Pick of the day
“Babel” (star)(star)(star)1/2
(Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, U.S.; 2:22)
The title suggests a world separated by language and misunderstanding, which is exactly Inarritu’s subject here. After “Amores Perros” and “21 Grams,” he and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga return a third time to their favorite form: a multi-episode story in which the lives of disparate characters from divergent backgrounds and classes interweave into a complex and finally shocking unity. This is their most ambitious (and expensive) yet, set in Morocco, Mexico, Japan and briefly, the U.S., with a cast that includes Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett as American tourists caught in a “terrorist” incident and Gael Garcia Bernal as an irresponsible guy who gets his wedding-bound illegal-alien aunt (Adriana Barraza) into big trouble. The storytelling is as mesmerizing as ever, but the story this time more wildly unlikely, the links between the tales more strained. Still, it’s another display of bravura filmmaking by a director with guts. Inarritu will be present. In English, Moroccan, Spanish and Japanese, with English subtitles. 7 p.m. Sat., THN.
–Michael Wilmington
Other choices
“Paris, Je T’aime” (star)(star)(star)
(Various directors; France/Liechtenstein/Switzerland; 2:00)
A fetching mash note to various Parisian neighborhoods, this omnibus film puts to work 20 directors, including Wes Craven, the Coen brothers and Alexander Payne. Everyone from Juliette Binoche to Steve Buscemi to Gena Rowlands is in this thing. Uneven but worth seeing just for the Payne segment that closes the film. 8 p.m. Sat., LM.
— Michael Phillips
`Shortbus’ (star)(star)(star)
(John Cameron Mitchell; U.S.; 1:42)
Featuring lotsa sex– homo- and hetero and bi— writer-director John Cameron Mitchell’s heat-seeking portrait of a traumatized post-9/11 New York is more like a love-in than a conventional ensemble picture. Mitchell’s the man behind “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” and “Shortbus” proffers a similar blend of sly camp and grunge. Both projects have an unexpected sweetness to them, if you can overlook a few obvious flourishes (the loose plot hangs on the travails of a married sex therapist seeking her very first orgasm) and some ineffective amateur acting. Much of the unsimulated action takes place in the titular Brooklyn salon, a kind of a sensual free-for-all frequented by, among others, the former mayor of New York. Any echoes of Ed Koch are purely intentional. 8 p.m. Sat., AMC.–M.P.
“Towards the Moon with Fellini” (star)(star)(star)
(Eugenio Cappuccio, Italy; 0:58)
The late Federico Fellini may be one of the acknowledged masters of world cinema, but he can be low-rated by distributors like everyone else. His last film, 1989’s “The Voice of the Moon,” still has yet to get a regular U.S. theatrical run. This documentary provides a tantalizing glimpse of the making of “Voice,” as actress Christina Engelhardt roams around the set, following Fellini and talking to the company. In Italian, with English subtitles. Noon Sat. AMC; 6 p.m. Mon. AMC).–
M.W.
“Buzz” (star)(star)(star)
(Greece, Spiro N. Taraviras; 2:00)
This well-deserved and richly detailed biography/tribute documentary on Greek-American screenwriter A.I. (Albert Isaac) Bezzerides, a.k.a. Buzz, is one of the most sympathetic and moving film portraits of a movie scenarist ever. Bezzerides (born in a Greek community in Turkey in 1908) was a California novelist who entered Hollywood when his novel “The Long Haul” was made into the 1940 classic “They Drive By Night.” He stayed to write, among other things, “Kiss Me Deadly” (his masterpiece) and innumerable TV episodes of “Rawhide” and “The Big Valley” — the latter of which he created. Here, recorded several years ago by Greek filmmaker Taraviras, Bezzerides and others — including “Thieves’ Highway” director Jules Dassin — engagingly recount Buzz’s colorful path from working-class immigrant origins to Hollywood fame. 6:30 p.m. Sat. AMC; 3 p.m. Sun. LM. — M.W.
“The Trials of Darryl Hunt” (star)(star)(star)1/2
(Ricki Stern & Annie Sundberg; U.S.; 1:55)
More Top Picks Best Sauna Suits For Men
Here’s a story that’ll sound familiar to Illinois residents: An African-American man is repeatedly and wrongfully convicted of murder thanks to blindly aggressive prosecutors and, in this case, all-white juries. But the story of the extraordinarily gracious Hunt takes place in North Carolina, and this documentary, which chronicles his 20-year ordeal, offers a profoundly uplifting message about the resiliency of the human spirit. 6:30 p.m. Sat., AMC).
— Mark Caro
“Dirt Nap” (star)
(D.B. Sweeney, U.S.; 1:35)
Sweeney, most recently of ABC’s short-lived “Life As We Know It,” directed this meandering, uninteresting foray into the middle-age male psyche. He also co-wrote and stars, so the blame for its sad state rests directly on his shoulders. Sweeney plays a washed-up rock demigod whose wife is cheating on him with his biggest (only remaining?) fan. His partners in defeatism are childhood pals Jason (Paul Hipp), whose early brilliance burned itself out, and Mark (John C. McGinley of “Scrubs”), the high school football star. 4 p.m. Sat., AMC.
— Jessica Reaves
“Shoot the Messenger” (star)(star)(star)
(Ngozi Onwurah, U.K.; 1:40)
A provocative look at race, identity and forgiveness, “Shoot the Messenger” has at its center a prickly yet sympathetic narrator in Joe (David Oyelowo), who gives up a successful career in computers to assist young black men by becoming a teacher. His good intentions go awry when he has a run-in with recalcitrant student Jamal, who charges Joe with assault, sending him down the economic and social ladder. As his journey wends through a mental hospital, homelessness and janitorial work, he decides his problem is other black people, his curse his black skin. But two black women (Jay Byrd as mothering angel Mabel, Nikki Amuka Bird as his grounded girlfriend, Heather) help him find a path to redemption and reconciliation. 2 p.m. Sat., AMC; 4 p.m. Sun, AMC; 6:30 p.m. Tue., AMC.
— Maureen M. Hart
———-
Festival screenings are held at AMC River East 21 (AMC), 322 Illinois St.; Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema (LM), 2828 N. Clark St.; and Thorne Auditorium, on Northwestern University’s Chicago campus (THN), 375 E. Chicago Ave. For more Tribune coverage of the fest, visit www.chicagotribune.com/filmfest. For ticket information, contact Ticketmaster at 312-902-1500 or the Festival hotline at 312-332-FILM. For a complete schedule, visit www.chicagofilmfestival.com.