New Museum of the Week
01.09.08
1. Unmonumental objects and tropical maladies downtown
2. French films and African American art in Midtown
3. Chinese art, Mallorcan landscapes, and antiques galore
5. Jewish films, Hansel and Gretel, and underground divas
Volume 7, Number 32
January 9-23, 2008
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at admin@twi-ny.com.
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Site Design/Subway Photo:
Fred Gates Design, New York.
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New Museum
235 Bowery between Stanton & Rivington Sts.
Through March 23 (closed Monday & Tuesday)
Admission: $12
Free Thursday Evenings 7:00 to 10:00
212-219-1222
On December 1, the New Museum opened the doors of its dazzling new Bowery home, an ultracool six-tiered building designed by Sejima + Nishizawa / SANAA. As monumental as the structure is, a fascinating work of art all by itself both on the outside and the inside, the museum’s initial exhibition is the well-titled "Unmonumental." Mediocre sculptures are spread across three floors, with a scant few of the works worthy of special attention. Set amid the nearly blinding, bare white walls, the pieces seem lost, though a few stand out. A lighted wick glows in the head of Urs Fischer’s "Untitled (Kerze)," a life-size rendering of a naked woman in wax that will disintegrate over the course of the show. Sam Durant’s empty chain-link cage, "For People Who Refuse to Knuckle Down…," includes a sign announcing, "Obedience to the Law Is Freedom." Sarah Lucas makes sure no one feels too comfortable by piercing a sofa bed with a plugged-in fluorescent light in "F–k Destiny."
Jim Lambie, "Split Endz (wig mix)," 2005
But far too many of the pieces feel like school projects that never really came together. "Unmonumental" is a work in progress; on January 16, the museum will add photographs and paintings to the walls, followed by sound installations on February 13, resulting in an ever-shifting audiovisual collage in which they hope the works will talk to one another and continue to develop with the change of scenery. The real question is whether visitors will want to come back three times, eventually paying thirty-six dollars to see what happens.
twi-ny/mdr
New Museum rises on Bowery
The New Museum also has on display several special projects scattered throughout the galleries. Most compelling is "Black on White, Gray Ascending," Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’ text-and-sound noir story of an abduction and possible assassination told in seven parts on seven screens, creating a flickering thriller of words making up forty-nine narratives, set to a jazzy bossa-nova score. In a small nook located between two of the floors you can listen to Sharon Hayes’s "I march in the parade of liberty, but as long as I love you I’m not free," recordings of her reading intensely personal love letters to strangers out in the street; she’ll be putting on a live performance in the museum on January 12 at 12 noon. And Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone is behind the rainbow-colored "Hell, Yes!" that celebrates the opening of the new museum on the front facade.
TROPICAL MALADY is subtle meditation on life and love
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. at Second St.
January 17-20
718-399-6359
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org
In the past few years, Apichatpong Weerasethakul has emerged not only as Thailand’s leading filmmaker but one of the best young directors around. His work has been celebrated at festivals the world over, including Cannes, Venice, New York, and Rotterdam. Weerasethakul will be at Anthology Film Archives for this brief look at his burgeoning career, with screenings of the feature films TROPICAL MALADY and SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY as well as two programs of short works.
Thursday, January 17 TROPICAL MALADY (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004), 6:45
Thursday, January 17, 6:45
Saturday, January 19, 9:00
Sunday, January 20, 6:45
Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Jury Prize at Cannes for this beautiful, mystical work that will thoroughly engage you — if you allow it to. Part tender love story between a country boy (Banlop Lomnoi) and a soldier (Dakda Kaewbuadee), part folktale set in the deep forests of Thailand, TROPICAL MALADY is a like a visual poem in which details are not as important as the overall effect, which is intoxicating. The unorthodox film features ghosts, a shape-shifter, unusual characters, and a playful sense of humor that come together to form a subtle meditation on life and love.
Thursday, January 17 SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006), 9:15
Friday, January 18 Program One: THE ANTHEM (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006), WINDOWS (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1999), MALEE AND THE BOY (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1999), LIKE THE RELENTLESS FURY OF THE POUNDING WAVES (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1995), and THIRDWORLD (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1997), with Weerasethakul present, 7:00
Friday, January 18 Program Two: THE ANTHEM (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006), 0116643225059 (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1994), GHOST OF ASIA (Apichatpong Weerasethakul & Christelle Lheureux, 2005), LUMINOUS PEOPLE (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006), MY MOTHER’S GARDEN (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2007), and WORLDLY DESIRES (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2005), with Weerasethakul present, 9:30
Saturday, January 19 Program One: THE ANTHEM (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006), WINDOWS (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1999), MALEE AND THE BOY (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1999), LIKE THE RELENTLESS FURY OF THE POUNDING WAVES (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1995), and THIRDWORLD (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1997), 4:45
Saturday, January 19 Program Two: THE ANTHEM (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006), 0116643225059 (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1994), GHOST OF ASIA (Apichatpong Weerasethakul & Christelle Lheureux, 2005), LUMINOUS PEOPLE (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006), MY MOTHER’S GARDEN (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2007), and WORLDLY DESIRES (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2005), 7:00
Saturday, January 19 TROPICAL MALADY (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004), 9:00
Sunday, January 20 SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006), 4:30 & 9:15
Sunday, January 20 TROPICAL MALADY (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004), 6:45
© Unifrance
Patrice Leconte in honored with tribute at French Institute
French Institute Alliance Française, Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th St. between Park & Madison Aves.
January 8-29
212-355-6160
Writer-director Patrice Leconte has been a fixture of French cinema for more than thirty years, creating wry comedies, heated sexual dramas, and playful character studies. His most recent film, the slight but fun MY BEST FRIEND (2006), starring the great Daniel Auteuil — a regular in the world of Leconte — enjoyed a long run in New York City last year. While this too-short retrospective does not include such fine work as THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND and THE WIDOW OF SAINT-PIERRE, it does feature the marvelous RIDICULE, the career-defining MONSIEUR HIRE, and, at last, the U.S. premiere of 2004’s DOGORA, OPEN YOUR EYES. On January 29, Leconte will participate in a Q&A in between the double shot of THE GIRL ON THE BRIDGE and DOGORA.
Tuesday, January 8 THE MAN ON THE TRAIN (L’HOMME DU TRAIN ) (Patrice Leconte, 2002), 12:30, 4:00, & 7:30
Tuesday, January 15 MR. HIRE (MONSIEUR HIRE ) (Patrice Leconte, 1989), 12:30, 4:00 & 7:30
Tuesday, January 22 RIDICULE (Patrice Leconte), 12:30 & 7:00
To become part of the in crowd at Versailles during the rule of Louis XVI, men have to be quick with a clever, funny, and often hard-hitting comeback; if they stumble even a little, they’re out. French filmmaker Patrice Leconte, who also brought us the engaging HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND (1990) and the rather darker WIDOW OF SAINT-PIERRE (2000), has crafted a wickedly funny romp starring the irrepressible Jean Rochefort, the lovely Fanny Ardant, Charles Berling, Bernard Giraudeau, and others in a riotous game of witty repartee that will have you taking notes for the next time you are insulted at a party.
Tuesday, January 22 INTIMATE STRANGERS (CONFIDENCES TROP INTIMES ) (Patrice Leconte, 2004), 4:00 & 9:00
Tuesday, January 29 THE GIRL ON THE BRIDGE (LA FILLE SUR LE PONT) (Patrice Leconte, 1999), 12:30 & 4:00
Leconte will be at FIAF for U.S. premiere of DOGORA
Tuesday, January 29 Meet the Director: Patrice Leconte — THE GIRL ON THE BRIDGE (LA FILLE SUR LE PONT ) (Patrice Leconte, 1999) at 7:00, followed by a Q&A with Leconte and the U.S. premiere of DOGORA, OPEN YOUR EYES (DOGORA, OUVRONS LES YEUX) (Patrice Leconte, 2004) at 9:30
Aaron Douglas, "Untitled (Portrait of a Boy)," oil on canvas, 1940
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
24 West 57th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves., seventh floor
Through March 8 (closed Sundays & Mondays)
Admission: free
212-247-0402
http://www.michaelrosenfeldart.com
The Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s survey of two centuries of African American art features paintings, sculptures, and collage by such influential and important artists as Romare Bearden, John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jacob Lawrence as well as the lesser-known but intriguing Charles Alston, Edward Mitchell Bannister, Beauford Delaney, Sam Gilliam, Ellis Wilson, and others. Comprising portraits, landscapes, abstractions, still lifes, and many scenes filled with vibrant color, the exhibition pays tribute to the black experience in America, from gospel and family life to sharecropping and slavery. While not all of the works are racially motivated, the vast majority is infused with an evocative, emotional cultural history stamped by racism and bigotry.
Larry Warsh
Zhang Huan, “Family Tree,” color photograph, 2000
Asia Society and Museum, New York Auditorium
725 Park Ave. at 70th St.
Through January 20 (closed Mondays)
Admission: $10 (free cell-phone tour: 408-794-0828)
Free Fridays 6:00 to 9:00
212-288-6400
The first-ever museum retrospective of the work of controversial Chinese artist Zhang Huan follows his development from his early years in Beijing, his move to New York City in the late 1990s, and the establishment of his studio in Shanghai in 2006. The multifaceted, multimedia exhibition comprises fifty-five works, including painting, sculpture, installation, and video and photographs of his avant-garde performance art. In Beijing’s East Village, he began incorporating his body into his art in such performances as “12 Square Meters,” in which he sat in a disgusting public toilet for an hour, covered with flies, to call attention to the poor neighborhood’s lack of private facilities in people’s homes, and “To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain,” in which Zhang and a small group of artist friends undress on Miaofeng Mountain and pile on top of one another, making the mountain one meter higher — but the change is only temporary, a meditation on life itself. Following his move to New York City, Zhang continued using himself as a canvas. “My mind determines the state of my body and its meaning,” he says. “My body is the medium of my art.” For “My New York,” he covered himself in raw meat from neck to ankle and walked out of the Whitney and onto Madison Ave., offering people white doves to release to the sky. In “Family Tree,” three calligraphers wrote stories directly onto Zhang’s face over the course of one full day until his face, representing fate, is completely covered in black ink, the individual words and characters no longer discernible but one solid darkness.
Asia Society/Zhang Huan
Zhang Huan, “My New York,” performance, 2002
Shortly after visiting Tibet in 2005, Zhang relocated to Shanghai, giving up performance art in favor of pieces influenced by Buddhist philosophy. He used broken fragments of Buddhist statues to create large-scale copper sculptures such as “Head from Buddha Foot” and “Fresh Open Buddha Hand.” He collected ashes from burnt offerings and incense from Buddhist temples for “Long Ear Ash Head,” which gets its own room at the Asia Society. And for the Memory Door series, wooden doors are carved by his staff and later partially filled in with historical photographs. Zhang’s creative process is as fascinating as the compelling results; a must-see documentary goes behind the scenes in his Shanghai studio, revealing his complex, unique methods. “Altered States” is a thought-provoking look at an artist who combines mind, body, and matter in unusual ways to examine the impermanence of life, death, and rebirth.
Saturday, January 12 Hogaku: New Sounds of Japan 2008, with Wariki and the Goto & Obama Duo, $25, 7:00 lecture and demonstration, 8:00 performance
Through January 20 AsiaStore’s Annual Winter Sale
Antoni Gelabert, "Murada i catedral a entrada de fosca," 1903
Queen Sofia Spanish Institute
684 Park Ave. between 68th & 69th Sts.
Through February 2 (closed Sundays)
Admission: $5
212-628-0420
http://www.spanishinstitute.org
In the nineteenth century, the island of Mallorca became a haven for writers, artists, and international travelers. In conjunction with the Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern I Contemporani de Palma Collection, the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute is presenting a collection of nearly two dozen Mallorcan landscapes painted between 1872 and 1934 by seventeen artists, in the downstairs gallery. Many of the oil paintings feature vivid blues and greens, emphasizing the beautiful sea and the lush trees. Highlights include Ricard Anckermann’s "Molinar amb gent," Llorenç Cerda’s "El cingle verd d’Ariant," Joaquin Sorolla’s "Calle de San Vicente, Mallorca," Tito Cittadini’s "La herida de la montaña," Francisco Bernareggi’s "Jardi de Mallorca," and Santiago Rusiñol’s "Son Moragues, Sa Muntanyeta." In 1956, Joan Miró moved to Mallorca; inspired by his new home, in 1973 he created Sèrie Mallorca, a set of nine engravings and a cover that is spread across the Spanish Institute’s main-floor gallery space. "Mallorca’s light is impregnated with pure poetry," he wrote in 1957. "It is not a coincidence at all, not by chance that I have come to live and work here…. It is the call of the land." Miró’s playful, childlike scribbles are primarily in black and white, with geometric bursts of color here and there, a shot of yellow or red, a burst of blue or green, with several circles in the background and a repeated motif of an asterisk-like star. As you stand and contemplate the pieces, surreal figures emerge, transporting you to another time and place.
twi-ny/mdr
Park Avenue Armory welcomes annual popular antiques show
The Park Avenue Armory (Seventh Regiment Armory)
643 Park Ave. between 66th & 67th Sts.
January 18-27
Admission: $20 (includes catalog)
http://www.winterantiquesshow.com
The fifty-fourth annual Winter Antiques Show features more than seventy-five exhibitors displaying furniture, paintings, books, silver, garden ornaments, medieval manuscripts, arms and armor, jewelry, clocks, textiles, and more, with proceeds benefiting East Side House Settlement. The opening night party will be held on January 17 ($300-$2500), while January 24 is Young Collectors’ Night ($125-$175).
Other antiques show is at other armory
69th Regiment Armory
Lexington Ave. at 26th St.
January 18-20
Admission: $15
While the big Winter Antiques Show kicks off at the Park Avenue Armory, another antiques show will take place at the other armory, on Lexington Ave. and Twenty-sixth, featuring more than one hundred exhibitors displaying and selling folk art, period furniture, architectural artifacts, pottery, glass, ceramics, hooked rugs, flatware, mirrors, weathervanes, and more. A free shuttle service will move antiques lovers between the two armories.
Ros Kavanagh
Abbey Theatre will present TERMINUS at the Public
The Public Theater and other venues
425 Lafayette St. between East Fourth St. & Astor Pl.
January 9-20
Tickets: free - $25
212-967-7555
The Public Theater will be hosting the fourth annual Under the Radar festival, which features "exciting, independent, and experimental" theater at numerous downtown venues. The Public itself will be home to eleven productions, including Dael Orlandersmith’s work-in-progress STOOP STORIES, Reggie Watts’s DISINFORMATION, the Abbey Theatre’s TERMINUS, Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company’s CHURCH, and Michel Melamed’s REGURGITOPHAGY. One of the more interesting presentations is ETIQUETTE, in which pairs of ticket buyers will participate in a guided discussion at a table at the East Village restaurant Veselka. Among the free shows is Stan’s Cafe’s OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD: USA, in which the UK troupe, at the World Financial Center, will use five tons of rice to measure out human statistics. Back to Back Theatre will weave its way through the Whitehall Ferry Terminal for SMALL METAL OBJECTS, putting on a site-specific performance for those lucky enough to score free headphones (reservations are available the day before the show) and can find Gary and Steve moving amid the crowd. In addition, the festival will include the first-ever collaboration between the Classical Theatre of Harlem and Harlem Stage in a new production of the Greek tragedy TROJAN WOMEN, adapted and directed by Alfred Preisser, with an original score by Kelvyn Bell and choreography by Tracy Jack. Below is the schedule for all performances being held away from the Public, except for Mike Daisey’s one-day-only HOW THEATER FAILED AMERICA and several free panel discussions.
Wednesday, January 9
through
Sunday, January 20 OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD: USA, by Stan’s Cafe, World Financial Center, free, 12 noon — 6:00
Wednesday, January 9
through
Sunday, January 20 ETIQUETTE, the Foundry Theatre and Rotozaza, Veselka Restaurant, 144 Second Ave., $20 per pair, every half hour from 12 noon to 12 midnight
Wednesday, January 9
through
Sunday, January 20 BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, by 1927, P.S. 122, 150 Second Ave., $15, various times
Thursday, January 10
through
Sunday, January 13 BIG, 3rd EPISODE (happy/end), by Superamas, the Kitchen, 512 West 19th St., $10, various times
Jean Jacques Tiziou
LOW takes the stage at the Public for Radar festival
Thursday, January 10
through
Sunday, January 20 TROJAN WOMEN, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Ave. at West 135th St., $25, various times
Friday, January 11 Artist Talk at the Public — Theater of Resistance: A Conversation with Free Theater of Belarus, Public Theater, free, 6:00
Friday, January 11
through
Monday, January 14 small metal objects, Back to Back Theatre, Whitehall Ferry Terminal, free but advance tickets available day before performance at 5:00 pm at 212-967-7555, various times
Sunday, January 13 Artist Talk at the Public: Words and Music — Hip Hop and Spoken Word in Today’s Theater: Reggie Watts, Rha Goddess, and the Suicide Kings, free, 3:30
Sunday, January 13 HOW THEATER FAILED AMERICA, Mike Daisey, the Public Theater, $15, 2:00
Tuesday, January 15 Research Study with LOW: Meditations Trilogy Part 1, with the Hip Hop Mental Health Project, Public Theater, 6:00
Saturday, January 19 Artist Talk at the Public: New Theater — Back to the Future: Young Jean Lee, Jay Schelb, and Nature Theater of Oklahoma, free, 11:00 am
Courtesy of Mexican Film Institute
Guita Schyfter’s LABYRINTHS OF MEMORY defies ethnic boundaries
Walter Reade Theater unless otherwise noted
165 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave., Plaza Level
212-496-3809
The seventeenth annual New York Jewish Film Festival once again examines the Jewish experience around the world, from Israel, New York, and Prague to Mexico, Russia, and Paris, featuring stories of war and peace, love and hate, life and death, immigrants and orthodoxy. In addition to new works, the festival also includes several older films, including Edward Sloman’s 1925 silent melodrama HIS PEOPLE, set on the Lower East Side; Sidney M. Goldin’s 1931 musical comedy HIS WIFE’S:LOVER; and Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1922 restored LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Although the series is based at Lincoln Center, there will be special screenings at the Jewish Museum and the JCC as well.
Wednesday, January 9 THE BATTLE OF CABLE STREET (Yoav Segal, 2006) and MISS UNIVERSE 1929 (Peter Forgacs, 2006), 2:00
Wednesday, January 9 TEHILIM (Raphael Nadjari, 2007), 3:45
Wednesday, January 9 A HEBREW LESSON (David Ofek, Elinor Kowarsky, and Ron Rotem, 2006), 6:00
Wednesday, January 9 A SECRET (Claude Miller, 2007), 9:00
Thursday, January 10 THE CHAMPAGNE SPY (Nadav Schirman, 2007), 1:00
Thursday, January 10 A HEBREW LESSON (David Ofek, Elinor Kowarsky, and Ron Rotem, 2006), 3:15
Thursday, January 10 ORTHODOX STANCE (Jason Hutt, 2007), 6:00
Thursday, January 10 SOMEONE TO RUN WITH (Oded Davidoff, 2006), 8:30
Courtesy of Kino International
Joseph Cedar’s BEAUFORT pits Israel against Hezbollah
Saturday, January 12 BEAUFORT (Joseph Cedar, 2007), 6:00
Saturday, January 12 SOMEONE TO RUN WITH (Oded Davidoff, 2006), 9:00
Sunday, January 13 LOVE ONE ANOTHER (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1922), silent with English and Danish intertitles and live piano, 1:00
Sunday, January 13 TEHILIM (Raphael Nadjari, 2007), 3:15
Sunday, January 13 GOYTA (Joanna Jurewicz, 2006), and TWO LADIES (Philippe Faucon, 2007), 6:00
Sunday, January 13 A HEBREW LESSON (David Ofek, Elinor Kowarsky, and Ron Rotem, 2006), 8:30
Monday, January 14 HOUSE OF LIFE (Allan Miller, 2007) and ONE OF THE LAST (Ed Kucerak, 2007), 1:00
Monday, January 14 SOMEONE TO RUN WITH (Oded Davidoff, 2006), 3:30
Monday, January 14 HOUSE OF LIFE (Allan Miller, 2007) and ONE OF THE LAST (Ed Kucerak, 2007), 6:00
Monday, January 14 TEHILIM (Raphael Nadjari, 2007), 8:30
Tuesday, January 15 THE BATTLE OF CABLE STREET (Yoav Segal, 2006) and MISS UNIVERSE 1929 (Peter Forgacs, 2006), 1:00
Tuesday, January 15 RED ZION (Evgeny Tsymbal, 2006) and BUENOS AIRES‚ POGROM (Herman Szwarcbart, 2007), 3:15
Tuesday, January 15 PRAYING WITH LIOR (Ilana Trachtman, 2007), JM, 3:00
Tuesday, January 15 PRAYING WITH LIOR (Ilana Trachtman, 2007), followed by panel discussion, JM, 6:30
Wednesday, January 16 STEFAN BRAUN (Itamar Alcalay, 2007) and QUEST FOR THE MISSING PIECE (Oded Lotan, 2007), 1:00
Wednesday, January 16 GOYTA (Joanna Jurewicz, 2006), and TWO LADIES (Philippe Faucon, 2007), 3:45
Wednesday, January 16 THE BATTLE OF CABLE STREET (Yoav Segal, 2006) and MISS UNIVERSE 1929 (Peter Forgacs, 2006), 6:00
Wednesday, January 16 RED ZION (Evgeny Tsymbal, 2006) and BUENOS AIRES‚ POGROM (Herman Szwarcbart, 2007), 8:15
Thursday, January 17 MURDER OF A HATMAKER (Catherine Bernstein, 2005), 1:30
Thursday, January 17 STEFAN BRAUN (Itamar Alcalay, 2007) and QUEST FOR THE MISSING PIECE (Oded Lotan, 2007), 3:15
Thursday, January 17 MURDER OF A HATMAKER (Catherine Bernstein, 2005), 6:15
Thursday, January 17 A WOMAN’S PALE BLUE HANDWRITING (Axel Corti, 1984), 8:15
Saturday, January 19 VILLA JASMIN (Férid Boughedir, 2007), 6:00
Saturday, January 19 JERUSALEM IS PROUD TO PRESENT (Nitzan Gilady, 2007), 8:30
Sunday, January 20 HIS PEOPLE (Edward Sloman, 1925), silent with live piano, 2:00
Sunday, January 20 MURDER OF A HATMAKER (Catherine Bernstein, 2005), 4:15
Sunday, January 20 GOD DOES NOT BELIEVE IN US ANYMORE (Axel Corti, 1982), 6:15
Sunday, January 20 THE CHAMPAGNE SPY (Nadav Schirman, 2007), 8:45
Monday, January 21 HIS WIFE’S LOVER (Sidney M. Goldin, 1931), 1:30
Monday, January 21 SANTA FE (Axel Corti, 1985), 3:45
Monday, January 21 WELCOME IN VIENNA (Axel Corti, 1986), 6:00
Monday, January 21 JERUSALEM IS PROUD TO PRESENT (Nitzan Gilady, 2007), 8:30
Tuesday, January 22 THE CHAMPAGNE SPY (Nadav Schirman, 2007), 1:00
Tuesday, January 22 JERUSALEM IS PROUD TO PRESENT (Nitzan Gilady, 2007), 3:30
Courtesy of Jewish Women’s Archive
Gilda Radner is one of the female comedians profiled in MAKING TROUBLE
Tuesday, January 22 MAKING TROUBLE (Rachel Talbot, 2006), JM, 3:00 &, 6:30
Wednesday, January 23 LABYRINTHS OF MEMORY (Guita Schyfter, 2007), 1:30
Wednesday, January 23 THE UNKOSHER TRUTH (Chana Zalis, 2006) and FILM FANATIC (Shlomo Hazan, 2006), 3:45
Wednesday, January 23 LABYRINTHS OF MEMORY (Guita Schyfter, 2007), 6:00
Wednesday, January 23 THE UNKOSHER TRUTH (Chana Zalis, 2006) and FILM FANATIC (Shlomo Hazan, 2006), 8:30
Thursday, January 24 THE UNKOSHER TRUTH (Chana Zalis, 2006) and FILM FANATIC (Shlomo Hazan, 2006), 1:00
Thursday, January 24 VILLA JASMIN (Férid Boughedir, 2007), 3:00
Thursday, January 24 ORTHODOX STANCE (Jason Hutt, 2007), 8:00
Tuesday, January 15 GOYTA (Joanna Jurewicz, 2006), and TWO LADIES (Philippe Faucon, 2007), JCC, 646-505-5708, 7:30
twi-ny/mdr
Christoph Niemann’s "Paper Maze" runs through much of Gallery Met
The Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met
Metropolitan Opera House, south side lobby
Columbus Ave. & 64th St.
Through February
Monday through Saturday, 10:00 am — 11:00 pm, Sunday 12 noon — 6:00 pm
Admission: free
212-362-6000
In collaboration with the New Yorker magazine and in conjunction with the Metropolitan Opera’s current English-language production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s HANSEL AND GRETEL (which runs through January 31), "Hansel and Gretel" features the work of seventeen artists using the Brothers Grimm fairy tale as its theme. Primarily made up of newly commissioned pieces (the late William Steig is represented, and Ian Falconer’s "Catwalk Coven" dates from 1996), the exhibit includes eerie depictions by Edward Koren and Lorenzo Mattotti (his very dark "Six Scenes" are marvelous), creepy stuff from George Condo and Eleanor Davis, utter strangeness from Owen Smith and Gahan Wilson, a cartoon from Roz Chast, and other creative reimaginings from Jules Feiffer, Lou Romano, and Anita Kunz. In addition to his colorful gouache on paper "Weight Watcher," Christoph Niemann has made a trail of yellow Post-it Notes (instead of bread crumbs) across three walls that will eventually lead a hungry Pac-Man-like figure to the endangered siblings.
The Juilliard School
Peter Jay Sharp Auditorium
65th St. at Broadway
Admission: free
646-230-8380
http://www.nyfos.org/events.php
Wednesday, January 16 Part of the New York Festival of Song, this free concert features relationship songs by Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, Bruce Springsteen, Jacques Brel, Jerome Kern, Cy Coleman, and others, performed by pianists Steven Blier and Michael Barrett, a string quartet, and singers from Juilliard’s Vocal Arts Department, 8:00
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center
129 West 67th St. at Broadway
Admission: free
212-501-3330
http://www.merkinconcerthall.org
Monday, January 21 Celebration of the reopening of the restored Merkin Concert Hall, featuring performances by Michael Riesman, Ursula Oppens, John Medeski, Orli Shasham, Vijay Iyer, Kaufman Center students Brian Ge (age ten) and Farrah Dupoux (age fifteen), Stephen Flaherty, Jimmy Roberts, Lee Musiker, Anat Fort, Igal Kesselman, Jonathan Batiste, and Lisa Moore, 2:00 - 8:00
twi-ny/mdr
Spero’s women dance in Lincoln Center subway stop
66th St. Lincoln Center stop
New York City subway #1 line
Admission: $2
Paying tribute to Lincoln Center, artist Nancy Spero has filled both sides of the 66th St. subway stop on the 1 line with dozens of acrobats, divas, and dancers. Born in 1926, Spero, who was married to the artist Leon Golub (who died in 2004), has been creating controversial, politically charged art for more than fifty years, and this 2000 glass-and-ceramic mosaic installation continues her strong depiction of women. The central figure is an elegant diva dressed in flowing, glittering gold representing Artemis, the powerful goddess (and Apollo’s twin) who would bow to no man. She presides over a visual symphony of nearly two dozen scenes featuring women — both contemporary and from antiquity, clothed and naked — contorting their bodies, dancing together, playing music, roller skating, running, diving, and leaping, sometimes heading straight out of the wall, directly at straphangers, calling attention to their strength and determination. Allow yourself a few extra minutes to check them out before continuing on to see a show at Lincoln Center.
Kim Seung-woo, Ko Hyun-joung, and Ki Tae-woo star in romantic comedy
Film Forum
209 West Houston St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
January 9-22
212-727-8110
Director Joong-rae (Kim Seung-woo) is having trouble with the script for his next film, so he gets production designer Chang-wook (Ki Tae-woo) to drive him out to Shinduri Beach for some quiet relaxation, away from the hustle and bustle of Seoul. Chang-wook brings along his girlfriend, Moon-sook (Ko Hyun-joung), an aspiring composer and singer who is immediately attracted to Joong-rae. As Chang-wook’s jealousy grows and Moon-sook and Joong-rae wonder if they have a future together, the director meets Sun-hee (Song Sun-mi), a soon-to-be divorcée who also has eyes for Joong-rae. Writer-director Hong Sangsoo’s (TALE OF CINEMA) moving romantic comedy features beautiful locations shot by Kim Hyung-koo, a sweet score by Jeong Yong-jin, and unusual but believable characters. At 127 minutes, the film, which was selected for the 2006 New York Film Festival, is far too long, not quite knowing how to end, but stick with it nonetheless.
Matt Damon plays Jason Bourne in Robert Ludlum trilogy
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Friday and Saturdays at midnight
212-924-7771
All three of the Bourne films, based on Robert Ludlum’s trilogy, are thrilling action pics starring Matt Damon as an amnesiac killing machine trying to find out who he really is. In a rarity, the final film is actually the best of the bunch. The series features appearances by Clive Owen, Chris Cooper, Julia Stiles, Albert Finney, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Joan Allen, and David Strathairn and some amazing chases, especially the one set on the roofs of Tangiers in the finale. The IFC Center will be screening all three flicks on three consecutive weekends at midnight — these were meant to be seen on the big screen, so settle in for some awesome late-night popcorn crunching.
Friday, January 11
and
Saturday, January 12 THE BOURNE IDENTITY (Doug Liman, 2002)
Friday, January 18
and
Saturday, January 19 THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (Paul Greengrass, 2004)
Friday, January 25
and
Saturday, January 26 THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (Paul Greengrass, 2007)
A mysterious monster menaces Manhattan in CLOVERFIELD
Opens Friday, January 18
http://www.cloverfieldmovie.com
A surprise going-away party turns into a nightmare in Matt Reeves’s highly anticipated CLOVERFIELD. Michael Stahl-David stars as Rob, a young man who has accepted a promotion that will send him to Japan. Although he is in love with his best friend, Beth (Odette Yustman), he is unable to tell her. But everything changes when the ground starts to shake, buildings begin to collapse, and people are on the run, attempting to escape from an enormous monster on the loose in post 9/11 Manhattan. And when Rob discovers that Beth, who had left the party early, might still be alive, he decides to risk his life and head uptown to save her. He is joined on the dangerous journey by his brother, Jason (Mike Vogel); Jason's girlfriend, Lily (Jessica Lucas); Lily’s friend Marlena (Lizzy Caplan); and Hud (T. J. Miller), who serves as the comic relief. The entire film is seen through the lens of a video camera that Hud was entrusted with at the party, giving the film the feel of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, mixed with such Gotham horror stories as KING KONG, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, and the ridiculous 1998 GODZILLA remake. CLOVERFIELD, which has an ever-widening back story growing online (similar to that of LOST, which is also the creation of J.J. Abrams), doesn’t try to be anything more than it is — a monster movie set in New York City. The creature is kept hidden for most of the film, which doesn’t try to make any grand statements about science, humanity, or, really, anything except true love — and brutal death. And yes, there is a secret message hidden in the brief sound clip at the end of the credits.
Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell are troubled brothers in new Woody pic
Opens Friday, January 18
http://www.cassandrasdreammovie.com
Woody Allen’s third consecutive film set in London (following the fine MATCH POINT and the disappointing SCOOP) is his best film in more than a decade and his most intricate character study since 1989’s CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. Ian (Ewan McGregor) and Terry (Colin Farrell) are two very different brothers who are both in desperate need of a quick cash infusion. Ian, the intelligent but ne’er-do-well son, is looking to invest in yet another get-rich-quick scheme, while Terry, a hardworking auto mechanic, has a serious gambling problem exacerbated by his drinking, endangering his future with his caring girlfriend, Kate (Sally Hawkins). The troubled siblings turn to their uncle Howard (the always outstanding Tom Wilkinson), a wealthy plastic surgeon who is willing to help them both out, but at a price neither one might be able to afford. CASSANDRA’S DREAM is a classic Greek tragedy mixed with the suspense of Hitchcock and the guilty conscience of Dostoyevsky as the close brothers search deep inside themselves to see just how far they will go to turn their lives around. Farrell is a revelation as Terry, playing the character with a compelling depth and complexity. Hayley Atwell makes a promising feature-film debut as Angela, an actress — and possible femme fatale — whom Ian falls hard for. Allen’s sharp-as-nails script is enhanced by Philip Glass’s ominous score. Interestingly, CASSANDRA’S DREAM was originally scheduled to be released in December but was moved to January shortly after making no end-of-year critics’ lists and receiving no Golden Globe nominations. It deserves better.
Han Sanming tries to fill in biggest hole in his life in Jia Zhangke film
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Friday, January 18
212-924-7771
Sixth Generation Chinese film director Jia Zhangke won the Golden Lion award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival for STILL LIFE, his beautiful, elegiac, documentary-like examination of displaced family. Jia sets his film around the ongoing, controversial Three Gorges Dam project, which has forced millions of residents from their homes. Han Sanming, a miner from Shanxi, arrives in the former town of Fengjie, looking for the daughter he hasn’t seen in sixteen years, since she was a baby. Meanwhile, a young nurse, Shen Hong, is seeking out her husband, a construction executive whom she hasn’t heard from in two years. Using nonprofessional actors, Jia (PLATFORM, THE WORLD) tells their heartbreaking stories virtually in slow motion, with many scenes driven by Han’s tired eyes, featuring little or no dialogue. He gets a job helping tear down buildings, in direct contrast to his desire to rebuild his relationship with his long-lost family. Jia’s gentle camera reveals how China, in its quest for modernization and financial power, has left behind so many of its people, the heart and soul of the land that has literally been torn out from under them. STILL LIFE is a small gem.
Photographer: Jack Smith. © Jack Smith Estate
Jack Smith plays around with some friends, ca. 1958-59
Cinemarosa: The New Eyes in LGBT Cinema
Queens Museum of Art
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Sunday, January 20, 3:00
Free with museum admission of $5
718-592-9700
Mary Jordan’s free-wheeling documentary takes a look at avant-garde photographer, performance artist, and filmmaker Jack Smith, a troubled man with serious mother issues and a rather bizarre obsession with movie diva Maria Montez. Best known for his film FLAMING CREATURES, which was banned because of its sexual content, Smith created a very strange world in which he lived and worked, battling against landlords (he had a thing about paying rent for anything) and the ownership of art. The film contains reminiscences from such seminal 1960s and ’70s figures as Gary Indiana, Ken Jacobs, Judith Malina, Jonas Mekas, Holly Woodlawn, John Waters, John Zorn, and Tony Conrad, among many others. Although they all pay tribute to Smith’s influence, his actual output, seen here, thankfully, only in bits and pieces, mostly seems unwatchable.
TALK, TALK, TALK has free premiere at the ImaginAsian
The ImaginAsian
239 East 59th St. between Second & Third Aves.
Admission: free but RSVP required
http://www.newyork-tokyo.com/rsvp
Wednesday, January 23 Monthly premiere series screens TALK, TALK, TALK (SHABEREDOMO SHABEREDOMO) (Hideyuki Hirayami, 2007), with a special appearance by Japanese film specialist and translator Linda Hoagland, 7:00
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
212-255-8800
http://www.americangangster.net
Based on a true story, Ridley Scott’s AMERICAN GANGSTER follows the path of two very different men during the Vietnam War era. Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is a proud, dedicated man from poor southern roots who is determined to become the most respected and loved drug lord of Harlem. Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is an honest-to-a-fault Jewish cop studying to become a lawyer while failing miserably in his personal life. Cold, calculating, and smooth as silk, Lucas will do whatever is necessary to ensure his absolute success, including shooting another player in the head in plain view on an uptown street. Meanwhile, Roberts becomes a pariah in the corrupt police department when he finds nearly a million dollars in cash and turns it in. As the war escalates in Southeast Asia, Lucas and Roberts are both on a dangerous road that threatens to explode all around them. Filmed in New York City, AMERICAN GANGSTER — featuring an excellent script by Steven Zaillian and intense, superb direction from Ridley Scott — is a compelling thinking man’s mob pic, a worthy successor to (and mash-up of) such genre classics as THE FRENCH CONNECTION, SERPICO, and NEW JACK CITY. The diverse all-star cast also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, RZA, T.I., Josh Brolin, Carla Gugino, Cuba Gooding Jr., Common, and the great Ruby Dee and Clarence Williams III.
Keira Knightley and James McAvoy star as potential lovers torn apart by a vengeful lie in Joe Wright’s British melodrama ATONEMENT, based on the novel by Ian McEwan. Knightley is outstanding as Cecilia, a privileged young woman who lives with her family in their elegant mansion. She is attracted to the handyman’s son, Robbie (McAvoy) — who is also much admired by Cecilia’s thirteen-year-old sister, burgeoning writer Briony (Saoirse Ronan). Jealousy leads the precocious child to doom an innocent man, changing the fortunes of her family forever as WWII approaches. Despite Dario Marianelli’s overly sentimental music, ATONEMENT is a compelling, sweeping epic recalling Merchant-Ivory films as well as MASTERPIECE THEATER and Anthony Minghella’s THE ENGLISH PATIENT. (Minghella actually has a cameo near the end of the film.) Director Wright (THE END, 2005’s PRIDE & PREJUDICE) also pulls off a fascinating twist that calls into question the very nature of truth, as well as forgiveness.
AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
212-398-3939
Regal Union Square Stadium 14
13th St. & Broadway
800-326-3264
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com
Based on the fabulous first book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, THE GOLDEN COMPASS is an engaging fantasy that for the most part gets thing right but, unfortunately, tries too hard to please younger audiences. Dakota Blue Richards makes her big-screen debut as Lyra, a young girl who might be the only person who can save this alternate universe from the clutches of the evil Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) and the Magisterium, who just might be responsible for the growing number of missing children. Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore), who represents her soul, go off on a wild journey in which they meet cowboy adventurer Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott), former ice-bear king Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen), sexy witch Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green), and other fascinating characters as they try to find the kidnapped children and discover the mystery behind “dust.” The all-star cast also features Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel, Tom Courtenay as Farder Coram, Kristin Scott Thomas as Stelmaria, Derek Jacobi as the magisterial emissary, Kathy Bates voicing Scoresby’s daemon, Hester, and Ian McShane as the voice of Ragnar, who does battle with Iorek in the film’s most breathtaking sequence. Although fans of the book series — which in many ways can be considered the “anti-Narnia” — should be satisfied, the plot does jump around a bit, and the ending is sickly sweet and disappointing in laying the groundwork for the sequel, THE SUBTLE KNIFE, which is being scripted but has not been officially announced just yet.
Robert Neville (Will Smith) and Sam fight for survival in I AM LEGEND update
Director Francis Lawrence’s modern-day update of Richard Matheson’s classic 1954 novel, I AM LEGEND, is a tense, nonstop thriller, liberally adapted by screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman. While the book was a claustrophobic masterpiece, the film opens things up dramatically, with Robert Neville (Will Smith), the last survivor of a supposed cancer cure that turned into a deadly virus, riding the streets of New York City every day in a fancy car with his dog, Sam. In addition to hunting wild game that leaps through Midtown, Neville, an army scientist who is still searching for an antidote in his makeshift basement laboratory, kills cells of infected vampiric beings that have more in common with the violent creatures of 28 DAYS LATER than the slow-moving zombies of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Every night Neville barricades himself and Sam into their apartment overlooking Washington Square Park and dreams of the events that brought him to this point, centered on his desperate attempt to save his wife (Salli Richardson) and daughter (Willow Smith, Will’s real-life daughter). I AM LEGEND was actually filmed in New York, with pivotal scenes shot in and around Madison Square Park, Grand Central Terminal, the South Street Seaport, and a barren Park Ave., lending it a stark, frightening reality. Smith excels as Neville, his eyes quickly shifting from hope to disappointment, from promise to pain, and Lawrence (CONSTANTINE) does a marvelous job of translating the book’s inner monologue into a postapocalyptic visual nightmare.
Film Forum
209 West Houston St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
212-727-8110
Todd Haynes’s highly anticipated dramatization of the musical life of Bob Dylan is ambitious, innovative, and, ultimately, overblown and disappointing. Working with Dylan’s permission (though not artistic input), Haynes crafts a nonlinear tale in which six actors play different parts of Dylan’s psyche as the Great White Wonder develops from a humble folksinger to an internationally renowned and revered figure. Dylan is seen as an eleven-year-old black traveling hobo who goes by the name Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin); Jack (Christian Bale), a Greenwich Village protest singer who later becomes a pastor; Robbie (Heath Ledger), an actor who has portrayed a Dylan entity and is having marital problems with his wife, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg); Arthur Rimbaud (Ben Whishaw), a staunch defender of poetry and revolution; an old Billy the Kid (Richard Gere), who has settled down peacefully in the small town of Riddle; and Jude Quinn (Cate Blanchett), who is attacked by her audience when she goes electric. Each story line is shot in a different style; for example, Jude’s is influenced by Fellini and the Dylan documentary EAT THIS DOCUMENT!, Robbie’s by Godard, and Billy’s by Peckinpah. Excerpts from Dylan’s own version of his songs are interwoven with interpretations by Tom Verlaine, Yo La Tengo, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Stephen Malkmus, the Hold Steady, Sonic Youth (who do a killer version of the unreleased BASEMENT TAPES-era title track over the closing credits), and many more, with cameos by Kris Kristofferson (as the opening narrator), Richie Havens, Julianne Moore, Kim Gordon, Paul Van Dyck, Michelle Williams, and David Cross (looking ridiculous as Allen Ginsberg). The most successful section by far is Blanchett’s; she takes over the role with relish, and cinematographer Edward Lachman and production designer Judy Becker nail the feel of the mid-’60s energy surrounding Dylan. But the rest of the film is all over the place, a great concept that bit off more than it could chew.
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/juno
When sixteen-year-old Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) suddenly finds herself pregnant, she has to choose between having an abortion, keeping the baby, or putting it up for adoption. She ultimately decides to have the baby for a wealthy, childless couple, Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), who live in a big, fancy house very different from Juno’s. Juno thinks she’ll be able to sail smoothly through her pregnancy and then just pop out the little brat, but she soon learns that everything is not quite as easy as it seems. First-time screenwriter Diablo Cody has created a marvelous character in Juno, a cynical, self-confident teenager who pretty much says whatever’s on her mind. Her dialogue with best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) is an absolute riot of teenspeak. Director Jason Reitman (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING) keeps things moving at a brisk pace, letting Juno run the show. From the opening scene — which features a hysterical turn by Rainn Wilson (THE OFFICE) as a convenience store clerk giving Juno a hard time — to the last, JUNO is a pure joy, led by Page’s brilliant performance as the unforgettable protagonist. With sweet, emotive songs by Kimya Dawson of the Moldy Peaches and a fine supporting cast that includes Michael Cera (SUPERBAD), J. K. Simmons (OZ), and Allison Janney (THE WEST WING), JUNO is one of the best films ever made about the topic of teen pregnancy, and about teen life in general, a moving, funny, and very real portrait of life in modern-day America.
http://www.kiterunnermovie.com
Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 surprise bestseller, THE KITE RUNNER, is a modern-day historical epic that follows one man as he attempts to make things right after a ghastly childhood incident that has haunted his every moment. The debut novel is filled with pivotal scenes of brutal emotion and genuine danger as Hosseini stomps on readers’ hearts. In trying to remain faithful to the book, screenwriter David Benioff (THE 25TH HOUR) and director Marc Forster (MONSTER’S BALL, FINDING NEVERLAND) have squeezed too much into their film, resulting in a jumpy narrative that is admirable yet rarely compelling. Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada) and his father, Ali (Nabo Tanha), work for Amir (Zekiria Ebrahimi) and his father, Baba (Homayoun Ershadi), a respected and successful businessman in Afghanistan. Amir and Hassan are also best friends, particularly bonding over their love of kites, a metaphor for freedom and escape. But after the horrific incident, Amir turns his back on Hassan, and it is only years later, well after the Soviet invasion and Amir’s move to San Francisco, where he has made a new life for himself, that he (now played by Khalid Abdalla) gets the opportunity to redeem himself. Even at two hours, the film feels rushed, and it gets no help from Alberto Iglesias’s mushy score. Perhaps there’ll be a director’s cut available on DVD that will fill in many of the holes and smooth out the story.
Javier Bardem gets an awesome new do for awesome new Coen brothers flick
http://www.nocountryforoldmen-themovie.com
Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, the Coen brothers’ NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is a gripping thriller dominated by the mesmerizing performance of Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh, a psychopathic killer who believes in chance. When Llewelyn Moss (an outstanding Josh Brolin) accidentally stumbles upon the site of a drug deal gone terribly wrong, he walks away with a satchel of cash and the dream of making a better life for him and his wife (Kelly MacDonald). He also knows that there will be a lot of people looking for him — and the two million bucks he has absconded with. On his trail are the Mexican dealers who were ripped off, bounty hunter Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson), and the cool, calm Chigurh, who leaves a bloody path of violence in his wake. Meanwhile, Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) philosophizes on the sorry state of the modern world as he follows the proceedings with an almost Zen-like precision. Though it struggles to reach its conclusion, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is an intense noir Western, an epic meditation on chance in which the flip of a coin can be the difference between life and a horrible death.
Dark mysteries abound in haunted-house horror flick
http://www.theorphanagemovie.com
J. A. Bayona’s directorial debut, THE ORPHANAGE, is a frightening horror flick in the tradition of Alejandro Amenabar’s THE OTHERS and Tobe Hooper’s POLTERGEIST (as well as Robert Wise’s THE HAUNTING, Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING, and even Richard Donner’s THE OMEN), without feeling derivative. Belén Rueda (THE SEA INSIDE) stars as Laura, a woman who, with her husband, Carlos (Fernando Cayo), and their son, Simon (Roger Princep), moves into an abandoned mansion that previously was as an orphanage. Laura wants to take in some developmentally disabled orphans, but it seems that she and her family are not necessarily alone in the big house. At a party for the reopening of the orphanage, Simon mysteriously disappears, and Laura is determined to find him, no matter who — or what — might be responsible. THE ORPHANAGE, Spain’s official selection for the 2007 Academy Awards, is a scary, edge-of-your-seat frightfest with just the right amount of heart-stopping shocks, courtesy of Bayona, first-time screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez, cinematographer Oscar Faura, and composer Fernando Velazquez. The film also features Geraldine Chaplin as a psychic, Montserrat Carulla as — well, actually, the less you know about the film going in, the better. THE ORPHANAGE is the first film to be presented by Guillermo del Toro (PAN’S LABYRINTH, THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE), who also serves as executive producer.
Marjane Satrapi animates her life for the big screen
Angelika Film Center
18 West Houston St. at Mercer St.
212-995-2000
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1866 Broadway at 63rd St.
212-757-2280
http://www.lincolnplazacinema.com
http://www.city-cinemas.com/angelika.html
France’s official selection for the 2007 Academy Awards, PERSEPOLIS brings to animated life Marjane Satrapi’s stunning graphic novels. Codirected by Satrapi and comic-book artist Vincent Paronnaud, PERSEPOLIS tells Satrapi’s harrowing life story as she comes of age during the Islamic Revolution in Iran in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Raised in a well-off activist family, she fights against many of the country’s crippling mores and laws, particularly those that treat women as second-class citizens, trapping them in their veils, denying them any kind of individual freedom. But the progressive Satrapi (voiced first by Gabrielle Lopes, then Chiara Mastroianni) continually gets into trouble as she speaks her mind, experiments with sex, and refuses to play by her country’s repressive rules. Satrapi and Paronnaud do an outstanding job of adapting the books’ black-and-white panels for the big screen, maintaining her unique style and emotional breadth. The first part of the film is excellent as the precocious teenager who talks to God learns about life in some very harsh ways. Unfortunately, the second half gets bogged down in Satrapi’s failures as an adult, focusing too much on her myriad personal problems and taking away the bigger picture that made the first part so entertaining as well as educational. Still, it’s a story worth telling, and well worth seeing. (Interestingly, since the film, which is in French, is subtitled in English, the audience ends up reading it similarly to the way they read the graphic novel.) The closing-night selection of the 2007 New York Film Festival, PERSEPOLIS also features the voices of Catherine Deneuve as Marjane’s mother, Danielle Darrieux as her grandmother, Simon Akbarian as her father, and François Jerosme as her radical uncle Anouche.
http://www.sweeneytoddmovie.com
Oh yes, there will be blood. Tim Burton’s adaptation of the hit Broadway musical SWEENEY TODD is bloody good fun. After being sent to prison for fifteen years by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who had designs on his wife (Laura Michelle Kelly), innocent barber Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to nineteenth-century London, reborn as Sweeney Todd, now a dark, ominous figure dead set on gaining his dastardly revenge. He gets back his coveted silver razors, which he considers an extension of his arm, and sets up shop in his old place, above the store where Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) sells meat pies crawling with cockroaches. When Todd begins slicing throats with expert precision, Lovett has a novel way of doing away with the bodies — while increasing business. Burton and screenwriter John Logan (THE AVIATOR, THE LAST SAMURAI) have done a terrific job translating the show onto the big screen, as Depp, Bonham Carter, and the rest of the cast — including Sacha Baron Cohen as a magical elixir salesman, Timothy Spall as the judge’s wingman, and Jayne Wisener as Todd’s daughter, who is doomed to marry the judge — do a wonderful job with such Stephen Sondheim songs as “No Place Like London,” “Poor Thing,” “My Friends,” “Pretty Women,” and “Not While I’m Around.” Depp is marvelous as the demon barber of Fleet Street, wearing a fright wig with a shocking streak of white, singing most of his dialogue with a gentle devilishness, enhanced by his haunting, penetrating eyes. The goth opera not only sounds good but looks even better, courtesy of cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, production designer Dante Ferretti, and costume designer Colleen Atwood. Burton and Depp, who have previously collaborated on EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD, SLEEPY HOLLOW, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, and CORPSE BRIDE, have another winner on their hands.
Daniel Day-Lewis searches for oil in THERE WILL BE BLOOD
http://www.therewillbeblood.com
Daniel Day-Lewis gives a spectacular performance as an independent oil man in Paul Thomas Anderson’s THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Day-Lewis, in remarkable voice, absolutely embodies Daniel Plainview, a determined, desperate man digging for black gold in turn-of-the-century California. His first strike comes at a heavy price as he loses one of his men in a tragic accident, so he adopts the worker’s infant son, raising H.W. (Dillon Freasier) as his own. The growth of his company leads him to Little Boston, a small town that has oil just seeping out of its pores. But after not allowing Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), the charismatic preacher who runs the local Church of the Third Revelation, to say a prayer over the community’s first derrick, Plainview begins his descent into hell. Using Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel OIL! as a starting point (and employing echoes of Orson Welles’s CITIZEN KANE and THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS in addition to the obvious reference, George Stevens’s classic 1956 oil flick GIANT), writer-director Anderson (BOOGIE NIGHTS, MAGNOLIA) has created a thrilling epic about greed, power, and corruption as well as jealousy, murder, and, above all, family, where oil gushes out of the ground with fire and brimstone. Robert Elswit’s beautiful cinematography is so gritty and realistic, audiences will be reaching for their faces to wipe the oil and blood off. The piercing, classically based score, composed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, builds to a mind-blowing crescendo by the end of the film — a finale that is likely to be much talked about and widely criticized. Filmed in the same location — Marfa, Texas — where GIANT was set, THERE WILL BE BLOOD is an unforgettable journey into the dark heart of one man’s soul.
twi-ny/mdr
Francis Ford Coppola arrives for YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH premiere at the Paris Theater
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
212-924-3363
Francis Ford Coppola’s first film in ten years is a complex mix of diverse elements and cinematic styles that begins promisingly but eventually wilts, like even the reddest rose. Tim Roth stars as Dominic Matei, an aging Romanian linguistics professor who has decided that he is ready to die now that he realizes he will never accomplish his life’s work — discovering the origination of language. But when he’s struck by lightning, he turns into a man half his age, given a second chance not only at his research but at romance, as he meets the apparent reincarnation of his one great love, first known as Laura but now Veronica (Alexandra Maria Lara). After another lightning storm, Veronica begins speaking in ancient tongues, propelling Dominic’s work — but at a terrible price. Based on a novella by Mircea Eliade, YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH eventually succumbs to its very lofty ambitions. Drawing from such auteurs as Truffaut, Godard, and Resnais (and owing a debt of gratitude to Raoul Ruiz’s TIME REGAINED and Dennis Potter’s THE SINGING DETECTIVE), Coppola has made an admirable low-budget film, examining the ravages of time, but the indie production is not, alas, his fountain of youth. He throws in the kitchen sink — magical realism, film noir, fantasy, WWII espionage, doppelgangers, melodrama, erotic thriller — but he weaves in too many paths that never meet. In the press booklet, Coppola compares YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH to THE TWILIGHT ZONE; indeed, the film, his first since 1997’s THE RAINMAKER, would have made a great episode of the Rod Serling omnibus series, but as a feature work it meanders too much to satisfy its two-hour length.
© Sandy Ou-Yang
Sun-Shier Dance Theatre will make U.S. debut at Japan Society
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Friday, January 11, and Saturday, January 12, $25-$28, 7:30
212-715-1258
The Japan Society’s eleventh annual Contemporary Dance Showcase once again features cutting-edge performers and performances from Japan but this year has spread out to include works from South Korea and Taiwan as well, with all companies making their U.S. debut. Inspired by Miguel de Unamuno’s Don Quixote story, director-choreographer Yukio Suzuki’s Kingyo company will perform DULCINEA, with Ryohei Yokoyama and Nao Ashimine. Born and raised in Tokyo, freelance dancer-choreographer Yun Myung Fee, who is of Korean heritage, will perform the solo piece PEVERADA. Makoto Enda moves his Makotocluv troupe from its site-specific performances on the streets of Japan to the New York stage. Korean dancer Yong-In-Lee, who founded UBIN Dance in 2004 and has appeared extensively in Europe, brings her solo work BELOW THE SURFACE to Phase 2. And former Cloud Gate Dance Theatre members Hsiu-Ping Chang and Pi-Jung Wu, who teamed up to start Taiwan’s Sun Shier Dance Theatre in 1997, will make their highly anticipated U.S. debut as well.
twi-ny/mdr
The Rosebuds headlined CMJ show at Bowery Ballroom last October
Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 North Sixth St.
Friday, January 18, $14, 9:00
212-260-4700
Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington St., Hoboken
Saturday, January 19, $15
201-653-1703
http://www.musichallofwilliamsburg.com
Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp continue touring behind NIGHT OF THE FURIES with shows at the Music Hall of Williamsburg and Maxwell's. Beware of the fan frenzy that follows them around; we ran into its powerful force in October when the band headlined a great CMJ show at the Bowery Ballroom that also featured Dean & Britta, the Most Serene Republic, and the Shaky Hands.
Martin Hyers
NYC trio says hello to Bowery Ballroom for big show
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St. at Bowery
Friday, January 18, 8:30
Tickets: $13-$15
212-533-2111
After a frenetic 2007 in which they played more than 125 shows around the world, including across Europe, Scandinavia, and the States, with such acts as AIR, Peter Bjorn and John, Voxtrot, We Are Scientists, and even David Lynch, the trio known as Au Revoir Simone returns home for their biggest headlining gig yet, at the Bowery Ballroom. Heather D’Angelo, Erika Forster, and Annie Hart all play keyboards on infectious pop songs that often serve more as short stories than traditional verse-verse-chorus tunes. Their most recent disc, THE BIRD OF MUSIC (May 2007), features such engaging tracks as “The Lucky One,” “Dark Halls,” and “Stars,” with guests supplying various forms of percussion as well as occasional horns and strings. “Play me a sad song because that’s what I want to hear,” they sing in harmony on “Sad Song.” “I want you to make me cry.” On “Fallen Snow,” they opine, “’Cause nothing’s worse than seeing you worse than me, and nothing hurts like seeing you hurt like me.” But don’t mistake this for the kind of depressive emo-rock that’s been coming out of Williamsburg the past few years; Au Revoir Simone’s delightful, sometimes cheesy melodies will have you bouncing around with, dare we say it, sheer glee. Check out their latest video on YouTube, for the spooky Halloween song “Haunted House,” and then head over to the Bowery Ballroom on January 18, where they’ll be playing with April March and Bell.
twi-ny/mdr
Mavis Staples will honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at BAM
Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Tuesday, January 22, $20-$40, 8:00
718-636-4100
Joining her family soul and gospel group, the Staple Singers, in 1950, Mavis Staples has been singing songs of faith and spirituality for six decades. This past summer, she honored her family history with a thrilling performance in Rockefeller Park, before a worshipful crowd of old and young. Playing civil-rights-era protest songs from her latest album, WE’LL NEVER TURN BACK (Anti-, April 2007), as well as Staple Singers classics, she delighted the audience with her dedication to the power of music. She mixed in strong versions of such songs as "Down in Mississippi," "Jesus Is on the Main Line," "This Little Light," and "On My Way," from the new record, with older favorites and covers, including "The Weight," "For What It’s Worth," and "March Up Freedom’s Highway." She introduced "Why Am I Treated So Bad" by talking about the impact the Little Rock 9 had on her father, Pops, who wrote the song after watching the girls defy authority on TV. Even though she can’t quite hit all the notes she used to and her backing band is merely average, she still has a marvelous voice and a great sense of humor; "You know, when you moan," she said at one point, "the devil don’t know what you’re talking about." Staples ended the set with "Respect Yourself" and the audience sing-along "I’ll Take You There" before coming out for two encores, concluding with "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," an appropriate finale that brought everything together. Staples will be kicking off BAM’s spring season with a special January 22 performance at the Howard Gilman Opera House, which is also part of BAM’s twenty-second annual Brooklyn Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.
Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Thursday, January 24, 8:00, $15-$17
212-414-5994
http://www.highlineballroom.com
http://www.thebirthdaymassacre.com
“Praise is just an unfamiliar sound to me,” Chibi sings on “Unfamiliar,” one of twelve powerful, extremely loud songs on the Birthday Massacre’s third album, the praiseworthy WALKING WITH STRANGERS (September 2007, Metropolis). Hailing from Toronto, the six-piece band plays a full-frontal attack, blasting in and out of electronica, ’80s new wave, goth, metal, and industrial in such songs as “To Die For,” “Falling Down,” and “Weekend.” Obscure, abstruse lyrics weave through synth-heavy, guitar-driven hard rock, with Chibi proclaiming, “The witch is inside me” in “Kill the Lights” and “I’m not the only one bleeding” in “Science.” In one of the strongest songs on the album, the brash “Red Stars,” Chibi announces, “You give and we take it / You build it, we break it / You sign and we erase it / You feel it, we fake it.” The Birthday Massacre won’t be faking it on January 24, when they invade the Highline Ballroom, along with Schoolyard Heroes and Creature Feature.
Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tickets: $12-$15
212-414-5994
http://www.highlineballroom.com
Friday, January 25 Twelve competitors will battle it out for the Hip Hop Karaoke championship, including K-Dot, Scooter, Doni D, Elizabeth, Robin, Pancho, Chef, Axiom, Camille, RDJ, Dashaun, and Shawn J, with judges Prince Paul, Ralph McDaniels, and DRES, 9:00
The Canal Chapter
343 Canal St., fourth floor
Through January 27, Tuesday-Saturday 12 noon — 6:00
Admission: free
The Canal Chapter teams up with East Pleasant Films for the multimedia exhibition "Better Version of Me," featuring site-specific paintings, sculpture, film, and performance by Adam Krueger and Ron Beach Jr.
Barnes & Noble
270 Greenwich St. (97 Warren St.)
Friday, January 11, 7:00
Admission: free
212-587-5389
http://www.fantagraphics.com/artist/burns/burns.html
Over the course of more than ten years, Raw magazine veteran Charles Burns told the story of teen angst in twelve comic books published by Fantagraphics. In 2006, Pantheon brought the entire tale together in a beautifully packaged hardcover edition, and it is now available in trade paperback. Set in mid-1970s Seattle, BLACK HOLE focuses on a group of teenagers experimenting with sex and drugs while trying to avoid the bug, a horrific disease that turns them into mutants in one form or another; some become misshapen creatures who live outside of society, in dark and dangerous woods, whereas others merely grow talking mouths on their chest, alluring tails, or a black hole that runs down their back, causing them to occasionally molt. While dissecting a frog with the lab partner of his dreams, Chris Rhodes, Keith has "a premonition. I felt like I was looking into the future…and the future looked really messed up." How messed up he could have no idea. BLACK HOLE has a 1950s feel to it, like an Annette and Frankie movie gone terribly wrong; it also reminds us of rainy Saturday afternoons watching horror movies on our parents’ couch. Burns’s shadowy black-and-white drawings are eerily compelling, and the characters will feel familiar to you, making you think back to your own terrible teens. Burns will be signing copies of the trade paperback on January 11 at 7:00 at the new TriBeCa Barnes & Noble at 270 Greenwich St.
Pulp-noir master Charlie Huston has pumped out his third Joe Pitt Casebook (following ALREADY DEAD and NO DOMINION), and its another gory delight. Pitt is a Vyrus-infected vamp who has given up his rogue ways and taken a job with the Society, one of several bloodsucking clans scattered throughout New York City. Ever cynical, Pitt is not happy that he is being sent to Brooklyn to protect Lydia as she meets with the Freaks in Coney Island, but when things go horribly wrong, he’s soon on the run again, being subjected to various forms of pain and torture as he battles the Chosen, the Coalition, and the mysterious Enclave while searching for a Van Helsing on the loose. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Evie, is dying, and he might not be able to save her this time, affecting him more than he imagined. Every time you think Pitt — and Huston — has nowhere else to go, the tale twists and turns in unexpected, thrilling ways, keeping things fresh and exciting. A lot of the regulars are back for more, as well as a few surprises. Huston is also the author of the fab Henry Thompson trilogy (CAUGHT STEALING, SIX BAD THINGS, A DANGEROUS MAN) and the stand-alone novel THE SHOTGUN RULE, all equally bloody and violent — and damn good.
Wondering what to do with all those gift certificates you got for the holidays for Amazon, B&N, and Borders? Treat yourself to something special that you might not otherwise buy for yourself, something just like Steve Saffel’s remarkably thorough, superbly illustrated examination of all things Spidey. Saffel, a longtime FOT (friend of twi-ny), follows Spider-Man’s humble beginnings in the 1960s through his mega-success as a movie-franchise superhero today, moving ahead decade by decade as the legend is born, makes some friends, is infused with new blood, is turned into a hologram, and expands the playing field. The book collects hundreds of full-color comic-book covers, panels, behind-the-scenes movie stills, toys and games, advertisements, and myriad collectibles, many from Saffel’s extensive personal collection. (Perhaps it is more than just a coincidence that Saffel currently lives in Forest Hills, the birthplace of Peter Parker?) The deluxe hardcover also includes a foreword by Spider-Man creator Stan Lee in which he discusses the creation of his "teenage everyman," who learns that "with great power there must also come — great responsibility." You don’t have to be a Spider-Man connoisseur to pick up THE ICON, but you’ll quickly become an expert as you pore through these fascinating, entertaining pages.
All contents copyright 2008 by Mark Rifkin and twi-ny. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. Please note that events, dates, and prices are subject to change.
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Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Tickets: $15 unless otherwise noted
212-620-5000 ext 344
Wednesday, January 9 Conversations on Consciousness with Bokara Legendre and Marc Bekoff, 6:30
Saturday, January 12 Dark Retreats and Visualization with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, 4:00
Wednesday, January 16 SPARK! The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, with John Ratey, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard University, 7:00
Wednesday, January 23 THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS, with author Eric Weiner, $12, 7:00
The Pond at Bryant Park
Between 40th & 42nd Sts. and Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Admission: free (skate rental $10)
866-221-5157
http://www.ThePondatBryantPark.com
Thursday, January 10 Watch the Rangers take on the Philadelphia Flyers on the giant screen while skating with such Blueshirt alumni as Adam Graves, Brian Mullen, and Glenn Anderson, 7:00 — 10:00
Symphony Space, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
Tickets: $20-$40
212-864-5400
Thursday, January 10 Anniversary celebration featuring Jane Alexander, David Amram, Rene Auberjonois, Theodore Bikel, Roy Blount, Jr., Blair Brown, Don Byron, Liz Callaway, Kathleen Chalfant, Jane Curtin, Jacques d’Amboise, Mia Dillon, Keir Dullea, Melissa Errico, Barbara Feldon, Fionnula Flanagan, Thomas Gibson, Joanna Gleason, Sheldon Harnick, Mary Beth Hurt, Dana Ivey, Stephen Lang, Andrea Marcovicci, David Margulies, Frank McCourt, Malachy McCourt, Charlotte Moore, Donna Murphy, James Naughton, Phyllis Newman, Estelle Parsons, Tony Roberts, Marian Seldes, John Shea, Lois Smith, Frances Sternhagen, Jerry Stiller & Anne Meara, David Strathairn, Calvin Trillin, Fritz Weaver, B.D. Wong, and many others, 8:00
Brooklyn Southpaw
125 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn
Tickets: $20
718-230-0236
Thursday, January 10 Release party for new book by C. H. Dalton, with John Oliver and Rob Riggle from THE DAILY SHOW and music by Franklin Bruno, 9:00
K2 Lounge
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Admission: free with $7 drink minimum
212-620-5000 ext 344
Friday, January 11 THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (John Frankenheimer, 1962), introduced by Adam Haslett, 9:30
Friday, January 11 ALTERED STATES (Ken Russell, 1980), introduced by Blair Brown, 9:30
World Financial Center Winter Garden
225 Vesey St.
Admission: free
212-945-2600
http://www.worldfinancialcenter.com/calendar
Friday, January 11 Sell Out: Are You Acoustic or Electric? Bob Dylan Royal Albert Hall Cover Battle, featuring eight bands or soloists who have advanced from the semifinals at the Bitter End, 12:30
Saturday, January 12 The Royal Albert Hal Project, featuring Laura Cantrell, Stevie Jackson, Marshall Crenshaw, Lenny Kaye, Jason Isbell, Toshi Reagon, Jesse Harris, Chocolate Genius, and others, 8:00
Admission: $2
http://www.improveverywhere.com
Saturday, January 12 The seventh annual No Pants! Subway Ride encourages straphangers to drop their draws
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.
Free with museum admission of $9
212-534-1672 ext3395
Saturday, January 12 Screening of FORGOTTEN ELLIS ISLAND: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF AMERICA’S IMMIGRANT HOSPITAL (Lorie Conway, 2007), followed by book signing with Lorie Conway, 3:00
The Knitting Factory
74 Leonard St. between Broadway & Church St.
Tickets: $25
212-219-3132
http://www.knittingfactory.com
Saturday, January 12 Annual festival, Aetherial Bass, Amir El Saffar's Two Rivers, Ben Allison & Man Size Safe Brad Shepik, Chris Dave Trio, Dave Douglas Magic Circle, David Murray Black Saint Quartet, Doug Wamble Quartet, Eldar, Iva Bittova, Don Byron, Lisa Moore, JD Allen Trio, Jerome Sabbagh, Lukas Ligeti’s Hypercolor, Magos Herrera, Matana Roberts Coin Coin, Omer Avital & His Band of the East. Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, Wayne Horwitz Sweeter Than Water, and Zim Ngqawana Quartet, 6:00
Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St. between East Fourth St. & Astor Pl.
Tickets: $20
212-539-8778
Saturday, January 12 Jazz singer headlines Joe’s Pub, with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, 7:00
Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tickets: $15-$18
212-414-5994
http://www.highlineballroom.com
Saturday, January 12 With the Budos Band, Jose Conde y Ola Fresca, Zemog El Gallo Bueno, and Burkina Electric, 7:30
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
Tickets: $20
212-352-3101
Saturday, January 12
and
Sunday, January 13 Multimedia performance that takes on politics and the media, conceived and directed by Rob Roth, with Theo and the Skyscrapers, 8:30
Noguchi Museum
9-01 33rd Rd. at Vernon Blvd.
Free with museum admission of $10
718-204-7088 ext209
Sunday, January 13 21st Century Modern, with John Berry, Eames Demetrios, and Richard Wright, 3:00
Webster Hall
125 East Eleventh St. between Third & Fourth Aves.
Tickets: $35-$40
Sunday, January 13 Fifth annual festival, with Chango Spasiuk, Crooked Still, Dulsori, Fallou Dieng & DLC, Lo Cor de la Plana, and Little Cow, 7:00
Joyce SoHo
155 Mercer St. between Houston & Prince Sts.
Tickets: $25 (flexible seating, including standing and moving about)
212-431-9233
Sunday, January 13
through
Saturday, January 19 As part of the Joyce SoHo’s Inbound series, Seattle’s Lingo company performs a site-specific interactive work featuring dance, food and drink, and conversation between the audience and dancers Bianca Cabrera, KT Niehoff, and Aaron Swartzman with guests Jessica Jobaris and Oscar Gutierrez, 8:00
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th St.
Tidckets: $30
212-423-3500
Sunday, January 13
and
Monday, January 14 Frederic Franklin, with a performance by Julie Kent, 7:30
Sunday, January 20
and
Monday, January 21 Ballet in Sneakers, with Ellen Bar, Sean Suozzi, and two soloists from the New York City Ballet reimagining Jerome Robbins’s piece, 7:30
Dance Theater Workshop
219 West 19th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tickets: $25
212-924-0077
http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org
http://www.miguelgutierrez.org
Monday, January 14
and
Tuesday, January 15 Part of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Members Conference, EVERYONE combines dance, spoken text, and song to show how "everyone is about the world right now and right now and right now…. Everything is perfect. Everything is a perfect mess…. This is for everyone."
Blue Note
131 West Third St.
Tickets: table $40, bar $25
212-475-8592
Tuesday, January 15
through
Sunday, January 20 Featuring McCoy Tyner, piano, Gerald Cannon, bass, Eric Kamau Gravatt, drums, and Joe Lovano, tenor saxophone, 8:00 & 10:30
Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
36 Battery Pl.
Admission: $10
646-437-4200
Wednesday, January 16 Panel discussion with Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J., Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Rev. T. K. Nakagaki, and Al Vorspan, moderated by Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, 6:30
Carnegie Hall
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
881 Seventh Ave. at 57th St.
Tickets: $31-$119
212-247-7800
Wednesday, January 16 Premiere of tribute concert celebrating the seventieth anniversary of Benny Goodman’s historic 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall, performed by Canadian jazz and swing maestro Bob DeAngelis and His Champagne Symphony, featuring such songs as "Let’s Dance," "Memories of You," "Stompin at the Savoy," "After You’ve Gone," and "Sing Sing Sing," 8:00
The Morgan Library & Museum
225 Madison Ave. at 36th St.
Tickets: $45
212-685-0008
Wednesday, January 16
and
Thursday, January 17 Gotham Chamber Orchestra presents "a cautionary tale featuring the music of Janácek and Dvorák," conceived specifically for the Morgan, 7:30
Broad Street Ballroom
41 Broad St.
Admission: free, but advance online reservations required
212-566-6700
http://www.downtownny.com/thirdthursdays
Thursday, January 17 Downtown: My Manhattan, with Pete Hamill, 7:00
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th St.
Admission: $8
212-570-7715
Thursday, January 17 Liz Kotz and Lawrence Weiner on "As Far as the Eye Can See," 7:00
Marymount Manhattan College
Regina Peruggi Room
221 East 71st St.
Admission: free
RSVP: 212-774-0780
Thursday, January 17 Talk and Q&A with Joseph Finder, author of POWER PLAY and KILLER INSTINCT, 7:30
92nd St. Y
1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St.
Tickets: $26
212-415-5500
Thursday, January 17 William Kentridge in conversation with Robert Storr, 8:15
School of Visual Arts, third-floor amphitheater
209 East 23rd St. between Second & Third Aves.
Admission: $7
212-592-2010
Friday January 18 Panel discussion on using found art and recycled materials, with Helen Brough, Him Napierala, Josette Urso, and Illene Sunshine, moderated by Michael Allen, 7:00
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Monthly Fridays through May 2008
Tickets: $12
212-715-1258
Friday January 18 RED HANDKERCHIEF (AKAI HANKACHI), 1964), 7:30
The Kitchen
512 West 19th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tickets: $10
212-255-5793
Friday January 18
and
Saturday, January 19 A suite of trans-genre works inspired by post-Katrina New Orleans, by Burnt Sugar, the Arkestra Chamber, with Sparlha Swa, Shree Shaym, Amali Premawardhana, and Kevin Raczka opening up, 8:00
BAMcafé LIVE
Brooklyn Academy of Music Opera House Café
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
No cover, no minimum
718-636-4100
Friday January 18
and
Saturday, January 19 Black Rock Coalition: Revolution as a Work in Progress, Part II, part of twenty-second annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 9:00
Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, LI
Monday, March 10
Saturday, January 19 Tickets go on sale for Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band as they bring the MAGIC tour to the Nassau Coliseum
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery at Bleecker St.
Admission: free
212-614-0505
Saturday, January 19 Art Wall Opening, featuring a party with video screenings and 3-D altered art by Lorin Roser, Jody Caulkin, Bing Lee, Karina Svirsky, and A. Schloss, 2:00 — 4:00
Terminal 5
610 West 56th St.
Tickets: $25
212-260-4700
Saturday, January 19 Blonde Redhead, the Raveonettes, and School of Seven Bells, 8:00
Madison Square Garden
31st to 33rd Sts. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tickets: $100 - $15,000
212-354-2878
Saturday, January 19 Felix Trinidad (42-5, 35 KOs) vs. Roy Jones Jr. (51-4, 38 KOs), 9:00
Multiple locations
Participation: free
Saturday, January 19
through
Monday, January 21 The fifth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Anti-Hunger Serve-A-Thon, sponsored by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, to raise awareness about the city’s food pantries and soup kitchens, with volunteers serving meals to the homeless while raising pledged funds from friends, family, and coworkers
B.B. King Blues Club
237 West 42nd St.
Tickets: $35
212-997-4144
Sunday, January 20 Five-year anniversary bash, with Nice and Smooth, Chubb Rock, Lisa Lisa, and more, 11:00
Peter Norton Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
Admission: free
Monday, January 21 Annual celebration with the Waterwell Theater Company, the Mayhem Poets, and the David Dorfman Dance Company, presented by the JCC, 6:30
Citizens Band takes show to Highline
Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tickets: $25
212-414-5994
http://www.thecitizensband.net
http://www.highlineballroom.com
Monday, January 21 The Citizens Band performs an encore of its latest show, moving to the Highline Ballroom following its sold-out shows at Ars Nova in November and December, 7:30
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St. at Bowery
Tickets: $25
212-533-2111
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/nyc
Tuesday, January 22 A Benefit for Planned Parenthood celebrating the thirty-fifth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and special guests, raffles, prizes, and more, 6:30
Carnegie Hall
Weill Recital Hall unless otherwise noted
881 Seventh Ave. at 57th St.
Tickets: $20+
212-247-7800
Tuesday, January 22 Master Class: Marilyn Horne, Italian Songs, 7:30
Wednesday, January 23 Master Class: Graham Johnson, Songs of Schubert and Schumann, 7:30
Wednesday, January 23
and
Thursday, January 24 Duo Recital, 5:30
Thursday, January 24 Master Class: Dawn Upshaw, American Songs After 1910 and French Songs After 1875, Zankel Hall, 7:30
Friday, January 25 Annual Recital: An Alumni Celebration, Zankel Hall, $27-$45, 7:30
WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden
31st to 33rd Sts. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tickets: $29.50
212-354-2878
Thursday, January 24 Fans who couldn’t get into the Garden for Brian Leetch Retirement Night can watch his number 2 jersey raised to the rafters on the giant screen in the Theater at Madison Square Garden, with special giveaways, raffle prizes, and more, hosted by Al Trautwig, 7:00