Chicago Critics Film Festival 2026 preview
If it’s May at the historic Music Box Theatre in Chicago, IL, that means the CFCA is back with CCFF. The Who is back with the What? The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), the Chicago-area print, online, and broadcast critics group that celebrates the art of film and film criticism, returns for the 13th annual Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF), which remains the only film festival curated solely by film critics. That makes it quite unique, and once again, a hub for film enthusiasts for a week, Friday, May 1st, through Thursday, May 7th.
I’ve been in attendance at every single one and can attest that it is not only the place to be, but also typically where I first see many of the films on my year-end Top Ten Films list.
During CCFF, you can often find me in the front row, like in this picture below…
…that’s also me in an artist representation that you’ll find in the Music Box Theatre lobby when you purchase a beverage and/or snack from the hard-working staff during the festival dates.
But where do these films come from? Well, they’ve been chosen from a variety of film festivals within the last year. Here they are by the numbers: 6 come from Sundance, 4 from TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), 2 are from Cannes, 2 are from Venice, 1 comes from Fantastic Fest, and 1 comes from Dances with Films. The goal has been the same each year: to bring the best of the fests to Chicago.
This year’s CCFF opens with a screening of “The Invite”, the latest from director Olivia Wilde, who also stars in the comedy alongside Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton. It was a big hit at Sundance this past January, sparking a distribution bidding war that A24 ultimately won. Wilde will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. CCFF will close out with Joe Swanberg’s “The Sun Never Sets”, his latest drama, which stars Dakota Fanning, Jake Johnson, and Cory Michael Smith. Both Swanberg and Smith are scheduled to attend.
In between those two evenings, there will be a wide-ranging selection of feature films and shorts, from animation to documentaries, to narrative stories from a variety of genres. Several of them will be premiering in Chicago for the very first time, such as “Power Ballad”, the latest from John Carney (“Once” and “Sing Street”), starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas; John Early’s “Maddie’s Secret”. Adrian Chiarella’s “Leviticus”, Sara Dosa’s “Time and Water”, and Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad’s dark comedy, “Chili Finger”, which was shot in Champaign, IL. Benda and Helstad are scheduled to attend with the film’s star, Judy Greer.
In addition to the more than 20 acclaimed new feature films and two short film programs making their Chicago premieres, the festival will present several 35 mm anniversary screenings, including 40th anniversary screenings of David Cronenberg’s classic “The Fly” and Jonathan Demme’s “Something Wild”, as well as a 25th anniversary screening of Steven Spielberg’s “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.
Other filmmakers and special guests also expected to attend and participate in post-film Q&As include filmmaker Dawn Porter (“Good Trouble”) with her latest documentary, “When a Witness Recants” and the locally shot “Loafers”, written and directed by Zach Schnitzer (who also stars), who will be in attendance with producer Nate Simon. There will also be a selection of filmmakers from both Shorts Programs included in the festival schedule.
More information on the complete schedule and anticipated special guests can be found here; festival passes and individual tickets are also available online here.
I’ve managed to check out a handful of the films in advance, and you can read my thoughts below, along with the dates and times they will be shown…
DECORADO
After his dystopian body horror epic “Unicorn Wars” in 2022, Spanish comic book artist and filmmaker Alberto Vázquez returns with another foray into adult animation with “Decorado”, an expansion of his 2016 Goya-winning 11-minute short film of the same name. The aptly titled Anywhere is a city with a dour, depressing vibe, populated by anthropomorphic citizens, surrounded by a dense forest that’s off-limits. This is where an unemployed middle-aged mouse, Arnold (voiced by Asier Hormaza), lives with his artist wife, Maria (Aintzane Gamiz), and he’s starting to feel like something isn’t right, as if the environment around them is fabricated, like a film set (or “decorado”), and the people they live alongside are watching them. As his anxiety and paranoia increase, Arnold becomes desperate to learn if there is anything more to life and enlists his friends, Romero (Ander Vildósola) and Pollo Crazy (Raúl Dans), to help him discover the truth as he rebels against society. Maybe what Arnold senses is the control the monolithic corporation ALMA (Almighty Limitless Megacorporative Agency) has on the city and everyone in it. There’s a surreal, zany tone at the forefront of Vázquez’s feature, filled with exaggerated, outrageous characters and situations that come across as rough parodies of familiar cartoon characters or relatable real-world themes. It’s clear Vázquez, who co-wrote the screenplay with Xavi Manuel, has many influences here, such as Huxley and Orwell, and “The Truman Show”, while the film’s visuals recall early classics from Disney, Looney Tunes, and Fritz the Cat. While the tone here is darkly sarcastic and comically cynical, the feature’s energy and intoxicating aesthetic never make “Decorado” feel like a total downer. In fact, the biting humor is often balanced with a haunting beauty and timeless social commentary, reaffirming the need for self-value and communal connection. (95 min, Friday, May 1st at 11:59 pm)
RATING: ***
TUNER
After winning an Oscar for the documentary “Navalny” in 2023, this year finds filmmaker Daniel Roher (“Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band”) dropping not one, but two films. The first is another documentary, “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist”, which he made with Charlie Tyrell, and the other is “Tuner”, which is Roher’s first narrative feature. It’s a uniquely confident take on the crime thriller, written by Roher and Robert Ramsey, involving a piano tuner named Niki White (Leo Woodall) with a very sensitive hearing condition, who discovers he has a side talent as a safe cracker that’ll earn him some extra bank that’ll pay for the medical bills for his mentor, Harry Horowitz (a delightfully charming Dustin Hoffman). Niki does most of the work, while Harry drives around with him to different jobs to show him the ropes of the trade and feel useful. Woodall and Hoffman have great master-apprentice chemistry, and while it often feels like Niki is doing Hoffman’s wife (Tovah Feldshuh) a favor by keeping him busy, the two men clearly admire each other. Niki’s hearing sensitivity is so extreme that he has to constantly wear earplugs to drown out loud noises (or any noise that competes with his work tasks), but he can also name any note played by a pianist with his eyes closed. During one job, he meets Uri (Lior Raz), who persuades Niki to use his enhanced olfactory skills to crack safes for his criminal activities targeting the ultra-wealthy of New York City. Obviously, this side work finds Niki getting in over his head and in a compromising position with Ruthie (a wonderful Havana Rose Liu), a client/pianist he’s become romantically involved with, who knows nothing of his shady moonlighting. While aspects of the story are predictable, the colorful characters (played by a stellar ensemble) and whipsmart editing by Greg O’Bryant give the film an impressive rhythm that uniquely balances charming comedy, convincing romance, and tautly-wound thrills. (109 min, Saturday, May 2nd at 2 pm)
RATING: ***
CAROLINA CAROLINE
With her work in the “Ready or Not” and “Babysitter” movies, and the just-released “Over Your Dead Body”, Australian actress Samara Weaving has proven she has a knack for comedy horror flicks. Her game performances have typically been the highlight of those movies (often superceding the overall movie), but her lead work in the crime thriller “Carolina Caroline” shows some noteworthy range that should not be missed. Weaving plays Caroline, a young woman longing to break free from her mundane job at a small town gas station, when a charming con man, Oliver (Kyle Gallner, “Strange Darling”), stops by and sweeps her off her feet with his brazen confidence. She says goodbye to her daddy (John Gries) and is off on a road-tripping crime school spree with Oliver, learning the carefree ways of stealing as their adrenaline-filled activities lead them to romance. Deep down, Caroline dreams of South Carolina, where the mother (Kyra Sedgwick) who abandoned her supposedly resides, but somehow we know that inevitable meeting won’t be as much of a high as Caroline’s newfound skills. Directed by Adam Carter Rehmeier (“Dinner in America”, which also starred Gallner) and written by William Thomas Dean IV, both of whom are careful to capture the trajectory of Weaving’s title character, which includes a lot of stick-ups and getaways sandwiched between on-the-go mistakes to learn from and foreboding looming tragedy. This is a confidently crafted homage to the 90s “love on the run” crime thrillers, which were themselves influenced by the sultry heat emanating from 70s classics “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Getaway.” (105 min, Saturday, May 2nd at 4:30 pm)
RATING: ***
YOU HAD TO BE THERE: HOW THE TORONTO GODSPELL IGNITED THE COMEDY REVOLUTION
If you didn’t know that there was a landmark production of “Godspell” on June 1st, 1972, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, then this documentary from Nick Davis is a good place to start. Why should you be interested in this 14-month run of the hit musical comedy retelling the Book of Matthew from Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics) and John-Michael Tebelak (book)? Well, because it launched the careers of many actors, including Victor Garber, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Gilda Radner, Dave Thomas, Jayne Eastwood, and Martin Short, as well as the show’s musical director, Paul Shaffer. Davis managed to gather all of those talents together for this documentary, save for the late great Radner, to reminisce and commemorate that historic production and the cherished memories of that time. While there’s no actual footage of their production, Davis makes up for it with fun animated segments that depict what transpired on and off stage at the time. The contemporary interviews of the cast members are entertaining, endearing, and, at times, quite poignant, especially when we learn why some of them didn’t reach the popular stature others did. If you’re a fan of any of the aforementioned performers, you owe it to yourself to catch this. Between the archival photographs, footage, and contemporary interviews, this documentary reminds us of the communal nature of performers, especially those in improv and musicals, and of how influential this particular group would become for so many other television shows and movies. (98 min, Sunday at 11:30 am)
RATING: ***
MADDIE’S SECRET
It’s no secret that some will find this absurdist comedy from writer/director John Early hilarious and quite bonkers. I find myself scratching my head with the latter group and definitely not in the former camp, as the comedy here was absolutely lost on me. Then again, this is my first exposure to the queer comedian’s work. While it’s an ambitious directorial debut for Early, while playing the titular character (wholly committing to either being in drag or crossdressing), who becomes something of an online sensation as a vegetarian food influencer who withholds her eating disorder from everyone, I just couldn’t wrap my brain around what the intent was here, and therefore, whether or not it succeeded at it. Apparently, it’s supposedly a send-up of the disease-of-the-week Lifetime movies that dominated the 90s, but I spent too much time wondering what exactly I clearly wasn’t getting. Many of the performances are purposely over-the-top, or one-dimensionally heightened, by some game actors (the likes of: Kate Berlant, Eric Rahill, Claudia O’Doherty, Conner O’Malley, and Vanessa Bayer), and I found at least one sequence in which Early’s Maddie has a session with her therapist (Chris Bauer) and her estranged cougar wanna-be mother, Beverlee (Kristen Johnson), to elicit some genuine laughs, but by then it was too little too late. After debuting at TIFF last year, “Maddie’s Secret” was embraced by critics, many of whom described Early’s work here as a combination of John Waters and Douglas Sirk, which is pretty spot-on. (98 min, Sunday May 3rd at 4:15 pm)
RATING: **
LATE FAME
No one knows that unassuming New York City postal worker, Ed Saxberger (Willem Dafoe), was once a lauded local poet. He’s worked there for thirty-seven years, and his friends are either his coworkers or the local tavern regulars. It’s been decades since his sole collection of poems was published, and Saxberger can be found in a modest apartment surrounded by stocked bookshelves, ultimately leading an uneventful, peaceful life. Then one day, a twentysomething named Meyers (Edmund Donovan) approaches Saxberger, proclaiming his admiration for his literary work. He’s not a typical fanboy, but rather a polite, well-spoken young man who eventually persuades the septuagenarian to join his community of writers and artists, all of whom praise his past work. Back in the day, Saxberger was the young poet among the elders, and now that dynamic has reversed. However, it’s been years since Saxberger wrote anything, and he doesn’t see himself as an artistic sage. Still, it’s flattering and somewhat rejuvenating to be surrounded by such youthful creativity, which consists predominantly of young men, save for the fortysomething Gloria (a mesmerizing Greta Lee), a charismatic actress whose appearance often comes across as a performance. The title of director Kent Jones’ film suggests that Dafoe’s melancholic character will experience newfound fame, but when that fame is limited to the praise he receives from Meyers and his idealistic, albeit pretentious, peers, Saxberger finds himself in an uncomfortable position. Based on a novella of the same name by Austrian author Arthur Schnitzler and adapted by screenwriter Samy Burch (“May December”), “Late Fame” explores how artists are perceived and embraced by their observers and themselves. Although Dafoe hails from Wisconsin, he is quintessentially synonymous with New York City and easily disappears into the role. There’s an insular complexity to the role that Dafoe deftly communicates, as he portrays a man who isn’t quite sure how to navigate the unexpected state of being rediscovered. (96 min, Sunday May 3rd at 6:30 pm)
RATING: ***
THE LAST ONE FOR THE ROAD
After premiering at Cannes last year and making a stop at TIFF, the Italian-German road movie “The Last One for the Road”, or “Le Città di Pianura” (meaning “the cities of the plain”), makes its way to the States. This wistful ode to the Veneto region of Italy, from director Francesco Sossai, who co-wrote the screenplay with Adriano Candiago, is often as meandering and disjointed as the two middle-aged main characters. The drunken escapades of Carlobianchi (Sergio Romano) and Doriano (Pierpaolo Capovilla), two uninhibited, cash-strapped petty criminals who seem to live every moment of their lives in anticipation of their next drink. The pair is on their way to surprise their old friend, Genio (Andrea Pennacchi), at the airport, when they befriend a shy architecture student, Giulio (Filippo Scotti), and a series of unexpected stops turns a short trip into a long journey that touches on the newfound trio’s own disillusionments. The older men take Giulo under their wing, encouraging him to be spontaneous and “wing it,” while letting life’s frustrations roll off your back. Despite being a coming-of-age story for the younger Giulio, “The Last One for the Road” has an overall aimlessness that primarily stems from the script’s lack of character interiority. While all three of these characters are enjoyable to follow, it’s hard to get fully invested in them when we’re not given much to attach to. Sossai and Candiago inject a backstory for Carlobianchi and Doriano, showing how they once ran a scheme laundering sunglasses of all things, which confoundedly made them a fortune. While the two friends recount their adventures to Giulio, he imagines himself as Genio, who left for Argentina with the money he kept. None of that offers a seamless digression, but at least there are laughs here and there. The bizarre left-field character turn for Doriano aligns with the many elements that feel out of place. The idea of one “last one” for the road is revisited throughout, indicating the two friends are always coming up with excuses and ambitions to maintain their self-medicated meandering ways. Shot on location in Veneto, specifically Sedico, Feltre, Padua, Chioggia, and the Brion Memorial in Altivole, the film’s an entrancing Italian travelogue, if nothing else. (90 min, Italian with English subtitles, Monday, May 4th at 4:15 pm)
RATING: **1/2
CHILI FINGER
“Chili Finger” opens in much the same way that the Coen Brothers classic “Fargo” opens, stating that some of the depicted events actually happened, while others did not. Such a declaration pulls you in with its elbow nudging humor, but it’s also a reminder of how humor often comes from real-life situations. The Coens reveled in “stranger than fiction” stories of seemingly “normal people” that felt like they could be true, and Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad’s film pays homage to their films (it’s more like a cross between “Blood Simple” and “Raising Arizona”) with a fictional account of a true story. Yes, a woman actually did find a piece of a finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili (Google it), and in this movie that woman is Jess (Judy Greer, delivering some career-best work), a Wisconsin divorce and injury lawyer, married to her mill worker husband, Ron (Sean Astin, effforlessly conveying Midwestern Nice), found a finger in the chili of a local Blake Junior’s, which is fashioned after Wendy’s here. Jess and Ron have recently become empty nesters after their daughter left for college. Paying for her out-of-state education will be doable but also quite a challenge, making it hard for them to afford a Parents’ Weekend visit. All of this weighs heavily on Jess, who also finds herself silently wondering what exactly life is like without their daughter around. Ron may seem clueless, but he’s no dummy and picks up on her discontent. How the local Blake Junior’s restaurant factors into the life of this Midwestern couple may seem obvious, but despite some foreboding music from composer Dan Deacon (that’s a compliment), nothing about Helsted’s screenplay plays as blatantly obvious. That’s primarily because the comedy is anchored by colorful characters played by a cast committed to taking the ridiculous seriously. When Jess threatens the franchise with blackmail, the higher-ups get involved, such as Daddy Blake (John Goodman, clearly emulating Dave Thomas), his executive daughter, Blake Junior (Madeline Wise), and his ex-marine friend/enforcer, Dave (Bryan Cranston, having a blast), to get to the bottom of what transpired, especially when Dave realizes that the finger wasn’t cooked. The standout here is clearly Greer, who internally conveys multitudes as Jess tries to figure her way out of a situation that gets more and more out of hand, in ways she would never be able to put a finger on (heh heh). (100 min, Tuesday, May 5th at 7 pm)
RATING: ***
BLACK ZOMBIE
“Black Zombie” asks, “Who are we, if devoid of spirit?” which is as profound a question as the documentary’s opening and closing cinematic short story, shot in black-and-white. Director Maya Annik Bedward has created digs beneath the spectacle of the titular undead to reveal the unknown, unsettling origin of the zombie. Beyond the popular Hollywood depiction, there was a figure from colonial Haiti, born from enslaved Africans, tied to spiritual belief, formed from resistance, and transformed into a pop culture horror staple. Bedward is essentially telling a tragic story about how an entire industry profited from voodoo tropes, presenting incredible footage of historical and cultural significance. Excellent music enhances the entire experience, including the gorgeous, haunting vocals of one rightfully skeptical voodoo priest. We learn that William Seabrook introduced zombies to the Western world in his 1929 account of his experiences with Haitian voodoo, The Magic Island, and its 1952 film adaptation, “The White Zombie”, but he got it all wrong. Voodoo is just as much a religion in Haiti as Catholicism, yet it’s always connected to sorcery or demonic worship, rather than a religion of liberation, an amalgam of Western African traditions, and a way to connect with ancestors and honor their extreme hardships. This heavy historical material is handled with genuine care and curiosity by Bedward. “Our dead don’t go away,” one subject says. “They stay to watch over us.” That becomes the film’s powerful thesis. “Black Zombie” will leave you to reconsider both the horrors humans are capable of and the untold beauty of the living and the dead. You may never see a zombie the same way again, but this documentary makes them more captivating. (90 min, Tuesday, May 5th at 9:45 pm)
RATING: ***
LOAFERS
Local Chicago actor Zach Schnitzer has written and directed his first feature with “Loafers”, painting a very specific picture of post-graduate life in the Roscoe Village neighborhood. Isaac (Schnitzer) and Cameron (Dan Haller) are best friends from college who share an apartment and a certain angsty malaise about their place in life. When they’re not working their boring jobs, they’re lounging around at home, smoking weed and drinking. Sometimes they hang out with a couple of other pals, Beck (Beck Nolan) and Cole (Cole Stevens), who basically do the same thing, only in a louder, more aimless fashion. At times, this behavior is shared with their two other friends, Molly (Melissa Marie) and Lucia (Chloe Rodriques), a bickering couple who are unable to decide whether they should still be together. The friend group experiences a new dynamic when two others are added to the mix. Isaac’s old friend, Cyrus (Olemich Tugas), arrives and couch-crashes for an undetermined period, a presence embraced by everyone except Isaac, who lets him know he’ll have to contribute to rent if he doesn’t find his own place soon. That seems reasonable enough, but Cyrus and Cameron are offended by that for some reason, adding some tension (or adult responsibility) to the relaxed vibe. At the same time, Isaac encounters the outgoing and charming Q (Ruby Sevcik, who has the most engaging presence), short for Quinn, someone he met not long ago at a party, in which he drank, and she didn’t. The two hit it off during their reconnection, and the circle of friends widens. Meanwhile, Cameron’s self-medication with alcohol increases and permeates just about every area of his life, which seriously impacts him and everyone around him. Schnitzer’s film is being described as a coming-of-age tale for twentysomethings experiencing an impasse, but none of what these characters go through feels like a sudden wake-up call or a life-changing event. None of these friendships or relationships feels that deep, nor do we see them grow significantly in the short time we spend with them. That’s okay, but it doesn’t make for a captivating viewing experience. Schnitzer shot “Loafers” in 11 days on a budget of $6,000 with a film crew of roughly 4 people. That’s impressive. It’s too bad this story isn’t as impressive, but then again, it could be that I’m not the right target demographic. (87 min, Wednesday May 6th at 7 pm)
RATING: **
You can count on more CCFF coverage in the coming days, so stay tuned!
