Friday 12/21 – Thursday 12/27
“Experimental film long on imagination but short on budget” is how the Chicago Underground Film Festival describes the work of Cleveland filmmaker Robert C. Banks Jr. He started scratching film with a pen in 1978 when, he says, he “didn’t even know who Stan Brakhage was.” Over the years he’s painted, written on, bleached, and made collages from film, then combined the results with found and new footage to explore such subjects as racism, commercialization, and representations of women in contemporary America. He’ll answer questions about his work tonight at 8, when CUFF will screen Rage Against the Dying Light: 12 Years of Robert Banks at Cinema Borealis, 1550 N. Milwaukee, on the fourth floor. It’s $6. Call 773-293-1447.
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27 THURSDAY The Producers knocked ’em dead here before becoming the hottest ticket on Broadway. The backers of Sweet Smell of Success–a new musical based on the 1957 film about a ruthless gossip columnist and a sleazy press agent–are betting that lightning will strike twice. With music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Craig Carnelia, book by John Guare, and direction by Nicholas Hytner, it very well may. The show stars John Lithgow and Brian d’Arcy James. Previews began Sunday at the Shubert Theatre, 22 W. Monroe; it opens officially on January 13, runs here through January 27, and hits New York in February. Today’s performances are at 2 and 7:30 PM, and tickets range from $35 to $75.50–$2 less than for regular performances. Call 312-902-1400.
At the end of each year I dig out the list of things I meant to do over the previous 12 months and cross off only about a third of them. Perhaps those who attend the free Setting Your Intentions for the New Year workshop, on Sunday, December 30, will have a bit more success. Don Donini, the workshop leader, says, “The workshop digs into what gifts each human being wants to give themselves.” It’s from 1:30 to 4:30 at Unity in Chicago, 1925 W. Thome (773-973-0007).
