The Chicago Rep-port: 4/7 to 4/13, 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.

Doc Films five film series all continue this week, including a Japanese cult classic and a down-and-dirty British crime flick. On Monday, April 10, “Heat and Sand: The Desert Film” goes with Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964, 35mm). Tuesday, April 11, “Stories from the New Land: Chronicles of the Migrant Experience” has the David Bax-approved The New Land (Jan Troell, 1972, Blu-ray), starring Max von Sydow. The Wednesday Robert Bresson series moves to one of the auteur’s less seen films, Une femme douce (Robert Bresson, 1969, DCP).

For something completely different, on Thursday, April 13, “Defend the Keep: Sieges, Encirclements, and Last Stands” presents Trespass (Walter Hill, 1992, 35mm), a Treasure of the Sierra Madre-inspired thriller starring Bill Paxton and William Sadler looking for gold in an East St. Louis tenement. Finally, also on Thursday, April 13, “Neon Noir: Fluorescent Visions of Vice and Violence” has the brilliant gangster flick The Long Good Friday (John Mackenzie, 1980, 35mm) featuring a fantastically threatening performance from Bob Hoskins.

If all that wasn’t enough, Doc Films is also starting a series each Sunday, programmed by Francesca Lambert, called “Women by Women: Portraits by Contemporary Directors.” This week’s film is Madeinusa (Claudia Llosa, 2005, 35mm), a coming-of-age tale set in a small Peruvian village during the yearly Easter festival.

This week’s screening in the Gene Siskel Film Center’s series “New Sensory Cinema” is underrated filmmaker Lucrecia Martel’s debut La Ciénaga (2001, 35mm). You can catch it on Friday, April 7 or Tuesday, April 11 with a post-screening lecture and discussion led by SAIC professor Melika Bass.

Did you miss the midnight screenings of The Room (Tommy Wiseau, 2003, 35mm) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975, 35mm) at the Music Box a few weeks back? Well, you got another chance this weekend! These shows are typically packed (and rowdy), so make sure to get your tickets in advance. Up late but want to see something else? The Room (on Friday) and Rocky Horror (on Saturday) are counter-programmed by midnight movie future classic, The Void (Jeremy Gillespie & Steven Kostanski, 2016, DCP).

Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso (Jauja) will be in-person to present a free screening of his film Los Muertos (2004, format unknown) at Northwestern’s Block Museum on Friday, April 7. Later in the week, on Thursday, April 13, they will continue their look at the work of Chantal Akerman by pairing her first and last films together—13 minute short Saute ma ville (1968, format unknown) will precede No Home Movie (2015, format unknown).

The Logan Theatre’s Comic Cinema series picks this week show the wide range of films adapted from the genre. First, on April 7-10, they stay away from capes and cowls for the darkly humorous Harvey Pekar adaptation American Splendor (Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini, 2003, format unknown). Later in the week, on April 11-13, the series returns to superheroes, though unusual ones, with the supremely underrated Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Guillermo del Toro, 2008, format unknown).

Rounding out the week, all Chicago Cinemark Theatre locations invite you to Hill House to figure out who killed Mr. Boddy in Clue (Jonathan Lynn, 1985, format unknown). The cult classic is playing on Sunday, April 9 and Wednesday, April 12.