Silversun Pickups composed and performed the score for this taut directorial debut from Criminal Minds and Archer co-star Aisha Tyler. Irish actor Emmett Hughes, who also wrote the script, gives a bravura, virtually solo performance as a Hollywood bad boy who, after getting sober, finding love, and landing a blockbuster part, finds his life unravelling in a series of phone calls as he drives across LA.
Thursday November 9, 2017 7:00pm - 8:45pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
Introduced by Penelope Spheeris! Spheeris’s gonzo western drapes the mantle of Wild West mythos on the unlikely shoulders of Jon Cryer and Daniel Roebuck, punk rockers from Queens whose cross-country drive to LA becomes a mission of vengeance when their pal Flea is murdered by a gang of psychotic rednecks led by Fear’s Lee Ving (clearly enjoying himself). Newly restored after decades out of circulation, this is the missing link between Spheeris’s cult ’80s indie films and her ’90s Hollywood success.
Friday November 10, 2017 9:40pm - 11:45pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
Jaime Leopold, original bassist for Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks and a charter member of the Haight-Ashbury scene, plays an aging alt-folk troubadour on a never-ending tour who thinks he finds a shot at career redemption when he discovers a young drifter with a golden voice (Jennifer Smieja). Featuring a fantastic soundtrack of Leopold’s “American quirk” songs, a few of which he and Smieja will perform after the screening.
Caskie Jones last saw his father 30 years ago, but he's very much a chip off the brawling, boozing block. When his wife finally tosses him out, Caskie goes looking for the old man. The road leads to a dusty New Mexico town and more than he bargained for in the form of Tanner Wild (Nashville's Aubrey Peeples), a tart-tongued teenager and prodigal singer-songwriter who unwittingly forces Caskie to confront his past in this antihero tale powered by a killer Americana soundtrack.
Fifteen years ago, the Icarus Line was rocketing to the top of the LA underground with a hot debut album and a major-label deal. Now frontman Joe Cardamone is 36 and broke, and the record companies won’t touch his new stuff. Plus, he’s getting death threats by text. Cardamone wrote the script and plays a thinly veiled version of himself in this No Wave-style noir about navigating the modern music biz, co-starring Ariel Pink and Keith Morris.
At the invitation of an old flame for whom he still carries a torch, Bryan, a young Portlander adjusting to life in a wheelchair after a terrible injury, road trips to a Las Vegas EDM festival with his best bud Andres in this kinetic, colorful, “silent” movie with no spoken dialogue but a wall-to-wall dance-music soundtrack featuring Dash Berlin, Armin van Buuren, and many, many more.
Martin Ravin lives alone in a secluded lake house, mourning his murdered wife and consoling himself with Irish airs. One night he spies a trysting young couple commandeering his canoe for a moonlight ride; when only the boy returns, Martin takes matters into his own hands. Is he seeking justice? Vengeance? A way to keep his past at bay? A brisk, surprising thriller marked by dark humor and beautifully sinister musical interludes.
Writer/director Mays, currently co-starring in Snowfall, and rapper/actor Tristan “Mack” Wilds (of The Wire and Adele’s “Hello” video) are X and Nisha, childhood friends from South Central who turn a game of crooning smooth R&B versions of rock and pop classics into a series of viral tracks. A canny mix of urban drama, romance, bromance, and cautionary tale on the perils of returning to the ’hood.
Sunday November 12, 2017 12:00pm - 2:00pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
A young artist eking out an aimless existence in San Francisco tries to sort out a battery of conflicting emotions upon returning to her small Wisconsin hometown, a year after her father’s death, for her best friend’s wedding. Weaver, who also wrote, edited, and stars as June, makes an assured feature debut in this sharply observed seriocomic character study; her partner, Wisconsin singer-songwriter Chris Irwin, composed the rootsy score.
