{"id":9261,"date":"2015-08-22T18:45:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-23T00:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=9261"},"modified":"2024-12-26T10:16:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T16:16:06","slug":"iow-strange-to-see-no-blono","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=9261","title":{"rendered":"IOW: STRANGE to see no BloNo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four months after Roger Ebert\u2019s Film Festival<\/strong> provided its audience with an early look at THE END OF THE TOUR<\/strong>, which retells the encounter between the late novelist David Foster Wallace<\/strong> and journalist David Lipsky<\/strong> following the publication of Infinite Jest<\/strong><\/span> some 20 years ago, the A24 Films<\/strong> release has finally opened in Champaign-Urbana<\/strong> courtesy of the Art Theater Co-op<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. As an accurate portrayal of Wallace the artist and enigma, we cannot say. As cinema, your humble editor found its earnest and spare qualities both a virtue and a detriment, albeit a satisfying watch on the whole buoyed by the performances of Jason Segel<\/strong> and Jesse Eisenberg<\/strong>. Feel free to read into the James Ponsoldt<\/strong>-directed effort what you will upon attending TOUR<\/strong> during its shelf life at the Art; former Wallace colleague Dr. Robert McLaughlin<\/strong>, professor of English at Illinois State University<\/strong>, will introduce the 7 p.m.<\/strong> show tonight, Saturday, August 22<\/strong>, a day after ISU professors emeritus Charles Harris<\/strong> and Victoria Frankel-Harris<\/strong> provided the honors. Those with piqued interest should turn the page to when we shared the official Web site and trailer<\/a><\/span>, while the procrastinators in our audience can wait until the Virginia Theatre<\/strong> run from September 9<\/strong> to 12<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We now take an off ramp into weird territorial, um<\/em>, territory. Last October, we deliberated over the strange phenomenon<\/a><\/span> \u2013 or, as industry professionals would probably tell us, \u201cbusiness reality\u201d \u2013 of producers latching on to downstate Illinois<\/strong> stories but avoiding on-site filming and\/or direct reference in their final product. Let\u2019s take a brief look at recent features drawing from Bloomington-Normal<\/strong> history. To wit, TOUR<\/strong> barely name-checks Normal and genericizes ISU even though much running time is spent at Wallace\u2019s home and classroom. In the underdog sports drama THE MIGHTY MACS<\/strong><\/a><\/span> (2011), starring Carla Gugino<\/strong> as an upstart women\u2019s basketball coach at a tiny Catholic college, we only know they travel to Illinois for the 1972 national tournament; more specifically, Immaculata College<\/strong>\u2019s Macs won it all in ISU\u2019s Horton Field House<\/strong>. Although, in the inspirational biography HOOVEY<\/strong><\/a><\/span> (2015), plenty of BloNo nods are apparently worked into the dialogue and visuals<\/a><\/span> as it relays the fight for life faced by Shirley, IL<\/strong>, teenager Eric \u201cHoovey\u201d Elliott<\/strong> (played by Cody Linley<\/strong>) after suffering both a brain tumor and debilitating head injury. Michigan, Pennsylvania<\/strong>, and Texas<\/strong> served as the primary shooting sites for these films, respectively.<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n