Mr. Skin's Nude at Film Festivals

We Chicagoans like to complain a lot. Our sports teams suck, winter lasts about nine months, and the wind is constantly messing up our hair. But at last we have something that the rest of you don’t: The first (and possibly only) U.S. screening of the highly anticipated and probably boob-filled film Havoc will happen at the 41st Chicago International Film Festival. Suck on that, Cleveland.

Havoc will screen at the Chicago festival October 8th, 9th, and 11th, giving lucky Chicagoans a chance to see Anne Hathaway and Bijou Phillips flash what their mommas gave them nearly two months before the scheduled November 29th DVD release--and on a beautiful big screen to boot. But while this is the definite standout highlight of the festival for skin lovers, Chicago promises to offer oh, so much more. A few entries are already confirmed as containing nudity, including Manderlay with Bryce Dallas Howard, Shopgirl with Claire Danes, Kissing on the Mouth with Kate Winterich and Kris Williams, The Matador with Azucena Medina, and Brick with WB staple Nora Zehetner. The festival, as the name would imply, is heavy on foreign releases, including Free Zone with Natalie Portman (for all you hopeful dreamers out there), Gabrielle with frequent French peeler Isabelle Huppert, and Sunflower with one-time Anne Heche lesbian co-star Joan Chen. We’ll also be keeping our eyes all the way open for Nuit noire, since star Clotilde Courau has a wonderful track record of doffing her duds in front of the camera, and for Too Much Romance…It’s Time For Stuffed Peppers, directed by Lina Wertmüller of Swept Away fame and starring a still sexy Sophia Loren. Classy and oft-nude Frenchwoman Juliette Binoche has two films screening at the festival (Bee Season and Caché) and a few of her countrywomen (Mathilde Seigner and Maïwenn Le Besco, along with Arielle Dombasle) will appear in Le Courage D’Aimer. The Charlize “I Want Another Oscar” Theron film North Country will get some screen time, and even though the film revolves around sexual harassment, we’re guessing it won’t contain any worthy skin. The same goes for the Felicity Huffman starrer Transamerica, since she plays a pre-op male-to-female transsexual. Laura Linney can usually be counted on for at least a flash of boob (and often much more), so we’ll definitely be checking out The Squid and the Whale, even if it does sound like an animated Disney feature. We don’t recognize one single actress in I Am a Sex Addict, but the title is fantastic and it contains characters named Italian prostitute, Asian prostitute, and French prostitute. One of our other most-anticipated films of the Chicago festival (besides Havoc) would have to be the horror/comedy Feast, which will be a Chicago world premier. It stars former soap star Krista Allen, whom you probably remember from her eight Emmanuelle movies and a brief stint on Baywatch. She hasn’t done any nudity since her last Emmanuelle film in 2000, but we’re hoping that this creature feature was able to change all that. The Chicago International Film Festival runs from October 6-20, and as always we will have our Skin Skouts searching for every nipple, every bush flash, and every cheek peek and bring you their findings. And for a complete rundown on the festival, check out chicagofilmfestival.org.