CIFF 2007: Day Four - Michael Clayton

Tony Gilroy (photos by Ian Sklarsky)

Even though it's already playing at AMC River East, the Chicago International Film Festival held a screening of Tony Gilroy's legal thriller Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney.

Gilroy was in attendance, but I had another screening to hit.

Michael Clayton opens in a wider release on Friday, and my review of the film will be in the print edition of UR Chicago, which hits stands on Thursday.




Screened:

Part Hamlet and all oedipal insanity, David Mackenzie's Hallam Foe follows a young man (played with uncomfortable precision by Jamie Bell) who thinks his mother was murdered and ends up falling for a woman who looks just like her (Sophia Myles). Events roll downhill seemingly to the point of no return, which makes us wonder if the movie's final shot is deserved or even accurate.

Hallam Foe screens again tonight, Oct. 9, at River East @ 7:30 p.m.

Beautifully shot but emotionally stagnant, Tuya's Marriage (Tuya de hun shi) is an unromantic look at marriage in China. Tuya (Nan Yu) has to find another man to care for the farm and her present husband after the two are injured. There's gorgeous cinematography by Lutz Reitemeier, but director Quanan Wang never finds an emotional core to the dilemma at hand.

Tuya's Marriage screens again Friday, Oct. 12, at River East @ 4:30 p.m.

--Mark Dujsik