Breaking Cinematic Ground and Reinforcing Relationships during the 61st Chicago International Film Festival’s Second Week

In its closing week of programming, the 61st Chicago International Film Fest (CIFF) continued to display daring cinematic experiences and muted social commentaries. Although the 2025 edition of CIFF may have come to a close, the festival provided a space where casual viewers and cinephiles alike could enjoy top-notch cinema from around the world.

Hopping Around Timelines in “Black Rabbit, White Rabbit”

The Tajikistani entry for the Best International Film Oscar, “Black Rabbit, White Rabbit,” is a movie that bends the limits of what a traditional timeline could be.

Aptly beginning with a quote about Chekov’s gun, the film dizzyingly melds three distinct realities into one, all stemming from an accidental suicide in its opening scene.

The film centers around Babak (Babak Karimi), a movie prop supervisor frantically trying to inspect the guns on set before a tragedy can strike. Other plots involve Donya (Kibriyo Dilyobova), a daughter of a film crew member eager to become a star and Sara (Hasti Mohammaï), a wife who suspects her husband caused her great pain.

Divided into different chapters, each comprised of one single, uncut shot, some lasting for over 30 minutes. However, just when it feels like each individual storyline is figured out, the unthinkable happens — they intersect. 

Co-writer and director Shahram Mokri employs surrealist elements throughout, making the line between reality and fiction even blurrier. Antique guns talk revenge to one another, the underside of an abaya turns into an avant-garde silk dancing stage and an illuminated ring denotes the range of a woman’s stench around her.

Adding another layer of confusion, Mokri (“Careless Crime,” “Invasion”) writes in a multitude of languages, such as Tajik, Russian, Persian, Spanish and gibberish — all swapping without notice.

While starting out as a bleak, weary drama, “Black Rabbit, White Rabbit” delves into the surreal and absurd, unraveling into incomprehensible reality, dream and fugue states.

“Black Rabbit, White Rabbit” has yet to receive a wide North American release.

“Father Mother Sister Brother” is a Family Affair

Winner of the Golden Lion at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, “Father Mother Sister Brother” is a quaint yet emotionally powerful anthology of three stories detailing different relationships between family members. While limited to under three characters per segment, the ensemble cast dynamically portrays a collection of varying personalities. 

Each story also features its own distinct setting, spanning the globe from an isolated cabin in New Jersey to an intricately prepared tea time setup in Dublin and an abandoned apartment in Paris.

For the most part, every section is contained within its single setting, allowing the emotions between characters to seep into the space around them. Whether it’s in the messy living room of an aging father or the awkwardness across a mother’s dinner table, the stagnant nature of each part allows for character growth in a relatively short amount of time.

Even though each of the three parts are separate from one another, they all weave in and out of each other, with commonalities and running jokes joining the trio — including the accidental coordination of outfits, skateboarding or the debate on whether one could toast with a cup of tea.

Special notice should be given to the “MOTHER” section, in which an aging, perfectionist mother (Charlotte Rampling) yearns to strengthen her connection with her two adult daughters. One of the daughters, Lilith (Vicky Krieps), is a closeted lesbian who rebels against the strict rules she grew up with, while the other, Timothea (Cate Blanchett), is a timid, accomplished board member who hates confrontation.

Between their dysfunction and uncomfortable conversation, their love for each other — while by no means overt — is evident thanks to the understated yet poignant performances by the three actresses.

“Father Mother Sister Brother,” explores the deep, complex relationships between parent and child, through a triptych of restrained character studies leaving an imprint that stays long after viewing. 

“Father Mother Sister Brother” is scheduled for an American release Dec. 24.

Radu Jude’s “Dracula” Made Me Say “WTF?!” (What the Fang)

Move aside Nosferatu. Out of the way, Count Orlok. A new top vampire for a new generation has awoken — and he’s AI.

Romanian writer and director Radu Jude’s unapologetic, vulgar three-hour behemoth of the Dracula legend is something to behold. 

While predominantly filmed by real actors in real life, several establishing shots, b-rolls and even entire sequences were created using generative AI. However, the AI in Jude’s “Dracula” somehow managed not to be the worst part of the film — a statement that’s not surprising after viewing the picture.

Immediately, the movie’s “director” Adonis — played by Adonis Tanța — breaks the fourth wall, telling the audience the following film will be his take on “Dracula” through a Romanian lens, made with the help of AI because he has no money or ideas.

What follows is a hodgepodge of graphic, provocative and batshit insane collection of various different stories — all with interjections from Adonis and the AI program. 

Just as a taste of the movie’s contents, the subject matter includes tourists hunting down and trying to kill a Dracula impersonator, a silent film filled with clips from both the 1922 version of “Nosferatu” and AI-generated porn, a Dracula who runs a video game testing sweatshop, a farmer whose crop is cursed to turn into dildos and a 50-minute sidetracked narrative that has no bearing on the main storyline at all.

As the AI fog clears, a sharp — albeit eclectic — criticism of Romanian culture and capitalism emerges, in the form of a sex-fueled, gothic orgy.

Even though Jude’s adaptation felt like a wooden stake pierced into the eyes, it accomplishes its goal of outright condemnation of his country’s culture with flying, AI-generated colors. But under no circumstances should anything close to this be attempted again. 

“Dracula” has yet to receive a wide release.

The Beautiful Banality of “Young Mothers”

Just as the title suggests, the Dardenne brothers’ “Young Mothers” focuses on the lives of five French teens living in a shelter for underaged mothers and mothers-to-be. A wide array of situations are represented, including a recovering drug addict looking toward a future with her boyfriend and baby and a pregnant girl searching for her birth mom.

The dialogue-heavy film came to Chicago fresh off a win for Best Screenplay at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The meticulously crafted script never felt like it was trying to sensationalize the plights of the five girls, but rather express the complex spectrum of emotions they’re all experiencing. 

Whether intentional or not, “Young Mothers” utilizes pseudodocumentary filmmaking through the absence of a score, fancy editing and flashy plot points. All five lead actresses disappear into their roles, furthermore creating a nonfictional ambiance.

In addition, the extensive use of shaky cam gives the film a deep sense of intimate humanity, like the audience is right alongside each of the girls through their journeys of motherhood.

One unbroken, several-minute-long shot shows the unraveling of a mother-daughter relationship as the pregnant daughter informs her mom she’s giving up her baby for adoption. In that moment, the screen disappears — the audience themselves are trapped in the tension-heavy room with the pair. 

The beauty of “Young Mothers” comes not from spectacle or glamor, but from the mundaneness of real stories and emotions.

“Young Mothers” is yet to receive a wide release date.