Welcome to WeeklyWilson.com, where author/film critic Connie (Corcoran) Wilson avoids totally losing her marbles in semi-retirement by writing about film (see the Chicago Film Festival reviews and SXSW), politics and books----her own books and those of other people. You'll also find her diverging frequently to share humorous (or not-so-humorous) anecdotes and concerns. Try it! You'll like it!
Saw that Sam Rockwell (and Juno Temple and Michael Pena) were in “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die!” now streaming on Hulu (directed by Gore Verbinski) and we took it in.
I agree with whomever complained that the third act sort of ruined what was, up to that point, a charming and funny film written by Matthew Robinson. The cast was certainly a big part of my decision to give it a go, because I’m not a fan of Verbinski’s other movies, [like the first three “Pirates of the Caribbeans” films.] But ALL of the actors were spot-on and the dialogue was witty and entertaining.
Here is a synopsis of the plot from IMDB: “A ‘Man From the Future’ arrives at a diner in Los Angeles where he must recruit the precise combination of disgruntled patrons to join him on a one-night quest to save the world from the terminal threat of a rogue artificial intelligence.”
Sam Rockwell’s outfit, alone, was worth the price of admission. The take-down of the cell phone generation was hilarious.
I admit that the cloning of members of one’s family who have been killed in classroom shootings was crossing the line, but it crossed a line with some pretty funny stuff, even though the humor is predicated on one of the most tragic situations imaginable. The family that says they have lost FOUR children to classroom shooters—well, one was really a clone of the first child victim—was funny in the way that you wish the underlying horrifictruth di d not exist in reality. I still laughed, because the couple describing the loss of their children to school shootings pulled it off so well. All of the actors did—even the weird little kid that weakens the end of the Hulu offering.
I admit to liking almost everything that Sam Rockwell does, and, yes, I agree that there are echoes of “Twelve Monkeys,” a Bruce Willis/Brad Pitt film I thoroughly enjoyed.
This one requires you to think about the satire and respond with instantaneous merriment after which you can think about the dangers of A.I. or life in these unusual times.
Sep 20, 2025 — The emblem was a stylized monogram “BA”, with both letters merged in one smooth symbol with thick rounded lines and shortened horizontal bars.
Going to my Bank of America outlet in Chicago at Roosevelt Road and Canal Street requires a 7-hour drive—3 and ½ hours up and 3 and ½ hours back. Why don’t we have a Bank of America outlet in the Quad Cities?
I went through a “verification” process similar to that described by Pope Leo (Installment #2) and it ended with me making a trip in, in person, to meet with a representative (supposed to be CaesarHernandez, but I got Felipe) on Saturday, June 13th. I took the 2 forms of ID, although, when I was told I needed my Social Security card (a passport would not do), I think I responded that I had not seen my Social Security card since I was sixteen. It did cause me to search for it, however, and—voila!—I found it! (Will wonders never cease?)
However, since the entire goal of “verification” seems to be to make things as obtuse and as computer-dependent as possible, I was told that the employees could not get to my page unless I gave them the specific amounts and dates of deposits from Amazon. Since I lost access to my Amazon account about the same time as I last saw my Social Security card, this turned out to be an impossible task. After the trouble with advertising “BEE GONE” and the directive that my cover had to be “changed,” things descended into the Stephen Colbert Canyon of Censorship. There didn’t seem to be much urgency about cracking the code on how to get back into my Amazon account to “write long”, once I tip-toed over to blogging full-time on WeeklyWilson.com and resumed reviewing movies on www.TheMovieBlog.com, I’ve been reviewing non-stop since 1970. Since Rex Reed and Gene Shalit recently shuffled off this mortal coil, I can try to lay claim to being the longest continuously-reviewing film critic in the U.S. (whether it’s true or not…and it might be.)
SOLUTION?
I don’t know the head of the Bank of America, so I didn’t have the route that Pope Leo took to get things fixed and updated in my literary account, where a REAL LIVE HUMAN might assist me in “fixing” and updating things without me having to drive 14 (fourteen) hours. (I know I said 7 hours, earlier, but this story goes on in installments, remember. This third installment only takes us through the first in-person meeting at the Roosevelt Road and Canal Street with Felipe. There is more).
FELIPE
Felipe was the one bright spot in the Bank of America verification process. Felipe is good. I will excuse him for asking if my granddaughter was “in the room” to help me during a recent phone call. No, Felipe, the granddaughters are in Texas. I’m in Illinois, talking to a bot most of the time. For hours. Becoming very aggravated. Wondering why I never got any reports on my literary account for over 7 years.
Felipe got stuck with me when Caesar got stuck with somebody else. There were lines of people queuing up at the cashier’s window at noon that Saturday (June13). They close at 2 p.m. I can vouch for the fact that it took all of the 2 hours to figure out how to recover my literary account. I still don’t know why I did not receive any “reports” or updates on that account since 2019. I received paper reports on my personal account, but my literary account seemed to reside only in my head and in the form of the checks I have that are supposed to allow me to use it. Both seem to be in limbo.
On June 13th my personal account seemed to be chugging along okay, paying bills via auto-pay. However, that may have changed, as “suspicious” activity was noted because I went to the cashier’s cage, on June 13th, IN PERSON, and moved cash from my personal account tothe literary account. Let me repeat that: I did this INPERSON, IN THE BANK. Yet this caused my account to have difficulties noted as suspicious thereafter. (This story isn’t over—yet.) My teacher’s pension is deposited in this account (a princely sum, as you can imagine, since I did not hit the Magic 20 number one must reach in order to actually be able to live on that money in retirement).
For years (and years and years) one-half of all Social Security payments made to government employees (i.e., teachers and firemen, etc.) was taken from us because we were public employees. It was patently unfair and resulted in years of legal wrangling until, quite recently, that one-half was restored. However, Social Security is not deposited into this account. It goes into the TBK less-well-known bank in the Quad Cities which has not yet made me come in twice in person to “fix” errors which cause bots to try to send verification codes to land lines and take over 6 weeks to “fix.” (Yes, I still have a land line. Deal with it.)
I always got PAPER reports on my personal account, although I did not get them for my literary account. As far as I am aware, I did not get e-mail reports, either, although I admit to moving from Einnoc10@Aol.com to Einnoc9876@gmail.com some years back. For almost 10 years, the state of Illinois has hovered over my literary account, eagerly suggesting it was “abandoned” and only too willing to take whatever pittance might reside in it. “Seized” is the chief goal of the state of Illinois with failing authors’ accounts, apparently. (I actually have a close friend who says she once worked on the “seize abandoned accounts” team in the state of Minnesota. Sheesh.)
A still from Seized by Sharon Liese, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Jackson Montemayor.
Each of the three times I received written notices that the state of Illinois was hovering once again, hoping to “seize”my money, I wrote and explained that it was NOT an “abandoned” account. I was merely an unsuccessful (monetarily-speaking) author who didn’t have masses of eager fans gobbling up her books. The account, via Amazon, had its moments. Most of those moments can be laid at the feet of “Ghostly Tales of Route 66,” so kudos to Bruce Carlson for figuring out that ghosts were a guaranteed best-seller.
I did not intend to write only ghost books for my entire literary life. I wrote what interested me at that moment in time, whether politics, children’s books, horror stories, movie and television reviews—short and long—or one random book containing previously published columns and poetry. One can’t accuse me of not taking on a range of topics. Or, as one snarky guest writer at a QC Writers’ events once said, “You’ve ruined your platform.” (And then he went on ad nauseum to talk about writers’ platforms, ignoring the variety of things that a Stephen King, for example, might write about, aside from things that go bump in the night).
So, on June 13th, I thought Felipe had “updated” all of the phone numbers (etc.) in my two BoA accounts. I even bit on the new Bank of America credit card, which sounded like a pretty good deal. I think Felipe was Top-Notch and whatever is now happening, to prevent me from being able to authenticate that credit card, is probably not his fault. It’s probably an inherent flaw in the BoA system and I’ve been victimized by it to the tune of a 14-hour driving trip. CEO of BoA: take note.
Me applying for a brand new BoA credit card was where things ended after my FIRST 7-hour “in person” trip to the Bank of America with everything “fixed”—or so I thought.
I have been involved in a now-long-running attempt to reclaim a bank account I established at the Bank of America in Chicago in 2003. I needed to have a bank to “close” on a condo there that was going to be my daughter’s residence while she attended DePaul for College. The year was 2003. I do not remember why I selected the Bank of America. Perhaps it was the proximity of the branch on West Roosevelt and Canal.
Later, I opened a literary account with them, as well, one for which I got no reports for 7 years. Of course, it is possible that reports were sent to my old AOL account, but there are 375,000 pieces of unread e-mails in that one, while I have been using Gmail for at least the past ten years. The state of Illinois has circled, vulture-like, on 3 occasions, trying to take the funds in my literary account, declaring it “abandoned.” On each occasion I have written them a REAL letter saying the account was NOT abandoned, but that I was merely blogging these days and no longer writing “long.”
David Morrell (yes, THE David Morrell, creator of “Rambo”) told me during a one-on-one conversation at a Writers for New Orleans conference many years ago that I should establish a separate bank account for my literary earnings. I hoped this meant that he saw promise for me as a writer. I have revised that opinion downward. It was probably very good advice—-if you’re David Morrell.
For me, it has set up a cumbersome set of aggravating interactions with the Bank of America that make the Pope’s experiences in trying to arrange for a transfer of funds from a Chicago bank an object lesson in questionable customer service. It’s lengthy and frustrating and almost impossible to explain, but I shall try in some installments.
But first let me share with you the story of the Pope trying to gain access to HISChicago money and being told that he, too, had to come in, in person, with 2 forms of ID.
Pope Leo explained that he was out of the country and would not be able to come in in person. He asked, “Would it help if I told you I was the Pope?:
The bank hung up on him.
THE BEGINNING
I made three trips, on foot, from my condominium to the Roosevelt Road location to set up direct transfer of funds from my Amazon account to this literary account. Most of it had to do with e-books. It is at least a mile if you walk it. I walked it in those first days after retirement, giving me some much-needed exercise after I wrote all night long in my writer’s lair.
From 2003 to 2019 I was productive, at least, once writing through the worst blizzards in Chicago history and watching the sun come up over the Field Museum building across the street from me. I remember these two blizzards well, as I wrote through them and never left the building while motorists abandoned their vehicles on Lake Shore Drive, which I could see from my window:
January 31-February 2, 2011, 21.2″
19.3″
January 21-February 2, 2015
I had hoped that David Morrell recognized dormant talent when he suggested I open a literary account.Ran into him again as a panelist at the last Hawaii Writers’ Conference.Think he selected one cover illustration over another when I asked his opinion. Got a blurb from a complete stranger who wrote “Flashback” (very nice guy). Did not get any help for my effort(s) from “Rambo’s” father. But I did have that special “literary” account, awaiting riches beyond my wildest dreams.
I did my best, advertising using Amazon and Facebook. Videos were made for various books (“The Color of Evil,” “Hellfire & Damnation”). Most videos are still up on YouTube and the e-books, at least, survive. Some videos are now making a belated appearance on Instagram and TikTok. (I hope the Chinese don’t sell all my contact information).
Alas, the flow of riches that Morrell experienced in his legendary career did not flow to Yours Truly. My account had brief moments of solvency. But, in 2019 when DJT was running for office the first time, neither Amazon nor Facebook would allow me to advertise the “BEE GONE” satirical take-down of Trump’s contest with Hillary Clinton UNLESS I CHANGED THE COVER. I refused.
Things took a dark turn. I became one of DJT’s first victims of retribution for the crime of making light of Donald J. Trump. In that regard, I was and am in good company. If only the Seth Meyers-es and the Jimmy Kimmels would mention my little book, which has admirers amongst those who think Trump is absolutely awful, [like Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who recently gave us the video detailing “500 Days of Corruption.”]
The MAGA threats on Amazon increased and even a few relatives bought into Trump’s always-changing lies and distortions at that early point in time. For my part, I think the dangers the small book pointed out were right on target. I’m still very proud of it, especially of the great illustrations from Gary McCluskey. And I hope the relatives have realized the error of their vote(s).
I quickly leoarned that mocking DJT, even very gently, was not well-received in MAGA-land. In addition to negative and violent attacks on my fairly gentle take-down of the Orange One, I’ve only come that close to death threats during the presidential run of 2008, blogging for Associated Content, when Yahoo named me its Content Producer of the Year for Politics and got me inside the DNC in Denver. People who had read my prediction that Obama would carry Iowa would say things like, “I’m going to come back and make you eat those words.”
Only they did not. Because I tip-toed off to review film for The Movie Blog and did not look back. Until the phone call fro Quixote Books while wintering in Texas.
It was one of the single greatest political nights of my life when Obama won, not only in Iowa, but secured the Democratic nomination and the presidency. That was then; this is now. It was a different country, then, with hope and optimism and “Yes, we can” vibes. What are we now?
Before I move on from this story of how I was a precursor of Stephen Colbert, told I could not advertise “BEE GONE” on my normal channels (Facebook, Amazon) unless I changed the cover (which I refused to do), let me relate a true story. The thin-skinned DJT apparently did not like the depiction of himself as a bumblebee (a drone) intent on taking over the hive from the Queen Bee. Killer illustrations and prescient observations (made in 2019) like:
“So, the hive lost its honey,
Its queen, and its money.
It was really a mess,
And that isn’t funny.”
My Bank of America personal account that I set up for auto-pay things (HOA dues, electricity, gas, etc.) remained active, but I tip-toed away from the literary account, leaving it to whatever e-book sales might occur. I also quit bothering to check on my Amazon dashboard, which means that I soon lost my ability to remember the password. Why bother? I was done writing “long,” as I called it.
Or was I?
GHOSTLY TALES REVISITED
While I was sitting out the winter in sunny Austin, I received a call from Iowa’s largest publishing concern, Quixote Press. They wanted to revive and redo Volume One of “Ghostly Tales of Route 66,” which they had first published in 2012, because it was the 100th anniversary of the opening of Route 66.
Some changes were to be made, including new material, but the “Resurrection Mary” story that I slaved over in 2007, [which was one of the winners of a Chicago “Tribune” scary story competition 5 years before the book came out], was omitted. There still is a “Resurrection Mary” story that I sleuthed out with my daughter-in-law in tow many years later, but the explanation of how the myth of Resurrection Mary came to be was spelled out more fully in earlier books pictured.
But the first Volume One had a very bad cover (IMHO) and some very short stories that were not up-to-par. It also was never “proofed” prior to publication, for reasons that I cannot explain. I handed it in and the next thing I knew, it was “out there.” It had no pictures, unlike volumes 2 and 3, which depict my travels along the road from Chicago to Santa Monica.
Normally, I might not have bitten on the project, but the publication site for Quixote Books had moved from Wever, Iowa, near Burlington to my old hometown of Independence, Iowa. Bruce and Marilyn Carlson sold the business to Shari Hartkmeyer and, subsequently. Sadly, Bruce died in March of 2026, having sold over two million books. I always told Bruce that I was looking for a ghost that could cook, since he had cornered the market on ghost books and cookbooks. I’m still searching for that Culinary Casper.
It must be a sign from above that the new home of Quixote Books (and the Hearts and Tummies cookbooks) was Independence, Iowa. Now we could properly proof the stories I had written and put on a better cover. Also, we could remove the clip art, but that didn’t happen. Still, it is a collection of tales told me on the long journey from Illinois to California. I investigated to the best of my ability, unlike someone sitting in their living room (without the Internet) making up extremely short stories with no story “arc .”
If you want to read the lengthier backgrounding that I undertook for the story of Resurrection Mary, you might need to purchase the older books, too, but that’s completely up to you. I won’t be taking them to future Printers’ Row outings, because the reprint is much more error-free and has new material and a better cover.
Now comes the part about my dealings with the Bank of America that I will have to serialize, since it is an ongoing struggle the likes of which anyone who has ever attempted to do something by phone with a bot on the othr end can relate to.
“Prime” midnight short at Sundance on January 25th. (Photo courtesy of Sundance Film Institute.)
The midnight short “Prime,” written and directed by Meagan Coyle, has some gorgeous images shot on McEnroe Organic Farm. According to Coyle, the entire film started out as a comedy, but morphed into a meditation on the director’s guilt over eating meat. As the press notes say, “The director still eats meat, and she still feels guilt about it.”
PLOT
The plot features an accident survivor who joins a commune group on an organic farm after she has survived a horrible car crash that incinerated her mother. Claire Whitfield (Katie Mumford) joins the group in an upstate New York farm that looks idyllic. In fact, the images in this 16 minute short are outstanding. [If only the acting were as good.]
There is much mumbo-jumbo about “Life’s greatest accomplishment is to maintain the infinite cycle of life.” Exactly what that means is not clear from the outset, but this is a midnight short, so use your imagination.
CAST
Katie Mumford in the Sundance Midnight Short “Prime” on January 25, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Sundance Film Institute).
Actress Katie Mumford plays Claire Whitfield. The cult leader is an older woman named Rhea, portrayed by Anita Durst. Durst, who founded this farm collective IRL, has a very Zen vibe. Durst’s real-life background lends itself to her fictional role, as noted in information below.
The various scenes of nature and McEnroe farm are impressive.
The acting is not.
THE GENESIS OF “PRIME”
Writer/Director Meagan Coyle is a graduate of Boston College who has been doing make-up on the New York indie scene since 2017. The lead actress, Katie Mumford, appeared previously in “The Ring of Light” (2022). Anita Durst plays cult leader Rhea. Durst’s career is described as “eclectic.” Here is what that means in more concrete terms.
CHASHAMA
Photo courtesy of “Prime” Midnight Short at Sundance 2026. (Photo courtesy of Sundance Film Institute).
Durst is the founder of Chashama, which is said to mean “to have vision” in Persian. That translation is disputed and some say Chashama is a made-up word entirely. Because Durst is the daughter of a New York real estate mogul, she had the connections to envision support for the arts utilizing locations in the New York City area that were otherwise not being utilized, a project she has been pursuing since 1995.
ChaShaMa has transformed 70 locations throughout the city and launched the careers of over 12,000 artists by giving them access to subsidized space, which supported approximately 10,000 public presentations for over 500,000 viewers. Chashama helps create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive world by partnering with property owners to transform unused real estate. These spaces are then used for artists, small businesses, and for free community-centric art classes.
ABOUT ANITA DURST
McEnroe Organic Farm, the location for “Prime,” the Midnight Short written and directed by Meagan Coyle that screened at Sundance at 11:55 a.m. on January 25, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Sundance Film Institute).
Anita Durst (daughter of developer Douglas Durst, who is the 81-year-old younger brother of convicted murderer Robert Durst of “The Jinx” fame; Durst died in prison in202,) Anita has been a star, a muse, and a patron of the avant-garde performing arts and emerging arts scene in New York City, since she was 18.
Following the death of her mentor and artistic professor Reza Abdoh from AIDS in 1995, Durst was driven to create a place for artists free of financial and subjective constraints. Anita has worked for over 20 years to secure over one million square feet of space in New York City for artists. Born in New York City, she has lived in New Foundland Canada, Ibiza Spain, and the New York City suburbs, Anita resisted conventional schooling and eventually ended up caring for her grandfather.
One of many gorgeous images from the Sundance Midnight Short “Prime,” which screened at Sundance 2026 on January 25, 2026, (Photo courtesy of Sundance Film Institute).
The images in the short “Prime” are what makes this short noteworthy. They are gorgeous and memorable. Cinematography was by Joshua Echevaria. Editing of the many beautiful images was by Mike O’Brien. Ben Chesnau was responsible for sound design and Yan Pavelchuk was the composer.
Onscreen, portraying the leader of the collective farm, Rhea, Durst gives off a very Jim Jones-ian/David Koresh vibe, well-suited to what passes for the plot of this 16-minute visual treat. Enjoy the images and applaud Durst’s tireless work for artists and art, which come to light in this Sundance short,
“Bugonia,” the new film from Yorgos Lanthimos, follows two conspiracy obsessed young men, portrayed by Jesse Clemens as Teddy and Aidan Delbis as Don. They kidnap the powerful CEO of Axiolith, Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) because they believe she is an alien planning to destroy Earth. Cue the weird, the quirky and the bizarre: Lanthimos is back!
THE KIDNAPPING
Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) in her office at Auxolith, where she is CEO.
The kidnapping sequence itself is worth the price of admission. Kidnapping Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is no easy task! She puts up one hell of a fight. That doesn’t prevent her from being restrained in the basement of Teddy’s ramshackle ranch house or from having her head shaved. (Teddy believes that it is through her hair that Michelle can communicate with the Mother Ship of her Andromeda alien Emperorand people.) The lunar eclipse is fast approaching and Teddy wants Michelle to take him aboard her Mother Ship to meet the Emperor of the Andromedans.
Teddy’s firm belief in how right he is and how wrong everyone else is rivals the MAGA movement’s acolytes. Trying to have a civilized debate with him can end in violence very quickly and often does. We are acutely aware of the danger that Michelle Fuller is in at all times. We worry for her every second that she is captive in Teddy’s basement.
Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) held captive by Teddy and Don in “Bugonia” at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
One interesting promotional sidelight: the Culver Theatre in California offered free admission to anyone bald or willing to become bald (hairdresser on the premises beginning at 6 p.m.) on October 20th to see “Bugonia.” Culver Theatre also had a treadmill screening of “The Long Walk” when it opened, another creative concept.
Michelle outside her home, just before being kidnapped by Teddy and Don.
DIRECTOR
Yorgos Lanthimos honed his skills as a director working for television and has since released “Kinetta” (2004), “Dogtooth” (2009, which won “Un Certain Regard” recognition as Cannes), “The Lobster”(2015), “Killing of a Sacred Deer” (2016), “The Favourite” (2018) and “Poor Things” (2013). “Dogtooth”was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2011 Oscars.
His films earn well-deserved adjectives such as tense, darkly funny, absurd, odd and weird. All apply to “Bugonia.” Lanthimos has said, “Me, personally, what I want is to allow people to be engaged actively in watching the film. I like to construct films in a way that makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, be able to enjoy them, be intrigued, start to think about the meaning of things – and hopefully by the end of it, you’ll have some strong desire to keep thinking about them.” There is a theme of the media’s power, as well as of the ability of large corporations to walk away from catastrophes they have created. He has amassed 5 Oscar nominations with 72 wins in other competitions and 193 nominations.
The film marks the fourth collaboration between Writer/Director Yorgos Lanthimos and Stone, with Emma Stone winning the Best Actress Award in 2023 as Bella Baxter in Lanthimos’s “Poor Things.”
SCREENPLAY/SOUND/CINEMATOGRAPHY
The writing, based on a 2003 South Korean cult film entitled “Save the green planet” is credited to Will Tracy and Jang Joon-hwan. Robbie Ryan is credited as the cinematographer and Jerskin Fendrix composed the score. I enjoyed the use of the Pete Seeger/Joe Hickerson song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” near film’s end, which ties into Teddy’s work as a bee-keeper and his obsession with saving the planet.
THE CAST
Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidin Delbis) in the basement of Jesse’s home, questioning Michelle (Emma Stone).
Jesse Plemons finally gets to sink his teeth into a lead role. He is a consummate supporting character actor, having started young, playing roles such as Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son in “The Master” in 2012. Plemons also played a younger version of Matt Damon’s character in “All the Pretty Horses” in 2000. A Mart, Texas native who is the great, great, great, great, great grandson of the sister of Stephen F. Austin (for whom Austin, Texas, is named), Plemons is in the Texas Acting Hall of Fame as of 2016. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Oscar for his role in “The Power of the Dog” in 2021, a year when he also appeared in “Judas, the Black Messiah,” another Oscar-nominated film.
More remarkably, he has appeared in 7 films that were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, starting with “Bridge of Spies” (2015) and continuing through “The Post” (2017), “Vice” (2018), “The Irishman” (2019), “Judas and the Black Messiah” (2021), “The Power of the Dog” (2021) and “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2023.) Perhaps most memorably, for me, was his appearance as stone cold killer Todd Alquist in Season 5 of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” television series. His earlier television work was as Landry Clark on “Friday Night Lights” from 2006 until 2011. (He was the only cast member who had actually played football.) He had a small role as a bad guy in “Civil War,” which starred his wife Kirstin Dunst in the lead role.
Jesse Plemons with wife Kirsten Dunst.
Plemons is great in “Bugonia” as a completely over-the-top psycho who has been brainwashed into his weird beliefs by his mother, Sandy, played by a mature Alicia Silverstone (“Clueless”). Teddy (Plemons) is so convincing saying “We are not steering the ship. They (aliens) are,” that cousin Don agrees to be chemically castrated so that he can focus solely on the task at hand. (“It’s all neurons, Dude. Kill the urges and be your own master.”) His co-star, Aidan Delbis, described as “a young actor on the autism spectrum, Lanthimos and Plemens met when he was only 17. Plemons said of him, “He brought so much to the movie and elevated it in a way that nobody else could have.” Considering the proficiency of Jesse Plemens and Emma Stone, this newcomer in his first feature film role was a key component of the film and definitely held his own.
Teddy and Don make the “Dumb and Dumber” 1994 team of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels look like Fulbright Scholars. In between Teddy’s focus on his bee hives and CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) we get a glimpse of a tragic home life that has essentially wiped out Teddy’s own family of origin, although his mother Sandy still clings to life in a care facility while attached to tubes and ventilators. Whether verbally sparring with Michelle about who she truly is (Is Michelle human or an alien from Andromeda?) or convincing both his cousin Don and the Sheriff’s deputy Rick (J. Carmen Galendez Barrera) who babysat Teddy in his youth and admits to molesting him back then, Plemens’s Teddy is totally convincing.
Aidan Delbis as Don in “Bugonia.”
THE BAD
The script leaves us wondering about the totality of the back story of Teddy and Don. It is not completely clear who did what to whom. What, exactly, did the Auxolith Corporation do to Teddy and Don’s nuclear family? Who were these family members, besides Sandy? There is the implication that a large payment for malpractice because of a drug administered to Sandy that had horrible side effects was paid. Who were the others affected? There could have been a more transparent explanation of this important plot motivation for Teddy’s actions.
Similarly, Don’s exact relationship to Teddy (yes, he’s his cousin, but…) is only lightly explored. Even the nature of the hospital-like structure in which Teddy visits his invalid mother is not completely clear. Is it a rehabilitation hospital….a regular hospital…an asylum…what? These may seem like minor points, but much of what happens in Teddy’s attempt to “save the world from the aliens” seems born of a revenge motive, not unlike Luigi Mangioni’s recent actions against the United Health Care CEO. Shouldn’t we have a better understanding of who did what to whom, when, and why? The themes of truth in the media, lying versus truth, people locked inside echo chambers of belief who cannot break out of their closed belief systems because of the hype of Infowars- like sites: all topics are relevant and timely.
I also share the concern that Emma Stone of “La La Land” (1988) not be lost forever in a symbiotic partnership with just films in collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos. We don’t want to see a talent like Emma Stone confined to playing psychotic odd-balls in every film. She has gone to the wall in this one, shaved head and all. Her stellar performance speaks for itself. However, I’d still like to see her as a normal girl in somebody else’s future film.
THE FINALE
For me, the end, the finale, was the weakest part of this psychological thriller. Select whichever ending you desire, but the depiction of the one ultimately chosen was hokey. It was staged in a less-than-convincing manner. More significantly, it undercut the true real-world terror of Michelle’s lengthy captive ordeal.
Someone else expressed the sentiment, “I liked it, but I wanted to love it.” Thinking back over Lanthimos’s body of work, I’d express a similar opinion about most of the creatively odd plots from Lanthimos over the years, with the exception of 2013’s “Poor Things,” which I did love.
From the perspective of a demonstration of acting by two professionals at their creative peaks, “Bugonia” was perfect.
I saw Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” today, in a screening room packed with critics. I’m very glad I did see it on the big screen because it is only going to play in theaters beginning October 17th through November 5th and then will head to Netflix on November 7th.
I am going to share some personal history with the Writer/Director of this amazing project, Guillermo del Toro, and with the lead actor, Oscar Isaacs, who plays Victor Frankenstein. After these two personal bits of my own film history over the 55 years I’ve been reviewing, you get a synopsis of the press notes that testify to the amazing effort this film represents, from having actually built the ship that is featured in one section to the color schemes and what they represent. Fascinating stuff.
But first, a couple of true stories.
Oscar Isaac and me in 2013 at the 49th Chicago International Film Festival, as the 61st Chicago International Film Festival is about to kick off tomorrow (Oct. 15-26, 2025.)
Back in 2013, Oscar Isaac was an unknown, coming to Chicago to promote the Coen Brothers film “Inside Lleweyn Davis,” which co-starred Carrie Mulligan. He was the nicest, most cordial, pleasant star I’ve met since 2008. Somehow, hours after the film screened (and became his break-through film) I was at the post-party at the City Winery, if memory serves, in Chicago. He was so kind and thoughtful and nice to me that I became an instant fan.
You just knew that someone this nice and this talented, the Julliard graduate who did all of his own playing of the songs in that film, a true talent, was going to go far. He was 34 years old. Oscar is 46 today and is still five feet, eight and one-half inches tall, versus Jacob Elordi’s freakishly tall (by comparison) six feet five inches.
The year that Guillermo del Toro came to town for the Premiere of “The Shape of Water,” which I absolutely loved was 2016. He came with his good friend and frequent collaborator Ron Perlman. Again, there was a party somewhere, which, in those days, Press occasionally lucked into (not any more).
He, too, was such a nice, kind gentleman. My favorite moment was when he was being ushered down the Red Carpet. I had published a collection of reviews from a “real” newspaper ( Quad City Times) entitled “It Came from the 70s: From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now.” Knowing of his fondness for monsters and with an emphasis on horror films of the decade I gifted him with a copy. [I had been writing a novel trilogy entitled “The Color of Evil” and was, at that time, an active voting member of HWA]. He was genuinely enthused to receive the book, so much so that he stopped dead in his tracks and did not budge in his progress down the Red Carpet. His handlers returned to guide him.
At that point, one of those assisting him noticed his shoe was untied. Guillermo said, “Oh, no! Fat man with untied shoe!” and laughed while his handlers assisted him in retying and moving down the Red Carpet. Later, at the after-party, he was very genial and kind and nice. I can’t say that of all talent who have walked the Red Carpets.
Oscar Isaac in 2022.
Both are huge talents who know what they are doing and do it well. In the case of Guillermo’s films, you can tell that no effort or expense has been spared. That remains true of this version of “Frankenstein.”
Below are some of the Press Notes (synopsized) from the 2025 new version of “Frankenstein.” Guillermo has envisioned a super-strong “Frankenstein” with Terminator tendencies. “Frankenstein” will show at the Music Box Theater at 6 p.m. on Friday, 10/17, and again on Monday at the New City AMC (10/20) at 1:30 p.m. See it on the big screen, if you can. “Bravo!” once again to these two formidable talents. There will be many costume and set design Oscar nominations and it will qualify for most of the other Oscar categories, as well, so don’t miss it in its big-screen glory.
Tomorrow night, at the iconic Music Box Theater, the opening film of the 61st Chicago International Film Festival at 6:30 p.m. will be “One Golden Summer” about the 2014 Chicago Jackie Robinson West Little League team that became the first all-Black team to win the U.S. Little League Baseball Championship.
PRESS NOTES FOR “FRANKENSTEIN”
This sprawling epic takes audiences from the remote reaches of the Arctic to the bloody battlefields of 19th-century Europe, as Frankenstein and his Creature go on their own search for meaning in a world that can seem quite mad. Also starring Mia Goth as the luminous Elizabeth and two-time Academy Award®-winner Christoph Waltz, Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” is a reminder of how, at heart, we are all creatures, lost and found.
I was given this Oscar Isaac doll for Christmas, the year he appeared in the “Star Wars” episodes, because my family likes to give me a hard time about my chance encounter with Oscar Isaac.
Oscar Isaac stars in the new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic sci-fi/horror novel as Victor Frankenstein, with Jacob Elordi as The Creature, Mia Goth as Elizabeth Harlander, Christoph Waltz as Heinrich Harlander, and Felix Kammerer as William Frankenstein.
“I’ve lived with Mary Shelley’s creation all my life,” del Toro says. “For me, it’s the Bible, but I wanted to make it my own, to sing it back in a different key with a different emotion.”
Since making his feature film debut with 1993’s Spanish-language vampire tale “Cronos,” the visionary writer-director has repeatedly conjured visually stunning, magical stories, all of which celebrate the beauty that can exist within darkness. With such films as “The Devil’s Backbone” (2001), “Hellboy” (2004), “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006), and “The Shape of Water” (2016), del Toro has forged a reputation for a nuanced portrayal of all types of beings — be they monsters and demons, ghosts, or even an amphibious river god saved from extinction by a mute cleaning lady.
“Ever since I was a kid, since my first Super 8 movie to now, I’ve dreamt of making two movies, “Pinocchio” and “Frankenstein”… I thought we were telling the same story: what it is to be human, what it is to be framed in a life by eternity and death, both forces. I wanted to make Frankenstein as personal as it could get.”
Having spent decades contemplating his vision, del Toro had a fully conceived approach to the film, which he set against the backdrop of the Crimean War. After undertaking an extensive scout across Europe to find the most ideal settings for the project, he began filming “Frankenstein” in Toronto in early 2024, later visiting numerous sites in the UK for location and miniatures filming.
Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein in “Frankenstein” directed by Guillermo del Toro. Photo Credit: Ken Woroner / Netflix
The House of Frankenstein is actually four different residences: Gosford House in East Lothian, Scotland; Burghley House in Lincolnshire, England; Dunecht House in Aberdeenshire, Scotland; and Wilton House in Wiltshire, England. The elaborate staircase at Wilton House is also used and Stanley Kubrick filmed in one of the castles used, which gives it a special prominence/significance.
During the 100-day shoot, del Toro pored over every detail with thoughtfulness and passion, rooted in love and respect for Shelley’s novel. “The subject matter is humanistic,” says producer J. Miles Dale, who also collaborated with del Toro on “The Shape of Water” and “Nightmare Alley,” among other projects. “This is existential, about life and death. When you talk about legacy movies, this is that for Guillermo. Having been on his mind for most of his life, he’s seen this movie in his head — we’re not leaving anything on the table in terms of what we’re doing, who we’re doing it with, how we’re doing it, and what the result will be. We wanted to make an old-fashioned, beautiful production of operatic scale made by humans.”
This culminates a cycle — operatic, ornamental, camera moving very precisely — all those things [are] out the window from now on a little bit, at least is how it feels.
THE MONSTER
Jacob Elordi plays the monster. His head and shoulders alone required 12 separate, overlapping silicone rubber appliances — additionally, Elordi’s eyebrows were glued down and a bald cap was placed over his hair. The actor is 6′ 5″ and del Toro wanted a tall creature (which he got).
ALEXANDRE DESPLAT SCORE
“To have a good score,” Desplat says, “you have to find the soul of the film and create another dimension of sensation, of poetry, of spirituality, that follows the film and amplifies the emotions.”
LIMITED RELEASE IN THEATERS UNTIL NOV. 5 (On Netflix Nov. 7th)
The film is only playing in theaters from October 17 – November 5, which would make sense given it’s coming to Netflix just two days later. It is in limited release in major cities, only. If you’re not near a big city, good luck in finding this visual feast to see it on a big screen, which is definitely the best way for a movie like this, if only for the fantastic costuming.
Said one reviewer,“Frankenstein is absolutely breathtaking, with imagery and set pieces that instantly embed themselves in your memory. It showcases del Toro’s strength as a filmmaker, creating immersive worlds that enhance what he does best: championing monsters and their tragic humanity instead of using them to scare us.” (“Bloody Disgusting” review).
“Frankenstein” was the second favorite audience favorite (runner-up) at TIFF in Toronto. What beat it? This year’s winner, and the first filmmaker to take home two People’s Choice Awards, was Chloé Zhao for her “Hamnet,” which is also playing in Chicago. (The filmmaker previously won in 2020 with her “Nomadland.”)
Count me as liking this beautiful film a lot. Specific observations after October 17th.
Zoe Chao as Yvonne in “The True Beauty of Being Bitten By A Tick” at the 56th Nashville Film Festival.
I missed “The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick” when it premiered at SXSW. As it turns out, that was probably for the best. Director Pete Ohs is having much more success with his newest film, “Europcja,” starring Charlie Xcx at TIFF in Toronto, where it has been described as “delightful.”
When “The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick” premiered in Austin (henceforth to be referenced as TTBOBBBAT) it was described by critics as “intriguing but tedious,” “not cohesive” and “creepy.” It was also called a “sunny-yet-claustrophobic” nightmare. Critics remarked on the “intense sense of discomfort” that the contrasting moods of sinister versus serene evoked.
COMPARISONS
TTBOBBBAT reminded a bit of the 2019 horror film “Midsommar” by Ari Aster (“Hereditary,” “Eddington”), where there was a plot involving a young girl similarly grieving a personal loss.She travels to be with others to recover. In TTBOBBBAT, Yvonne has joined Camille to try to forget about and recover from the loss of her dog Jerry. “Midsommar” was known for unsettling visuals and psychological tension. We could say the same of TTBOBBBAT.
Another film that we might compare TTBOBBBAT to is “Get Out,” once the veneer of sociability and normal life is peeled away.The difference between those two films (“Get Out” & “Midsommar”) and this 80 minute film, however, would be the logic of the story the film is attempting to tell.
THE SCRIPT
Supposedly the four leads wrote the script, which means credit or blame goes to Zoe Chao (Yvonne), Callie Hernandez (Camille), James Cusati-Moyer (A.J.) and Jeremy O. Harris (Isaac). Audiences prefer movies that make sense. True, Yorgos Lanthimos and Ari Aster have done well with some outrageous plots, but they may be the exception that proves that rule. I admit that some scripts have holes wide enough to drive a Mack truck through, but I had issues with the screenplay even before the lead played her part without ever cracking a smile.
PLOT BY GROUP MEETING
In the tick movie, throwing the plot together in a collaborative, spontaneous group fashion did not work well. I can believe that sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It was not the first time this method has been used by the Director.
Ohs films are known for unsettling visuals and psychological tension. In this one, the farmhouse rural setting is beautiful, but even more important is the sound. The eerie noises are extremely important in creating a suspenseful mood. Sound designer Danny Madden and Sound mixer John Bowers deserve special mention and kudos for their work. Isabella Summers composed music for the film and flutist James King is credited.Without the eerie and strange sounds that cue whatever action exists in TTBOBBBAT the film would be nearly devoid of momentum.
Zoe Chau as Yvonne in “The True Beauty of Being Bitten By A Tick” at the 56th Nashville Film Festival.
PLOT
So, what is the plot?
Yvonne (Zoe Chao)—who initially presents as hysterical and rarely smiles or appears to be enjoying herself—joins old friend Camille (Callie Hernandez) by invitation in a lovely pastoral countryside setting. She is urged to join Camille after suffering the loss of her dog Jerry and reaching out to Camille for support . She seems consumed by grief and guilt–almost hysterically so— and, later, by a tick bite she suffers while walking in the woods near the farmhouse setting.
When Yvonne arrives at Camille’s house, there are two gay realtors already in residence, which does not please her. However, nothing really seems to please Yvonne. I can’t remember her smiling. There also was a mysterious ghost-like sighting of a figure in the woods that is never developed, just as the doors opening and closing somewhat mysteriously are thrown in once or twice, but never really pursued.
A.J. (James Cusati-Moyer) and Isaac (Jeremy O. Harris) apparently know Camille as a result of helping her find the house in this bucolic pastoral setting, which causes A.J.,in particular, to wax rhapsodic about the “farm-to-market” advantages of living in the country. A.J. is a bit of a holistic healer and an all-around Master Chef. The dishes he prepares look like road kill. Yvonne initially seems very reluctant to sample one of A.J.’s masterpieces, but, in later scenes, she consumes a plateful with great gusto after initially pronouncing the dish as bad.
That is a complete shift from her earlier opinion of A.J.’s cooking. Yvonne’s change of heart towards A.J.’s food is similar to Camille’s change of heart from a woman who never wanted children to one who suddenly announces her pregnancy, but never reveals who the father is, despite being asked. The best we can get from Camille is, “The father died as soon as we had conceived.” That odd remark doesn’t draw the follow-up questions you would expect.
TICK BITE
The trailer for the film tells us that Yvonne should not be concerned about the tick bite because, “Fear controls us. It ruins us. And that is the true beauty of being bitten by a tick. Because, after that, there’s nothing left to fear.”
Does that explanation hold water? Is a tick bite the worst thing that can happen to you? Yes, tick bites can become serious, but treating them with antibiotics is effective, if done promptly. When I was a business owner I left my second-in-command in charge of my business to go off for a franchise-required event for a week. I was upset to learn, upon my return after 7 days, that my Number One employee had—without asking me or telling me—designated someone else to take over running the place so that she could fly to Michigan to be at her mother-in-law’s hospital bedside. What was wrong with her mother-in-law? Tick bite. (No, I’m not making this up.)
I immediately began trying to find out the answer to the question, “How serious is a tick bite?” It was apparently serious enough that my employee risked her position to fly off, (without permission from or prior notification to me), to be at the bedside of her husband’s mother, who recovered quickly. Was a tick bite really THAT serious? If Lyme disease goes untreated, you can develop serious heart and nervous system problems, including the following:
Nerve pain and tingling
Drooping on one or both sides of your face
Heart failure
Memory loss
Dementia
The symptoms above are the result of untreated tick bites, which can cause Lyme Disease, a disease called STARI, or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. In most cases, the effect of a tick bite is more like that of the flu. So, why doesn’t Yvonne march out to her car and go see a doctor? Good question. Never asked or answered. Yvonne’s failure to seek medical treatment is mystifying and—even more mystifying in what passes for a plot—when did being bitten by a tick lead to a 9-month nap?
THEMES
One theme in the film is the over-emphasis on staying healthy (which, given the current status of theCDC seems merited). Does the word “pandemic” not justify a certain amount of care be given to paying attention to one’s health? One reviewer (Alison Foreman, 3/8/2025, in “IndieWire”) dubbed TTBOBBBAT “a strange self-care thriller.” Another theme that emerged late in the plot: “We’re all part of a cycle. Eventually I’ll die and just feed the worms. We’re meant to return to the dirt.” The lengthy title was dubbed as “Generally useless as a dramatic question.” The narrative was termed “wobbly.”
Pete Ohs, Director of “The True Beauty of Being Bitten By A Tick” at the 56th Nashville Film Festival.
When four people “collaborate” on a plot, the plot can become incomprehensible. “Wobbles” can lead to collapse. However, Director Pete Ohs has been working a long time and has achieved some notable successes, including the recent premiere at TIFF of “Eurupcja,” which was dubbed “delightful.”
Not all of the plots Ohs has developed came off as well as “Eurupcja.” I watched an interview with Ohs and his wife and collaborator Andrea Lauren Sisson where he shared a plan for a different plot, a story about a character wandering a desolate landscape carrying a robot head. Ohs went on to say that the character is attempting to rebuild his robot girlfriend. O….K….
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
Accents I have heard, but not identified:
Callie Hernandez (Camille), who was in Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” and Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” was born in Jacksonville, Florida, but said she considers her home to be Austin, Texas. There were many points in the film where she seemed to be speaking with an accent, which sounded most similar to an Aussie accent. There were so many times that her accent came through that I set about trying to find out where she grew up to find out what accent I was hearing. For instance, the two words “Not yet” came off as “Not yit” (whentranscribed phonetically.) When Camille asks “What’s the matter?” she again seems to have an accent. Since this was a bit of the improvised dialogue the quartet created, it might be time to give the rest of that dialogue exchange with Yvonne.
Dialogue example:
Camille: “What’s the matter?” (weird pronunciation)
Yvonne: “I can’t stop thinking about dying.”
Camille: “Everything’s OK.”
Biodynamic enzymes & mugwart?
There was also talk of “biodynamic enzymes” right after this exchange. That made almost as much sense as A.J. chiming in that he was going to “burn some mugwort” (used in witchcraft, I have learned, and potentially a sleep aid).
Strangely choreographed scene: The discussion above was followed by a strangely choreographed scene where the others tell Yvonne that she is going to experience a wonderfully “restorative sleep” while they are performing a little syncopated hand jive. Nine months of “restorative sleep?” Nine months later, Yvonne awakens and dresses up in a nice outfit, including donning Camille’s pearl earrings. And she learns that everybody is pregnant (except Yvonne.) Right. This seems reasonable.
The Title Design was almost impossible to read. Pick something different.
I have to admit that the review I read during SXSW where someone described the plot as “hanging on like a confused parasite” kept me from attending. From the reviews of Pete Ohs’ latest film “Eurupcjas”, which are quite good, it’s safe to say that everyone doing anything creative has some hits and some misses and I’ll hold out for that one described as “delightful” by the majority.
Here’s to many more future hits for Pete Ohs and his collaborators.
Directors Steven Lai and Leonardo Giovenazzo wrote and directed an 11-minute short entitled “Bark.” It will have its Southeast Premiere at the 56th Nashville Film Festival on Friday, September 19th at 9 p.m. in Regal Green Hills Theater #4. The film features veteran actor Eric Roberts as Albert, the father of Roger (Kiser Shelton). Roger has invited his girlfriend Bella (Brianne Tju) home to dinner to meet his parents. Albert’s wife is played by Karen Culp.
Brianne Tju, who appeared in “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (2021).
As Bella is driving to her boyfriend’s house, she accidentally hits and kills a large Black Labrador Retriever that is smack dab in the middle of the road. She then has to put the dog out of its misery using a large rock. By the time Bella arrives at Roger’s house, she is in no condition to enjoy the meal or the dancing afterwards that Albert (Eric Roberts) suggests, and is having flashbacks involving the sudden appearance of the hapless animal in the middle of the road.
ERIC ROBERTS
GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 07: Eric Roberts attends the 7th Annual HAPA Awards at Alex Theatre on October 07, 2023 in Glendale, California. (Photo by Olivia Wong/Getty Images)
On June 4, 1981, Eric Roberts was driving in Connecticut with then-girlfriend Sandy Dennis’s German Shepherd in the passenger seat when he crashed his jeep into a tree. While the dog escaped serious injury, Roberts spent 72 hours in a coma and was hospitalized for more than a month, forcing him to drop out of the Broadway show Mass Appeal. I wondered if the “Bark” plot involving a car crash and a dog spoke to the veteran actor and factored in his decision to take the small, but necessary part. Roberts is known for having more IMDB credits than anyone, listed today as 882.
When I interviewed Eric and Eliza on my Weekly Wilson podcast (#6 on this blog) during the pandemic, as he was appearing in the indie film “Lone Star Deception,” a 2019 film, he had 569 IMDB credits. In the intervening six years, Eric Roberts has racked up 313 more credits, which means an average of 52 roles per year, or roughly one role a week. Needless to say, these are not leads, nor are they necessarily feature films. When I asked Roberts about leisure time back during that interview, he said he hadn’t had any “leisure” time in 5 years. (He used to enjoy horseback riding, but had given it up, he said.)
I asked Eric about his work ethic in deciding what parts to take (something which his wife, Eliza, handles). He answered, “Once you’ve established yourself as someone who’s worth their salt, who’s good, you have to live up to it. So every time you’re offered something, you have to ask yourself, ‘Can I be my best?’ And if you can, you take it.”
OTHER CAST
In this 11-minute short, the photography by William Albu was good, the Production Design by Claire Huber was superior, and the music (“Meet Me Halfway” by the Black Eyed Peas) was more than adequate. I watched Kiser Shelton as Roger wolf down a dessert in an overdone fashion from a beautiful piece of china and realized that this was my mother’s pattern, “Allure” (Japanese Noritake). Since Mom was born in 1907, this was definitely antique china and beautiful. It’s odd to see weird things you identify with in a film, whether it’s Tony Soprano’s bedspread ( I own it inTexas) or the silverware fork that was supposedly used by JonBenet Ramsey in 1996 the night she was murdered, (which was also my mother’s pattern.) I found the production design—the house, the setting, everything about the house and table to be extremely well-done. Kudos to Claire Huber!
THE BAD?
I have only one small criticism, which can perhaps be attributed to the fact that “Bark” is described as both comedy and horror. Three of the four actors played it straight. Kiser Shelton went for the comic aspect and came out looking and sounding over-the-top.
Since “Bark” is billed as a comedy/drama, the overacted (and overwritten) proposal by Roger to Bella in the dining room (“You are the sunshine in my garden“) can be attributed to Kiser Shelton’s attempt to ham it up for comic purposes. For me, it would have been better to follow the lead of Eric Roberts, Brianne Tja and Karen Culp and play the part straight.
There is an interesting ending for the short and it was professionally done and enjoyable.
It is the third largest outdoor book sales event in the United States. I’ve done Printers’ Row at least 5 times, always with limited success, because the expense to participate is substantial and most of the other vendors are offering books for as low as $5. If you bring the book you worked on for years to the table and try to charge the price listed on it, good luck to you.
Also, if you drive down and park, it costs a bundle. Buying something to eat while present for 8 hours in the streets of Chicago is also a fairly pricey proposition.
I think the cost to be present at the Illinois Association of Penwomen booth this year was $145 for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and $135 for the same 8 hours on Sunday, which would be a total of $280 to be present for 16 hours in the streets of Chicago for the two days. If you bought the 2 days, all day, the price was lowered to $250, I was told, when I asked to be reminded today. (Yikes!)
The other problem I have is that I find it extremely taxing to spend a full 8 hours in the streets of Chicago, outside. I am not a morning person. Getting set up by 10 a.m. is bad enough. What I used to do was split the 8 hours with a second writer, taking the 2 to 6 p.m. shift myself and letting the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift go to another writer who found the price tag for the full day rather high, as I do, and perhaps didn’t also want to spend 8 hours in the streets of Chicago (4 hours is about my limit). Cancer treatments from December of 2021 and on through 2023 definitely stopped me from participating those years. Last year (2024) I was still in Texas following our annual Family Fest over Labor Day. This year, we planned to exit Austin (Tx) in time to fly to Chicago on Thursday so I could participate on the following Saturday and Sunday. But it sounded like a lot; it is and it was.
My organization, which I have been a member of since 2002, routinely has a tented booth in a great location, but up until now they only allowed you to purchase an entire day, You could then split the 8 hour day with another interested writer—if you could find one. That is what I have done every other year I have participated.
But the number of published writers from the Quad Cities who were ever interested in participating has bottomed out from zero to minus zero. I could never talk my friend David Dorris into participating in Chicago and he is now deceased. The entire event used to be held in June on the same day as Sean Leary’s birthday, so no dice there ever, despite several overtures to Sean.
Sometimes, I would find a Chicago writer—usually a total stranger—who wanted to split the 8 hours (and the fees) but driving 7 hours for meetings of the group has not been easy and my primary participation hs been selling my books at Printers’ Row. (Although I did serve as the official photographer at the national convention in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2019.)
So, this year, I bit and paid the freight for two days of sales, primarily for the collegiality and community of participating. Art & Sue Brauer always do a bang-up job of setting up the tent, (BIG THANKS to bothof them). I tried setting up a table by myself one year, a year that it rained non-stop. That was totally miserable. Pam, my college roommmate, and I spent much of the time huddled inside the Dearborn Station, which was then a restaurant site, which I think may have closed.
There was one year that we had a mini-tornado and our booth nearly blew away! Doing the entire 8 hours in the sun if you did not have a tented canopy was also grim. It is necessary to have a canopied tent in case it rains (as it did my first year) or the weather is truly hot. Today was 66 degrees, cool in the shade, and there was a 25 to 30 mph wind. I took 2 coats. For most of the day, I wore both of the lightweight jackets.
I roused myself on Saturday to make it to the booth by 10 a.m. pulling my weighty books. I was there until 20 minutes before closing at 6 p.m.. I knew my BEE GONE book with Trump’s visage on the cover would draw attention, and it sure did! I started out with about 50 books and tonight I have 5 left. They were not a pricey purchase ($10); that was also a good thing.
I even sold a couple of sets of “Obama’s Odyssey: The 2008 Race to the White House”, one set to a woman about my age who had worked for the Obama campaign. We shared our feeling of optimism when the United States elected its first Black president and how much we miss him now. I hope she enjoys the books.
I knew that, with troops massing on the edge of Chicago, a book with BEE GONE and DJT’s face on it would be a hit, and it was. It is a unique book. The illustrations by Gary McCluskey are Top Notch. The sentiment on the streets of Chicago was definitely not pro Trump today or yesterday.
I have heard that, next year, the PTB may decide to sell the days in halves, which would be good news for someone who spent 2 years doctoring for cancer and turned eighty this summer. Eight hours in the streets of Chicago is still a tall order. I get tired (and bored) after 4 hours. I came home both days, took a hot bath, and had a lengthy nap. I did not have enough energy to go out to eat either day, but ate food we had picked up at the grocery store on Friday. I also hosted my nephew Chris and his son Owen, who wanted to go to a baseball game, so the condo got some real use this weekend.
I did better this year than in any previous year. My little BEE GONE book seems to have made an impression. Someone said to me that he thought the book had had “national attention.” Not that I know of, although I did my best to get it into the hands of Seth Meyer when he played Chicago for his TV special. I also negotiated with the Biden campaign, getting to the right people to have a conversation just prior to Joe Biden’s run against Trump. The campaign intended to use the e-book as a reward for Democratic donors, but the pandemic moved the needle to facemasks, instead.
I also traded a film review for the e-mail contacts of people working behind-the-scenes for some of the late-night talk shows that Trump is now doing his best to get canceled (Stephen Colbert, anyone?). When Trump won the election (over Hillary) neither Facebook nor Amazon allowed me to advertise the book unless I changed the cover, which I refused to do, so my small protest against Trump 1.0 has languished ever since. Maybe it will live to fight again?
I feel like I worked very hard today and yesterday, even though, today, I did not show up until 1 p.m. I closed down the entire open air festival at 6 p.m., one of the last to pack up my old kit bag and leave. I did not completely sell out all of my books, but I did have to scavenge books from my book shelf in the condo in order to have some to sell today.
Printers’ Row on Sunday, 9/7/2025.
Did I make any money? Well, I used the Square successfully, which, in itself, was a Small Miracle. It showed about $200 of sales, which, obviously, would not be “a killing” if I paid $250 to be present. There were other cash sales. I spent zero dollars on parking, as my spouse kindly consented to drop me off and pick me up, and, as per usual, I packed a sandwich, some pop, and an apple for an economical lunch.
Selling books in the streets of Chicago is interesting, however. I met some lovely folks who applauded my continuing efforts to underscore the need to oppose DJT and I sold quite a few of the actual children’s book that inspired BEE GONE, which was intended for my granddaughters, initially, via Ingram Spark Publishing, the sixth in “The Christmas Cats in Silly Hats” series.
Check out the other five books in the six-book series at www.ConnieCWilson.com.
Out of the 427 short films being screened at HollyShorts—one that will stand out for me— is the Canadian offering “Mercenaire,” which also showed at TIFF in 2024. University of Montreal Graduate Writer/Director Pier-Philippe Chevigny has directed Marc-Andre Grondin as Dave, an ex-convict, in a totally absorbing 15 minute film about a parolee who is hired to work on the killing floor of a meat processing plant, slaughtering pigs. Chevigny, who graduated in 2014, has had 48 awards nominations and 29 wins. He also edited.
Writer/Director Pier-Philippe Chevigny of “Mercenaire.”
The short piece is as riveting as anything you’ll see anywhere. It is fifteen minutes of a man trapped in hell. He MUST have a job, or he goes back to prison. The work is grueling, demanding, dangerous, bloody and completely debilitating for David, although others on the plant floor say, “You get used to it.” As we are learning firsthand in the United States of America in 2025 you can get used to a lot regarding man’s inhumanity towards others. If Dave is too tender-hearted, there will be ten even more desperate applicants waiting to take his place, if the pay is right.
I grew up in the Midwest (Independence, Iowa). My father grew up one of eight children on an Iowa farm (Fairbank, Iowa). I know pigs from visiting my uncle’s farms. They are very intelligent animals and quite cute, when young. Of course, the 2001 “Hannibal” sequel put pigs in a very different light. Indian film censors demanded that the close visual of a pig putting Mason’s (Gary Oldman) face into its mouth be excised to achieve an ‘A’ (adults) rating. It has remained cut ever since. And it is true that pigs will eat almost anything.
Despite that, a family friend even kept a pig as a pet and I seem to remember that George Clooney used to have a pet potbelly pig. Iowa friend Mary (Siesseger), who grew up in Clear Lake (Iowa), trained her pet pig to let her ride on its back. The Siessegers incorporated it into the family unit—until it got too big.
And what happens when a pig gets too big?
It goes to the slaughterhouse where a stun gun is used to knock the animal unconscious and it is slaughtered and bled. (Plus other steps outlined in the instructional video for meatpacking equipment.No trailer for “Mercenaire” up on YouTube at this time).
Man’s inhumanity to beast is displayed. I have used a very sanitized YouTube video about raising and slaughtering hogs that is NOT from this film. It presents the same steps that we see in much more graphic detail in “Mercenaire.” Hog farms and whether the animal is allowed free movement has changed since my father’s interest in raising pigs for slaughter. Whether the slaughtering process is “humane” is open to debate.
My cousin was taken on a tour of the Rath Packing Plant in Waterloo, Iowa, as a high school student (a plant that has given way to much bigger corporate operations like Tyson and Smithfield in 2025). She immediately became a vegetarian after the trip. My father actually wanted to establish one of the modern-day factory pig farms. Mom was adamantly opposed to the idea. Dad stuck to the banking business. Even my farm familiar father was somewhat taken aback by the news that the stressed pigs he saw on a local farm were biting the tails off of other pigs (something that this YouTube video seems to suggest is avoided bybreaking off their teeth.) Two thousand pigs a day can be processed in just one plant, according to the video.
One of the most harrowing experiences of my young life (age 10) involved a trip to a neighbor’s farm where it was discovered that one of the pigs had broken its leg. The animal was strung up by its hind legs from high up, outside the barn, and its throat was slit to “bleed” the animal. The memory of the noise the terrified animal made and the horrifying sight of its body twisting in agony, bleeding out, has never left my brain. After watching this stroll down memory lane inside a pig slaughtering plant—similar to one located in Illinois near where I am writing this—it probably never will.
Map of pork processing plants in the United States.
As a teacher in an 82% Hispanic district (only one professional family in the entire district) my Latino students often ended up working at the meat processing plant after high school or after 8th grade. It paid well, you needed no advanced degree (not even a high school diploma) and the authorities weren’t as particular about immigration papers in those days. But the price those students paid is clearly delineated in this graphically brutal short. I will never forget the sounds of the terrified animal I witnessed being murdered on that neighbor’s farm. You may find this bloody and graphic film too much.
The end of the film depicts a man in a no-win situation whose very soul is in hell. Dave tries to find work on a construction crew. He tries to convince the boss to move him to a different duty on the killing floor. (The boss responds that the demand is for slaughtering animals on the killing floor.) You sense that Dave is at his wit’s end. The only question is whether he will, indeed, re-enter prison rather than continue re-enacting man’s inhumanity to God’s creatures.
Enjoy your bacon (if you can). Fair Oaks Foods has been building a $134 million-dollar new bacon processing facility in northwest Davenport, Iowa, meant to employ 250 people, since 2022. City officials hope it will be open by spring of 2026. And, of course, bacon comes from pigs—right? Anybody remember how, during the pandemic, meat processing plants like these were severely impacted as the employees fell victim to the deadly virus.
Meat-eaters, be warned. The excellent “Mercenaire” goes right alongside a British documentary about cow slaughtering (“Cow”), filmed completely without dialogue. But it got its message across quite clearly. So does “Mercenaire.”
For me, the end, the finale, was the weakest part of this psychological thriller. Select whichever ending you desire, but the depiction of the one ultimately chosen was hokey. It was staged in a less-than-convincing manner. More significantly, it undercut the true real-world terror of Michelle’s lengthy captive ordeal.
The other problem I have is that I find it extremely taxing to spend a full 8 hours in the streets of Chicago, outside. I am not a morning person. Getting set up by 10 a.m. is bad enough. What I used to do was split the 8 hours with a second writer, taking the 2 to 6 p.m. shift myself and letting the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift go to another writer who found the price tag for the full day rather high, as I do, and perhaps didn’t also want to spend 8 hours in the streets of Chicago (4 hours is about my limit). Cancer treatments from December of 2021 and on through 2023 definitely stopped me from participating those years. Last year (2024) I was still in Texas following our annual Family Fest over Labor Day. This year, we planned to exit Austin (Tx) in time to fly to Chicago on Thursday so I could participate on the following Saturday and Sunday. But it sounded like a lot; it is and it was.
But the number of published writers from the Quad Cities who were ever interested in participating has bottomed out from zero to minus zero. I could never talk my friend David Dorris into participating in Chicago and he is now deceased. The entire event used to be held in June on the same day as Sean Leary’s birthday, so no dice there ever, despite several overtures to Sean.
I even sold a couple of sets of “Obama’s Odyssey: The 2008 Race to the White House” , one set to a woman about my age who had worked for the Obama campaign. We shared our feeling of optimism when the United States elected its first Black president and how much we miss him now. I hope she enjoys the books.
I did better this year than in any previous year. My little BEE GONE book seems to have made an impression. Someone said to me that he thought the book had had “national attention.” Not that I know of, although I did my best to get it into the hands of Seth Meyer when he played Chicago for his TV special. I also negotiated with the Biden campaign, getting to the right people to have a conversation just prior to Joe Biden’s run against Trump. The campaign intended to use the e-book as a reward for Democratic donors, but the pandemic moved the needle to facemasks, instead.
