Ray Pride

* = Recommended

Fri 15

*Blue Velvet

(1986, USA) Directed by David Lynch. The Hardy Boys meet Luis Buñuel in the North Carolina outback. At first sight, "Blue Velvet," perverse, misogynist cauchemar that it was, seemed to bear the conviction of a dark, if faux-naïf "vision." "Your disease is inside me, Jeffrey," spoken by a full-length nude, bruised Isabella Rosselini to Kyle MacLachlan seemed a genuinely disturbing invention, not a calculated commercial gross-out, which "Wild at Heart" and "Fire Walk With Me" proved to be. "Blue Velvet" seemed like the pre-Freudian post-pop fever dream of an idiot savant. The failure of "Fire...," "On the Air," and "Twin Peaks" may be what Lynch needs to regain his bearings. First hypnotic Angelo Badalamenti score, silken night photography by Frederick Elmes, with the ineffable Jack Lynch, the cozily epicene Dean Stockwell ("Here's to your fuck... Frank."), Dennis Hopper, Brad Dourif, Hope Lange. Panavision. Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, Midnight.

*Body Catastrophes

The silent slapstick of Karl Valentin, Brecht's favorite clown. Seventy minutes of shorts made from 1913-1923, with live piano accompaniment by David Drazin. 16mm. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6:30.

*Calimari Union

(1985, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. "Some cool boozers (all but one named Frank) don sunglasses and set out on the Helsinki subway to a swank suburb. During their epic journey across the Finnish capital, some Franks are killed, some Franks are forced into menial labor, and some Franks escape to Estonia," writes the Cinematheque Ontario. 84m. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 7.

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

(2002, USA) Directed by Peter Care. Doc Films, Max Palevsky Cinema, University of Chicago, 1212 E. 59th, 7, 9:15.

*Dazed and Confused

(1993, USA) Directed by Richard Linklater. See Tip of the Week. Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, Midnight.

*Garde a vue

(1981, France) Directed by Claude Miller. Archival print. 86m. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8:15.

Hula

(1928, USA) Directed by Victor Fleming. Clara Bow. Accompanied by Jay Warren at the pipe organ. $8. The Silent Summer at Gateway Theatre, 5216 W. Lawrence (773)205-SFSC, 8.

The Producers: A Fast Forward and 5x8 Retrospective

Two years of highlights from the periodic DIY-in-a-hurry fest. BYOB. $5. Open End Gallery, 2000 W Fulton, 8.

*Shadows in Paradise

(1986, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. 76m. 35mm. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 8:30.

Sat 16

*Band of Outsiders

(1964, France) Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. 97m. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8:15.

*Cockfighter

(1974, USA) Directed by Monte Hellman. Warren Oates as the gambler who won't speak again until his chicken wins. Photographed by Nestor Almendros. 99m. Video. Free. Delilah's (773)472-2771, 2771 N. Lincoln, 6.

*Frantic

(1988, USA) Directed by Roman Polanski. 120m. Doc Films, Max Palevsky Cinema, University of Chicago, 1212 E. 59th St., 7, 9:30.

*Leningrad Cowboys Go America

(1989, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. 78m. 35mm. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 6, 9.

*Long Day's Journey Into Night

(1962, USA) Directed by Sidney Lumet. A 35mm collector's print of the 174 minute version will be shown. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 3.

*Total Balalaika Show

(1994, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. Shown with the short films "These Boots"; "Thru the Wire" and "Rocky VI." Program 83m. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton. 4:30, 7:30.

Sun 17

*Blue Velvet

Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, 11:30am.

*Calimari Union

$7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 4:15

*Dazed and Confused

Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, 11:30am.

*Drifting Clouds

(1996, USA) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. 96m. 35mm. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 1.

*The Match Factory Girl

(1990, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. 70m. 35mm. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 2:45.

*Nina Simone, Love Sorceress

(1998, France) Directed by Rene Letzgus BetaSP video. 75m. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 3.

*Shadows in Paradise

(1986, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. 76m. 35mm. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 6.

Mon 18

*Drifting Clouds

$7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 7.

*Garde a vue

$8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6.

*The Match Factory Girl

$7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 8:45.

Tue 19

.*Crime and Punishment

(1983, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. "In a terse, elliptical, and gripping style, Kaurismaki updates the Dostoevsky novel to contemporary Helsinki," writes Cinematheque Ontario. "His Raskolnikov works in a slaughterhouse, and the person he sets out to murder is not, as in the novel, an old woman, but a businessman who killed his fiancée in a drunken hit-and-run accident. Aki has stated that the film is "first and foremost, a film about the final desperate rebellion of a young man against society. The society that as we know is a merciless machine." 93m. 35mm.. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 7.

*Hamlet Goes Business

(1987, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. 86m. 35mm. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 8:45.

*Long Day's Journey Into Night

$8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6:30.

*Pillow Talk

(1959, USA) Directed by Michael Gordon. "Dedicated to the memory of Gene Siskel, writes the Mayor's Office of Special Events, "who is considered one of the most revered and influential movie critics of all time." Free. Chicago Outdoor Film Festival (312)744-3315, Grant Park, 8:15.

Wed 20

*Ariel

(1985, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. "Ariel opens as Taisto, a mineworker, loses his job in Lapland and makes his way to Helsinki in a huge white Cadillac," writes Cinematheque Ontario. "Caught in a downward spiral of crime, the impassive laborer finds himself involved in a mugging, a jailbreak, a car theft, a bank robbery, and marriage to a dour meter maid. Ariel is perhaps the supreme expression of Kaurismaki's singular combination of social realism and stylistic abstraction. 73m. 35mm. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 7.

*Band of Outsiders

$8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8:30.

*Eyes Without A Face

(1959, France) Directed by Georges Franju. 88m.$4. Doc Films, Max Palevsky Cinema, University of Chicago, 1212 E. 59th St., 7.

Kundun

(1997, Mars) Directed by Martin Scorsese. 134m. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 3.

*Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana

(1994, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. 65m. 35mm. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 8:30.

Thu 21

*Buster Keaton

"Cops"; "The Paleface" and "Seven Chances." $4 . Doc Films, Max Palevsky Cinema, University of Chicago, 1212 E. 59th St., 8.

A Dance Overdue

(2003, USA) Directed by TV Poet. A doc dealing with eminent domain, youth culture, the role of art in society, experimental video forms and modern dance in Madison, Wisconsin. 60m. Heaven Gallery (773) 342-4597, 1550 N. Milwaukee, 9:30.

*I Hired a Contract Killer

(1990, Finland) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki. 79m. 35mm. $7. Facets (773)281-4114, 1517 W. Fullerton, 7.

*Nina Simone, Love Sorceress

$8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8:15.

(2003-08-13)

Also by Ray Pride

Tip of the Week
(Im Juli) A small, "Amelie"-like treat (which was produced around the same time as Jeunet's globe-straddling hit), Fatih Akin's "Im Juli" is a champion border-crosser, tossing "Run Lola Run"'s Moritz Bleibtreau into the heart of southwestern Europe in pursuit of fate.
(2003-08-05)

Short Runs
This week's limited screenings
(2003-08-05)

L.A. confidence
I never thought I'd live to see the day when thrills in a studio movie would come from sheer competence
(2003-08-05)

Tip of the Week
Sam Green and Bill Siegel's "The Weather Underground" is an impressively sturdy documentary about a difficult-to-master slice of American history, a sweet rebuke to the narcissism-as-entertainment wing of contemporary documentary practice
(2003-07-30)

The Oh No show
(2003-07-30)

Short Runs
(2003-07-30)

Tip of the Week
(2003-07-23)

Leaving Navy Pier
(2003-07-23)

Extras, extras
(2003-07-23)

Short Runs
(2003-07-23)

Tip of the Week
(2003-07-16)

Short Runs
(2003-07-16)

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