The Most Exciting Movies Playing at the 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival

The Chicago Critics Film Festival returns to the historic Music Box Theater in Chicago for the 11th time to highlight some of the most exciting films making their rounds on the film festival circuit. Once again the festival showcases an eclectic group of films, from indie sensations to midnight hits to anniversary screenings of beloved favorites. Here are some of the titles I am most excited about at this year’s festival.

Bringing Out the Dead (Martin Scorsese) [35mm 25th Anniversary Screening]

What It’s About: Haunted by the patients he failed to save, a monumentally burned-out Manhattan ambulance paramedic fights to maintain his sanity over three increasingly turbulent nights.

Why I’m Excited: Martin Scorsese is my favorite filmmaker of all time and getting the chance to see any of his films on the big screen, let alone in 35mm, is always going to be a treat. Bringing Out the Dead is one of Scorsese’s most underrated efforts and features an outstanding performance by Nicolas Cage.

Cuckoo (Tillman Singer)

What It’s About: A 17-year-old girl is forced to move with her family to a resort where things are not what they seem.

Why I’m Excited: There are some exciting horror movies playing at this year’s festival, but the one I am most excited about is director Tillman Singer’s Cuckoo, starring Hunter Schaffer and Dan Stevens (who is having himself quite a 2024). I have not seen this one yet, but the early word is that it’s gory and creepy, two things I love to see in my horror movies.

Ghostlight (Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan) [Closing Night Film]

What It’s About: When a construction worker unexpectedly joins a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet, the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life.

Why I’m Excited: Chicago filmmaking team Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan are back at the Chicago Critics Film Festival with one of the best films of 2024. Keith Kupferer gives my favorite performance of the year so far as the patriarch of a family who joins a theater company following a family tragedy. Ghostlight is a beautiful movie full of heart, humor, and raw human emotion.

I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun)

What It’s About: Two teenagers bond over their love of a supernatural TV show, but it is mysteriously canceled.

Why I’m Excited: Following their lo-fi debut, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, director Jane Schoenbrun’s sophomore effort I Saw the TV Glow was the buzziest title out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Schoenbrun proves they are the real deal as a director with this mesmerizing, eerie film about identity and anxiety wrapped in a dreamlike suburban hellscape. I can’t wait to watch this again.

In a Violent Nature (Chris Nash)

What It’s About: An ambient horror slasher that methodically depicts the enigmatic resurrection, rampage, and retribution of an undead monster in a remote wilderness.

Why I’m Excited: In a Violent Nature takes the classic slasher-in-the-woods genre and flips it on its head by making the film from the killer’s point of view. While the film contains some gnarly murders, this is an atmospheric, slower slasher film that at times felt like Gus Van Sant or Terrance Malick had made a horror movie. You won’t see another horror movie like this in 2024.

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Benjamin Ree)

What It’s About: Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer, died of a degenerative muscular disease at the age of 25. His parents mourned what they thought had been a lonely and isolated life when they started receiving messages from online friends around the world.

Why I’m Excited: There is a lot of bad that comes with the internet, but The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is a movie about the little good there is. This is a sweet, inspiring, heartwarming story about friendship, family, and the effect one boy with limitations had on an entire community.

Sing Sing (Greg Kwedar) [Opening Night Film]

What It’s About: Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.

Why I’m Excited: The festival’s opening night film has gotten nothing but rave reviews as it has made its way around the festival circuit. Starring Colman Domingo, ripe for his second Oscar nomination, and featuring a stacked supporting cast and an inspiring story at the center, Sing Sing is the perfect film to kick off this year’s festival.

Thelma (Josh Margolin)

What It’s About: When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her.

Why I’m Excited: Thelma was one of the most delightful gems out of Sundance this year. June Squibb gives a sensational performance as the titular character hellbent on getting back what was taken from her. The spy-themed score and action elements add tons of humor to a film about finding purpose and not being taken advantage of. You’ll have a blast with this one.

 

The 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival takes place May 3rd through May 11th at the Music Box Theater in Chicago. You can buy tickets and passes to the festival here.

 

 

 

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