Uptown Exhibit of the Week
03.05.08
1. A husband and wife picture New York
2. Dazzling lights in Rockefeller Center, perversity and sweding in SoHo
3. J. Hoberman and Manoel de Oliveira are honored at BAM
4. Irving Penn and the Uffizi at the Morgan
5. Boston and Asia bring their art to the city
Volume 7, Number 40
March 5-19, 2008
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Site Design/Subway Photo:
Fred Gates Design, New York.
Collection of Rose and Morton Landowne
Yvonne Jacquette, "Chrysler Building Composite at Dusk II," oil on linen, 1997 (detail)
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.
Through April 13
Suggested admission: $9
212-534-1672
The first floor of the Museum of the City of New York has reunited artists Rudy Burckhardt and Yvonne Jacquette — who were married for thirty-five years before he committed suicide in 1999 at the age of eighty-five — in two marvelous exhibits that offer unique perspectives on the city they called home. Jacquette was born in Pittsburgh and moved to Connecticut at a young age. She came to New York in 1955 and met Burckhardt in 1961. In the mid-1970s, her work began flourishing, as she explored aerial perspective, painting magnificent views of the city as seen from high atop other buildings and from privately chartered planes. “Under New York Skies: Nocturnes by Yvonne Jacquette” features twenty-nine large-scale oils and pastels that take viewers on a warm evening fly-over, a splendid companion to her husband’s daytime strolls through the streets of the city. Looking down on Manhattan, Jacquette makes preparatory drawings and takes photographs that she melds into spectacular nighttime views that come alive with light and color. She plays with perspective and composition as she re-creates what she sees rather than offering an exact replica; thus, parts of the Statue of Liberty or distinct angles of the same building might appear impossibly in different parts of the same painting. The city is a whirlwind of cars in “Fifth Avenue Traffic,” “South and West Views from the World Trade Center II,” “Manhattan Nocturne: Late Evening Traffic II,” and “Triboro Triptych at Night II,” the latter seen above threatening clouds. The openness of “Flatiron Intersection II” recalls Burckhardt’s “Astor Place.” Water towers, usually lined up high against the sky but here gathered down below, are as prevalent as taxicabs in “Chelsea Composite II.” Like her husband, Jacquette also incorporates New York’s signage into her works, such as in “Times Square Triptych II,” which features a neon sign for Coke. Jacquette’s latest canvases, from 2007, move in closer on the buildings, shown at an even level, more architectural in nature.
Rudy Burckhardt, "Astor Place," gelatin silver print, 1947
“Street Dance: The New York Photographs of Rudy Burckhardt” comprises more than ninety black-and-white photographs and six short films by Jacquette’s longtime husband and artistic mentor, Rudy Burckhardt, all set in New York. Born and raised in Switzerland, Burckhardt came to the city in 1935. For more than sixty years, he turned his camera on the people, places, and things that inhabit Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, but he was not a documentarian in the style of Helen Levitt, Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, or Diane Arbus. He focused on such abstract elements as interesting patterns on the sidewalk or a storefront or people’s shoes as they walked across a manhole cover, as in “Encroachment” and “Sidewalk XIX.” In “Curb,” people’s shadows merge with those of the corner pole identifying the street name. When he does show full bodies, faces are seen only glancingly, the subject becoming the entire scene, as much about the barbershop pole in the left of one image as the man walking out of the frame to the right (“Shave 20 Cents”). In the 1940s, Burckhardt went underground, capturing people going about their business on the subway. He also took shots of such iconic structures as the Empire State Building, the Times Building, and the Flatiron Building as well as Times Square, Herald Square, and the Brooklyn Bridge, often from unusual angles. In the mid-1970s, he took three striking photos of the Flatiron Building, reflected upside down in a puddle. A wide-open Astor Place is seen from another building, looking down on the area, dominated by a Coca-Cola billboard. Walking through this inspirational collection is like wandering through a time capsule of the streets of the city itself — as well as spending an afternoon with the quintessential New York City artist couple. Both exhibits are also brought together in a single hardcover catalog that includes reproductions of all the works on view and essays about their life and careers.
Delaware Art Museum
John Sloan, "Shine, Washington Square," steel-faced copper plate, ink on paper, 1923
There’s a lot more to do at the Museum of the City of New York, so be prepared to stay for a while. Illustrator and print maker John Sloan (1871-1951) moved to the city in 1904, and he spent the rest of his life depicting the heart of Manhattan in gorgeous prints and drawings. Nearly three dozen are on view through March 23 in "John Sloan’s New York," a terrific accompaniment to "Picturing New York." Through April 20, "Manhattan Noon: Photographs by Gus Powell" features thirty recent photographs of New Yorkers heading out on their lunch hour; the photos were inspired by Frank O’Hara’s "Lunch Poems," some of which are on the walls, ripe for the taking. And "Setting the Stage: Scenic Designs by Donald Oenslager" runs through May 4.
Saturday, March 8 ¡Retumba!, in celebration of Women’s History Month, 3:00
Sunday, March 9 The Chelsea Ethos, with David Cohen, Bill Berkson, Yvonne Jacquette, Mimi Gross, Jane Freilicher, and Vincent Katz, 2:00
Thursday, March 13 Civic Talk: Judicial Reform In New York City, panel discussion with Michael Cardoza, Steven De Castro, Joseph Forstadt, Arthur Greig, and Michael Oliviam moderated by Henry Stern, 6:30
Friday, March 14 Screening of films about Rudy Burckhardt, Yvonne Jacquette, & Edwin Denby, 6:30
Saturday, March 15 Family Workshop: Cityscape Murals, 3:00
Wednesday, March 19 The Future of Coney Island, 6:30
© Rudy Burckhardt
Rudy Burckhardt, "Midday Crowd," gelatin silver print, circa 1933
Tibor de Nagy Gallery
724 Fifth Ave. between 56th & 57th Sts.
Through April 5
Admission: free
212-262-5050
In conjunction with the "Picturing New York" exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, Midtown’s Tibor de Nagy Gallery is displaying sixteen gelatin-silver prints taken by Rudy Burchkardt in 1939-40. Three of the photos, "Sidewalk," "Sidewalk III," and "Midday Crowd," were taken on the streets of the city, focusing on people’s bodies, especially their feet and hands, as they make their way through Manhattan. The rest depict depressing landscapes in Queens, including several shots of an Astoria auto junkyard as well as horizontal pictures that feature a pole or tree near the center, serving as a kind of natural divider. These early works are not as definitively New York as the vast majority of his later photos, so this collection serves as an interesting sidebar to the MCNY exhibition.
© Sarah McEneaney
Sarah McEneaney, "Gesso Room," egg tempera on wood, 2007
Tibor de Nagy Gallery
724 Fifth Ave. between 56th & 57th Sts., twelfth floor
Through April 5
Admission: free
212-262-5050
While Rudy Burckhardt’s photos at Tibor de Nagy are in the small room, the main exhibit is a stunning collection of new work by Sarah McEneaney. McEneaney’s deeply personal paintings, filled with bright, bold colors, make you feel like she is in the room with you, holding back no secrets. Using a cartoony, folk art style, she allows us to enter her life, whether she is hanging out with Cole (one of her cats) and Trixie (her dog) on the couch (while her other cat, Angel, relaxes atop a step ladder); painting in her studio; sketching a squirrel in the woods; or taking a mineral bath. Working with egg tempera on wood prepared with gesso, she portrays the little details that make up her daily existence — which includes talking on the phone, a kitty walking across a computer keyboard, and recently surviving breast cancer surgery. She doesn’t shy away from any aspect of her life; instead, she shows herself clutching the right side of her chest in "Angel Artist," with Angel wound around her shoulder protectively, a wall of pet paintings behind her; and in "SPY-Studio" she looks directly at the viewer, her apron drooping on the right side where her breast used to be. Several of the pieces, whether in her studio, her gesso room, or a bedroom, feature other paintings of hers on the walls, but there are no people to be found anywhere; it is a lonely feeling, as if her only friends are her beloved pets and her art. (A bus driver does appear in the curious "P2P," in which she is snapping a photograph of a fire burning off the side of the road. And in "Independence Day," a long, horizontal painting, fireworks explode over a small town while a few barely visible people walk their dogs, as if humans can’t exist without pets.) It all combines for a beautiful, poignant show.
Courtesy DC Moore Gallery
Jacob Lawrence, "The Long Stretch," egg tempera on hardboard, 1949
DC Moore Gallery
724 Fifth Ave. between 56th & 57th Sts., eighth floor
Through March 22
Admission: free
212-247-2111
Born in New Jersey, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) moved to Harlem with his family when he was thirteen and never finished high school, instead going to work to help support his mother, brother, and sister during the depression. He gained his education on the streets, which he portrayed in strikingly vivid paintings throughout his long career. Lawrence believed in painting his own life and experience; thus, the majority of his work focuses on black culture in America, which he brings to life in colorful portraits that seem to breathe and dance on the canvas. But he also strove to capture the American experience as a whole, not seeing African Americans as separate. "Moving Forward" is a superb collection of more than fifty paintings and drawings, including pieces from important and influential series (Builders, Games, War) as well as brilliant individual works. Perhaps the most extraordinary painting in the exhibition is "The Long Stretch," which depicts a bang-bang play at first base, the runner (inspired by Jackie Robinson) hustling to beat the throw as the first baseman stretches to catch the ball and the umpire makes the call. Lawrence uses muted earth tones, unusual for him, while swirling the figures in a Braques-like Cubist manner. Virtually all the other paintings come alive with bright blues and reds, both in celebration and mourning. The deep reds that dominate "Red Earth — Georgia" are like a river of blood. And the whites of people’s skulls pierce through the other colors in his rarely displayed 1982 series Hiroshima, which depicts people going about their business as the bomb is dropped. "Moving Forward" is a fabulous look back at one of the most remarkable chroniclers of twentieth-century America.
twi-ny/mdr
New installation lights up Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Plaza
49th & 50th Sts. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Through April 5, 6:00 am — 12 midnight
Admission: free
212-632-3975
http://www.rockefellercenter.com
http://www.artproductionfund.org
When first approached to install a special project at Rockefeller Center, Tim Noble and Sue Webster considered their 1997 light sculpture "Toxic Schizophrenia," which depicts a knife plunging through a heart, dripping blood. Instead, they went with "Electric Fountain," a carousel-like piece that glows blue and white at night, resembling a cascading fountain. Thirty-five feet high, thirty feet in diameter, and consisting of nearly four thousand LED bulbs and more than five hundred meters of neon tubing, "Electric Fountain," though engaging to look at — the chasing lights dazzle the eyes — is also fraught with an underlying danger, as water and electricity don’t mix. But this is a different kind of fountain for a public plaza, the colors changing with the sky, transforming depending on whether there’s bright sunlight, heavy cloud cover, or semi-darkness. (It never gets pitch black because there are always some lights on in Rockefeller Center.) Go around dusk to watch it morph right before your very eyes.
twi-ny/mdr
Noble & Webster get perverse at Deitch
Deitch Projects
76 Grand St. between Wooster & Grand Sts.
Through March 29 (Tuesday through Saturday, 12 noon - 6:00 pm)
Admission: free
212-343-7300
polymorphous perverse slideshow
While "Electric Fountain" might be fun for the whole family, the same cannot be said about Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s current installation at Deitch Projects in SoHo. More representative of the kind of work they do, "Polymorphous Perverse" was inspired by Freud’s theory that children can get sexual satisfaction from various parts of the body in ways that go against social mores and are repressed by adults. Essentially, all hell breaks loose. The centerpiece of the show is a Rube Goldberg-like contraption that features doll parts engaged in some pretty horrific activities and animals being killed across a workbench littered with postapocalyptic residue. The actions — which include humping, sawing, melting, urinating, and burning amid a tangle of syringes, wires, rubber, wheels, nails, lighter fluid (about to ignite a devil head), a vise grip (squeezing a male doll head), a toaster (roasting tiny babies on a conveyor belt), a bottle with a shark’s head (evoking Damien Hirst), and other bizarre items — are actually set off by motion detectors, so as visitors walk around the table, situated in the center of an otherwise pristine white room, they are implicated in the evil deeds taking place in front of them. In the side room, "Black Narcissus," previously installed in the Freud Museum, features a light being projected on a sculpture of black dildos, creating a shadow on the wall of silhouettes of Noble and Webster themselves. And keep your eyes on the open can on a pedestal at the end of the narrow front vestibule for a special surprise (franks and beans, if you know what we mean).
twi-ny/mdr
Groups can swede their own movies at Deitch installation
Deitch Projects
18 Wooster St. between Canal & Grand Sts.
Through March 22 (Tuesday through Saturday, 12 noon - 6:00 pm)
Admission: free
RSVP to make your own movie: 212-343-7300 or bekindrewind@deitch.com
In conjunction with the release of his latest odd film, BE KIND REWIND (see review below), writer-director Michel Gondry has re-created the video store from the movie, including the front facade and the racks of videos. Gondry also gives people the opportunity to do what Jerry (Jack Black), Mike (Mos Def), and Alma (Melonie Diaz) do in the film — make their own movies. The large gallery space features numerous small multimedia sets, including a bedroom, seats on a train, an examination room, a tent in the woods, an escalator, a scary hallway, and a living room, along with a few prop closets. Groups can reserve time, and the gallery even supplies cameras. (Unfortunately, you can’t quite swede actual Hollywood movies, as all of the sets are generic.) Gondry and Deitch also collaborated on an interactive exhibit that coincided with Gondry’s previous fiction film, THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP.
J. Hoberman will introduce screening of David Lynch’s ERASERHEAD
BAMcinematek / BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Mar 10–Apr 3
718-636-4100
In celebration of his thirtieth anniversary as a film critic for the Village Voice, J. Hoberman has selected some of his favorite flicks for this fun, eclectic series at BAM. About David Lynch’s ERASERHEAD, which opens the festival, he wrote, "Though its special effects are nauseating, it is far too arty for 42nd Street…not a movie I’d drop acid for, although I would consider it a revolutionary act if someone dropped a reel of it into the middle of STAR WARS." He called the original ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 "a highly choreographed thrill machine," David Cronenberg’s NAKED LUNCH "a sitcom without canned laughter," and Chantal Akerman’s JEANNE DIELMAN "the film that changed the face of contemporary European cinema." And we just love that he included ROCK ‘n’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL.
Monday, March 10 ERASERHEAD (David Lynch, 1977), 4:30, 6:50 (introduced by J. Hoberman), 9:30
Tuesday, March 11 NAKED LUNCH (David Cronenberg, 1991) and TRIBULATION 99 (Craig Baldwin, 1991), 7:00
Monday, March 17 No Wave Program 1: ROME ’78 (James Nares, 1978), 6:50
Mon, March 17 No Wave Program 2: SHE HAD HER GUN ALL READY (Vivienne Dick, 1978) and BLACK BOX (Beth B. & Scott B, 1979), 9:15
Tuesday, March 18 THE KING OF COMEDY (Martin Scorsese, 1983), 6:50, 9:15
Monday, March 24 Ernie Gehr Program: SIDE/WALK/SHUTTLE (Ernie Gehr, 1991), SHIFT (Ernie Gehr, 1972-74), and SIGNAL — GERMANY ON THE AIR (Ernie Gehr, 1982-85), followed by a Q&A with Ernie Gehr and J. Hoberman, 7:00
Tuesday, March 25 CAFÉ LUMIÈRE (Hou Hsiao Hsien, 2003), 4:30, 6:50, 9:15
(COFFEE JIKOU) (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2004)
One of the best directors you’ve never heard of, Hou Hsiao-hsien, pays tribute to master filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu’s centenary with this beautifully lyrical yet elegantly simple drama about a young woman making her way through life. Pop star Yo Hitoto stars as Yoko, who spends much of her time riding trains and trolleys to visit bookstore owner Hajime (the ubiquitous and always excellent Tadanobu Asano) and to find out more about Chinese composer Jiang Wenye. She also returns home to her stepmother (Kimiko Yo) and father (Nenji Kobayashi); the latter doesn’t react when he finds out that Yoko is pregnant and does not intend to marry her boyfriend. In fact, there are barely any emotional reactions at all, although there are plenty of trains taking the characters where they seemingly want to be. Cinematographer Lee Pingping shot CAFÉ LUMIERE on location with natural sound and lighting; his camera often lingers statically on a scene as the characters walk in and out of the carefully composed frame and are heard off-screen, in long takes, furthering the illusion of reality — mimicking the truth Ozu strove for in his work. In essence, the film has no beginning, no middle, and no end; it is 104 dazzling minutes in the life of a fascinating woman and her friends and relatives.
Monday, March 31 JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES (Chantal Akerman, 1976), 7:00
Chantal Akerman’s groundbreaking film follows the drab life of the title character, who goes about her day nearly silently, moving agonizingly slowly, as she makes breakfast for her husband, sends him off to work, takes in a few johns, cleans the sink, etc. This ultimate feminist film was made with an all-female crew, and if it’s anything, it’s absolutely memorable, love it or hate it.
Tuesday, April 1 ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL (Allan Arkush, 1979), 6:50
Tuesday, April 1 ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (John Carpenter, 1976), 9:15
Wednesday, April 2 ANDREI RUBLEV (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1969), 7:00
Tarkovsky classic is one of J. Hoberman's faves
Andrei Tarkovsky’s marvelous — and very long, at nearly three and a half hours — study of Russian religious painter and monk Andrei Rublev is breathtaking in its epic scope and sublime beauty. Anatoli Solonitsyn stars in this primarily black-and-white tale that has the look and feel of an old classic Russian film from the 1930s (or earlier). It is about faith, about the earth, and about as slow moving as a film can get. The section about the bell is unforgettable. As with several of Tarkovsky’s films, it was cowritten by Andrei Konchalovsky, who made an attempt at Hollywood in the 1980s, churning out such terrible stuff as HOMER & EDDIE and TANGO & CASH following a decent start with MARIA’S LOVERS and RUNAWAY TRAIN.
Thursday, April 3 A CLOUD-CAPPED STAR (Ritwik Ghatak, 1960), 6:50, 9:30
Manoel de Oliveira will be part of a Q&A following screening of CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE ENIGMA
BAMcinematek / BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
March 7-30
718-636-4100
As Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira approaches his one hundredth birthday, BAM salutes his long career, from 1942’s ANIKI BÓBÓ to 2007’s CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE ENIGMA (CRISTÓVÃO COLOMBO — O ENIGMA); de Oliveira, who is still making one film per year, will be on hand for a Q&A following the latter screening.
Friday, March 7 ANIKI BÓBÓ (Manoel de Oliveira, 1942), 4:30, 9:30
Friday, March 7 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE ENIGMA (CRISTÓVÃO COLOMBO — O ENIGMA) (Manoel de Oliveira, 2007), followed by a Q&A with Manoel de Oliveira, 7:00
Saturday, March 8 THE PAST AND THE PRESENT (O PASSADO E O PRESENTE) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1971), 6:50, 9:30
Sunday, March 9 BENILDE OR THE VIRGIN MOTHER (BENILDE OU A VIRGEM MÃE) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1975), 6:50, 9:15
Thursday, March 13 RITE OF SPRING (ACTO DE PRIMAVERA) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1963), 6:50, 9:15
Friday, March 14 THE CANNIBALS (OS CANIBAIS) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1988), 2:00, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15
Saturday, March 15 DOOMED LOVE (AMOR DE PERDIÇÃO) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1978), 6:15
Sunday, March 16 FRANCISCA (Manoel de Oliveira, 1981), 3:00, 7:00
Wednesday, March 19 Oliveira Shorts Program: THE PAINTER AND THE CITY (PINTOR E A CIDADE) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1956), O PÃO (Manoel de Oliveira, 1959), THE HUNT (A CAÇA) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1963), and WORKING ON THE RIVER DOURO (DOURO, FAINA FLUVIAL) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1931), 6:50, 9:15
Thursday, March 20 ‘NON’, OR THE VAIN GLORY OF COMMAND ('NON', OU A VÃ GLRÓIA DE MANDAR) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1990), 4:30, 6:50, 9:15
Friday, March 21 THE DIVINE COMEDY (A DIVINA COMÉDIA) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1991), 3:00, 6:00, 9:00
Saturday, March 22 THE CONVENT (O CONVENTO) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1995), 6:50, 9:15
Sunday, March 23 ABRAHAM’S VALLEY (VALE ABRAÃO) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1993), 4:00, 8:00
Thursday, March 27 DAY OF DESPAIR (O DIA DO DESESPERO) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1992), 7:30, 9:15
Friday, March 28 THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE (O PRINCÍPIO DA INCERTEZA) (Manoel de Oliveira, 2002), 3:00, 6:00, 9:00
Saturday, March 29 I’M GOING HOME (JE RENTRE A LA MAISON) (Manoel de Oliveira, 2001), 2:00, 6:50
Saturday, March 29 VOYAGE TO THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD (VIAGEM AO PRINCÍPIO DO MUNDO) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1997), 4:30, 9:15
Sunday, March 30 THE LETTER (LA LETTRE) (Manoel de Oliveira, 1999), 2:00, 6:50
Sunday, March 30 INQUIETUDE (Manoel de Oliveira, 1998), 4:30, 9:15
© 1983 by Irving Penn
Irving Penn, "Truman Capote," gelatin silver print, selenium toned, New York, 1948
The Morgan Library & Museum
225 Madison Ave. at 36th St.
Closed Mondays
Through April 13
Admission: $12 (free Fridays 7:00 — 9:00
212-685-0008
Irving Penn has been taking pictures of artists and writers for decades, many for Vogue magazine. The Morgan acquired sixty-seven of these photos last year, representing its first major foray into contemporary photography. Ranging from 1944 to 2006, the photos depict such seminal figures as Alexander Calder, Aaron Copland, Jorge Luis Borges, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, T. S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, Simone de Beauvoir, and even Big Brother and the Holding Company and the Grateful Dead. All of the photos were taken in a studio setting, often with Penn offering an interesting milieu in which the sitter could choose their own pose. Given a rug, Salvador Dali rolls it up and sits on it, placing his hands firmly on his outstretched knees, staring broadly into the camera. In 1948, Penn constructed a narrow corner in which artists could do whatever they wanted; while Truman Capote kneels on a chair, as deep into the corner as he can go, looking childlike yet coquettish, Marcel Duchamp coolly stands in the corner, smoking a pipe. In several close-ups, subjects such as Ingmar Bergman, Arthur Miller, and Louise Bourgeois either close their eyes or put fingers over them, as if controlling the image themselves — both what they can see and what of them can be seen. And while Pablo Picasso hides much of his face behind a hat and cloak, Jasper Johns stares right back at Penn, almost threateningly.
One of the joys of the exhibit is that it offers visitors the opportunity to see the man or woman behind the art; while we might be familiar with such names as Henry Moore, Colette, Alberto Giacometti, Vladimir Nabokov, Barnett Newman, and W. Somerset Maugham, their faces are not quite as clear in our minds. To increase your pleasure, we suggest trying to identify each sitter before you read the accompanying tag, seeing if you recognize them. Be sure to also check out the ongoing "Highlights from the Morgan’s Collections"; through April 6, it will features manuscripts, proofs, letters, advertising posters, drawings, musical scores, and more by many of Penn’s subjects, including W. H. Auden, Oscar Hammerstein, Tennessee Williams, George Plimpton, John Cage, and Max Ernst.
Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi
Michelangelo, "Studies of a Male Leg," metalpoint (lead?)
The Morgan Library & Museum
Through April 20
After coming to power in 1537, Duke Cosimo I moved into the Palazzo Vecchio and decided to turn the former city hall into an artistic palatial showpiece. Artist and historian Giorgio Vasari was put in charge of the project, and he brought in the best and brightest of the Florentine art world, including Michelangelo, Pontormo, Andrea del Sarto, and Bronzino. "Michelangelo, Vasari, and Their Contemporaries" comprises nearly eighty drawings from this period, divided into three sections: "The Great Masters," "Vasari and His Collaborators," and "The Painters of the Studiolo." The exhibition includes a handful of fabulous works, including Pontormo’s "Two Studies of Male Figures," one in black chalk, the other in red; Andrea del Sarto’s "Studies of a Male Model Seated on the Ground," which includes two looks at a man’s left arm and how it bends; Bronzino’s gorgeously lithe and curved "Male Nude Seen from Behind"; Baccio Bandinelli’s remarkable "Portrait of Duke Cosimo dei Medici," in which the wealthy patron is shown glaring off to his right with penetrating eyes; and Vasari’s own "Male Figure Seated on a Sofa," displaying his attention to detail in the glorious lines of the subject’s robe. The accompanying catalog features recent photographs of the magnificent Palazzo Vecchio as well as a look at each of the artists involved in the project.
http://www.themorgan.org/public
Wednesday, March 5
and
Thursday, March 6 St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble Series: Mozart’s Shadow, $40, 7:30
Friday, March 7 Gallery Talk: Rhoda Eitel-Porter, "Michelangelo, Vasari, and Their Contemporaries," free, 7:00
Tuesday, March 11 Lecture: Gerard Mortier, the Enchantment of the Opera, $25, 7:00
Thursday, March 20 George London Foundation Recital Series: Michelle Young, mezzo-soprano, Bryan Hymel, tenor, and Kevin Murphy, piano, $45, 7:30
Wednesday, March 26 "A Most Agreeable Sight": The Legacy of Palladio, lecture by Theodore K. Rabb, $15, "Drawing from the Uffizi" viewing at 5:30, lecture at 6:30
Thursday, April 3 George London Foundation Awards Finals Competition, free but reservations required, 4:00
Friday, April 4 Gallery Talk: Andaleeb Badiee Banta, "Drawings from the Uffizi," free, 7:00
Saturday, April 5 In a Snap: Polaroid Workshop, including tour of "Close Encounters," for children ages six to twelve, $12 per family (with two adults), 2:00
Wednesday, April 9 Stravinsky Festival: Stravinsky’s Chamber Music, conducted by Jayce Ogren, $45, 7:30
Thursday, April 17 Stravinsky Festival: Stravinsky’s Songs, featuring soprano Tony Arnold and tenor Peter Tantsits and conducted by Steven Osgood, $45, 7:30
© Irving Penn
Irving Penn, "Fallen Pitcher (B)," gelatin silver print mounted to board, New York, 2007
Pace/MacGill Gallery
32 East 57th St. between
Through March 29
Closed Sunday & Monday
Admission: free
212-759-7999
In conjunction with the "Irving Penn: Portraits" show at the Morgan Library, Pace/MacGill is displaying a different kind of Irving Penn’s portraiture: silver-gelatin prints of pitchers, pots, and cups instead of photographs of Jasper Johns, Pablo Picasso, and Georgia O’Keeffe. But each of these ten prints is just as evocative, just as powerful. Penn embeds each vessel — collected by Penn and his wife, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, during their travels around the world — with its own emotion, its own life, replete with holes, cracks, and scratches. Several pieces appear to be near the end of their life, especially "Fallen Pitcher," which lies on its side as if injured or dying. Penn, now in his nineties, also shades the background of each print, giving many of the photos, though taken last year, an antique feel; some of them even resemble paintings. One wouldn’t want to read too much into these splendid works, but it’s possible to imagine that the two versions of "Pitcher and Teapot" are stand-ins for Mr. and Mrs. Penn; however, he would probably grimace at the thought.
Tom Stoppard play is part of Boston fest
Multiple venues
March 9-15
Admission: free - $20
Trying to make up for the Patriots' Super Bowl defeat at the hands of the New York Giants, Boston is invading the city for a week of special cultural programs. From March 9 through March 15, the Boston University College of Fine Arts will be presenting productions from its schools of music, theater, and visual arts, including an exhibition of painting and sculpture, a one-act opera, a new political play, a rarely performed Tom Stoppard revival, and a chamber music concert.
Robert Steele Gallery
511 West 25th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Admission: free
212-243-0165
Sunday, March 9
through
Saturday, March 15 Works by MFA students of John Walker at the BU School of Visual Arts, juried by João Ribas, 11:00 am — 6:00 pm
Helen Mills Theater
137 West 26th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Tickets: $25
Monday, March 10
and
Wednesday, March 12 One-act opera based on the book by Oliver Sacks, featuring music by Michael Nyman and libretto by Christopher Rawlence and Michael Nyman, conducted by Wllliam Lumpkin, 7:00
Nitzan Halperin’s SOW AND WEEP gets political and personal
Helen Mills Theater
137 West 26th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Tickets: $25
Monday, March 10
and
Wednesday, March 12 New play by Nitzan Halperin about Israeli-Palestinian relations, directed by Jason McDowell-Green, 9:00
West Bank Café
Laurie Beechman Theatre
407 West 42nd St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Admission: free
Reservations required: 617-353-3384, mazar@bu.edu
Tuesday, March 11, 6:00
and
Wednesday, March 12, 3:00 & 6:00 School of Theatre Senior Showcase 2008, featuring individual scenes and monologues, hosted by Stewart Lane
The Town Hall
123 West 43rd St. between Broadway & Sixth Ave.
Tickets: $20
212-840-2824
Thursday, March 13 The Boston University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Richard Cornell, will perform "Three Songs of Nature" by Martin Amlin, "These Worlds in Us" by Melissa Mazzoli, "Tracer" by Richard Cornell with digital video of images by Deborah Cornell, "Concertino" by Jonathan Newman, and "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind" by Osvaldo Golijov, 8:00
The Town Hall
123 West 43rd St. between Broadway & Sixth Ave.
Tickets: $20
212-840-2824
Friday, March 14 Rare performance of collaborative piece written by Tom Stoppard, with music by André Previn, directed by Jim Petosa and conducted by Neal Hampton, 8:00
Tie Ying, "The Long March 01," 2006 at Sotheby’s auction
Multiple venues
March 15-24
Admission: free unless otherwise noted
The fifth Asian Contemporary Art Week features exhibits, conversations, receptions, film screenings, an auction, curator tours, and more as dozens of galleries across the city will be displaying the work of artists from all over Asia, including Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Iran, India, Palestine, and Israel. It's a fabulous opportunity to not only discover new artists but to check out some great New York City galleries and museums you might not be familiar with or haven't been to in a while, among them the Rubin Museum of Art, the Asia Society, Gallery Korea, the Guggenheim, the Queens Museum, the China Institute, the Whitney, and the Lower East Side Printshop.
Saturday, March 15 Artists in Conversation: Auction Preview & Reception, Sotheby’s, 1334 York Ave. at 72nd St., RSVP required at 212-894-1819, 3:00 — 7:00
Monday, March 17 Modern Mondays: An Evening with Akram Zaatari, Museum of Modern Art, 11 Wst 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves., $10, 7:00
Tuesday, March 18 Artists in Conversation: Jean Shin and Ofri Cnaani, with viewing of new exhibition, "Nam June Paik," Gallery Korea, 460 Park Ave. between 57th & 58th Sts., 1:00
Tuesday, March 18 Curatorial Walk Through by Alexandra Munroe, "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th St., free with museum admission of $18, 4:00
Tuesday, March 18 Artist in Conversation: Viswanadhan, Marlborough Gallery, 40 West 57th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves., discussion at 5:30, reception at 7:00
Tuesday, March 18 Screening of ROBOT TAEKWON V (Kim Chung-Gi, 1976) and viewing of the exhibition "Toy Stories: Souvenirs from Korean Childhood," the Korea Society, 950 Third Ave. at 57th St., $10, 6:30
Tuesday, March 18 Artist in Conversation: Lin Yilin, China Institute, 125 East 65th St. between Lexington & Park Aves., RSVP required at 212-744-8181, 8:00
twi-ny/mdr
Cai Guo-Qiang, "Inopportune: Stage One," nine cars and sequenced multichannel light tubes, 2004
Wednesday, March 19 Artists in Conversation: Biennial 2008, Open Studio — New Humans: Howie Chen and Mika Tajima, Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Ave. at 75th St., free with museum admission of $15, RSVP recommended, 2:00
Wednesday, March 19 Artists in Conversation: Tea/Time: Recent Works by Tomie Arai, featuring Arai in conversation with Alexandra Chang, Lower East Side Printshop, 306 West 37th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves., 6:30
Thursday, March 20 Exhibition Walk Through with Artist: Hyungkoo Lee, Arario Gallery, 521 West 25th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., 6:00
Thursday, March 20 Artist in Conversation: Fay Ku, Kips Gallery, 531 West 25th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., 6:00
Thursday, March 20 Special One Year Anniversary Reception and exhibition viewing, "Chaos — Tu Hongtao," Chinese Contemporary, 535 West 24th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., 6:00
Friday, March 21 Studio Opening Reception with artists: Erin Kornfeld and Charlie Schultz, 88 Conversations, 13-17 Laight St. Suit 210 between Varick St. & Great Jones Ln., 4:00 — 8:00
Friday, March 21 Artists in Conversation: Hiroshi Sunairi and Yuken Teruya discussing My Neighbor, Your Tree, Our World, New York University Einstein Auditorium, 34 Stuyvesant St. between Second & Third Aves. at Ninth St., 6:30
Friday, March 21 Artist in Conversation: "Kanishka Raja: Indian Yellow," envoy, 131 Chrystie St. between Delancey & Broome Sts., 6:30
Friday, March 21 Artists in Conversation: David Abir and Frank Fu, with free entry to all exhibits, Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves., 7:00
Friday, March 21 Artist in Conversation: "Pouran Jinchi: A Survey," Art Projects International, 429 Greenwich St. Suite 5B between Laight & Vestry Sts., reception at 6:00, discussion at 7:30
Saturday, March 22 Curatorial Walk Through: Shibata Zeshin, Japan Society, 333 East 47th St. between First & Second Aves., free with museum admission, 11:30 am
Lee Hyungkoo, "Anas Animatus," mixed media, 2006, at Arario Gallery
Saturday, March 22 Artists in Conversation: Atul Bhalla, Osamu James Nakagawa, Jaye Rhee, and Navin Rawanchaikul, Sepia International / the Alkazi Collection, 148 West 24th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves., 12:30
Saturday, March 22 Exhibition Walk Through with Artist: Byron Kim, Max Protetch Gallery, 511 West 22nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., 1:00
Saturday, March 22 Artist in Conversation: Ranbir Kaleka, Bose Pacia, 508 West 26th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., 3:00
Saturday, March 22 Artist in Conversation: Jaishri Abichandani, "Reconciliations," Queens Museum of Art, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, free with suggested museum donation of $5, 4:00
Saturday, March 22 Artists in Conversation: "Back to the Garden: New Visions of 8 Contemporary Artists," Crossing Art, 136-20 38th Ave. between Main St. & 39th Ave., talk at 2:00, film screening at 3:30, and reception at 6:00
Saturday, March 22 Artists in Conversation: "Out of the Spotlight," Ch’I Contemporary Fine Art, 293 Grand St. between Roebling & Havemeyer Sts., catered reception at 6:00, discussion at 7:30
Monday, March 24 Dialogues in Asian Contemporary Art: Take 5 -- Melissa Chiu / Subodh Gupta / Arani Bose, discussion followed by reception, Asia Society, 725 Park Ave. at 70th St., $15, 6:30
Charles Ferguson's powerful documentary was nominated for an Oscar
92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St.
Wednesday, March 12, $26, 7:15
212-415-5500
Be prepared to get very angry. First-time filmmaker Charles Ferguson looks at the past, present, and future of America’s occupation of Iraq in the mind-blowing documentary NO END IN SIGHT. Examining specific policies and their effects — permitting the looting of Baghdad, disbanding the Iraqi army, and more — Ferguson presents such experts as Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; Ambassador Barbara Bodine; Gen. Jay Garner, administrator for the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance; Robert Hutchings, chairman of the National Intelligence Council; Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell; Col. Paul Hughes, director of Strategic Policy for the U.S. Occupation; and other former and current military personnel, journalists, UN advisers, and others with direct involvement in what is happening in Iraq. Ferguson lets them speak for themselves, and their insights and experiences reveal what went wrong — and continues to go wrong — there, and the answer is not too surprising. Despite myriad warnings, the Bush administration shut its eyes and ears and proceeded with a poorly thought out plan doomed to fail, including providing a scarcity of needed resources for the troops, de-Baathifying the country, and allowing partisan groups access to munitions dumps, all of which fueled the violence and disorder that engulfs Iraq today. The screening is followed by a discussion with director Charles Ferguson.
Marvin Lee Aday takes fans behind the scenes in fascinating new doc
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Wednesday, March 12
212-924-7771
In 1977, Meat Loaf — born Marvin Lee Aday — took the music world by storm with the landmark pop opus BAT OUT OF HELL. The sweaty, hefty frontman had huge hits with such bombastic theatrical gems as “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth,” and “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.” Sixteen years later, never coming close to the success he had with that record, he reteamed with master tunesmith Jim Steinman for BAT OUT OF HELL II: BACK INTO HELL, which featured the monster smash “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).” The man who introduces himself as just “Meat” completed the trilogy with 2006’s BAT OUT OF HELL III, and filmmaker Bruce David Klein joins him as he sets out on the eighteen-month “Seize the Night” tour (named after one of the songs on III), looking to recapture his glory days. The film follows Meat as he leads the band through a handful of rehearsals before playing for real throughout Canada. In addition to old classics and new tunes — Meat Loaf does not want to be seen as a retro act — he guides the band through a version of the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” The pressure mounts as they reach London, Ontario, the eighth show, which will be filmed for DVD release and finds Meat more ornery thatn usual.
But as they make their way through the Great White North by bus, a surprise controversy erupts that gives the documentary its, well, meat: During Phil Rizzuto’s narration in “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” the soon-to-be-sixty Meat Loaf has choreographed an erotically charged make-out dance between him and his scantily clad twenty-eight-year-old backup singer Aspen Miller that has critics attacking it as demeaning, abusive, and pathetic, but Meat continues to defend it, growing angrier and angrier as the DVD shoot nears. Meat Loaf is a fascinating, self-involved superstar, never warming to the camera; as Klein attempts to capture his weird rituals before and after concerts — the big man virtually faints after each performance, exhausted both physically and mentally — Meat Loaf closes lots of doors in Klein’s face, being very careful about what he allows to be filmed. The superstar comes off as a highly unpleasant neurotic control freak and nasty perfectionist who is unable to be happy, as evidenced by his actions as well as comments from longtime friends, band members, his manager, and his wife. You definitely do not have to be a Meat Loaf fan to enjoy this inside look at the agony of being a rock star — with little of the ecstasy. On March 13 at 7:15, Klein will introduce the film and Meat Loaf will participate in a post-screening Q&A with critic Janet Maslin at the Jacob Burns Film Center (914-747-5555, $40) in Pleasantville.
Charlize Theron and Nick Stahl play troubled
siblings in SLEEPWALKING
Opens Friday, March 14
http://www.sleepwalking-themovie.com
Following a ten-year career working on visual effects for such major Hollywood movies as X-MEN, MARS ATTACKS! and LETHAL WEAPON 4, William Maher makes a strong directorial debut with the poignant family drama SLEEPWALKING. Charlize Theron — who is also one of the film’s producers — stars as Joleen Reedy, a deeply troubled single mother who disappears for long periods of time, leaving her eleven-year-old daughter, Tara (AnnaSophia Robb), to fend for herself. Evicted from yet another home, Joleen and Tara move in with Joleen’s brother, James (a terrific Nick Stahl), who has troubles of his own. Joleen soon takes off again, James loses his job, and Tara is put into foster care, threatening to tear the family apart for good, until James busts Tara out and the two head off on a road trip in which they must face the past in order to make a future. Stahl (IN THE BEDROOM) carries the film as the dark and brooding James, a conflicted soul for whom salvation might not be possible. The supporting cast includes a deranged Dennis Hopper (surprise!), a goofy Woody Harrelson (surprise!), and a stalwart Matthew St. Patrick (SIX FEET UNDER) as the local cop keeping a close eye on the family. SLEEPWALKING is a genuine sleeper.
Psychedelic bus was centerpiece of former Wetlands club
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
Opens Friday, March 14
212-924-3363
http://www.wetlands-preserve.org
In February 1989, a new kind of nightclub opened in an abandoned warehouse in the nether regions of an odd little section of New York City known as TriBeCa. For more than a dozen years, the music venue, located at 161 Hudson St., thrived as the area began to flourish. But the Wetlands Preserve wasn’t just a place to see such up-and-coming groups as the Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, Phish, the Spin Doctors, Ani DiFranco, and Fishbone; it was also an activist meeting ground where people could come to fight the power, one of the first environmentally minded clubs in the country. WETLANDS PRESERVED: THE STORY OF AN ACTIVIST ROCK CLUB is a loving look at the history of the little club that could. Directed by Dean Budnick and produced by Peter Shapiro, who took over the eco-saloon from original owner Larry Bloch in 1996, WETLANDS PRESERVED captures the feel of the place, from the overcrowding and lousy air-conditioning to the crummy sight lines and the downstairs smoking lounge — where people could relax while puffing away on all sorts of stuff — as well as the famous psychedelic bus, which is now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. (We remember — or at least partially remember — several crazy nights there, so we can vouch for much of this.) Unfortunately, there is not a lot of original live footage, so Budnick and a team of animators present songs by Joan Osborne, Ben Harper, Sublime, moe., the Disco Biscuits, and the aforementioned bands in trippy collages. Known mostly for its connections with the hippie movement and jam bands — every Tuesday night was Dead Center, and such bands as the Zen Tricksters and Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit were regulars — Wetlands was also one of the first clubs to feature an eclectic mix of rock, rap, hip-hop, funk, soul, rockabilly, metal, ska, and punk, sometimes all in the same night, which often continued till three or four in the morning. Among the musicians sharing their fond memories of playing there are Dave Matthews, Bob Weir, ?uestlove from the Roots, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Vinnie Stigma from Agnostic Front, Jimmy G from Murphy’s Law, Darius Rucker from Hootie & the Blowfish, Ryan Miller from Guster, and Robert Randolph, but the star of the show is Bloch, an entertaining character who started a mini-music revolution in Lower Manhattan.
Opens Friday, March 14
http://wip.warnerbros.com/funnygames
In 1997, Michael Haneke made a controversial German thriller, FUNNY GAMES, about a pair of well-mannered young men who terrorize a family vacationing in the country. (See our review below.) The film was brutal in its depiction of torture as a game — and in its careful manipulation of the audience, breaking the fourth wall and even playing with the mechanics of cinema itself. Ten years later, Haneke, who has gained a growing international reputation with such edgy, challenging films as THE PIANO TEACHER and CACHE, has made a virtual word-for-word, shot-for-shot remake, including the soundtrack and credits, of FUNNY GAMES, except in English, and the results are still brutal — in fact, at the advance screening we attended, several people walked out — but the overall feel of the film is fascinatingly different. In the new version, Peter and Paul, played by Brady Corbet and Michael Pitt, respectively, terrorize Ann (Naomi Watts), George (Tim Roth), and Georgie (Devon Gearhart), but while the physical and psychological torture is still devastating, it seems almost more at home. As a foreign film, FUNNY GAMES is somewhat distant, “over there,” but in English, with familiar Hollywood actors and within a cinematic culture that celebrates and fetishizes violence, FUNNY GAMES is more comfortable in its own skin. “You shouldn’t forget the importance of entertainment,” Peter says at one point. “Entertainment” has different meanings in Hollywood and the rest of the world. Unfortunately, Haneke sticks to the original script all the way through, so the same plot problems that hamper the original also detract from the remake. Regardless, be prepared for one hell of an unnerving experience.
There’s not much funny about Michael Haneke’s GAMES
Available on DVD
Michael Haneke’s FUNNY GAMES is a harrowing home invasion movie that is as brutal as it is ultimately frustrating. Haneke (THE PIANO TEACHER, CACHE) manipulates the audience nearly as much as he does the characters on-screen, even breaking the fourth wall by having one of the villains address the viewer several times. When Anna (Susanne Lothar), Georg (Ulrich Mühe from THE LIVES OF OTHERS), and their son, Schorschi (Stefan Clapczynski), head to their summer vacation home on a lake, they have no idea what lies in store for them. A man (Arno Frisch) claiming to be a friend of their neighbors’ shows up asking for some eggs, but there is a subtle malevolence behind his odd demeanor. He is soon joined by a friend (Frank Giering) who insists on trying out one of Georg’s golf clubs. It’s not long before the two men, who alternately call each other Peter and Paul, Tom and Jerry, and Beavis and Butt-Head, have severely broken Georg’s leg, sexually harass Anna, and put a bag over Schorschi’s head, all for no apparent reason except that they are bored and want to play some games, the more dangerous the better. It’s a tense, frightening film that never lets up, even when it appears to be over. The soundtrack juices up the horror, with classical music by Mozart and Handel offset by screeching punk by John Zorn and Naked City. Mühe and Lothar reunited for Nicole Mosleh’s NEMESIS, which was completed shortly before Mühe’s sudden death from stomach cancer last summer. Meanwhile, Haneke (THE PIANO TEACHER, CACHE) has made an American remake of FUNNY GAMES, which opens March 14, with Tim Roth as George, Naomi Watts as Anna, Brady Corbet as Peter, and Michael Pitt as Paul, with an appearance by Frisch as well.
ImaginAsian
239 East 59th St. between Second & Third Aves.
Opens Friday, March 14
212-371-6682
http://www.flashpointthemovie.com
Last year Donnie Yen won a Golden Horse Award for Best Action Choreography for FLASH POINT, and it’s easy to see why. FLASH POINT is filled with awesome fight scenes comprising a great combination of Mixed Martial Arts (including karate, kung fu, boxing, and kicking) and barrages of bullets. If only the story were even half as exciting or skillfully made. Instead, FLASH POINT comes off like a vanity project for Yen (HERO), who is one of the film’s producers as well as the star. He plays Jun Ma, a rule-breaking detective prone to violence, often beating perps within inches of their life. He is working closely with Wilson (ELECTION’s Louis Koo), who is deep undercover in a triad gang led by Tony (MATRIX veteran Collin Chou) and his two brothers, Archer (Lui Leung-Wai) and Tiger (Xing Yu). When Wilson’s cover is blown, Ma must risk his career — and his life — to try to save his partner and bring down Tony. Weak subplots involving Wilson’s girlfriend (Fan Bing-Bing), Ma’s ma (Law Lan), and Madam Lau (Xu Qing) are merely excuses to build in some cheesy comedy and melodrama, but they come and go and are never fully resolved. FLASH POINT can’t quite make up its mind whether its channeling Johnnie To or Jackie Chan. Mixed Martial Arts fans who don’t care about story lines can add a star.
Gondry’s latest is another strangely entertaining tale
When old man Fletcher (Danny Glover) takes off for a week, leaving Mike (Mos Def) in charge of his soon-to-be-demolished video store called Be Kind Rewind (they don’t have any DVDs or recent movies), his most important rule is to “Keep Jerry Out.” Jerry (Jack Black) is a crazy conspiracy theorist who covers himself in metal to ward off alien rays. After a botched attack on the local power plant, Jerry becomes a walking magnet (a laugh-out-loud hysterical scene) and unknowingly erases all the videos in the store. Taking a page from the Little Rascals plots when Spanky and Alfalfa would suddenly put on a show for some local cause, Mike and Jerry recruit Alma (Melonie Diaz) as they proceed on their very strange attempts at Sweding — making their own versions of such films as GHOSTBUSTERS, RUSH HOUR 2, and ROBOCOP and renting them as if they were the real thing. Following the brilliant ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and the extremely strange THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP, writer-director Michel Gondry has fashioned a really stupid movie that has an overabundance of heart and charm. Glover and Mos Def are soft and gentle in this Capra-esque comedy, offsetting Black’s hyperactivity. Every time you’re ready to write the film off as being just too silly and ridiculous, something comes along to make you double over in laughter.
CITY OF MEN is a disappointing follow-up to CITY OF GOD
Angelika Film Center
18 West Houston St. at Mercer St.
212-995-2000
http://www.city-cinemas.com/angelika.html
http://www.cidadedoshomens.com
Paulo Morelli’s follow-up to Fernando Meirelles’s remarkable fact-based CITY OF GOD is a pale imitation of its predecessor. (Meirelles serves as one of the new film’s producers.) Set once again in the dangerous favelas of Rio de Janeiro, CITY OF MEN follows two friends, Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha), as they try to stay out of a war between two rival gangs that is about to explode. But when they find Laranjinha’s long-missing father and discover a horrible secret, their lives are suddenly in the crossfire. CITY OF MEN, which is more reminiscent of the entertaining but ramshackle underground Jamaican gangster film SHOTTAS (Cess Silvera, 2002) than of CITY OF GOD, plays more like a television series than a feature film — which makes sense, since Morelli has been directing the CITY OF MEN TV series in Brazil for several years.
Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) face danger in 4 MONTHS
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
212-924-7771
Winner of the Palme D’Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, Cristian Mungiu’s 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS is a harrowing look at personal freedom at the end of the Ceausescu regime in late-’80s Romania. Anamaria Marinca gives a powerful performance as Otilia, a young woman risking her own safety to help her best friend, Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), out of a difficult, dangerous situation. Their lives get even more complicated when they turn to Bebe (Vlad Ivanov) to take care of things. Cinematographer Oleg Mutu, who shot Cristi Puiu’s brilliant THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU, keeps the camera relatively steady for long scenes, without cuts, pans, dollies, or zooms, as the actors walk in and out of view, giving the film a heightened level of believability without looking like a documentary. Set in a restrictive era with a burgeoning black market, 4 MONTHS goes from mystery to psychological drama to thriller with remarkable ease — and the less you know about the plot, the better.
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
212-924-3363
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.
Juno (Ellen Page) and Leah (Olivia Thirlby) are a riot in JUNO
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.
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.
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
212-330-8182
http://www.landmarktheatres.com
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
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.
Will Ferrell should be sent straight to the showers in SEMI-PRO
www.funnyordie.com/semipromovie
From 1967 to 1976, the American Basketball Association presented an alternative to the NBA, featuring flashy characters, crazy promotions, the three-point shot, great ’dos, and a red, white, and blue ball. Overrated screenwriter Scot Armstrong (OLD SCHOOL, ROAD TRIP) and first-time director Kent Alterman, a longtime studio executive who should have known better, go back to those days in SEMI-PRO, a silly vehicle for Will Ferrell that deserves a double technical even before the opening tip-off. Ferrell — whose child-like characters can be so effective in such films as OLD SCHOOL and ELF and way too over the top in such disappointing comedies as BLADES OF GLORY and TALLADEGA NIGHTS — stars as Jackie Moon, the owner and player-coach of the down-in-the-dumps Flint Tropics of beautiful Flint, Michigan. When the commissioner announces that the top four teams in the league will be merged into the NBA, with the rest of the teams disbanding (a plot line based on fact), Jackie makes it his mission to lead the pathetic Tropics — including Woody Harrelson as the aging Monix and OutKast’s Andre Benjamin as supercool point guard Clarence “Coffee” Black — into the big time. Although there are a handful of deep belly laughs in the film, SEMI-PRO is a weak attempt at mining humor from what could have been a slam dunk. Alterman can’t decide whether he’s making SLAPSHOT, KINGPIN, or THE FISH THAT SAVED PITTSBURGH, but this stupid movie won’t satisfy sports fans or Ferrell lovers. The supporting cast includes lots of familiar TV comedy faces in small roles, including Andy Richter, THE DAILY SHOW’s Rob Corddry, Matt Walsh, and Ed Helms, and SNL’s Tim Meadows, Jason Sudeikis, Will Arnett, and Kristen Wiig. SEMI-PRO should be sent straight to the showers.
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.
U2 explodes off the screen in 3-D concert flick
Regal Union Square Stadium
13th St. & Broadway
Loews Lincoln Square
1998 Broadway at 84th St.
When we caught U2’s Vertigo Tour at the Garden in June 2006, we were up in the rafters, looking down at tiny dots that just happened to be drummer Larry Mullen Jr., bass player Adam Clayton, guitarist the Edge, and singer Bono. But now the World’s Most Important Band is front and center for everyone to see in U2 3D, the first-ever full-length film shot in Digital 3-D, directed by Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington. Using as many as eighteen specially equipped digital cameras and recording decks, Owens, who has been U2’s visual content director since ZooTV, captures the Irish band during stadium shows in South America and Mexico, focusing on the March 1-2 concerts at Estadio la Plata in Buenos Aires. The new technology, previously used for sporting events, has a fascinating layered effect that sucks in viewers — yes, who are wearing special glasses (not unlike the specs Bono used to wear as the Fly) — placing them right in the middle of the action as the band powers through an exultant setlist that, if not quite ideal, includes "Vertigo," "New Year’s Day," and "Pride (In the Name of Love)." You can’t help but reach out for Bono as he seemingly jumps out of the screen while singing "Touch me" during "Beautiful Day," and then you’ll swear he’s reaching out only to you when he stares into the camera during "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and promises to "wipe your tears away." And when tens of thousands of fans all bop up and down in unison to "Where the Streets Have No Name," forming a propulsive wave, you’ll feel a rush beneath your seat that moves up into your gut. Owens and Pellington (ARLINGTON ROAD) incorporate the band’s hypertextual stage show into the new format, as digitized figures, words, symbols, and letters from the large screens behind the band seem to float right in front of your face. The concert footage is supplemented with extreme close-ups shot onstage without an audience, and the energy level severely drops at these times, although Mullen’s drum kit looks amazing in 3-D. As straight-ahead concert movies go, U2 3D is among the best ever made, a unique theatrical experience that will blow you away.
POTUS gets shot over and over again in VANTAGE POINT
http://www.vantagepoint-movie.com
Director Pete Travis and screenwriter Barry L. Levy make their feature-film debuts with VANTAGE POINT, an overly ambitious yet somewhat entertaining story of a presidential assassination attempt told from multiple points of view. As the movie begins, Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver) is in a mobile television control room, directing her network’s live coverage of President Ashton’s (William Hurt) announcement of a major global anti-terrorism summit in Salamanca, Spain. As he takes the podium, he is struck by two bullets. In the ensuing madness, one bomb goes off in the distance, then the entire platform blows up in a massive, bloody explosion. The film then rewinds back to a few seconds before noon, and we see the same events, this time following a different character. Thus, the characters and the plot unfold as each segment adds a few more details, sort of like GROUNDHOG DAY meets RASHOMON meets JFK meets 24. The film follows Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid), a Secret Service agent who had a nervous breakdown after taking a bullet for the president the previous year; Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker), a tourist obsessed with capturing everything he sees on video; POTUS (President of the United States); and even the terrorists. There are too many rewinds with too many teases of what is to come, and the final chase scene requires ridiculous suspensions of disbelief around every corner. But if you can get past the movie’s primary gimmick, it still packs enough tension to make it a worthwhile popcorn muncher.
Joan Marcus
Brian Cox and Rufus Sewell excel in Tom Stoppard play
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
226 West 45th St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
Through March 9
Tickets: $26.50-$98.50
212-307-4100
http://www.rocknrolltheplay.com
There are only a few more days to catch Tom Stoppard’s latest three-hour intellectual tour de force, ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. The Royal Court Theatre production opens in the turbulent world of late-1960s Czechoslovakia, as the Prague Spring is about to roll in, to be followed shortly by Soviet tanks. Stoppard focuses his story on one small group of friends led by Max (Brian Cox), a cynical English professor who is a true believer, a devoted defender of Eastern European Communism. His wife, Eleanor (Sinead Cusack), who is battling breast cancer, gives private lessons on the writings of Sappho and thinks she’s been visited by Syd Barrett disguised as Pan. Max and Eleanor’s daughter, Esme (Alice Eve), is a freewheeling flower child. And family friend Jan (Rufus Sewell) is a Czech student obsessed with American and British rock and roll, treasuring his records of the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground, the Beach Boys, and Pink Floyd and sneaking off to illegal concerts by the Czech group the Plastic People of the Universe. There are many long discussions and arguments that reference Alexander Dubček, Josef Stalin, Gustáv Husák, Margaret Thatcher, and Václav Havel, divided by set changes that include loud snippets of rock songs, with information about each song (performer, writer, where it was recorded, etc.) projected onto a front scrim. As the next scene begins, the song is cut off abruptly, as if the needle has just been lifted off the record. The years pass, and the political changes have different effects on everyone, as one generation leads to another (with several actors playing multiple roles) and the Velvet Revolution of 1989 approaches. As good as Cox and Cusack are — and they are very good — Sewell nearly steals the show as the curious and intriguing Jan, who goes through the most dramatic and emotional changes. Eve is delightful as both the young Esme and, especially, Alice, Esme’s whirlwind of a daughter. Robert Jones’s design keeps things relatively simple, with a main set that turns slowly to reveal three different sets, and longtime Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Trevor Nunn, who has worked before with Stoppard (on ARCADIA and COAST OF UTOPIA, as well as with Andrew Lloyd Webber on CATS and STARLIGHT EXPRESS), doesn’t let the action get in the way of the playwright’s magnificent verbiage.
Manuel Harlan
Chichester Theatre Festival brings reimagined MACBETH to Brooklyn
BAM Harvey Theater
651 Fulton Street between Ashland Pl. & Rockwell Pl.
Through March 22; February 28 performance reviewed
Tickets: $30-$90
718-636-4100
Director Rupert Goold reimagines William Shakespeare’s MACBETH, about a stalwart soldier who goes power crazy after receiving a telling prophecy from three witches, as a cold war nightmare in the current staging at BAM. The Chichester Theatre Festival’s highly praised multimedia production of the infamously difficult play stars Patrick Stewart, who delivers a steady performance with intriguing nuances, alongside Kate Fleetwood as a much younger Lady Macbeth. The bleak stage is devoid of color, and the white wall along the back, upon which videos are projected, effectively fences the characters in. Anthony Ward’s stage design also includes a working sink at the front and a sliding-gate elevator in the back, from which smoke drifts nonstop, as if it were ferrying its passengers in and out of hell and between realms. This bloody MACBETH is bold, boisterous, and very loud. The combination of Lorna Heavey’s video projections (which depict Fascist rallies and frightening static), Howard Harrison’s lighting, and Adam Cork’s sound are most effective in scenes with the three wickedly delicious witches (Sophie Hunter, Polly Frame, and Niamh McGrady), who appear as wartime nurses, household servants, and morgue attendants. In the end, though, the acting is swallowed up by the fabulously inventive staging, rendering this MACBETH without the emotional power it so desperately needs. Stewart is a solid if unspectacular and unconventional Macbeth, giving noogies, poking playfully at ties, and pointing with pickles — and he seems to make one helluva killer ham sandwich. The cast also features Paul Shelley as Duncan, Martin Turner as Banquo, Michael Feast as Macduff, and Suzanne Burden as Lady Macduff. While this MACBETH might not be for purists, it’s still an engaging night at the theater.
Paul Taylor brings "Dream Season" to NY City Center
NY City Center
West 55th St. between Sixth & Seventh Sts.
Through March 16
Tickets: $15-$75
212-581-1212
The Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to City Center for nineteen performances, featuring the new work DE SUENOS (OF DREAMS) and DE SUENOS QUE SE REPITEN (OF RECURRING DREAMS) as well as seventeen pieces from throughout their five-decade career. Among them is ANTIQUE VALENTINE, with music by Bach, Weber, Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, and Mendelssohn; LE GRAND PUPPETIER, with music by Stravinksy; BLACK TUESDAY, with songs from the Great Depression; and BYZANTIUM, with music by Varese. Sunday matinees at 3:00 will include pre-show Speaking of Taylor lectures at 1:30, free for ticket holders, by Anna Kisselgoff and Suzanne Carbonneau (March 9) and Peter Schickele (March 16).
Cake Shop
152 Ludlow St. between Stanton & Rivington Sts.
Saturday, March 8, $8, 8:00
212-253-0036
www.myspace.com/schooloflanguage
http://www.myspace.com/thepoisonarrows
Taking a break from Field Music to expand his horizons, David Brewis has just released SEA FROM SHORE (Thrill Jockey, February 2008) under the name School of Language, an experimental pop album on which he plays nearly all the instruments. Employing a Burroughs-like cut-and-paste philosophy, Brewis has crafted a fascinating sound that includes a guttural electronic alphabet of sounds and noises along with falsetto vocals that evoke vintage Thunderclap Newman and even early Pink Floyd. Bookended by the four-part "Rockist," SEA FROM SHORE is an appealing concept album that gets a little funky with "Disappointment," downright melodic with "Poor Boy," theatrical with "This Is No Fun" and "Marine Life," and touchingly romantic in the finale, in which Brewis repeats over and over, "There’s only you." Brewis has recruited Tortoise bassist Doug McCombs and Euphone drummer Ryan Rapsys to join him as School of Language at Cake Shop on March 8.
Also on the bill is Chicago’s the Poison Arrows, on the road in support of their latest release, the four-song EP STRAIGHT INTO THE DRIFT (File Thirteen, March 2007). The experimental indie band — featuring Pat Morris on bass, Adam Reach on drums, and Justin Sinkovich on lead vocals and guitar — play dark, pulsating tunes like the intense "Clear Cut," the languid "Lockaway," and the groovy title track. Indie Brooklyn group Teletextile, who channel fellow borough residents the Fiery Furnaces, open the show at 8:00.
twi-ny/mdr
Bruce & the band are back for another American jaunt
Nassau Coliseum
Uniondale, Long Island
Monday, March 10, $63.50-$93.50
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have been off the road since December 19, following the hugely successful European jaunt of the MAGIC tour. But they went back into action February 29, bringing out such rarely played gems as "Loose Ends," "Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart," and surprise opener "So Young and in Love." They’ll be back in our area March 10 for a show at the Mausoleum in Uniondale, where we saw one of the Boss’s best shows ever, the 1980-81 New Year’s Eve blowout. Don’t worry if it’s already sold out; Bruce always releases good seats the day of the show, so keep checking Ticketmaster and you might just get lucky.
twi-ny/mdr
Chromeo’s got legs — and knows how to use them
WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden
Seventh Avenue to Eighth Avenue between 31st & 33rd Sts.
Tuesday, March 11, $49.50-$59.50, 8:00
http://www.myspace.com/myspacemusictour
On March 11, hot dance music got the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden shakin’ and bakin’ as part of the MySpace Music Tour. With the crowd slowly ambling in, Parisian mixmaster DJ Mehdi and French turntablist Busy P spun their way through a brief, low-key set, getting everyone ready for the monsoon that was to come. Then Chromeo pumped up the volume as guitarist and computer whiz Dave Maclovitch, looking a little Bono-esque in black leather jacket and shades, struck some tasty rock-star poses, and bandmate Patrick Gemayel, on keyboards, bass, and percussion, grooved in his Knicks get-up. “We’re Chro-me-oh and we are here to get you down,” they announced, and did they ever. Based in NYC and Montreal, Chromeo mixes in live music with an infectious sampling of oh, say, every P-Funk and Prince riff to ever hit the radio, plus some judicious Hot Cherry licks, getting everybody bouncing. The insane subsonic bass on “Fancy Footwork,” introduced by an invitation for everyone to two-step, came after a hot “Bonafied Lovin’,” with its hilariously deadpan guitar-solo opening. Chromeo DJs the electrofunk with an endless supply of good nature and enthusiasm — they even threw in the beginning of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” and “Momma’s Boy” gets going with a sweet hook lifted from Supertramp’s “The Logical Song.” It was great, goofy fun — even their gear was part of the show, perched on light-up leg stands reminiscent of the “major award” the father wins in the movie A CHRISTMAS STORY. But nothing can quite prepare you for the tremendous sonic explosion that is Justice.
twi-ny/mdr
Justice lights up the Theater at Madison Square Garden
The show might have been relegated to the WaMu Theater — it was originally announced to take place in the actual Garden — but French electro dance duo Justice still rocked the joint with arena-size monster beats. Satisfying their mostly youthful, rabid fans with such MTV megahits as “D.A.N.C.E.” and “We Are Your Friends,” Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay put on a stupendous show, perched high atop stacks of gear bestooned with colorful flashing lights and enthroned between twin banks of massive Marshall amps, their trademark glowing cross front and center. With sirens, pounding bass, a relentless four-on-the-floor disco rhythm, and crescendos that alternately call to mind airplane engines and helicopters, Justice is all about the mass dance. Insane bass lines at huge volume thudded through everybody’ s insides, pounding the audience into a joyful, sweaty, booty-shaking disco climax again and again. The WaMu Theater was formerly the Felt Forum, home to many a powerful boxing match. Tuesday night, Gaspard and Xavier pounded the turntables as hard as any boxer ever pounded an opponent — and emerged victorious.
Daniel Clifton
SNIC will be presenting DON’T LIVE HER GO at DTW
Dance Theater Workshop
219 West 19th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tickets: $20
212-924-0077
http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org
Wednesday, March 12
through
Saturday, March 15 In a shared program of world premieres, Shani Nwando Ikerioha Collins / Eternal Works (SNIC, who gave a dazzling performance last month at the Joyce with Evidence, a Dance Company) presents DON’T LIVE HERE GO and Juliana F. May / Maydance presents HYDRA CASHIER, 7:30
twi-ny/mdr
Bob Mould tore through a furious show at Irving Plaza on March 13
The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
17 Irving Pl. between 14th & 15th Sts.
Thursday, March 13, $25, 8:00
212-777-6800
Bob Mould put on a blistering show at Irving Plaza on March 13, leaving the packed house with mouths agape, muttering to themselves, “Oh. My. God.” Mould, along with Grant Hart and Greg Norton, made up the hugely influential and revered post-punk band Husker Du, which slammed out of Minneapolis in the early ’80s. The name, coined from a memory board game briefly popular in the ’70s, means “Do you remember?” and Mould showed he certainly remembers. Playing songs from his days in HD as well as with the power trio Sugar and solo, Mould tore through twenty-one tunes at a frantic piece, never once considering doing a ballad. Over the course of an hour and a half, Mould built giant slabs of guitar brilliance, submerging the melodic lines beneath frenzied layers of speed and bass on songs from his new album, DISTRICT LINE (including a torrid “Again and Again”), as well as such awesome older numbers as “Hoover Dam,” “Hanging Tree,” and “Paralyzed.” His unmistakable vocals, mixing anger, hope, rue, passion, and white-hot energy, was too hoarse for the softer songs at the end, but no matter. “I Apologize” is still one of the most satisfying, bitter no-apology breakup songs ever, and the band Brendan Canty on drums, Jason Narducy on bass, and Richard Morel on keyboards — just screamed off the charts on the rest of the material. A huge “Celebrated Summer” led to the classic “Divide and Conquer,” its potent lyrics still resonant today: “It’s not about my politics / Something happened way too quick / A bunch of men who played it sick / They divide, conquer / It’s all here before your eyes / Safety is a big disguise / that hides among the other lies / They divide, conquer.” He closed out the second encore gleefully with two killer HD songs, “Chartered Trips” and “Makes No Sense at All,” ending a ferocious, furious night.
© John G. Sampas
Jack Kerouac, "Self-Portrait as a Boy,"
oil, crayon, charcoal, pencil,
and ink on paper, ca. 1960
Humanities and Social Sciences Library
D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall, first floor
Through March 16
Admission: free
212-930-0830
Celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the seminal 1950s novel ON THE ROAD, the New York Public Library has mounted a large collection of manuscripts, letters, drawings, photography relating to Jack Kerouac and his fellow Beats, including William S. Burrougs, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder, and others. But the key elements are Kerouac’s notes, drafts, and unpublished writings.
Barnes & Noble
396 Sixth Ave. at Eighth St.
Wednesday, March 12, free, 7:30
212-674-8780
http://http://www.davidalmond.com
British author David Almond digs up the old Golem legend in his latest brilliant young adult novel, CLAY, available in trade paperback from Delacorte on March 11. In a fictionalized version of the town Almond grew up in, Felling, two best friends, Geordie and Davie, might be altar boys, but they also get into their fair share of trouble. When a new boy, Stephen Rose, comes to town and moves in with a distant relative, an odd woman everyone calls Crazy Mary, Davie decides to befriend him, hoping the strange stories about him are at least partially true and he will help him in his never-ending battles with the local bully, Mouldy. Stephen Rose, who was thrown out of the seminary, is a master sculptor, able to fashion remarkable objects — including apostles and angels — out of clay. He can apparently also breathe life into them — and thinks Davie might have the power to as well. As Davie gets sucked into Stephen Rose's dangerous world, he is forced to question the nature of good versus evil and the very existence of God. Almond, who has won numerous awards for such previous books as SKELLIG, KIT'S WILDERNESS, and THE FIRE-EATERS, is a marvelous storyteller, capturing the turmoil inside Davie's soul as he gets deeper and deeper into a situation he cannot fully understand or control. Almond breathes life into these wonderfully developed characters, creating a compelling narrative that works as both a frightening parable and an examination of one boy's confusion over the meaning of life and his place in the world. The trade paperback includes a brief interview with the author, but you can meet Almond in person on March 12, when he makes a rare stateside appearance, reading from CLAY and signing copies at the Greenwich Village B&N.
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twi-ny/mdr
The Orchid Show returns to the New York Botanical Garden
The New York Botanical Garden
Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Bronx River Parkway (exit 7W) & Fordham Rd.
Closed Monday
Combination Ticket: $20 adults, $7 children two to twelve
718-817-8700
Through Sunday, April 6 Sixth annual Orchid Show will focus on Singapore, with special programs such as "Orchid Growing for Wimps," "Orchid Morphology," The Right Orchid for Your Home," and many others
The powerHouse Arena
37 Main St. at Water St., DUMBO
Tickets: $15 (tax-deductible)
http://www.powerhousearena.com
Tuesday, March 4 Annual fundraising series for the PS 107 library in Park Slope kicks off with Phoebe Damrosch, SERVICE INCLUDED; David Wondrich, IMBIBE! and Kara Zuaro, I LIKE FOOD, FOOD TASTES GOOD, reading, signing, cocktail mixing performance, and discussion moderated by Gabrielle Langholtz, editor of Edible Brooklyn, 7:00
Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
Tickets: $25-$40
212-645-2904
Tuesday, March 4
through
Sunday, March 9 New York premiere of evening-length dance piece by Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, with Estilos Flamencos
MoMA Film
Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
March 5—24
Tickets: $10, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days, same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk
212-708-9400
Wednesday, March 5 NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH (Carol Reed, 1940), introduced by Lady Mercia Harrison and other members of the Harrison family, 6:15
Thursday, March 6 MAJOR BARBARA (Gabriel Pascal, 1941), 6:00
Thursday, March 6 THE RAKE'S PROGRESS (THE NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN IN THE UNITED STATES) (Sidney Gilliatt, 1945), 8:15
Friday, March 7 THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1947), 6:00
Friday, March 7 UNFAITHFULLY YOURS (Preston Sturges, 1948), 8:15
Saturday, March 8 ESCAPE (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1948), 2:00
Saturday, March 8 KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS (David Butler, 1954), 5:30
Saturday, March 8 THE HONEY POT (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1966), 8:00
Sunday, March 9 MY FAIR LADY (George Cukor, 1964), 2:00
Monday, March 10 MY FAIR LADY (George Cukor, 1964), 5:00
Friday, Monday, March 10 NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH (Carol Reed, 1940), 8:30
Wednesday, March 12 MY FAIR LADY (George Cukor, 1964), 7:00
Thursday, March 13 MAJOR BARBARA (Gabriel Pascal, 1941), 8:30
Thursday, March 13 THE RAKE'S PROGRESS (THE NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN IN THE UNITED STATES) (Sidney Gilliatt, 1945), 6:00
Friday, March 14 KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS (David Butler, 1954), 7:00
Sunday, March 16 THE HONEY POT (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1966), 4:30
Friday, March 21 THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY (Carol Reed, 1965), 5:30
Friday, March 21 ESCAPE (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1948), 8:30
Saturday, March 22 CLEOPATRA (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1963), 1:00
Saturday, March 22 THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1947), 6:00
Saturday, March 22 UNFAITHFULLY YOURS (Preston Sturges, 1948), 8:15
Sunday, March 23 THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY (Carol Reed, 1965), 2:00
Monday, March 24 CLEOPATRA (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1963), 6:00
Through March 16
Ailey Citigroup Theater at the Joan Weill Center for Dance
405 West 55th St. at Ninth Ave.
Wednesday — Saturday 8:00, Sunday 2:00
Tickets: $20
212-415-5500
Wednesday, March 5
through
Sunday, March 9 Out of Israel: LeeSaar/The Company & Netta Yerushalmy
Wednesday, March 12
through
Sunday, March 16 Brian Brooks Moving Company: HAPPY LUCKY SUN
Asia Society and Museum, New York Auditorium
725 Park Ave. at 70th St.
Select Thursdays through April 17
Tickets: $12
212-327-9385
Thursday, March 6 A TALE OF TWO YAKUZA (JINSEI GEKIJO) (Tomu Uchida, 1968), 7:00
Thursday, March 20 GANGSTER SOLDIER (HEITAI YAKUZA) (Yasuzo Masumura, 1965), 7:00
K2 Lounge
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Admission: free with $7 bar minimum
212-620-5000 ext 344
Friday, March 7 Mind Over Matter: WHIRLPOOL (Otto Preminger, 1949), introduced by John Guare, 9:30
Jersey City’s own Richard Conte, one of the original Ocean’s Eleven, stars in this psychological thriller that has dated a bit but is still a fun film. Gene Tierney is Ann Sutton, the wife of a famous cutting-edge psychoanalyst, who gets caught shoplifting. Terrified of having her husband find out, Ann puts her trust in David Korvo (Jose Ferrer), a shady hypnotist who just might be an expert con man as well. When Ann is found in a room with a dead woman, she is accused of a murder she cannot remember committing — or not committing. Charles Bickford costars as the crusty old cop trying to get to the bottom of things in this compelling piece from Otto Preminger. (Bonus note: Douglas Gordon experimented with dual projections [one in reverse] of WHIRLPOOL as part of his 2006 "Timeline" exhibit at MoMA.)
The Kitchen
512 West 19th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tickets: $10
212-255-5793
Friday, March 7
and
Saturday, March 8 Multimedia collaborative performance by pianist and composer Nico Muhly and Icelandic artists and fashion designer Shoplifter, including "The Only Tune," 8:00
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Friday - Sundays at 12 midnight through March 22
212-924-7771
Friday, March 7
and
Saturday, March 8 THE BREAKFAST CLUB (John Hughes, 1985)
Friday, March 14
and
Saturday, March 15 FOOTLOOSE (Herbert Ross, 1984)
Humanities and Social Sciences Library
Celeste Bartos Forum (CBF) or South Court Auditorium (SCA)
Fifth Ave. & 42nd St.
March 7-20
Tickets: $15
Friday, March 7 Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn, with Fritz Haeg, Peter Sellars, Dolores Hayden, Frederick Kaufman, Shamim Momin, and Paul Holdengräber, CBF, 7:00
Wednesday, March 12 Slavoj Zÿizÿek: A Lecture – Performance: They Live! Hollywood as an Ideological Machine, SCA, 7:00
Tuesday, March 18 Colm Tóibín & Others on James Baldwin, SCA, 7:00
Thursday, March 20 Nicholson Baker in Conversation with Simon Winchester – Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization, SCA, 7:00
Creative Pier
833 Broadway at 13th St., third floor
Fee: $15 (includes all art materials, refreshments, and sweets)
Reservations: 212-674-7437 or rsvp@creativepier.com
Saturday, March 8 Celebrate Women and International Women’s Day with art projects, including Sacred Circle, Mask Making: Emotional Makeover Art Treatment, Hangman Mobile, WonderWoman Collage, Art Dollhouse, and more, hosted by Routa Segal, Jill Lewenberg and Marian Maloney, 2:00 — 6:00
Chelsea Art Museum
556 West 22nd St, between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Admission: $20 includes museum admission and wine tasting
1-800-838-3006
Saturday, March 8 The Metropolis Ensemble Presents World Premieres of ETUDES for Piano as Part of Its New Curatorial Concert Series, 2:00
Symphony Space, Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
212-864-5400
Sunday, March 9
and
Tuesday, March 11 THE DEER HUNTER (Michael Cimino, 1978)
Tuesday, March 11 DAYS OF HEAVEN (Terrence Malick, 1978)
Sunday, March 16
and
Tuesday, March 18 AN UNMARRIED WOMAN (Paul Mazursky, 1978)
Sunday, March 23
and
Tuesday, March 25 GREASE (Randal Kleiser, 1978)
New Museum of Contemporary Art
235 Bowery at Prince St.
Admission: $8
212-219-1222
Saturday, March 8 A Conversation with Glenn O’Brien, Amos Poe, and Chris Stein, 3:00
The New School
Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, Arnhold Hall
55 West 13th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves., second floor
Admission: free
Saturday, March 8 Symposium in celebration of the first English-language translation of the complete picture-story works of Rodolphe Töpffer by David Kunzle, with Peter Blegvad, Anne-Marie Bouché, Noah Isenberg, Ben Katchor, David Kunzle, Victor H. Mair, Patricia Mainardi, James Miller, Aimée Brown Price, and others, 3:00 - 8:00
Scandinavia House
58 Park Ave. at 38th St.
Wednesdays at 6:30 & Saturdays at 3:00 through May 24
Tickets: $10
212-847-9746
http://www.scandinaviahouse.org
Saturday, March 8 Iceland: COLD TRAIL (KÖLD SLÓD) (Björn Brynjulfur Björnsson, 2006), 3:00
Wednesday, March 12 Iceland: DÍS (Silja Hauksdóttir, 2005), 6:30
Saturday, March 15 Iceland: DÍS (Silja Hauksdóttir, 2005), 3:00
Queens Museum of Art, New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Suggested donation: $5
Closed Monday & Tuesday
718-592-9700
Sunday, March 9 MIDTOWN (Sarah Morris, 1998), AM/PM (Sarah Morris, 1999), CAPITAL (Sarah Morris, 2000), MIAMI (Sarah Morris, 2002), LOS ANGELES (Sarah Morris, 2004), and ROBERT TOWNE (Sarah Morris, 2006), 2:00
Sunday, March 16 NOT FOR SALE: FEMINISM IN THE USA DURING THE 1970’s (Laura Cottingham, 1998) and THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO (Michael Winterbottom, 2006), 2:00
Sunday, March 16 Cinemarosa: queers only queer film series presents MondoLesbo — Visions and stories for and about women in honor or Women’s History Month, with screenings of INCLINATIONS (Jen Simmons & Shelley Barry, 2005) and THE FUTURE IS BEHIND Y OU (Abigail Child, 2004), followed by a Q&A with Child, 3:00
Sunday, March 16 WORLD TRADE CENTER (André Korpys & Markus Löffler, 1997), UNITED NATIONS (André Korpys & Markus Löffler, 1997), PENTAGON (André Korpys & Markus Löffler, 1997), AMERIKA (André Korpys & Markus Löffler, 1997), and THE NUCLEAR FOOTBALL (André Korpys & Markus Löffler, 2004), 3:00
Pravda
281 Lafayette St.
Sunday nights at 8:00
Admission: free, with complimentary homemade potato chips and caviar dip
212-226-4944
Keith McNally and his partner, Ana Opitz, pay tribute to Russian Constructivism in this free film series at Pravda. People can order a full dinner or just relax and enjoy the films with complimentary homemade potato chips and caviar dip. On March 9, Yakov Protazanov's early sci-fi thriller AELITA: QUEEN OF MARS will be shows, followed the next week by two highly influential and marvelous works by Dziga Vertov, the experimental KINO-EYE and the reverential THREE SONGS ABOUT LENIN.
Sunday, March 9 AELITA: QUEEN OF MARS (Yakov Protazanov, 1924)
Sunday, March 16 KINO-EYE (Dziga Vertov, 1924) and THREE SONGS ABOUT LENIN (Dziga Vertov, 1934)
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Blvd.
Mondays in March through March 24
Tickets: $22.50
212-491-2206
Monday, March 10 Geri Allen Trio with Maurice Chestnut; opening performance by Jann Parker, 7:00
Monday, March 17 Spelman Jazz Ensemble, with Ileana Santamaria and Afrodita opening, 7:00
Bluestockings Books
172 Allen St. between Stanton & Rivington Sts.
Admission: free
212-777-6028
Tuesday, March 11 Talk and book signing by Glenn Hurowitz, author of FEAR AND COURAGE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, 7:00
The Knitting Factory Tap Bar
74 Leonard St. between Broadway & Church St.
Tickets: $10-$15
212-219-3132
http://www.knittingfactory.com
Tuesday, March 11 Benefit concert for women only, 8:00
Blue Note
131 West Third St.
Tickets: table $30, bar $20
212-475-8592
Tuesday, March 11
through
Sunday, March 16 Delirium Blues celebrates the release of its latest CD, a live recording made at the Blue Note, with arranger Kenny Werner on piano, Roseanna Vitro on vocals, Randy Brecker on trumpet, James Carter on tenor and soprano saxophones, Ray Anderson on trombones, Geoff Countryman on baritone sax, Adam Rogers on guitar, Richard Bona on bass, Joey Baron on drums, and special guests, 8:00 & 10:30
Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave., Plaza Level
March 12 — 18
212-496-3809
Wednesday, March 12 GORYEOJANG (Kim Ki-young, 1963), 2:00
Wednesday, March 12 TRANSGRESSION, AKA THE VIOLATION OF BUDDHIST COMMANDMENTS / PA-GYE (Kim Ki-young, 1974), 4:10
Wednesday, March 12 THE HOUSEMAID / HA-NYEO (Kim Ki-young, 1960), 6:30
Wednesday, March 12 THE INSECT WOMAN / CHUNG-NYEO (Kim Ki-young, 1972), 9:00
Thursday, March 13 YANGSAN PROVINCE / YANG-SAN-DO (Kim Ki-young, 1955), 1:00 & 6:30
Thursday, March 13 GORYEOJANG (Kim Ki-young, 1963), 8:30
Friday, March 14 BAN GEUMRYEON (Kim Ki-young, 1981), 1:00
Friday, March 14 THE INSECT WOMAN / CHUNG-NYEO (Kim Ki-young, 1972), 6:30
Friday, March 14 CARNIVORE / YUK-SIK-DONG-MUL (Kim Ki-young, 1984), 8:45
Saturday, March 15 PROMISE OF THE FLESH / YUK-CHE-EUI YAK-SOK (Kim Ki-young, 1975), 5:45
Saturday, March 15 I-EO ISLAND / I-EO-DO (Kim Ki-young, 1977), 8:00
Sunday, March 16 THE HOUSEMAID / HA-NYEO (Kim Ki-young, 1960), 1:30
Sunday, March 16 THE WOMAN OF FIRE ’82 / HWA-NYEO ’82 (Kim Ki-young, 1982), 3:45
Sunday, March 16 TRANSGRESSION, AKA THE VIOLATION OF BUDDHIST COMMANDMENTS / PA-GYE (Kim Ki-young, 1974), 6:15
Sunday, March 16 BAN GEUMRYEON (Kim Ki-young, 1981), 8:30
Monday, March 17 PROMISE OF THE FLESH / YUK-CHE-EUI YAK-SOK (Kim Ki-young, 1975), 1:15
Monday, March 17 I-EO ISLAND / I-EO-DO (Kim Ki-young, 1977), 3:30
Monday, March 17 EARTH / HEULK (Kim Ki-young, 1978), 6:00
Monday, March 17 FREE MAIDEN / JA-YU-CHEO-NYEO (Kim Ki-young, 1982), 8:30
Tuesday, March 18 EARTH / HEULK (Kim Ki-young, 1978), 1:30
Tuesday, March 18 CARNIVORE / YUK-SIK-DONG-MUL (Kim Ki-young, 1984), 4:00
Tuesday, March 18 FREE MAIDEN / JA-YU-CHEO-NYEO (Kim Ki-young, 1982), 6:15
Tuesday, March 18 THE WOMAN OF FIRE ’82 / HWA-NYEO ’82 (Kim Ki-young, 1982), 8:15
French Institute Alliance Française
Tinker Auditorium
55 East 59th St. between Park & Madison Aves.
Tickets: $12
212-307-4100
Thursday, March 13 Panel discussion of French and American takes on global warming, moderated by Pascale Richard, 7:00
CUNY Graduate Center, Skylight Room
365 Fifth Ave. at 34th St.
Admission: free
212-817-2005
Thursday, March 13 The Center for the Humanities presents a discussion with Joseph Lowndes and Kimberly Phillips-Fein, 7:00
Barnes & Noble Union Square
33 East 17th St.
Admission: free
212-253-0810
Thursday, March 13 Tom Wolfe makes only appearance in conjunction with new trade paperback editions of his works, including THE RIGHT STUFF, THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST, and THE PAINTED WORD, with Argentine composer/musician Fernando Otero, hosted by Katherine Lanpher, 7:00
Brooklyn College Library, Woody Tanger Auditorium
Admission: free
718-951-5346
http://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu
Thursday, March 13 Screening of the short film THEY CHOOSE FREEDOM, followed by remarks by Pavel Litvinov and a Q&A, 7:00
Pianos
158 Ludlow St. at Stanton St.
Admission: $8
212-505-3733
Thursday, March 13 Sami Akbari will be featuring songs from her new EP, SOMEBODY’S ELSE’S STRANGER, 9:00
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West & 81st St.
LeFrak Theater, first floor
Tickets: $15 (advance registration encouraged)
212-769-5315
Thursday, March 13 The 2008 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, with John Lewis, Cassie Conley, Murray Hitzman, and Henry R. Hertzfeld, moderated by Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson, 7:30
Casa Italiana at Columbia University
117th St. & Amsterdam Ave.
212-854-7403
Thursday, March 13 A Symposium and Musicale celebrating composer Toshi Ichiyanagi and his Ensemble Origin, featuring the panel discussion "New Music on Reborn Ancient Eurasian Instruments" and live performances, followed by a reception, 5:00 — 9:00
Merce Cunningham Studio
55 Bethune St., eleventh floor
Tickets: $20
212-966-6414
Thursday, March 13
through
Sunday, March 16 Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre presents "Song of Sorrows," set to the music of Gorecki; "Guernica," music by Halffter; "Les Reves d’Apres Midi," music by Debussy; "Masks," music by Hirose; and "Bereft," music by Glass
Seventh Regiment Armory
Park Ave. at 67th St.
Free with paid admission to Whitney Museum of American Art
212-570-7715
Friday, March 14 Marina Rosenfeld, performance and discussion, 2:00
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Monthly Fridays through May 2008
Tickets: $12
212-715-1258
Friday March 14 PLAINS WANDERER (DAISOGEN NO WATARIDORI), 1960), 7:30
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Friday - Sundays at 11:00 am through March 30
212-924-7771
Friday, March 14
through
Sunday, March 16 MY DINNER WITH ANDRE (Louis Malle, 1981)
The Town Hall
123 West 43rd St. between Sixth Ave. & Broadway
Tickets: $30-$40
212-608-0555
http://www.the-townhall-nyc.org
Saturday, March 15 The World Music Institute presents Koko Taylor, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Henry Gray, John Cephas, and Phil Wiggins, 8:00
The Construction Company
10 East 18th St. between Fifth Ave. & Broadway
Tickets: $15
212-927-0476
http://www.theconstructioncompany.org
Saturday, March 15, 8:00
and
Sunday, March 16, 3:00 Performances of "Black Flower Solo," "Blue Dance," "Mode," and "Red Révérence," choreographed and directed by Beth Soll, with music by George Crumb, Marin Marais, and David Stringham, featuring dancers Tamara Saari, Anna Schon, Danielle Short, Beth Soll, and Ashley Whitson
583 Park Ave. at 63rd St.
Admission: $20
212-642-8572
Saturday, March 15
through
Wednesday, March 19 More than three dozen galleries from Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the UK, France, and the U.S. will be displaying and selling Asian art, including painting, sculpture, antiques, and more
JCC in Manhattan
334 Amsterdam Ave. at 76th St.
Tickets: $12 (children under two free)
646-505-5708
Sunday, March 16 Live music and entertainment celebrating Purim, for families with children under ten, 10:00 am — 1:00 pm
The Jewish Museum, third and fourth floors
1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St.
Free with museum admission
212-423-3337
http://www.thejewishmuseum.org
http://www.myspace.com/brooklynfiddler
Sunday, March 16 Folk-rock violinist Alicia Jo Rabins of local fave Golem will be playing selections from her song cycle "Girls in Trouble" in front of pieces in the Jewish Museum's permanent collection, with Taylor Bergren-Chrisman on bass and Jascha Hoffman on melodica and glockenspiel, at 2:00, followed by a poetry slam with Rabins, Steve Dalachinski, Jake Marmer, and Dan Sieradski, hosted by Matthue Roth, in the second-floor Offit Lounge at 4:00
B.B. King Blues Club
237 West 42nd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tickets: $30-$35
212-997-4144
Sunday, March 16 Nearing eighty, country music legend Ralph Stanley will celebrate his long career, which includes more than two hundred albums, 8:00
Radio City Music Hall
1260 Sixth Ave. at 50th St.
Tickets: $45-$75
Saturday, March 15
and
Sunday, March 16 Celtic Woman (Chloë, Orla, Máiréad, Lynn, and Alex Sharpe) performs Irish standards, classical favorites, and contemporary hits from their albums CELTIC WOMAN and A NEW JOURNEY
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Pavilion, first floor
200 Eastern Parkway
Admission: free with museum suggested contribution of $8
718-638-5000
http://www.myspace.com/myqueenesther
Sunday, March 16 Queen Esther performs as part of the Brooklyn Museum’s celebration of Women’s History Month, 3:00
Fifth Ave. from 44th to 86th Sts.
Admission: free
http://www.saintpatricksdayparade.com
Monday, March 17 Parade begins at 11:00 am and runs till about 4:00 pm, featuring bagpipers, Irish national societies, Chairman John T, Dunleavy, Grand Marshal Tommy M. Smyth, a tribute to the Fighting 69th Infantry, and much more
Symphony Space, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
212-864-5400
Monday, March 17 Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble, $25-$30, 7:30
Wednesday, March 19 Meet the Composer, featuring eight new works from eight new pairings, including flutist Margaret Lancaster with Joan La Barbara, trombonist Monique Buzzarté with Alice Shields, pipa virtuoso Min Xiao-Fen with Huang Ruo, pianist Lisa Moore with Don Byron, percussionist Dominic Donato with Ushio Torikai, soprano Mary Nessinger with Steven Burke, saxophonist Taimur Sullivan with Jason Eckardt, and violinist Todd Reynolds with Michael Lowenstern, $19-$27, 8:00
Thursday, March 20 The second annual Ethel Fair celebrates the tenth anniversary of the amplified string quartet, with special guests Dean Osborne, Jill Sobule, gutbucket, Howard Levy, and Rives, including the world premiere of Mark Stewart’s On the Origin of the Species for four daxophones, $25-$35, 8:00
powerHouse Arena
37 Main St., DUMBO
Tickets: $65-$125 (limited number of $25 tickets available at Other Music and Sound Fix)
718-254-8779
http://www.stannswarehouse.org
Tuesday, March 18 On the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, a group of artists and speakers will participate in this benefit for United for Peace and Justice and Iraq Veterans Against the War, including Laurie Anderson, Antony, Blonde Redhead, David Byrne, Norah Jones, MEN, Moby, Lou Reed, Damien Rice, the Scissor Sisters and more, 8:00
Tribeca Performing Arts Center
Borough of Manhattan Community College
199 Chambers St.
Admission: free
212-220-1460
Tuesday, March 18 Legacies, Part II, featuring film clips and an informal Q&A moderated by Krin Gabbard, 8:00
Queens Midtown Tunnel to Madison Square Garden
Admission: free
Tuesday, March 18 Sometime after 10:00 pm, elephants, donkeys, clowns, and other members of Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus will make their way through the Midtown Tunnel, heading toward the World’s Most Famous Arena, turning east across 34th St. as they prepare for their annual run at the Garden; be on the lookout for animal protesters among the throngs
The Frick Collection
1 East 70th St. at Fifth Ave.
Free with museum admission of $15
212-547-0700
Wednesday, March 19 Lecture by Professor David Ekserdjian on Parmigianino’s "Antea," on view at the Frick through April 27, 3:00
Angel Orensanz Foundation
172 Norfolk St.
Tickets: $40
Wednesday, March 19 Benefit for the new energy conservation initiative blackoutsabbath, with audience members encouraged to donate refrigerator magnets, 8:00
Korea Society Gallery
950 Third Ave. at 57th St., eighth floor
Third Thursday of every month
Admission: $10
212-759-7525
Thursday, March 20 GREEN FISH (Lee Chang-dong, 1997), 6:30