By Gregg Shapiro

Contributing writer

“The Happening” (20th Century Fox)—Perhaps “The Sixth Senseless” would have been a better name for the sixth film in M. Night Shyamalan’s series of modern thrillers.

Not to be confused with the 1967 “hippie” comedy with the Diana Ross and the Supremes theme song, Shyamalan’s “The Happening” involves a mysterious event that begins in Central Park after 8:30 a.m., then proceeds to be repeated throughout Manhattan. A seemingly innocent breeze blows and suddenly people are clawing at themselves, plunging knitting needles into their necks or jumping from construction sites. Miles away in Philadelphia, reports of these occurrences make it to a high school where science teacher Elliot (Mark Wahlberg—really, no joke) and math teacher Julian (John Leguizamo—ditto) are summoned to the auditorium where they learn of the school’s dismissal so that students and faculty can be safely at home with their families.

The “safety” of Elliot’s home is in question as his reluctant wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) may be having an extramarital affair. Nevertheless, Elliot, Alma, Julian and Julian’s daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez) board a train for central Pennsylvania where they are supposed to meet up with Julian’s wife Yvette at his parents’ house. But what is believed to be an airborne chemical toxin, possibly the work of terrorists, makes its way to Philadelphia and soon much of the Northeast is feeling the affects.

The neurotoxin in question flips a switch in the brain, causing people to commit suicide. As the body count rapidly mounts, a terrorist attack is beginning to be ruled out. Meanwhile, train service is discontinued and passengers are left to fend for themselves in the fields of rural Pennsylvania. Among the passengers are a nursery owner (Frank Collinson) and his wife (Tony-winner Victoria Clark), who have a theory about the plants and trees being responsible for the new plague, communicating with each other, reacting to human stimulus and releasing the poison into the air.

Julian goes off with some others in search of Yvette and soon meets a bad end. Staying on the run, Elliot, Alma and Jess, end up at the house of country kook Mrs. Jones (Betty Buckley), and the movie temporarily shifts into high horror mode before cashing in its “love conquers all” moral. Saving big bucks on special effects, Shyamalan has made a sort of grassroots “Cloverfield,” especially with the way the “attacks” begin in New York. The only difference is that “Cloverfield” effectively scared many viewers witless, whereas the only thing scary about “The Happening” is that it was made in the first place.

 

Limited runs

Winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture, “The Counterfeiters (Fascher, Die),” the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936, is screened June 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th. Call (773) 445-3838.

The Second City e.t.c. Theatre, 1608 N. Wells, second floor of Piper’s Alley, presents The Second City’s One More Beer! Comedy Film Series, the first installment of an ongoing film/video series, June 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Gallery 400, 400 S. Peoria St. on the University of Illinois-Chicago campus, presents Focus Pull: Onion City Off-Screen, an exhibition in conjunction with the Onion City Film Festival, June 18 from 5-8 p.m., with “At Play in the Fields of the Lord [Nebraska]” by Jon Jost, “Hanky Panky January 1902” by Ken Jacobs, “Basket”
by Nicky Hamlyn, “Pin Whole Series Application 1: Bulb” by Jorge Lorenzo and 
collage works from films by Lewis Klahr.

The free international summer screening series at the Claudia Cassidy Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph, continues with “When Spring Comes (Ggotpineun bomi omyeon),” directed by Jang-Ha Ryu, June 18 at 6:30 p.m.

The CineYouth Festival, produced by Cinema/Chicago, presents a screening of the documentary “Girls Rock!,” with award-winning director Shane King present for a discussion moderated by Ron Falzone, of Columbia College Chicago, followed by a post-screening reception and a performance by local youth rock band Ursa Minor June 20 at 7 p.m. at the Columbia College Chicago’s Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash.

Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, presents the Chicago premiere of “Glass: A Portrait of Philip In Twelve Parts” June 20-26.


Luchino Visconti’s atmospheric 1971 adaptation of Thomas Mann’s celebrated 1912 novella, “Death In Venice,” starring Dirk Bogarde and Björn Andresen, is screened  June 21 at 7:30 p.m. and June 26 at 6 p.m. at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State.

Work being screened June 19 at 8 p.m. at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, for the 20th Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival include “The Rabbit Hunters,” “Last Days in a Lonely Place,” ”Observando El Cielo,” “Easter Morning” and others. Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark, presents works from the festival as well, with “Bachelor Machines Part 1” and “Bachelor Machines Part 2” by Rosalind Nashashibi, “Revisiting Solaris” by Deimantas Narkevicius, “Strange Attractors” by Michael Wechsler, “Armoire” by Vincent Grenier, “Antigenic Drift” by Lewis Klahr, “Phantom” by Luke Sieczek and others June 21 and many more on June 22.

Block Cinema in the Pick-Laudati Auditorium at the Mary and  Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, on Northwestern’s Evanston campus, presents a screening of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” at 9 p.m. June 25.

The free international summer screening series at the Claudia Cassidy Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph, continues with “The Rocket,” directed by Charles Binamé, June 25 at 6:30 p.m.