53rd Chicago International Film Festival: Week 2 (Western/On the Beach at Night Alone/Golden Years/El Mar La Mar/Control/Shorts 8 – These Walls Talk: Architecture/Can’t Turn Back: Edith + Eddie and ‘63 Boycott/Shorts 3 – Living After Midnight: After Dark)

Over at Chicagoist, I co-authored a report with Jacob Oller on the state of the 53rd Chicago International Film Festival as it goes into its second week, "6 Must-Sees At The Chicago International Film Festival's Week 2."

I recommended Western, On the Beach at Night Alone, Golden Years, and El Mar La Mar, while bidding people skip Control. In the introduction, I drew readers' attention to Shorts 8 – These Walls Talk: Architecture, featuring Standing Nymph and Man, and encouraged audiences not to miss the Kartemquin Films show, Can’t Turn Back: Edith + Eddie and ‘63 Boycott.

While I've got you, I'll also put in a word for Shorts 3 – Living After Midnight: After Dark, while includes a bracing, funny little shocker, Great Choice, about a woman trapped in a Red Lobster commercial, which ends up packing a potent metaphoric punch.