Surreal, Symbolic and Sexy Standouts from the 2026 Chicago Critics Film Festival

Content warning: Eating disorders

Returning for its 13th year, both studio-backed pictures and indie offerings illuminated the Music Box Theater’s silver screen for the 2026 Chicago Critics Film Festival.

Despite its name, the festival — which ran from May 1-7 — didn’t only cater to Ebert proteges, but also to the casual moviegoer. With a multitude of cinematic narratives, spanning daring documentaries to explicit explorations in erotism and a 40th anniversary horror celebration, the only constant was each film’s unwavering creativity.

‘Maddie’s Secret’

Past the “Sunset Boulevard”s and “Mulholland Drive”s, countless films have tried to capture the dark side of Hollywood and its movie stars, but none have set out to portray the 21st century’s equivalent: food bloggers. 

A self-proclaimed “homage to Lifetime movies,” “Maddie’s Secret” is part satire of content creators, part genuine reflection on eating disorders, with comedian John Early at the directing helm. 

Early (“Eternity,” “30 Rock”) also stars in the titular role, playing a culinary influencer whose secret threatens her career — she’s bulimic.

But Early doesn’t play a woman for the sake of humorizing crossdressing. Rather, he uses this female persona to develop a multi-faceted character struggling to pursue her life’s passion while dealing with immense body image issues. The humor comes from the surreal antics of overly earnest Maddie, not a cisgender man performing a caricature of a woman.

While chock-full of jokes, the true gem of “Maddie’s Secret” is Early’s depiction of eating disorders, which are never mocking or patronizing. For example, in an attempt to lose weight through rigorous exercise, Maddie — a heterosexual woman with two left feet — joins a gay dance fitness class.

One scene might have the entire theater riled up in boisterous laughter. Five minutes later, that same auditorium could be left in utter silence, the only sounds being the stifled sniffles elicited from Early’s heartfelt passion project. 

“Maddie’s Secret” released in theaters June 19.

‘The Invite’

In a night full of drinking, smoking and arguing, a high school music teacher, a stay-at-home mom, a fire captain and a therapist re-examine their relationships — and their sex lives —  in director Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite.” 

A remake of the Spanish film “Sentimental,” Wilde (“Booksmart,” “Don’t Worry Darling”), who also stars in the film, takes heavy inspiration from the play and subsequent movie adaptation of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” but sets her rendition within the walls of a Victorian-style San Francisco apartment. 

As unique as the characters they portray, the four-piece cast plays to each performer’s respective strengths while pushing them out of their comfort zones at the same time. 

Seth Rogen plays Wilde’s husband Joe, a failed musician experiencing a midlife crisis. While both Rogen (“The Studio,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”) and Joe are avid cannabis smokers, pot humor and cringe comedy don’t define his character. Instead, Joe uses self-deprecative jokes to find some semblance of control in his life, which seems to sleep farther away from him with each passing day.

Rounding out the quartet are kinked-out couple Piña (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton), a sex therapist and firefighter captain, respectively. 

Adding to the film’s suffocating cacophony is a string-based score composed by Devonté Hynes, better known as Blood Orange, which fuels the stress of an already tense dinner party. Unconventional and claustrophobic shots ensure viewers don’t grow tired of the 1,000-square-foot Bay Area apartment.

Screaming world-class actors, daring filmmaking and nail-biting writing. Will you accept “The Invite?”

“The Invite” released in theaters June 26.

‘If I Go Will They Miss Me’

Los Angeles, the city of angels, the home of stardom and the land of Poseidon? 

Under the relentless hum of planes arriving and departing LAX, Anthony “Big Ant” Sr. (J. Alphonse Nicholson) returns home from prison but fails to rekindle his relationship with his eldest son, Anthony “Lil Ant” Jr. (Bodhi Dell). 

A pair that once shared an inseparable bond now seems more different than ever. Big Ant is a stone-faced farm hand far too familiar with reality while Lil Ant is a soft-spoken, budding artist who envisions the world through a Greek mythological lens. 

No figure is more important to Lil Ant than Poseidon, king of the sea — his own father. 

“He sees you as a god,” JJ (Myles Bullock), Big Ant’s best friend, says. “I wish my son would see me as a god when he’s his age.” 

A collage-esque narrative, both Ants’ perspectives are combined to give a painfully intimate account of their family’s life. The audience’s point of view is not that of a fly on the wall — that’s too temporary. Viewers assume the role of a tile on their backsplash, a knob on their front door.

During an emotionally charged argument between Big Ant and his wife, Lozita (Danielle Brooks), both actors could’ve gone overboard in a full-blown screaming match. Instead, Nicholson and Brooks let the venom-laced air take over and asphyxiate the audience. 

While “If I Go Will They Miss Me” is a feature-length dream sequence rooted in the streets of LA reality, its key focus is crystal clear: the innate connection between a father and a son. 

“If I Go Will They Miss Me” is yet to receive a wide release date.

‘Leviticus’

In a blunt allegory of conversion therapy and religious trauma, “Leviticus” centers around the relationship between small-town teens Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen).

After the pair’s blossoming relationship is discovered, both are forcefully “cured” by the town’s deliverance healer (Nicholas Hope), which brings about violent apparitions. 

Just as relentless homophobia ebbs away at one’s psyche, Naim and Ryan’s curse rapidly deteriorates both their mental and physical health.

“This is what they wanted,” Ryan exclaims in a moment of clarity. “Us to be scared of each other.”

At a brisk 88-minute runtime, “Leviticus” feels a tad rushed, with much of the conflict presenting as forced.

Yet what grounds the film in bleak realism are Bird (“Talk to Me”) and Clausen’s (“Crazy Fun Park”) portrayals of two teens just trying to exist in the midst of ruthless hatred.

While there aren’t many jump scares and the gore is kept relatively tame, the horrors of “Leviticus” stem from its roots in reality.

“Leviticus” released in theaters June 19.

‘Chili Finger’

When eating at their favorite fast food spot, empty nesters Jessica (Judy Greer) and Ron Lipki (Sean Astin) discover an unexpected ingredient in their meal — a human finger.

Based on an infamous 2005 hoax, directors Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad attempt to reheat the black comedy and crime aesthetics of the Coen brothers’ “Fargo.”

Unfortunately, “Chili Finger” is still cold in the middle. 

Sure, Benda (“Superior”) and Helstad include funny visual gags, witty humor and an overall wacky premise, but it still doesn’t make up for wildly unlikeable main characters — an overly obsessed mother and a gratingly incompetent father.

Despite an equally rickety screenplay, the film’s highlights — unsurprisingly — come in the form of John Goodman and Bryan Cranston, who portray the restaurant chain’s higher-ups. The pair’s on-screen chemistry is immediately apparent, the absurdities of their actions heightening the longer they investigate the chili incident. 

However, Goodman and Cranston alone can’t save “Chili Finger.” While the movie works in spoonfuls, the batch as a whole has gone bad. One just hopes Benda and Helstad don’t plan on taking on the KFC rat anytime soon.

“Chili Finger” is yet to receive a wide release date.