DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: 42 Grams

Through 42 Grams, documentary director Jack C. Newell muddles away the self-importance and crafts his own dish laced with affinity and rapport. Following the trials and tribulations of gifted chef Chicago chef Jake Bickelhaupt and his wife Alexa, Newell’s film looks beyond the culinary decadence to reveal a core essence of ambition as relatable as any other version of the American Dream. The captive fascination swelling from that gathers attention and an audience where it normally would not.

2018, 4 STARS, DOCUMENTARY REVIEW, Film Festival, SPECIALDon ShanahanJanuary 27, 2018Gene Siskel Film Center42 Grams, Jack C. Newell, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, Chicago films, Jake Bickelhaupt, Alexa BickelhauptComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Mercury in Retrograde

Michael Glover Smith’s words of mounting depth and weight turn idle chatter into soapboxes that eventually become proverbial fortifications built around questioned principles and shattered wills. The ensemble of performers delivers on the required heavy lifting from the director to make the multitude of human flaws believable yet still approachable. Mercury in Retrograde is a hidden gem.