My last day at the Chicago International Film Festival started out with Kris Swanberg who was there to introduce Empire Builder and a short Q&A afterwards. She introduced the film by saying that it is a very personal film. It is easy to tell that by how much of her real family was in the film; the baby was her real life 10 month old child and the man who played the husband was her actual husband (famous mumblecore director Joe Swanberg).

Empire Builder is about a young mother who is looking to escape, if only for a bit, her routine marriage. She and her child leave behind their Chicago home as well as her husband for a week to a cabin they inherit in Montana. A handyman who is working on the cabin sparks her interest and she is initially drawn to him. The new exciting guy eventually ends up as dull as the husband she escaped from in the beginning.

There is not much dialog outside of 30 minutes in, which is when the title cards appears. Instead on relying on dialog it mostly observes characters from the outside without really hearing what they are thinking. It is a slow moving film that really works (something I have not had much success with at the festival up until this point).

RATING: 7.1/10

Empire Builder

My last film of the day and festival was Not Fade Away by director David Chase who also was there for a Q&A. This is a film that will probably be a hit for the target audience (anyone who grew up in the 1960’s). The reason being is that this is a pure nostalgia piece for the Rock n’ Roll era of the 60’s.

Not Fade Away follows an unknown (and fictitious) band made up of three friends who want to make it big like their idols the Rolling Stones. As you could guess the soundtrack was good but you would assume it would be considering the film is centered around music. James Gandolfini steals every scene he is in as the supporting actor. A lot of people will have a problem with the ending and rightfully so. It is a real head scratcher of an ending. For the most part, the film feels like it is on cruise control.

RATING: 6.2/10

Not Fade Away

COMING UP: Before I leave town tomorrow I plan catch Looper, which is not apart of CIFF but is one that have been meaning to see. It was nice to be apart of the Chicago International Film Festival, we had fun!

Recap of some of my Tweets from today:

Follow @WayTooIndie for coverages of other film festivals as well as indie movie reviews daily!

Gearing up for my day here at #ChiFilmFest48. Today I will see Kris Swanbergs EMPIRE BUILDER and David Chases NOT FADE AWAY.

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) October 16, 2012

Kris Swanberg introduces EMPIRE BUILDER by saying it is very personal. #ChiFilmFeast48 twitter.com/WayTooIndie/st…

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) October 16, 2012

EMPIRE BUILDER was pleasant to watch and observe the characters. A slow paced film that worked. #ChiFilmFeast48

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) October 16, 2012

NOT FADE AWAY was purely a nostalgia time period piece with a head scratching ending. #ChiFilmFest48

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) October 17, 2012

Director and screenplay writer David Chase doing a Q&A after NOT FADE AWAY #ChiFilmFest48 twitter.com/WayTooIndie/st…

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) October 17, 2012

Fall is a great time to watch films. The combination of the days beginning to get colder and the nights getting longer makes the perfect excuse for staying inside to watch films. Festival season is now in full swing which means award season will be following just around the corner. So what better place to enjoy a film festival in the fall than the Windy City of Chicago?

The Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF) is a two week film festival that prides itself on the abundant offerings of world cinema. During the five and a half days I will be there 80% percent of the films I am scheduled to see are foreign. More than half of those foreign films premiered overseas at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival this year. Generally what works best for me is going into films without a whole lot about it, so that is what I will be doing for most of what I see. For the majority of the films I have not even seen the full trailer.

Below are the films that I am planning to cover for Way Too Indie while I am there. However, this is slightly tentative depending on press screenings that may pop up but for the most part this will be it. In addition to festival coverage I will be posting on here, I will also be tweeting like crazy so make sure to follow @WayTooIndie on twitter.

Day #1: Holy Motors

Day #2: War Witch – Like Someone In Love – After Lucia

Day #3: Flowerbuds – Paradise: Love

Day #4: Once Upon A Time Was I, Veronica – Beyond The Hills

Day #5: Empire Builder – Not Fade Away

Chicago International Film Festival Trailers:

Holy Motors trailer:

War Witch trailer:

Like Someone In Love trailer:

Flowerbuds trailer:

Paradise: Love trailer:

Beyond The Hills trailer:

Not Fade Away trailer: