CIFF 2019 Reviews: SOLE, FIRE WILL COME, THE APOLLO & DEERSKIN

In the first week at the Chicago International Film Festival, I was able to catch three very unique foreign films and a great documentary about a famous American landmark. To begin, let’s take a look at Polish-Italian film, Sole. 

Sole (Carlo Sironi)

Director Carlo Sironi’s Sole takes on the controversial anti-surrogacy laws that exist in Italy. The story follows a young, pregnant, Polish girl who goes to Italy where she begins living with an Italian boy, posing as the baby’s father, in order to eventually sell the child to the boy’s uncle and his wife who cannot have children. At first the pair find it hard to get along, but the strange situation eventually pushes them together.

The film itself is extremely quiet. Because the movie is so quiet and limited with its dialogue, we don’t learn much about the characters’ true personalities, even when they begin to open up to one another. To emphasize the melancholy of the situation, blue is the dominant color throughout. From costuming, to settings, that expert use of color creates something both visually pleasing and emotionally resonant. Sironi also succeeds in showing how far people will go in order to get a child in Italy, which is not something most American audiences are aware of.

Once the main characters begin to lose the friction between them, the movie naturally goes from abstract to realistic. Although we don’t know the characters very well, we begin to see them as humans, and not just two people who give pensive stares to everything and everyone. Sole is an emotional and untraditional love story with very strong performances by stars Sandra Drzymalska and Claudio Segaluscio.

Fire Will Come (Oliver Laxe)

Fire Will Come, directed by Oliver Laxe, is an abstract look at a man (Arias Amador), recently released from prison after serving time for arson, who begins living with his aging mother (Benedicta Sanchez). When wildfires begin to break out in their rural community, he becomes highly scrutinized. The rich forest setting in which the film takes place along with the brilliant score creates an utterly ethereal mood that serves the abstractness well.

Laxe also does a good job at making the audience feel like they understand the community the story takes place in; from the deep forest, to the small town, to the other people around the main characters. It makes us feel as claustrophobic as the main character does when people begin to turn on him.

The focus here does become a bit confused, with very little insight into any personality of the main character and several monotonous scenes that don’t seem to have much purpose. At first it seems like a story about readjustment to a past life. But there a several plot points introduced including a sick cow and a possible love interest that never have a purpose or go anywhere.

The actual wildfire sequence, which oddly focuses on the firefighters rather than the main characters, is by far the best part of the film. The visual of the fire spreading further and faster and the chaotic actions of the firefighters is extremely engaging and makes you wonder why the movie wasn’t made about this specific situation. Clearly the director was going for something experimental that perhaps becomes more clear with continual viewings. The problem is, I’m not sure that I want to rewatch it.

The Apollo (Roger Ross Williams)

From documentary filmmaker Roger Ross Williams comes an in-depth look at the history of Harlem’s historic Apollo Theatre.  The film follows the journey the Apollo itself has been on since its conception, and expresses its impact on black artists and black culture as a whole. The movie features new and archival interviews from the artists who were there and the people they influenced, including Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle, and Jamie Foxx.

The firsthand accounts of artists who made their careers at the Apollo served as a perfect snapshot into the Apollo’s heyday. The amount of artists of today like Foxx and Pharrell Williams who cite watching Apollo performances as huge inspirations for their careers puts in perspective how influential the theatre was and is. Much of the movie also focuses on the Apollo’s Amateur Night, which is the longest running talent show in the country. That aspect of the documentary provided even more insight into the importance the Apollo holds to young performers all around the country.

Williams expertly ties the whole thing together with the behind the scenes of one of the Apollo’s most recent productions, Between The World and Me. The show is based on a novel that uncovers black life in America, specifically the issue of police violence. This shows the audience what goes into an Apollo production, as well as how the Apollo has continually contributed to important racial conversations in America. This documentary is an absolute must see for history and music buffs alike, and will be available on November 6 on HBO.

Deerskin (Quentin Dupieux)

Quentin Dupieux’s Deerskin is a little bit like Joker. But Jean Dujardin’s Georges does not have a comedy career in mind; instead, his goal is to be the only person in the world wearing a jacket. This dark comedy follows a man going through a mid-life crisis who spirals into madness after purchasing an expensive deerskin jacket. After moving into a remote hotel, he meets naive bartender Denise (Adèle Haenel), and tells her he is a filmmaker, which is a lie. But this lie ends up overtaking his life, and he devotes his time to making an amateur film.

At only 77 minutes, Dupieux fails to provide much insight into Georges, which makes his darker turns feel a bit out of the blue. It’s clear that he is depressed and confused, but there are certain choices he makes that seem somewhat extreme given his situation. But almost because the plot twists are so jarring, you can’t look away from what is happening onscreen.

Dujardin gives a fantastically strange performance fit for this fantastically strange film. With the blatant, almost humorous at times violence of Quentin Tarantino and the off-color tone reminiscent of someone like Yorgos Lanthimos, Dupieux’s film is one that makes the viewer wonder if what they just watched was absolute garbage or a new masterpiece.

Which of these movies are you most interested to see?

That’s it for report #1! Report #2 coming soon…