Now in its 33rd year, the Chicago International Film Festival, which runs through Sunday, offers movies for all tastes. Following is a schedule of festival films for Monday, with reviews by Tribune writers. (Reviews of films listed below that don’t contain synopses appeared in last week’s Friday section; a complete list of films is available on the Internet at metromix.com). All films will be shown at the Cineplex Odeon theaters, 600 N. Michigan Ave.; call 312-332-FILM for ticket information.
– “Christmas Oratorio” (star) (star) (star) 1/2 (Kjell-Ake Andersson; Sweden). 2 and 6:45 p.m. — Michael Wilmington
– “Dogtown” (star) (star) (George Hickenlooper; U.S.). 2:30 and 7 p.m. — M.W.
– “Love Stories” (star) (star) (Jerzy Stuhr; Poland). 2:30 p.m. (also 9 p.m. Wednesday) — Achy Obejas
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– “Indiscreet” (star) (star) (star) (Stanley Donen; U.S.; 1958). A mediocre play, Norman Krasna’s “Kind Sir” becomes — through director Donen’s panache and Hollywood/British big-studio alchemy — a glossy delight. Bachelor Cary Grant, a world-famous diplomat and delegate at a NATO convention in London, has successfully pretended to be married for years, in order to disentangle himself from amours — like one he starts with single actress Ingrid Bergman. 3 p.m. — M.W.
– “The Sixth Happiness” (star) (star) (star) (Waris Hussein; Great Britain). 3 and 9:30 p.m. — Monica Eng
– “The Witman Boys” (star) (star) (star) (Janos Szasz; Hungary). 3:30 and 6:45 p.m. — M.W.
– “Suzaku” (star) (star) (star) 1/2 (Naomi Kawase; Japan). 4:30 and 9:15 p.m. — Patrick Z. McGavin
– “Fred” (star) (star) 1/2 (Pierre Jolivet; France). 5 p.m. — M.W.
– “Wednesday” (star) (star) (Viktor Kossakovsky; Russia). An interesting concept for a documentary that never quite comes together. The director searches out 100 people born in St. Petersburg on July 19, 1961. The film is visually compelling, though its focus never fully registers and the subjects lack the introspection to provide any ideas or insight into their behavior — or, more important, into the radical social and political changes that have altered their lives. 5 p.m. (also 3 p.m. Tuesday; 7 p.m. Wednesday) — P.Z.M.
– “Best Man: `Best Boy’ and All of Us Twenty Years Later” (star) (star) (star) (Ira Wohl; U.S.). A tender and completely disarming update of Ira Wohl’s landmark documentary, “Best Boy,” which brings us back into the life of Wohl’s 70-year-old cousin Philly, a mentally disabled man whose appetite for life and experience make a deep impression on his sister, family and friends. A beautifully textured and largely unsentimental film that engages the spirit of possibility and wonder. 5:15 p.m. — P.Z.M.
– “Gattaca” (star) (star) (star) (Andrew Niccol; U.S.). An entertaining blend of science fiction and mystery in which writer-director Niccol imagines a genetically engineered world where discrimination is based on genes rather than sex, race or class. A defiant “love child” with improper genes (Ethan Hawke) fakes his way into the elite genetic class with the help of a gentically superior paraplegic, who lends him his identity and DNA samples. Hawke winds up in a space program run by Gore Vidal, but romance (with Uma Thurman) and murder intervene. 7 p.m. — M.W.
– Sam Peckinpah Program: “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” (star) (star) (star) (star) (Sam Peckinpah; U.S.; 1970) and “The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage” (star) (star) (star) (Paul Seydor; U.S.). “Ballad” is a scorchingly lyrical picture about the twists in the American frontier dream. It’s a wonderful film almost empty of Peckinpah’s usual trademark violence, with Jason Robards Jr., at his crustiest, as a desert rat who stumbles onto water and riches after being left for dead. Stella Stevens is a hooker with a golden heart (and hair). This neglected classic also features the usual Peckinpah gallery of scoundrels: Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Slim Pickens and R.G. Armstrong. (Showing with it is Seydor’s short Oscar-nominated documentary about the director’s controversial 1969 masterpiece, “The Wild Bunch.”) 6:30 p.m. — M.W.
– “Univers’l” (star) (star) 1/2 (Anna Nicholas; U.S.). 7:15 p.m. — John Petrakis
– “Welcome to Sarajevo” (star) (star) (star) (Michael Winterbottom; Great Britain). 9 p.m. — M.W.
– “Assassins” (star) (star) (star) (Matthieu Kassovitz; France). 9 p.m. — M.W.
– “Beyond Silence” (star) (star) (star) 1/2 (Caroline Link; Germany). A deeply moving and impressively made film about a gifted young woman, a child of deaf parents, whose immersion into music and sound creates some unfortunate antagonisms for her parents, who are unable to “understand” her passion. The two actresses who play Lara (as a 9-year-old and an 18-year-old) are outstanding. Link uses devastating and haunting imagery to explore Lara’s milieu. 9:20 p.m. (also 4:30 p.m. Tuesday; 9:15 p.m. Wednesday) — P.Z.M.
– “Destiny” (star) (star) (star) (star) (Youssef Chahine; Egypt/France). 9:30 p.m. — M.W.