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Film: Animation
Heavy Traffic

When

Friday Jan 2, 2009 (midnight)

Saturday Jan 3, 2009 (midnight)

Where
Music Box Theatre (3733 N Southport Ave, 773.871.6604)
Price
$9.25
Details
http://musicboxtheatre.com/midnight/
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Perhaps the perfect midnight movie, animator Ralph Bakshi's X-rated Heavy Traffic plays like a cross between a gritty Bukowski novel and subversive Crumb comic, depicting a surrealistic world of sex, drugs, and blood-splattering violence. In this follow-up to Bakshi's Fritz the Cat — which was based on Crumb's iconic character — homeless bums, weed-smoking philosophers, horny drag queens, legless bouncers, empty-headed prostitutes, and murderous spouses parade across the screen in a hallucinatory blend of live action and animation. The 76-minute film's cynicism, black humor, and at times difficult-to-stomach racial and gender stereotypes may turn some off, but the cult film's strong visual appeal and loving homage to gritty New York life make it first-class late-night viewing.

Suzanne Niemoth