Now in its 13th year, the Chicago Underground Film Festival features experimental, documentary, and narrative works by independent film and video makers. Screenings continue through Thursday, August 24, at the Music Box. Tickets are $8; a festival pass, good for all screenings, is $100. For more information visit www.cuff.org.
In Loving Memory
J.L. Aronson’s documentary on Daniel Smith and his siblings, who perform as the alt-rock Christian band the Danielson Famile, offers no juicy exposes of cultish faith or dysfunctional family dynamics, and nonfans may be put off by its relative lack of dramatic tension and soft-focus analog video, which paints the Smiths’ childhood, adolescence, and musical career in a sort of rosy-holy light. But the live footage, the weave of personal and professional history (marriages, births, tours), the observations from nonrelatives who’ve played in the band (especially Chris Palladino and Sufjan Stevens), the assorted tidbits (animated sequences, remarks about faith and rock from Steve Albini, of all people), and the commentary from delighted, frightened, or puzzled audience members supply a context for Daniel Smith’s religious odyssey that makes even his terrifying falsetto seem reasonable. 105 min. (Monica Kendrick) a 7:45 PM.
Glam-o-Rama Short works in various formats, mostly experimental. 76 min. a 11 PM.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Shot over several decades, this shoestring production by John S. Rad has built up a cult following on the strength of its singularly perverse vision. It begins as a revenge fantasy–after being raped by two loutish bikers, a woman poses as a prostitute and kills her johns–but any plot momentum is subverted by cutaways that have nothing to do with the action. About halfway through the movie Rad drops the woman altogether, focusing instead on a cop as he tries to track down an albino biker named Black Pepper. 80 min. (JK) a 11:30 PM.
See listing for Fri 8/18. a Noon.
Chance Encounters
