The Chicago Rep-port: 3/17 to 3/23, by Aaron Pinkston

Repertoire screenings may not be as abundant in Chicago as they are in LA/NY, but when you look around, there are many theatergoing delights. The Chicago Rep-port is a weekly(ish) series highlighting the best and most compelling repertory screenings in the Second City.

The Music Box Theatre is always a good bet for rep screenings but this is a particularly good week. Kicking off the weekend are a pair of popular midnight screenings, with full audience participation encouraged: The Room (Tommy Wiseau, 2003, 35mm) on Friday and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975, 35mm) on Saturday. If you’ve never seen The Room or Rocky Horror at a sold-out screening at the Music Box, you haven’t seen ‘em.

On Saturday, March 18 and Sunday, March 19, the Music Box continues their series of 50th anniversary films with an 11:30 matinee of New Hollywood classic Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967, 35mm). One of the most important films ever made, Bonnie and Clyde is in no need of re-evaluation, but turning 50 is as good a reason to celebrate it as any.

Rounding out the Music Box’s rep slate this week is an “Is It Still Funny?” screening of Coming to America (John Landis, 1988, DCP) on Tuesday, March 21 at 7:00 pm. The ongoing series (previous entrants included Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Tootsie) is hosted by Chicago writer Mark Caro and looks at classic comedies to see if they stand up in our ever-evolving social politics. Coming to America should be a particularly interesting case, given its themes of race, immigration, and a very different New York City location. If you want to know how Coming to America stands today, you won’t want to miss this screening and discussion.

On Tuesday, March 21, the ArcLight Chicago will have a special presentation of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958, DCP). Considered the best film ever made by the most recent Sight & Sound poll, there really isn’t anything else I need to say to pique your interest of seeing it on the big screen.

This week’s selections in the Logan Theatre’s “Leading Ladies” series are Kill Bill: Volume 1 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003, format unknown) and Frida (Julie Taymor, 2002, format unknown). You can take in the gory violence of Kill Bill Friday through Monday at 11 pm or the luscious art of Friday Tuesday through Thursday at 10:30 pm.

While you’re at it, you can follow up Kill Bill at the Logan with Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992, format unknown) for a Tarantino double feature as part of the Cinemark Classic Series this week. It plays on Sunday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 22 at all Chicagoland Cinemark theaters.

For those in the northern burbs, the Wilmette Theatre will be screening Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976, format unknown) on Sunday, March 19.

Finally, on the festival front, the European Union Film Festival continues at the Gene Siskel Film Center with films from the United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Latvia, Germany, France, Hungary, Romania, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands playing this week. Highlighting the slate are François Ozon’s newest film Frantz, Dominik Graf & Johannes Sievert’s Doomed Love: A Journey Through German Genre Film, and the animated Ethel & Ernest, with a voice cast including Jim Broadbent and Luke Treadaway. You can find the full schedule of dates and times here.