The namesake Bokeh elevates Fernet-Branca to a starring role in a minty, frothy suppressor sour with lemon and lime juices.
Bokeh chicago professional#
Weber’s professional background may also explain why each cocktail (dreamed up with help from lead bartender Noah Kort) drinks like seeing something familiar from a brand-new angle.
An understated photography theme permeates the bar’s design and 10 signature cocktails, with kitschy names like Lens Flare, Crop Factor and Aperture. Named for a Japanese term that describes the quality of the blurry parts of a photograph, Bokeh is the debut solo venture of former professional photographer and hospitality vet Rick Weber. Aside from the pesky matter of deciphering the menu (“Does that actually say cabbage simple syrup?”), we appreciated the flickering, low light of this sexy bar that fills a void for laid-back late-night watering holes near Kedzie and Lawrence. It was entirely possible, as we seemed a few blown-out votives away from total darkness. At their worst, these showy passages with twinkling pianos and harps are an obvious bid for a Terrence Malick comparison, as if raising the ante on the “Song by Song” maestro by excising the whole world population in the final cut, instead of just main cast members.“Did it just get darker in here?” asked my date as we squinted at our menus in contemplation of our second round of drinks at Bokeh, a moody new cocktail den in Albany Park. At its best, these scenes proclaim talent with their ghostly, empty settings and lovingly-framed cinematography by Joe Lindsay, as gliding cameras, whimsical voiceovers and light pacing create a gorgeous atmosphere where you insert yourself into the story, wondering what you’d do-and want to believe-in this situation. Halfway through, “Bokeh” pulls back on narrative and pushes visual poetry, revealing its ambitions. That statement is always true for the characters as they clash and come to terms with the world (and its a good reminder for the lovers in the audience as well). “We aren’t looking at the same thing,” she despairs. She, however, as a pragmatist with a previous background in religion, sees it as an insulting symbol of where they are now. He, an optimistic photographer who loves his old camera and the ugly images it can create, thinks it looks cool. But it all comes to a head when Riley takes Jenai (who constantly checks her email inbox, missing her family) to see the abandoned corpse of a crashed plane from decades ago.
Sometimes they’re on the same page, as they go shopping during a giddy montage, or find romance outside in places that would normally swarm with tourists. Instead, writer/directors Geoffrey Orthwein and Andrew Sullivan keep the story interesting by making it about their differing ideologies during such a phenomena, creating thoughtful characters who see the world as either half-empty or half-full. “Bokeh” refers to the aesthetic quality of blurriness in photos, so no anxiety necessary (like I initially had) about some supernatural force or Icelandic monster third-wheeling this apocalyptic situation. In some rough line-reading, they exclaim the gist of “What’s happening?!” or “There’s got to be someone here,” but after Jenai can’t make contact with her mom back in America, it becomes apparent-for some reason, whether it’s the rapture or something else, they are alone in the world.
Their first morning they wake up, the streets are dead quiet and everyone in the land is gone. Jenai (Monroe) and Riley (O’Leary) are in Reykjavik, on their first vacation overseas. There’s sturdy chemistry between rising actors Maika Monroe (“ It Follows”) and Matt O’Leary (" The Lone Ranger") as they enact this nightmare, but this is more than a relationship movie.
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