3

MANDY

Back By Popular Demand!

CAPERNAUM

PLAYING JANUARY 4-17

DIRECTED BY: Nadine LabakiSTARRING: Zain al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole2018, 119 mins, DCP, In Arabic with English subtitles

CAPERNAUM follows Zain, a gutsy streetwise child as he flees his neg-ligent parents, survives through his wits on the streets, takes care of an Ethiopian refugee and her baby son, and sues his parents for the “crime” of giving him life.

CAPERNAUM was made with a cast of non-professionals playing characters whose lives closely parallel their own. Although it is set in the depths of a society’s systematic inhumanity, CAPERNAUM is ultimately a hopeful film that stirs the heart as deeply as it cries out for action.

“Tackles its subject with intelligence and heart.”

–Variety

“A deeply assured piece of direction”

–Vulture

“Nicolas Cage gives the performance of a lifetime”

–The Playlist

FEATUREFILM

FEATUREFILM

Grand Jury

Prize Winner -

2018 Cannes Film

Festival

HEAVYWEIGHTS(Steven Brill, 1995, 100 mins, 35mm)Before Ben Stiller made THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, before Judd Apatow made THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN, before Paul Feig made BRIDESMAIDS, they made HEAVYWEIGHTS, the endlessly-quotable summer comedy! A group of overweight, underdog kids discover their camp has been sold to a crazy fit-ness fanatic who’s determined to make their lives miserable. With no other options, they must take back the camp, by any means necessary!

RETURN TO OZ(Walter Murch, 1985, 113 mins, 35mm)The movie that scarred an uncountable amount of children! In this belated sequel, Dorothy finds herself back in the land of her dreams, and makes delightful new friends (like Tik Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Gump), and dan-

gerous new enemies (the creepy Wheelers, the head-hunting Princess Mombi, and the evil Nome King). Unforgettable character designs and haunting scenes in the more dangerous corners of imagination ensured that once you saw RETURN TO OZ, you’d never forget it!


Saturday, December 29 at 7:00pm

Sunday, December 30 at 11:30amMonday, December 31 at 2:15pm


Tuesday, January 1 at 7:15pm



DIRECTED BY: Panos Cosmatos2018, 121 mins, DCP

Pacific Northwest. 1983 AD. Outsiders Red Miller (Nicolas Cage at his best) and Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough) lead a loving and peaceful existence. When their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed by a cult led by the sadistic Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache), Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with fire.


PLAYING JANUARY 4-10 FEATUREFILM

BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY

DIRECTED BY: Dava Whisenant2018, 87 mins, DCP

While gathering material for a segment on LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, comedy writer Steve Young stumbled onto a few vintage record albums that would change his life forever. Bizarre cast recordings—marked “internal use only”—revealed full-throated Broadway-style musical shows about some of the most recognizable corporations in America: General Electric, McDonald’s, Ford, DuPont, Xerox.

With David Letterman, Chita Rivera, Martin Short, and Florence Henderson, BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY follows Steve Young while tracking down rare albums, unseen footage, composers and performers. Along the way, Steve discovers that this discarded musical genre starring tractors and bathtubs was bigger than Broadway.

“ENDEARING. A portrait of hobby turned obsession, a chronicle of a little-known subgenre of musical theater and an elegy for a period in midcentury America when company loyalty was, well, fun.”

–The New York Times

FEATURES AND SPECIAL EVENTSFEATURES AND SPECIAL EVENTS

THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

OPENS JANUARY 11 FEATUREFILM

DIRECTED BY: Lars Von TrierSTARRING: Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman2018, 152 mins, DCP

USA in the 1970s. We follow the highly intelligent Jack over a span of 12 years and are introduced to the murders that define Jack’s development as a serial killer.

We experience the story from Jack’s point of view, while he postulates each murder is an artwork in itself. As the inevitable police intervention is drawing nearer, he is taking greater and greater risks in his attempt to create the ultimate artwork. Along the way we experience Jack’s descriptions of his personal condition, problems and thoughts through a recurring conversation with the unknown Verge—a grotesque mixture of sophistry mixed with an almost childlike self-pity and psychopathic explanations.

Contains strong disturbing violence/sadistic behavior, grisly images, language, and nudity.

“Von Trier’s greatest film to date.”

–Slant Magazine

“It’s designed to get under your skin, and does.”

–Variety

give the gift of the music box!

This holiday season, a Music Box Membership is the

gift that keeps on giving; with discounted tickets,

bottomless popcorn, free members-only screenings,

and more. Your gift will continue to surprise the

film lover in your life all year long!

register online at musicboxtheatre.com or visit our box office!

Questions? Contact: [email protected]


COLD WAR

FEATUREFILM

DRAGON BALL SUPER: BROLY

OPENS JANUARY 16 FEATUREFILM

DIRECTED BY: Tatsuya Nagamine2019, 100 mins, DCP, Dubbed in English

A planet destroyed, a powerful race reduced to nothing. After the devastation of Planet Vegeta, three Saiyans were scattered among the stars, destined for different fates. While two found a home on Earth, the third was raised with a burning desire for vengeance and developed an unbelievable power. And the time for revenge has come.

Goku is back to training hard so he can face the most powerful foes the universes have to offer, and Vegeta is keeping up right beside him. But when they suddenly find themselves against an unknown Saiyan, they discover a terrible, destructive force. Locked into battle with the formidable Broly, Goku and Vegeta face their most dangerous opponent yet!

The 20th Film in the DRAGON BALL Series

OPENS JANUARY 18

“A terrific, smoky-cool love story.” –TIME

“Visually stunning, passionate, wistful, and thoughtful in equal measure.”

–Vulture

Winner - Best Director - 2018 Cannes Film Festival


THE FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL

JANUARY 25 & 26

Found Footage Festival hosts Joe Pickett (THE ONION) and Nick Prueher (LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN) return to the Music Box for TWO nights of wild & weird VHS oddities.

FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL: CHERISHED GEMSFriday January 25 at 9:30pmA guided tour of FFF’s all-time favorite VHS finds. From the curiously-produced industrial training video to the forsaken home movie donated to Goodwill, the Found Footage Festival resurrects these forgotten treasures and serves them up in a lively celebration of all things found.

FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL: AFTER DARKSaturday January 26 at 9:30pmFound Footage Festival’s dirtiest, most disturbing, and patently misguided VHS finds from 25 years of collecting at thrift stores.

SPECIALEVENT

DIRECTED BY: Pawel PawlikowskiSTARRING: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot2018, 89 mins, DCP, In Polish with English subtitles

COLD WAR is a passionate love story between a man and a woman who meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in 1950s Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, it’s the tale of a couple separated by politics, character flaws and unfortunate twists of fate— an impossible love story in impossible times.

READ RAY PRIDE’S COMMENTARY ON PAGE 20

From the

Director

of IDA


DECONSTRUCTING THE BEATLES:

THE BIRTH OF THE BEATLES

JANUARY 29

Tuesday, January 29 at 7pm

In the late fifties, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Richard Starkey were just four Liverpudlian teenagers who picked up guitars (or drumsticks) and decided to play music. With no formal training and no ability to read or write music, they tried to emulate their American rock heroes. Within a few years, they would change music history (and the world) forever.

Composer/producer/Beatles expert Scott Freiman explores the path that brought them to superstardom as The Beatles, from their early days as the Quarrymen to their transformation in Hamburg and the many characters who helped them on their journey.

POLICE STORY 2(Jackie Chan, 1988, 122 mins, DCP)

Jackie Chan followed up the massive success of POLICE STORY with an even bigger box-office hit. Having been demoted to a lowly traffic cop for his, ahem, unorthodox policing methods, Chan’s go-it-alone officer Ka-Kui quits the force in protest. But it isn’t long before he’s back in action, racing the clock to stop a band of serial bombers and win

back his much-put-upon girlfriend May (the phenomenal Maggie Cheung, reprising her star-making role). Boasting epic explosions, an awesomely 1980s electro soundtrack, and a show-stopping finale—which turns an abandoned warehouse into a life-size pinball machine of cascading oil drums, collapsing scaffolds, and shooting fireworks—POLICE STORY 2 confirmed Chan’s status as a performer of unparalleled grace and daring.

POLICE STORY(Jackie Chan, 1985, 92 mins, DCP)

The jaw-dropping set pieces fly fast and furious in Jackie Chan’s breathtakingly inventive martial-arts comedy, a smash hit that made him a worldwide icon of daredevil action spectacle. The director/star/one-man stunt machine plays Ka-Kui, a Hong Kong police inspector who goes rogue to bring down a drug kingpin and protect the case’s

star witness (Chinese cinema legend Brigitte Lin) from retribution. Packed wall-to-wall with charmingly goofball slapstick and astoundingly acrobatic fight choreography—including an epic shopping-mall melee of flying fists and shattered glass—POLICE STORY set a new standard for rock-’em-sock-’em mayhem that would influence a generation of filmmakers from Hong Kong to Hollywood.

POLICE STORY & POLICE STORY 2Playing February 1-7

FEBRUARY 1-7 FEATUREFILM

New 4K Restorations of the first two films in Jackie Chan’s action-packed, breakthrough film series! Presented in Cantonese with English subtitles.


THE OSCAR-NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS

OPENS FEBRUARY 8

For the 14th consecutive year, Shorts HD and Magnolia Pictures present the Oscar-Nominated Documentary Short Films, opening in Chicago exclusively at the Music Box Theatre. A collection of powerful and diverse real life stories, the Documentary Shorts routinely highlight lesser-heard voices from around the globe. This is your annual chance to predict the winners (and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! A perennial hit with audiences around the country and the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place Sunday, Feb. 24.

FEATURE FILM

SPECIALEVENT

READ STEVE PROKOPY’S COMMENTARY ON PAGE 22



THE PRINCESS BRIDE2 Shows! Wednesday, February 13 & Thursday, February 14 at 7pmDIRECTED BY: Rob ReinerSTARRING: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright; (1987) 98 minutes, DCP

The fairy tale that puts the “comedy” in “romantic comedy.” Featuring pre-show entertainment that includes a costume contest. Dress up as the dashing Inigo Montoya, the beautiful Buttercup, the gentle Fezzik, or any of your other favorite characters!

A young boy listens while his grandfather reads him the adventures of Buttercup, the most beautiful woman in the world, and Westly, the man she loves, in the fairy-tale kingdom of Florin. Along the way they encounter a Spanish swordsman, a gentle giant, and the six-fingered villain, Count Rugen. Inconceivable!

CASABLANCA with Sweetheart Sing-AlongSunday, February 10 at 2pmDIRECTED BY: Michael Curtiz STARRING: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid; (1942) 102 mins, 35mm

The Music Box Theatre’s annual screening of the classic film CASABLANCA begins with a special “Valentine’s Day Sweetheart Sing-Along” featuring a selection of favorite love songs complete with projected lyrics and accompaniment from the Music Box organ. Songs include “You Are My Sunshine,” “Bicycle Built for Two” and “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.” After the sing-a-long you and your sweetheart can hold hands, canoodle and watch Bogart and Bergman in the timeless CASABLANCA, one of the great romantic films of all time.

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20 Commentary 21Music Box Theatre December 2018-February 2019

COMMENTARY

“Everything tender and melancholy, as life is sometimes, just for one moment,” Jean Rhys wrote

in the novel “Good Morning, Midnight,” and her reverie aligns exquisitely with the searing, thrilling

spectacle of Pawel Pawlikowski’s COLD WAR. Pawlikowski’s first film since the Oscar-winning IDA

is a gorgeous depiction of the reckless decades-long love of a mismatched couple from different

backgrounds in post-war Poland and then the Cold War 1950s in Poland, Berlin, Paris and Yugoslavia.

The world outside their embrace tears at them, too.

The older Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), Gregory Peck-handsome, records folk music in the countryside,

and later leads a chorus that celebrates these native songs (a mass of idealized Poles, which, of

course, is eventually exploited for propaganda purposes). Wiktor meets Zula (Joanna Kulig, from

IDA), who dazzles him with her features, a rowdy, provocative attitude toward career and a lovely,

unschooled voice.

COLD WAR could be called elliptical, but more precisely, it’s a sweeping succession of sensations, of

romantic fragrance told in songs—so many songs!—and shimmering images. Memories: memories of

precision, passion and stubborn beauty, told fluently in black-and-white images that make everlasting

romance of each adoring gaze or rebuking stare or furious gaze. Pawlikowski tumbles in his sure hand

the jewels of two lives, shared, apart, shared. COLD WAR slides from scene to scene, effortlessly and

brilliantly, as with the taken breath and skip-start heartbeat of desperate and trying love.

Pawlikowski’s parents had difficulties for decades, and as a child, he thought nothing of the fury and

melodrama between his father, a doctor, and his mother, who ran away to be a ballerina at the age

of 17. But as an adult, after a family loss, time off with his children, and IDA, his parents, Pawlikowski

says, transfixed him and became the most fascinating people on earth. Wiktor and Zula bear their

names, but the particulars of their headlong, decades-spanning, border-spinning romance is a burning

TIME STANDS STILLThe Timeless Romance of COLD WARBy Ray Pride

confection. In capturing his parents’ emotional acts, if not historical facts, Pawlikowski honors love

in hard times. Escaping the east, evoking the romance of CASABLANCA—“They say Warsaw is the

Paris of the east, eh?”—to Paris, they try on the life of expatriate musicians, frequenting or playing

at clubs with oh-so-French names like Le Balto, L’eclipse, Chez Marcette. The songs, including Cole

Porter’s “Love For Sale,” performed by Miles Davis, George Gershwin’s “I Loves You Porgy” and Ira

Woods’ performance of Billy Austin and Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?” convey,

elevate, and endorse the temperature of romance. Wiktor and Zula’s hearts soar or plummet to

the soundtrack, music heightening the passions that play as lightning flashes across their indelible

features. (Zula records an LP, and of course, it’s called “Loin de toi…,” or “Far From You.”)

The integral use of music played and sung is akin to Terrence Davies’ musical melodrama, DISTANT

VOICES, STILL LIVES, and the wealth of detail presented casually yet concretely, is reminiscent of

Terrence Malick’s little-seen SONG TO SONG. The black-and-white rhapsodies of images shot by

Lukasz Zal (IDA) are as clear-headed as the spaces in Carl Theodor Dreyer and as dream-drawn as Jean

Vigo’s ZERO DE CONDUITE or L’ATALANTE. Pawlikowski is adept of the allure of the mid-century city

by night but also of the timeless vista of two lovers lying in sunstruck rural landscape. “I’ll be with you

until the end of time,” Zula tells Wiktor, disconsolately, almost murmuring, as in lazy grasses behind

them, a cow lows. Time stands still. The heart waits a beat. What could be plain, even banal, soars

through the acuity of Pawlikowski’s eye.

COLD WAR is vivacious at every moment, even in the darkest hours. The lovers’ journey insists:

dance, sing, play, live, learn, live until the moment you die, until you cross to the other side. COLD

WAR telegraphs the stubbornness of intractable love in pungent, poignant flashes. It is luminous

romantic tragedy perfumed with longing and disappointment and ways of escape; a memento mori

of diamond-hard grace.

Ray Pride is film critic of Newcity and a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine. He is also a

photographer: you can find his work on Instagram, and his book of words and images of Chicago

“Ghost Signs” is forthcoming.

COLD WAR OPENS JANUARY 18.. SEE PAGE 15 FOR DETAILS.

22 Commentary 23Music Box Theatre December 2018-February 2019

COMMENTARY

Although he began in films as an actor and action star, who studios wanted to model after the late

Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan built his popularity on a foundation of traits that Lee never did: comic timing,

a fighting style that appeared both technically masterful and improvisational, and death-defying

stunt performances that often resulted in well-documented injuries (often featured during the end

credits of his films). Although Chan was already an established talent in his native Hong Kong (thanks

to late-1970s successes like DRUNKEN MASTER and SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW), the POLICE

STORY films are his most successful and longest-running franchise, with six films from 1985 through

2013 (although some of the titles are sequels in name only).

Although 1992’s POLICE STORY 3 was one of the first Chan films to get a wide release in the United

States (under the title SUPERCOP in 1996, co-starring Michelle Yeoh), the first two entries in the fran-

chise never truly got their due stateside outside of repertory and art house theaters that managed to

get ahold of beaten-up, badly subtitled or dubbed prints. But now, the first two POLICE STORY films

have been restored, with much-improved subtitles, and they are refreshing reminders at how versatile

a performer Chan was still trying to be with his 1980s output.

There is no better example of this than the opening shootout of 1985’s POLICE STORY, which still

marks the only time a Chan-starring film opens with gunplay rather than hand-to-hand combat.

In fact, the film is rather light on traditional Chan-style fight sequences (all of which were choreo-

graphed by Chan, who also directed the film with Chi-Hwa Chen)—often typified by a combination

of gravity-defying acrobatics and using whatever happens to be in the room as a weapon, often

resulting in some exceedingly odd fighting tools, such as a wardrobe rack, mannequins, bar stools,

barrels, even a double-decker bus in one of the film’s most famous sequences.

JACKIE CHAN: STUNTMAN, ACTOR, ENTERTAINERPOLICE STORY & POLICE STORY 2 Highlight the SuperstarBy Steve Prokopy

In the film, Chan plays Chan Ka Kui (or Kevin Chan in some versions of the film), a straight-as-an-arrow

Hong Kong cop who captures one of the city’s most notorious drug lords (Yuen Chor), after the

film’s splashiest, most fiery action sequence involving a car chase that drives through and levels an

entire shanty town built on a mountain side. Chan is both applauded for the arrest by his superiors—

Supt. Raymond Li (Kwok-Hung Lam) and Inspector Bill Wong (Bill Tung)—and mildly berated for the

level of destruction caused during the chase. Chan is put in charge of playing bodyguard to the drug

lord’s secretary, Selina Fong (Brigette Lin), who is the only witness who can put him away. This does

not sit well with Chan’s girlfriend, May (an early appearance by the great Maggie Cheung), who is

unreasonably jealous at the situation.

Thanks to a slick attorney, the drug lord not only avoids the charges but sets up Chan in the process

by framing him for the murder of another cop, who just happened to be dirty and on his payroll,

and Chan spends the rest of the film attempting to clear his name, culminating in a spectacular fight

sequence set in a massive shopping mall that features possibly the most glass ever broken in a single

action scene and a breathtaking stunt in which Chan slides several stories down a pole through hang-

ing lights that explode as he passes by them. But before this sequence, Chan delivers an angry, heart-

felt monologue about criminals who escape prosecution thanks to savvy lawyers that would have felt

right at home in a Death Wish or Dirty Harry movie, which isn’t surprising since Chan has been quoted

as saying that the POLICE STORY films were inspired by American police dramas of the era. Be sure

to stick around for those end credits’ outtakes and the Chan-sung theme song, “Hero Story.”

Although POLICE STORY 2 was released three years later, it picks up almost right where the first film

left off. Still dealing with the ramifications of the previous story, Chan is actually demoted to traffic

cop for the chaos in the mall. Adding insult to injury, the drug lord once again is set free and his law-

yer (Chi-Wing Lau) vows to make life hell for Chan and May. But that plotline is quickly sidetracked

by several elements, including a commitment by Jackie Chan (who gets sole credit as director this

time) for more traditional, but no less inventive fight sequences, including a spectacular, extended

one in a fireworks factory that involves a great deal of explosives, setting Chan on fire, and a border-

line offensive deaf criminal (Keung-Kuen Lai), who also happens to be the best fighter in the movie.

The story this time involves a group of bombers seeking to extort rich real estate owners of

millions of dollars in exchange for not blowing up their properties. After being humiliated with the

demotion, Chan quits the force but is quickly reinstated and brought back in as a detective to help

break up the bombing gang, who have made it personal for Chan by kidnapping May in their attempts

to keep him at bay.

While it has often been said that Jackie Chan is more stuntman than actor, the first two POLICE

STORYs, in particular, give us a version of the superstar that proves he was clearly capable of heavier

moments, even if he frequently opted out of reaching deep into his soul for a performance. And

not every great performer needs to do that. There are few actors who have as clear a sense of giving

the audience what they want, and then some, than Jackie Chan. Especially with his output from the

1980s and ’90s, Chan was on a never-ending quest to up his game with each new film and make them

examples of pure, uncut, crowd-pleasing entertainment.

Steve Prokopy is the chief film critic for the Chicago-based arts outlet Third Coast Review

(www.ThirdCoastReview.com). For nearly 20 years, he was the Chicago Editor for Ain’t It Cool News,

where he contributed film reviews and filmmaker/actor interviews under the name “Capone.”

POLICE STORY OPENS FEBRUARY 1. SEE PAGE 17 FOR DETAILS.

24 Music Box Theatre December 2018-February 2019 Matinees 25

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CLASSIC MATINEESSTAFF PICKS: MUSIC BOX FILMS EDITION!

For over 10 years, Music Box Films, the Chicago-based distributor of foreign & independent films, has been dedicated to providing audiences with diverse, exciting and intelligent cinema from around the world. Now, the folks behind the Music Box Theatre’s sister company take over our Matinees to share the films they love!

SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS AT 11:30am

DIVA(Jean-Jacques Beniex, 1981, 123 mins, 35mm)Picked by Lisa, Director of Home Entertainment SalesLisa says: DIVA is the French art-house thriller this Indiana girl needed back in the 1980s. The New Wave visual style, the chase scenes on the streets of Paris, the passion for music and the multiculturalism were unlike anything I had ever seen before. DIVA has stuck with me after all of these years as one of the films that helped to open my eyes to a world outside the mall.

MACGRUBER(Jorma Taccone, 2010, 99 mins, 35mm)Picked by Lindsey, Material and Delivery CoordinatorLindsey says: After a ten year drought, a new comedy joined the illustrious group of “Films Based on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE sketches.” Will Forte and a pre-BRIDESMAIDS Kristin Wiig star in this glorious homage to ‘80s excess. This perfect film lost money, closed after 3 weeks in theaters AND was ranked by Parade magazine as the #2 biggest box office flop of 2010. But most importantly, it contains the greatest sex scene in film history.

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS(Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013, 104 mins, DCP)Picked by Becky, Marketing & Communications ManagerBecky says: “If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it’s a folk song.” Oscar Isaac is Llewyn Davis, a struggling folk singer in 1961 Greenwich Village who we follow in a dream-like journey from New York to Chicago and back. Also starring Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Adam Driver, John Goodman, and a cat named Ulysses, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS is a darkly funny look at an artist’s struggle and is one of the Coen Brothers’ best.

DESIGN FOR LIVING(Ernst Lubitsch, 1933, 90 mins, 35mm)Picked by Kat, Marketing & Publicity ManagerKat says: Lubitsch is high among my favorite directors, and I figured this was a great opportunity to see one of his lesser-revived films on the big screen, a subversive (especially for its time) romantic comedy about a love triangle. I especially enjoy anything he made with Miriam Hopkins, my favorite actress from that period. Fredric March and Gary Cooper are the suitors vying for her affection, with Ben Hecht adapting the script from Noel Coward’s play.

EVE’S BAYOU(1997, 109 mins, 35mm)Picked by Quinton, Distribution & Non-theatrical Engagement CoordinatorQuinton says: EVE’S BAYOU is such an indulgent film. The cast—gorgeous and well-casted—includes Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan and the legendary Diahann Carroll. The dramatic performances by the children in the film, specifically Jurnee Smollett as Eve and Meagan Good as Eve’s older sister, are also mesmerizing. The film’s 1960s rural Louisiana setting is a character in and of itself, with its alluring sophistication and mysticism, and it poetically complements the plot centered on family secrets and tradition just as absorbing as those storied, murky swamps. You won’t be disappointed.

THE WAY WE WERE(Sydney Pollack, 1973, 118 mins, DCP)Picked by Dianne, BookkeeperDianne says: In 2004, there was a Barbra Streisand mini-festival scheduled at the Music Box that had to be cancelled. So when I was offered the chance to pick a film, I went to Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford! If you need to clear your head with a good cry, this is the movie! Though they have very different personalities, they fall in love. There is love, passion, rowing, sailing, rich friends, poor friends (James Woods!), politics and in the end, love wasn’t enough to keep them together. If you are not crying when she brushes the hair off his forehead, you are dead!

January 5 & 6

January 12 & 13

January 19 & 20

January 26 & 27

February 2 & 3

February 10

26 Silent Cinema 27Music Box Theatre December 2018-February 2019

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SILENT CINEMAClassic silent films the way they were meant to be seen! Featuring a live musical score on the famous Music Box organ by Dennis Scott, Music Box House Organist. Co-presented by the Chicago Film Society.

FROM MORN TO MIDNIGHT(Karlheinz Martin, 1920, 69 mins, 35mm)

Saturday, January 5 at 11:30amA bank clerk becomes beguiled with a mysterious wom-an and embezzles a large sum from his firm in hopes of sloughing off the oppressive stability of his bourgeois lifestyle. When the woman rejects his entreaties, the clerk descends through the hellhole of modern urban life. This stark adaptation of Georg Kaiser’s Expressionist

play was brought to the screen under the supervision of noted theater director Karlheinz Martin. The stylization of FROM MORN TO MIDNIGHT proved so radical—the sets are angular and monochro-matic, the space is non-naturalistic, and even the light is painted on—that the film never received a German release. Martin’s wild experiment makes THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI look like a bucolic Sunday afternoon stroll.

35mm print courtesy of the National Film Archive of Japan

THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED(Lotte Reiniger, 1926, 66 mins, 35mm)

Saturday, February 9 at 11:30amTeenage scissor prodigy and self-described “primitive caveman artist” Lotte Reiniger began working in the film industry as a designer of animated title cards in 1916 and soon found herself mixing with a coterie of bohemian car-toonists. Reiniger’s big break came in 1923, as hyperinflation sent the value of the Deutschmark plummeting; one of her patrons, Berlin banker Louis Hagen, converted his liquid assets to the relatively “safe” currency of raw motion picture stock and built a small studio for Reiniger over the garage of his Potsdam vegetable garden. After three years, Reiniger emerged with THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED, a literally hand-made tapestry of silhouette animation that may as well have sprung from a magic lamp.

A free adaptation of several stories from the ARABIAN NIGHTS, this mythical journey from Bagdad to Wak-Wak, with plenty of witches, sorcerers, and flying horses along the way, conjures more wonderful sights from card stock and tissue paper than most modern blockbusters can scare up with the budget and computing power of a small nation-state.

PRINCE ACHMED is now recognized as the earliest surviving animated feature film, but that’s perhaps the least astounding thing about it. The craftsmanship of PRINCE ACHMED remains singular and undiminished, with its intricately designed puppets, its freely undulating backdrops, its otherworldly special effects, and its unstoppable narrative ascent to the clouds.

The original negative of PRINCE ACHMED was destroyed in World War II, but luckily a tinted nitrate print was safely ensconced at the British Film Institute; this copy served as the basis for the film’s 1999 restoration, which yielded an irreplaceable print produced with historically authentic tinting methods.

Tinted 35mm print courtesy of Milestone Films

O.C. AND STIGGS(Robert Altman, 1985, 109 mins, 35mm)

Monday, January 14 at 7pmReady to burn his last bridge with Hollywood, Robert Altman took an offer to make a National Lampoon adaptation with a hefty budget at the height of the post-ANIMAL HOUSE boom. What resulted was O.C. AND STIGGS, a surreal, nearly-plotless evisceration of American culture in which obnoxious teenage miscreants O.C. Ogilvie and Mark Stiggs wreak havoc amidst a web of oblivious classmates, odious Reaganite suburb dwellers, and battle-scarred counter-culture refugees. An unparalleled achievement in transgressive studio filmmaking that MGM shelved for years, O.C. AND STIGGS is an utterly monstrous, mind-roasting explosive device ready to detonate in the face of anybody who dares to look its way. With Dennis Hopper, Melvin Van Peebles, Cynthia Nixon, King Sunny Adé, and more!

THE CHICAGO FILM SOCIETY PRESENTSThe Chicago Film Society hosts monthly presentations featuring classic films, underseen rarities, cult movies, short subjects, trailer reels and more, all on glorious celluloid. For more information, visit www.chicagofilmsociety.org.

Special introduction from members of Manual Cinema


KING LEARDirected by: Jonathan MunbyPRESENTED BY NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE


Jonathan Munby directs this “nuanced and powerful” (The Times) contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tender, violent, moving and shocking play KING LEAR, anchored by Ian McKellen’s “extraordinarily moving por-trayal” (The Independent).

Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, KING LEAR sees two aging fathers—one a King, one his courtier—reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless am-bition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bit-ter ends. Filmed in the West End.

“Ian McKellen reigns supreme in this triumphant production.”

– Daily Telegraph

THE KING AND IDirected by: Bartlett SherPRESENTED BY TRAFALGAR RELEASING


The award-winning Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s THE KING AND I comes to the Music Box, recorded from London’s iconic Palladium.

Reprising her Tony Award-winning role, “Broadway musical’s undisputed Queen” (The Sunday Times) Kelli O’Hara (Anna) takes to the stage alongside Tony and Oscar-nominee Ken Watanabe (The King) in a “powerhouse” (The Times) performance.

Set in 1860s Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that

develops between the King of Siam and Anna, a British schoolteacher whom the modernist King, in an imperialistic world, brings to Siam to teach his many wives and children.

“Breathtaking. Remarkable. Exquisite.” – The New York Times

The Music Box Theatre proudly presents the greatest in filmed theatrical experiences from around the world!

FROM STAGE TO SCREEN

Encore

Presentation!

CONTINUING SERIES

164 N STATE ST • ADMISSION PRICES: $11 GENERAL | $7 STUDENTS | $6 MEMBERS

GENE SISKEL FILM CENTER • SISKELFILMCENTER.ORG

THE 20th ANNUAL ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWSDECEMBER 14 - 27

JEAN-LUC GODARD’STHE IMAGE BOOK

FEBRUARY 1 - 21

presents Ticketsare on sale now!

Call 773.871.3000 or visit EmeraldCityTheatre.com

30 Midnights 31Music Box Theatre December 2018-February 2019

CONTINUING SERIES

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Jim Sharman, 1975, 100 mins, 35mm)

MEAN GIRLS (Mark Waters, 2004, 97 mins, DCP)

DEAD SNOW (Tommy Wirkola, 2009, 92 mins, 35mm)

OVERLORD (Julius Avery, 2018, 110 mins, DCP)

EQUILIBRIUM (Kurt Wimmer, 2002,107 mins, 35mm)

SURFER: TEEN CONFRONTS FEAR (Douglas Burke, 2018, 98 mins, DCP)

THE ROOM (Tommy Wiseau, 2003, 99 mins, 35mm)

December 28 & 29

January 4 & 5

January 18

January 19

January 25 & 26

February 1 & 2

February 8 & 9

15th Anniversary!

MEAN GIRLS(Mark Waters, 2004, 97 mins, DCP)

Raised in the Afri-can bush country by her zoologist parents, Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) thinks she knows about “survival of the fittest.” But the law of the jungle takes on a whole new meaning when the home-schooled 15-year-old enters public high school for the first time and falls prey to the psychological warfare and unwritten social rules that teenage girls face today. Writ-ten by Tina Fey.

DEAD SNOW(Tommy Wirkola, 2009, 92 mins, 35mm)

Ein! Zwei! Die! The film that shocked Sundance, rocked Europe and knocked American horror fans out of their seats: When a group of medical students take a sex-and-booze-fueled ski vacation to a re-mote cabin in the Norwegian Alps, they uncover a dark secret from WWII that resurrects a battalion of

uncontrollable, unstoppable and extremely undead Nazis. What follows is relentless thrills, unimaginable horrors and a shock ending guaranteed to make you scream out loud!

OVERLORD (Julius Avery, 2018, 110 mins, DCP)

With only hours until D-Day, a team of American paratroopers drop into Nazi-occupied France to carry out a mission that’s crucial to the invasion’s success. Tasked with destroying a radio transmitter atop a fortified church, the desperate sol-diers join forces with a young French villager to penetrate the walls and take down the tower. But, in a mys-terious Nazi lab beneath the church, the outnumbered G.I.s come face-to-face with enemies unlike any the world has ever seen.

MIDNIGHTS FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS AT MIDNIGHT

EQUILIBRIUM(Kurt Wimmer, 2002,107 mins, 35mm)

Delivering awesome high-tech action in the power-packed style of THE MATRIX and MINORITY REPORT, EQUILIBRIUM stars Christian Bale and Taye Diggs in a thrilling look at a future where the only crime is being human. In an attempt to end wars and maintain peace, mankind has outlawed the things that trigger emotion—literature, music and art. To uphold the law, a special breed of police is assigned to eliminate all transgressors. But when the top enforcer (Bale) misses a dose of an emotional-blocking drug, he begins to realize that things are not as they seem.

SURFER: TEEN CONFRONTS FEAR (Douglas Burke, 2018, 98 mins, DCP)

Surfing since as young as he can remember, at the age of 13, Sage is crippled by fear after suffering a wipeout on a huge wave. The wave slammed him to the bottom and held him pinned there without air until he nearly died. With his whole life still ahead of him yet now paralyzed by fear, Sage no longer surfs the waves. But unable to ignore the mystical and powerful pull of the ocean, he fishes in the surf, and finds more than he bargained for.

Available January 8th 2019

@musicboxfi lmsmusicboxfi lms.com

DECEMBER 14, 2018 - FEBRUARY 14, 2019 - Music Box Theatre

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