Uptown Exhibit of the Week
03.19.08
1. Cai Guo-Qiang explodes at the Guggenheim
2. White movie stars and directors unite at Film Forum, black directors come together at Anthology
3. Finland’s best artists feted at Scandinavia House while flowers bloom at Macy’s
4. Armory Week expands all over town
5. Discount dining in Brooklyn
Volume 7, Number 42
March 19 — April 2, 2008
Send all comments, suggestions, reviews, and questions to Mark Rifkin
at admin@twi-ny.com.
If you forward any part of this guide to someone who has not subscribed, please be sure to attach the following line: To subscribe to this list,
which includes e-mail-only bonuses twice a month, please e-mail the administrator at admin@twi-ny.com with the word Subscribe in the Subject line. We at twi-ny thank you.
Site Design/Subway Photo:
Fred Gates Design, New York.
twi-ny/mdr
Cars explode to the rafters in Cai Guo-Qiang’s "Inopportune: Stage One"
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th St.
Through May 28 (closed Thursday)
Admission: $18 (pay-what-you-wish Friday 5:45-7:15)
212-423-3500
“I expect my works to effect a change,” Cai Guo-Qiang says about his midcareer retrospective at the Guggenheim, “I Want to Believe.” “Most artists in the past have made a point to allow the elegant lines and space of the museum to reveal themselves aptly, to show the void and its melody. Nonetheless, my intent in the present exhibition is to fill the void, fill it with energy so that the museum will resemble the inner wall of a bomb filled with energy and on the verge of bursting.” Indeed, Cai has filled Frank Lloyd Wright’s twisting space with powerful, politically charged installations that literally and figuratively explode throughout the museum. His highly conceptual art, mixed-media constructions that are born out of destruction (playing off Mao’s famous statement “Progress is born in chaos. And originality comes from destruction.”), explodes from the very floor of the Guggenheim all the way up to the rafters. The centerpiece of the show is “Inopportune: Stage One,” which consists of nine white automobiles reenacting an explosion that sends a car flying into the air, with multichannel tubes beaming out sequences of flashing light that changes color, replicating the intensity of the fire emanating from the explosion. It’s a magnificent vision that actually overwhelms its political significance, evoking international terrorism, especially post-9/11. As you make your way around the Guggenheim, there is always a car staring you in the face, reminding you of the beauty and horror of the world. That dichotomy is also evident in “Inopportune: Stage Two,” nine life-size replicas of tigers shot full of arrows, and “Head On,” ninety-nine life-size replicas of wolves racing across the ceiling, smashing into a glass wall, unable to escape whatever it is they are running from.
twi-ny/mdr
A peasant reaches out in Cai’s "New York’s Rent Collection Courtyard"
One of the most intriguing pieces is “New York’s Rent Collection Courtyard,” which re-creates and reimagines a 1965 Chinese academic work that displayed the suffering experienced by peasants at the hands of tyrannical warlords in the early twentieth century. Dozens of life-size figures occupy a section of the rotunda, poor men, women, and children being exploited by taskmasters. During the course of the exhibition, the figures will first be sculpted out of wet clay, then allowed to decompose, continuing the theme of construction and destruction. In fact, much of Cai’s work is event-driven, happening live. “I Want to Believe” includes numerous flat-screen monitors displaying projects involving rainbows, mushroom clouds, and fireworks he has held around the world, many of which recall the dropping of the atomic bomb. There is also video of Cai making his gunpowder drawings, in which he places lines of gunpowder on paper, canvas, and even a twelve-panel folding screen and then lights them up, resulting in such compelling pieces as “Ascending Dragon,” “Bigfoot’s Footprints,” “Shadow: Pray for Protection,” “Chu Ba Wang,” and “Extension.”
twi-ny/mdr
Visitors can take a boat trip through Cai’s "An Arbitrary History: River"
Born in Quanzhou, China, in 1957, Cai has lived and worked in Japan and New York. In 2006, his “Transparent Monument” was displayed on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and he is also playing a major role at the opening and closing ceremonies at this year’s Beijing Olympics. His installations demand a heightened level of viewer involvement, although visitors should not touch any of the works. However, off in one of the side rooms is “An Arbitrary History: River,” in which people are invited to get in a one-person boat made of wood and yak skin and navigate through a river environment featuring many smaller pieces from Cai’s career. Boats and water also figure in “Reflection — A Gift from Iwaki,” in which a treasure trove of broken porcelain plates and Buddha statues pour out of a shipwrecked vessel; “Borrowing Your Enemy’s Arrows,” which re-creates a Chinese legend in which a general sent a boat occupied by straw figures into battle, allowing it to be shot up with arrows that he then used in turn against his enemy; and “Cry Dragon / Cry Wolf: The Ark of Genghis Khan,” an amalgamation of sheepskin floats, car engines, and other materials held together by rope, floating overhead in a room of its own. “I Want to Believe” is an exhilarating show, alluding to destruction, extinction, decomposition — and, perhaps, rebirth?
Wednesday, March 19 Reimagining the Cultural Revolution, panel discussion with Zhang Hongtu, Gao Minglu, and Wang Mingxian, moderated by Carma Hinton, $10, 6:30
Friday, March 21 Curator’s Eye: tour of "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," with Alexandra Munroe, senior curator of Asian Art, free with museum admission, 2:00
Friday, March 28 Curator’s Eye: tour of "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," with Sandhini Poddar, assistant curator of Asian Art, free with museum admission, 2:00
Friday, April 4 Food, Sex, and Art, panel discussion with David Bouley, Cai Guo-Qiang, and Dr. Ruth Westheimer, $10, 6:30
Friday, April 11 Curator’s Eye: tour of "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," with Sandhini Poddar, assistant curator of Asian Art, free with museum admission, 2:00
Tuesday, April 15 Hans Belting: Global Art and the Museum (GAM), with Hans Belting, $10, 6:30
twi-ny/mdr
Wolves hit the wall in Cai’s "Head On"
Friday, April 25 Curator’s Eye: tour of "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," with Alexandra Munroe, senior curator of Asian Art, free with museum admission, 2:00
Friday, May 2 Curator’s Eye: tour of "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," with Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, assistant curator of architecture and design, free with museum admission, 2:00
Friday, May 9 Curator’s Eye: tour of "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," with Alexandra Munroe, senior curator of Asian Art, free with museum admission, 2:00
Friday, May 16 Curator’s Eye: tour of "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," with Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, assistant curator of architecture and design, free with museum admission, 2:00
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, "Dancers (Tänzerinnen)," ink on paper, 1906
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Through May 4
If the Cai Guo-Qiang exhibition gets a little too daunting, take a break by ducking into "From Berlin to New York: Karl Nierendorf and the Guggenheim," which consists of works acquired by banker and art dealer Karl Nierendorf for his own gallery in New York, for the Guggenheim, and for himself. Culled from the Guggenheim’s permanent collection, the display features Expressionist and surrealist works by Oskar Kokoschka, Paul Klee, Adolph Gottlieb, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and others.
Friday, April 4 Art After Dark: First Fridays, with a cash bar, DJs, and dancing, $25, 9:00 pm — 1:00 am
Wednesday, April 30 The Elaine Terner Cooper Education Fund: Conversations with Contemporary Artists — Sam Durant, followed by a reception, $10, 6:30
Friday, May 2 Art After Dark: First Fridays, with a cash bar, DJs, and dancing, $25, 9:00 pm — 1:00 am
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Tickets: $30 unless otherwise noted
212-423-3587
The Guggenheim’s Works & Process season returns with another eclectic lineup of events, in which the creators of upcoming productions show excerpts from the work and then discuss the process behind their creation. Each presentation is followed by a reception with the participants. Most tickets are $30 and sell out quickly; you can save twenty percent if you become a Guggenheim member, and if you order four or more events, you will not have to pay the two-dollar-per-ticket handling fee.
Tuesday, March 25 Satyagraha, with composer Philip Glass and Metropolitan Opera manager Peter Gelb, 8:00
Monday, March 31 The Kirov Ballet, 5:00
Thursday, April 3 Images from "Wind Shadow," with Cai Guo-Qiang and Lin Hwai-min, $50-$80, 2:00 & 8:00
Sunday, April 6
and
Monday, April 7 Exploring Light, with Tony-winning lighting designer Jennifer Tipton, choreographer Dana Reitz, director Jackson Gay, and set designer Ola Maslik, 7:30
Sunday, April 27 Poetry into Music with Dana Gioia, musical readings and discussion, moderated by Sarah Rothenberg, 3:00
Sunday, May 4
and
Monday, May 5 Preserving the Classics, with members of the American Ballet Theatre’s artistic staff, 7:30
Photo exhibit includes works by four Israeli artists
92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St.
Through June 13
Admission: free - $45
212-415-5500
If you take the subway to the Guggenheim for the "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe" show, be sure to stop by the 92nd St. Y for the free exhibition "Out of Israel: Four Photographers," part of the Y’s celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the State of Israel. In the Milton J. Weill Art Gallery just outside the Kaufmann Concert Hall, the work of Israeli photographers Gaston Zvi Ickowicz, Menachem Kahana, Joel Kantor, and Alex Levac will be on view through April 22. Below are some of the upcoming Israel at 60 programs at the Y, as well as some unrelated events.
Wednesday, March 19 Israeli Folk Dancing: Instructional and Open Sessions, $12, First Steps 7:00 — 7:30, Second Steps 7:30 — 8:15, Open Session 8:15 — 12:45
Thursday, March 20 Stand-Up Comedy of the ’70s: Eddy Friedfeld, Robert Klein, Richard Belzer, and Richard Zoglin, $26, 8:15
Saturday, March 22 Israeli Voices: Danny Sanderson, $30-$45, 8:00
Sunday, March 23 Unterberg Poetry Center: David Grossman, $40, 11:00 am
Monday, March 24 A Festival of Hebrew Literature, with David Grossman, Etgar Keret, Meir Shalev, and Zeruya Shalev, introduced and moderated by Nathan Englander, $10-$18, 8:00
Tuesday, March 25 Jeffrey D. Sachs with Charlie Rose on Economics for a Crowded Planet, $26, 8:00
Wednesday, March 26 Israeli Folk Dancing: Instructional and Open Sessions, $12, First Steps 7:00 — 7:30, Second Steps 7:30 — 8:15, Open Session 8:15 — 12:45
Thursday, March 27 Senator Chuck Hagel: America–the Next Chapter, $26, 8:15
Sunday, March 30 The Chocolate Collection: An Evening of Tasting, with Alexandra Leaf, Clay Gordon, and Costas Mouzouras, $65, 7:30
Wednesday, April 2 Israeli Folk Dancing: Instructional and Open Sessions, $12, First Steps 7:00 — 7:30, Second Steps 7:30 — 8:15, Open Session 8:15 — 12:45
Wednesday, April 9 Israeli Folk Dancing: Instructional and Open Sessions, $12, First Steps 7:00 — 7:30, Second Steps 7:30 — 8:15, Open Session 8:15 — 12:45
Wednesday, April 16 Martin S. Indyk: Will There Ever Be Peace in the Middle East?, $26, 8:00
Courtesy Film Forum
Fairbanks, Pickford, Chaplin, and Griffith founded UA in 1919
Film Forum
209 West Houston St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
March 28 — May 1
212-727-8110
In 1919, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith — along with lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo, the former secretary of the Treasury and chairman of the Federal Reserve -- took a huge chance, breaking away from the major studios and forming their own anti-studio studio, United Artists. The new company was dedicated to making quality motion pictures and giving filmmakers and independent producers — not studio heads — creative control. Film Forum pays tribute to UA’s ninetieth birthday with a sparkling collection of fifty-four films being screened over five weeks, many as part of double features, ranging from silent films by Chaplin, Griffith, and Keaton to great early James Bond, from classic film noir to rousing Westerns, from war epics to heist films, from some of the best romantic comedies ever made to some of the most controversial X-rated films. The awesome series — which includes new 35mm prints of RAGING BULL, GOLDFINGER, THE GREAT ESCAPE, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, ANNIE HALL, WEST SIDE STORY, THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, SOME LIKE IT HOT, MARTY, and SPARROWS — is a film lover’s paradise.
Friday, March 28
and
Saturday, March 29 RAGING BULL (1980, Martin Scorsese), 1:00, 5:10, 9:20, and MANHATTAN (1979, Woody Allen), 3:20, 7:30
Sunday, March 30 PATHS OF GLORY (1957, Stanley Kubrick), 1:00, 4:20, 7:40, and THE KILLING (1956, Stanley Kubrick), 2:40, 6:00, 9:20
Quite simply the best English-language antiwar film ever made. Kirk Douglas stars as Colonel Dax, a French military man who disagrees with his superiors, who want to send his men into certain annihilation in order to take a worthless hill during World War I. Dax’s verbal battles with Generals Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) and Mireau (George Macready) are unforgettable, as are the final scenes, in which three random men are chosen to pay the price for what the generals call cowardice.
Monday, March 31 PATHS OF GLORY (1957, Stanley Kubrick), 1:00, 4:20, and THE KILLING (1956, Stanley Kubrick), 2:40, 6:00, 10:30
Monday, March 31 THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1924, Raoul Walsh), 7:45
Tuesday, April 1 THE PARTY (1968, Blake Edwards), 1:30, 5:20, 9:10, and A SHOT IN THE DARK (1964, Blake Edwards), 3:25, 7:15
Wednesday, April 2 STAGECOACH (1939, John Ford), 3:25, 7:45, and RED RIVER (1948, Howard Hawks), 1:00, 5:15, 9:35
Thursday, April 3 THE MISFITS (1961, John Huston), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Friday, April 4 FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963, Terence Young), 1:00, 5:10, 9:20, and ONE, TWO, THREE (1961, Billy Wilder), 3:10, 7:20
Saturday, April 5 GOLDFINGER (1964, Guy Hamilton), 1:00, 5:15, 9:30, and DR. NO (1962, Terence Young), 3:10, 7:25
Sunday, April 6 THE APARTMENT (1960, Billy Wilder), 3:15, 7:20, and NEVER ON SUNDAY (1960, Jules Dassin), 1:30, 5:35, 9:40
Monday, April 7 THE APARTMENT (1960, Billy Wilder), 3:15, and NEVER ON SUNDAY (1960, Jules Dassin), 1:30, 5:35
Courtesy MGM/Film Forum
Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider turned heads in LAST TANGO
Monday, April 7 ORPHANS OF THE STORM (1922, D. W. Griffith), with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner, 8:10*
Tuesday, April 8 THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963, John Sturges), 1:00, 4:10, 7:20
Wednesday, April 9 MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969, John Schlesinger), 1:00, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30, 9:40
Thursday, April 10
and
Friday, April 11 ANNIE HALL (1977, Woody Allen), 1:00, 4:25, 7:50, and WHERE’S POPPA (1970, Carl Reiner), 2:50, 6:15, 9:40
Saturday, April 12 THE GOOD, BAD AND THE UGLY (1966, Sergio Leone), 1:00, 8:30
http://www.sergioleone.net/intro_sk.html
A few years ago, this spaghetti Western above all spaghetti Westerns was restored to its full length and beauty. The dusty three-hour operatic tale stars Clint as the Good (Blondie), Lee Van Cleef as the Bad (Angel Eyes), and Eli Wallach as the Ugly (Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, whose list of criminal offenses is a riot). The trio is after $200,000 in Confederate gold buried in a cemetery in the middle of nowhere. Nearly 20 minutes of never-before-seen footage were added to the film, with Wallach and Eastwood overdubbing brand-new dialogue. Ennio Morricone’s unforgettable score and Tonino delli Colli’s gorgeous widescreen cinematography have been marvelously enhanced; their work in the scene when Tuco first comes upon the graveyard will make you dizzy with delight. And then comes one of the greatest finales in cinema history.
Saturday, April 12 WEST SIDE STORY (1961, Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins), 4:30
Sunday, April 13 NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955, Charles Laughton), 1:30, 5:10, 8:50, and BROKEN BLOSSOMS (1919, D. W. Griffith), with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner, 3:20, 7:00
Robert Mitchum stars in Charles Laughton’s lurid story of traveling preacher/con man/murderer Harry Powell, who has the word "love" tattooed on one set of knuckles and "hate" on the other. While in prison, Powell bunks with Ben Harper (Peter Graves), who got caught stealing $10,000 — but the only person who knows where the money is is Ben’s young son, John (Billy Chapin). When Preacher is released from jail, he shows up on the Harpers’ doorstep, ready to woo the widow Willa (Shelley Winters) — and get his hands on the money any way he can, including torturing John and his sister, Ruby (Gloria Castillo). Laughton’s only directorial effort is seriously flawed — the scenes in the beginning and end with Lillian Gish are wholly unnecessary and detract from the overall mood. Stanley Cortez’s cinematography is outstanding, featuring his unique use of shadows, the battle between light and dark (which plays off of several themes: old versus young, rich versus poor, good versus evil, and men versus women), and some marvelous silhouettes.
Monday, April 14 NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955, Charles Laughton), 1:30, 5:10, 9:30, and BROKEN BLOSSOMS (1919, D. W. Griffith), with musical soundtrack, 3:20
Monday, April 14 ROBIN HOOD (1922, Allan Dwan), with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner, 7:00
Tuesday, April 15 THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962, John Frankenheimer), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Wednesday, April 16 SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957, Alexander Mackendrick), 1:20, 5:15, 9:10, and THE BIG KNIFE (1955, Robert Aldrich), 3:10, 7:05
Thursday, April 17 THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1968, Norman Jewison), 1:00, 5:10, 9:20, and TOPKAPI (1964, Jules Dassin), 2:55, 7:05
We're suckers for heist films. Just give us THE HOT ROCK (Peter Yates, 1972), THE ANDERSON TAPES (Sidney Lumet, 1972), THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (John Huston, 1950), KELLY'S HEROES (Brian G. Hutton, 1970), THE KILLING (Stanley Kubrick, 1956) — heck, even THE BRINKS JOB (William Friedkin, 1978) — and we'll settle in for a great coupla hours. But the king of them all just might be Jules Dassin's ultrahip TOPKAPI, about a group of multicultural thieves who plan to steal the world's most priceless emerald from a bejeweled dagger in Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The movie is worth seeing just for Ms. Mercouri herself, who opens the film by talking right to us, luring us in with her alluring sex appeal and endless charm. And oh, those clothes, especially the emerald green outfit with her nails painted to match. Maximilian Schell, Peter Ustinov, Robert Morley, and others join in for the elaborate plan that has been ripped off in so many movies ever since. And we were happy to see that they really got things right, shooting on location in Turkey, because we’ve been to Topkapi Palace, and the Topkapi dagger is indeed breathtaking. We deleted a quarter star because some of the scenes with Ustinov are a bit long and awkward, but the rest is simply marvelous. Woody Allen bonus: Harback, one of the cops chasing after the gang, is played by Titos Vandis, who was in love with a sheep in EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK (Woody Allen, 1972), ending up battling Gene Wilder for Daisy’s heart.
Friday, April 18
and
Saturday, April 19 A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (1964, Richard Lester), 2:40, 6:00, 9:20, and THE KNACK, AND HOW TO GET IT (1965, Richard Lester), 1:00, 4:20, 7:40
Sunday, April 20 SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959, Billy Wilder), 1:30, 5:15, 9:00, and THE GENERAL (1927, Buster Keaton), with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner, 3:45, 7:30
Monday, April 21 SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959, Billy Wilder), 1:30, and THE GENERAL (1927, Buster Keaton), with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner, 3:45
Monday, April 21 WAY DOWN EAST (1920, D. W. Griffith), 5:30, 9:00, and STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. (1928, Charles Reisner), with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner, 7:30
Tuesday, April 22 COMING HOME (1978, Hal Ashby), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00 (introduced by producer Jerome Hellman), 9:30
Wednesday, April 23 MARTY (1955, Delbert Mann), 3:45, 7:45, and A THOUSAND CLOWNS (1965, Fred Coe), 1:30, 5:30, 9:30
Thursday, April 24 TOM JONES (1963, Tony Richardson), 1:00, 5:20, 9:40, and THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920, Fred Niblo), with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner, 3:25, 7:45
Friday, April 25 LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1973, Bernardo Bertolucci), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Saturday, April 26 KISS ME DEADLY (1955, Robert Aldrich), 2:30, 6:00, 9:30, and 99 RIVER STREET (1953, Phil Karlson), 1:00, 4:30, 8:00
Sunday, April 27 WOMEN IN LOVE (1969, Ken Russell), 3:05, 7:35, and SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY (1971, John Schlesinger), 1:00, 5:30, 10:00
Monday, April 28 SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY (1971, John Schlesinger), 1:00, and WOMEN IN LOVE (1969, Ken Russell), 3:05
Monday, April 28 SPARROWS (1926, William Beaudine), with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner, 7:10, and MY BEST GIRL (1927, Sam Taylor), 5:30, 9:00
Tuesday, April 29 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960, John Sturges), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Wednesday, April 30 THE LONG GOODBYE (1973, Robert Altman), 3:15, 7:35 (introduced by Jim Bouton), and THIEVES LIKE US (1974, Robert Altman), 1:00, 5:20, 9:40
Elliott Gould plays an unusual Marlowe in Altman pic
This is one odd detective story. King of the ’70s Elliott Gould stars as a mumbling Philip Marlowe who reluctantly becomes enmeshed in a murder case involving a friend of his played by former Yankee pitcher and BALL FOUR author Jim Bouton. Marlowe lives next door to a harem of naked brownie-loving women, and he spends most of his time worrying about his cat. In fact, the opening fifteen minutes, in which he has to go out in the middle of the night to get cat food and then trick his cat, is absolutely priceless, the best cat story line we have ever seen in a motion picture. The detective stuff plays second fiddle to director Robert Altman’s ’70s mood piece, which is fun to watch even at its most baffling and senseless. Bouton will be on hand to introduce the 7:35 screening at Film Forum.
Thursday, May 1 CITY LIGHTS (1931, Charles Chaplin), 1:00, 4:40, 8:20, and MODERN TIMES (1936 Charles Chaplin), 2:50, 6:30, 10:10
Paul Robeson gives it his all in Oscar Micheaux’s BODY AND SOUL
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. at Second St.
March 20-23
718-399-6359
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org
While Film Forum presents its marvelous series on the history of United Artists, featuring some of the biggest stars and best films ever made, Anthology is presenting the very antithesis of that, examining the work of two cinematic pioneers who are barely known today. Oscar Micheaux (1884 - 1951) and Spencer Williams (1891-1969) were two of the most important black filmmakers in cinema history. Not allowed to be part of the Hollywood scene because of his color, Micheaux, a former shoeshine boy, Pullman porter, and farmer, wrote, produced, directed, and distributed his extremely low-budget films, which often dealt with such topics as racism, slavery, and exploitation. Williams also wrote, directed, and produced his films, in which he often appeared. However, he is more well known today for playing Andy on the AMOS ‘N’ ANDY television show. Unfortunately, most of these so-called race films are more interesting for their cultural and historical significance than for their actual quality; given the limitations, it is remarkable that these films were made at all, but they are not easy viewing, replete with bad sound, awful acting, and awkward camerawork. But Micheaux and Williams created the path that ultimately led to Charles Burnett, Spike Lee, Melvin Van Peebles, John Singleton, and so many other African American artists.
Thursday, March 20 BODY AND SOUL (Oscar Micheaux, 1925), 7:15
Thursday, March 20 WITHIN OUR GATES (Oscar Micheaux, 1920), 9:15
Friday, March 21 THE BLOOD OF JESUS (Spencer Williams, 1941) and GO DOWN, DEATH! (Spencer Williams, 1944), 7:00
Friday, March 21 DIRTY GERTIE FROM HARLEM (Spencer Williams, 1946), 9:30
Saturday, March 22 JUKE JOINT (Spencer Williams, 1947), 5:00
Saturday, March 22 WITHIN OUR GATES (Oscar Micheaux, 1920), 7:00
Saturday, March 22 BODY AND SOUL (Oscar Micheaux, 1925), 9:00
Sunday, March 23 THE BLOOD OF JESUS (Spencer Williams, 1941) and GO DOWN, DEATH! (Spencer Williams, 1944), 5:00
Sunday, March 23 DIRTY GERTIE FROM HARLEM (Spencer Williams, 1946), 7:30
Sunday, March 23 JUKE JOINT (Spencer Williams, 1947), 9:00
© Elina Brotherus
Elina Brotherus, "Baigneurs," DVD triptych, 2001/2003
Scandinavia House
58 Park Ave. at 38th St.
Tuesday — Saturday 12 noon — 6:00
Through April 12
Admission: free
212-847-9746
http://www.scandinaviahouse.org
Handed out by the Henna and Pertti Niemistö Art Foundation, the Ars Fennica award has been given to Finnish contemporary artists since 1991. Scandinavia House is hosting works by the four 2007 finalists: multimedia filmmaker and photographer Elina Brotherus, sculptor Markus Kåhre, and painters Elina Merenmies and Anna Tuori. Merenmies’s ink drawings and oil paintings form a twisted view of reality, all black, white, and gray, consisting of grotesque portraits and eerie landscapes of trees and oceans. A ghostly figure haunts "The Trees Are Trees," and the ink-on-paper "Wave" and "Sea" are seascapes reminiscent of the photography of Hiroshi Sugimoto. Tuori’s paintings also capture a kind of alternate reality, but for her, memory seems a blur. "Before Noon" and "Come Back in My Mind" are large-scale works bathed in a punishing yellow, with distorted animals and figures barely there among a bleak, vacant landscape. In the smaller, denser "Safe," a pair of monkeys hold each other, but they do not appear to be totally safe in each other’s arms.
Collection of Mikko Leisti
Anna Tuori, "Ennen aamupäivää (Before Noon)," oil on canvas, 2006
Brotherus’s Low Horizon and Very Low Horizon photographic series depict what she calls "the edges of the world," long landscapes that disappear in the distance. In "Der Wanderer IV," there is a character in the foreground looking out at a mountainous region that fades into the clouds, as if placing herself — or the viewer — into the picture. "My Happiness Is Round" is a nine-minute film that follows a very cute young girl on her daily adventures, but an air of mystery lurks just below the surface. And "Baigneurs" gets its own little room, consisting of three simultaneous silent projections of naked men and women going for a swim in Finnish lakes. Stand in the middle and let yourself get sucked into the calming water, feeling it wash over you. The winner of the 2007 prize — who received thirty-four thousand Euros, a catalog of his works, and a three-museum tour in Finland — was Kåhre, a conceptual installation artist. Among his four untitled pieces are a slowly spinning wheel that fills and unfills twelve human figures with sand; a spare, dark room that appears to be reflected in a mirror — but there’s a twist (the surprise will not work on those who saw Beth Campbell’s "Following Room" at the Whitney recently); and a Rube Goldberg-like contraption that you walk toward in order to see your shadow suddenly appear behind the white curtains in the painting of the side of a house.
58 Park Ave. at 38th St.
Admission: $8 unless othewise noted
212-847-9737 (films) / 212-847-9740 (concerts)
http://www.scandinaviahouse.org
Saturdays through March 29 The Myths & Magic of Iceland: A Voyage Through Icelandic Children’s Literature, $5 per child, for toddlers up through seven years old, 12 noon — 5:00 pm
Wednesday, March 26 Recent Films from Scandinavia — Norway: SONS (SØNNER) (Erik Richter Strand, 2006), introduced by the director and followed by a Q&A, 6:30
Thursday, March 27 Young Musicians Series / ASF Fellows Concert: Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir — Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata in C major, Claude Debussy’s Sonata, Cesar Franck’s Sonata in A major, and Bohuslav Martinu’s Variations on a Rossini Theme, accompanied by pianist Alexandra Joan, free, 6:30
Saturday, March 29 Recent Films from Scandinavia — Norway: SONS (SØNNER) (Erik Richter Strand, 2006), introduced by the director and followed by a Q&A, 3:00
Monday, March 31 Authors at Scandinavia House: A Conversation with Author Per Olov Enquist & Translator Tiina Nunnally, moderated by Peter Mayer, $10, 6:30
Wednesday, April 2 Recent Films from Scandinavia — Norway: WINTERLAND (VINTERLAND) (Hisham Zaman, 2007) and BAWKE (Hisham Zaman, 2005), 6:30
Thursday, April 3 Special Event: THE PLANET (Linus Torell, Michael Stenberg & Johan Söderberg, 2006)., 6:30 pm. $8 ($6 ASF members)
Saturday, April 5 Recent Films from Scandinavia — Norway: WINTERLAND (VINTERLAND) (Hisham Zaman, 2007) and BAWKE (Hisham Zaman, 2005), 3:00
Wednesday, April 9 Recent Films from Scandinavia — Norway: MARIA'S MEN (MARIAS MENN) (Vibeke Ringen, 2006), 6:30
Thursday, April 10 Authors at Scandinavia House: A Conversation with Henning Mankell, followed by a Q&A and book signing, $10, 5:30
Thursday, April 10 Maia Quartet with Flutist Gro Sandvik: works by Johan Kvandal and Carl Nielsen, $25, 7:30
Friday, April 11 Children's Music Workshop with the Maia Quartet, for toddlers +, $6, 10:30 am
Saturday, April 12 Saturday Morning Storytelling with the H.C. Andersen Storytellers, ages five and up, free, 11:30 am
Saturday, April 12 Recent Films from Scandinavia — Norway: MARIA'S MEN (MARIAS MENN) (Vibeke Ringen, 2006), 3:00
twi-ny/mdr
Colorful chairs fill AQCafe at Scandinavia House
Scandinavia House
58 Park Ave. between 37th & 38th Sts.
Open Monday to Saturday, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
212-879-9779
One of the many reasons why we love Scandinavia House is that you can do it all right there in its headquarters on Park Ave.: see a gallery show, eat good food, and then go to the movies. Scandinavia House scored a major coup when they got the terrific Midtown restaurant Aquavit to run the café. We have been a fan of Marcus Samuelsson’s splendid cuisine for a bunch of years now, and we’re glad to slip into this small, inexpensive outpost every chance we get, because Aquavit itself is too pricey to go to all the time. (And we had a great time recently at Samuelsson’s latest venture, the Africa-themed Merkato 55.) Everything on the café menu is under ten bucks, including Swedish meatballs, the fab herring plate, the excellent grilled shrimp sandwich, and the smorgasbord, which are actually worth a trip on their own. And you must try the Sweedie, made with dark chocolate, coconut, and soft meringue, a bargain at only two bucks. Also available are such Scandinavian treats as Swedish fish, Panda licorice, Daim chocolate, Fazermints, and Freia Dronning Sjokolade.
twi-ny/mdr
Plants — and people — fill Macy’s during annual flower show
Macy’s Herald Square
151 East 34th St. at Broadway
Through March 30
Admission: free
212-695-4400 / 212-494-4495
a wonder of the world slideshow
Before or after visiting Scandinavia House, head a few blocks northwest to Macy’s for its annual display of flora. (If you go on Thursday, March 20, you can even attend a culinary demonstration by Marcus Samuelsson of the AQ Café, Aquavit, and Merkato 55.) The thirty-fourth Macy’s Flower Show consists of eleven garden environments comprising thousands of different varieties lining the main floor. There’s a miniature replica of Macy’s itself, and even the window displays get in on the action, mixing fashion and flora from the eighteenth century to the 1980s. In addition to the beautiful bulbs themselves, there will be daily twenty-minute guided tours (every half hour from 11:00 to 4:00) and various special events as well, all free.
Thursday, March 20 Great Chefs: Marcus Samuelsson on sping-inspired dishes, Cellar Kitchen, 6:00
Saturday, March 22 Great Chefs: Amai Tea and Bake House on tea and pastry, Cellar Kitchen, 1:00
Monday, March 24 Ritsuko Daye Deura of Flowers by Daye on exotic centerpieces, eighth floor, 1:00
Tuesday, March 25 Great Chefs: Rhys Lewis of Colonial Williamsburg on southern and Chesapeake cuisine, Cellar Kitchen, 1:00
Wednesday, March 26 Tara Simone of Barbara’s Flowers on tabletop arrangements, eighth floor, 1:00
Thursday, March 27 Great Chefs: Sympathy for the Kettle on flowers for tea, Cellar Kitchen, 1:00
Friday, March 28 Katrina Parris of Katrina Parris Flowers New York on floral design, eighth floor, 1:00
Saturday, March 29 Great Chefs: Margo Lewis of Cake Bliss on creating flowers for cakes, Cellar Kitchen, 1:00
Nathan Larramendy Gallery
Richard Ross, "Booking Bench, Los Angeles Police Department"
Pier 40, West Side Highway at West Houston St.
March 27-30
Admission: $15 (children under twelve free)
212-255-2327
More than one hundred galleries from all over the world are exhibiting contemporary art at this year’s PULSE, which has moved to Pier 40 along the West Side Highway. There will also be approximately twenty site-specific installations, including the video displays "Sameness, Difference and Desire" and John Kalymnios’s mesmerizing "Rush"; "Type B," consisting of a Mark Anstee hoodie drawing in Venetian glass; Graham Caldwell’s mirrored sculpture, "Compound Eye," right by the entrance; "Blood Script," with Mary Coble getting live tattoos of derogatory words people wrote on her; and Julian Lwin’s fabulous passageway, "colorfuse." In addition, Chez Bushwick will present a series of live performances; but skip "The Invention of Minus One," a disappointing multimedia piece in which members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in Isaac Mizrahi costumes move to the sounds of Christian Marclay. Among our favorite pieces and galleries: In Sook Kim's "Saturday Night" C-print at Richard Levy Gallery; Michael Awad's "The Entire City Project" at Nicholas Metivier; Tim White-Sobieski's "Deconstructed Reality" at Ernst Hilger; as well as works at Catharine Clark, Julie Saul, Virgil de Voldere, and Kinz, Tillou + Feigen. Unbelievably, the bathrooms were out of order on Friday, forcing people to walk back outside and use the not-very-friendly Pier 40 public rest rooms; here's hoping they'll be fixed before the weekend is over.
Marianne Boesky Gallery
John Waters will create a newly commissioned piece for the Armory Show
Pier 94, 55th St. & West Side Highway
March 27-30
Admission: $30
Approximately two hundred international galleries will be on hand for the Armory Show’s tenth anniversary. This year Mary Heilmann and John Waters have been specially commissioned to create works in honor of the fair’s late founders, Pat Hearn and Colin de Land. The fair, which started in the 69th Regiment Armory in 1999, features "new art by living artists." A free shuttle will take people between the Armory Show and VOLTA NY.
Jose Dávila, Space after Space, Wood, neon lights, plastic plafonds, 2007
7 West 34th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
March 27-30
Tickets: $10
646-641-8732
Founded in 2005 by dealers Friedrich Loock, Ulrich Voges, ad Kavi Gupta, VOLTA has had success around the world and is now making its NYC debut in a space right by the Empire State Building. VOLTA is different from most art fairs in that it consists exclusively of solo projects and installations, many developed specifically for this event, serving as a complement to the Armory Show at Pier 94. Curated by Amanda Coulson and Christian Viveros-Fauné, this year’s presentation, "The Eye of the Beholder," examines the idea of beauty in art through works by more than fifty international artists, including Jose Dávila, William Pope.L, Martin Klimas, Dietmar Lutz, Melanie Schiff, and Herbert Volkmann. Even the elevators are part of the show, displaying "Drift," a collection of video pieces. The colorful lobby mural will be designed by Florian Merkel, who also will be creating limited-edition prints; eighteen artists also have made limited-edition T-shirts. As noted above, there will be a free shuttle going between VOLTA NY and the Armory Show, leaving every twenty minutes.
Scott White Contemporary Art
Carol Brown, "Pedestrian (63019)," acrylic on canvas, 2006
The Waterfront
222 12th Ave. at 27th St.
March 28-30
Admission: $10
VOLTA isn’t the only fair making its NYC debut this year. Bridge Art Fair: The Independent International Exposition adds the Big Apple to an itinerary that already includes Chicago, London, and Miami. Coming on the heels of Asian Contemporary Art Week, Bridge’s theme is "Focus: Asia," featuring galleries from all over the Pacific Rim as well as Europe, South America, and the USA. In addition, ARTPORT will be presenting "Cool Stories for When the Planet Gets Hot," eleven short videos that deal with green topics. The space along the Chelsea waterfront is affectionately known as the Tunnel — which was previously a railroad tunnel and the famous nightclub.
Park South Hotel
122 East 28th St. between Lexington & Park Aves.
March 27-30
Admission: $12
917-273-8621
More than fifty galleries, mostly from the United States, will be participating in this year’s Red Dot Art Fair, which also is held in Miami. In addition to the booths, there will be several panel discussions on Sunday, including “Bloggers and Their Impact on the Art World” at 11:00 am, “Collecting Contemporary Realism Now: Three Success Stories” at 12:30, “The Fallacy of Art Appreciation and the Dilemmas of Criticism” at 2:00, and “Art Fairs: Practical Considerations and Strategies for the Future” at 3:30. Also, there will be free shuttle service between Red Dot and the Armory Show.
Hotel 30/30
30 East 30th St.. between Park & Madison Aves.
March 27-30
347-461-8713
The sister show to Red Dot, Art Now will feature work from more than two dozen international galleries, focusing on emerging artists.
ScopePavilion, Damrosch Park, the Tent at Lincoln Center
62nd St. between Amsterdan & Columbus Aves.
March 27-30
Admission: $15 (FirstView $100)
212-268-1522
SCOPE, which also holds art fairs in Basel, the Hamptons, London, and Miami, returns to New York for its seventh annual show, displaying works from some fifty international galleries. Held in a temporary pavilion in Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, SCOPE will feature several performance projects, including Michael Helland's live-art installation "Dress Up Party," Venuz White's "Kiss Collector and the Traveling Kisses," Linda Moelenaar's "Horse 2," and Carissa Carman's "A.T.T. Vegetable Taxi," which will give people rides in exchange for trade only, the distance based on the value of the object. There will also be participatory site-specific installations, cinema rooms, and a panel discussion on alternative green resources. We actually had an awful experience at last year's SCOPE, exacerbated by a rude and hapless staff; we've been assured things will be better this year, so we're willing to give it another shot.
twi-ny/mdr
Bubby’s is one of more than 175 restaurants offering great deals
Multiple locations
March 24-31
Three courses: $23
Reservations suggested
718-802-3846
More than 175 restaurants throughout Brooklyn will be serving special three-course price-fixed lunch and/or dinner menus for $23, not including drinks, tax, and tip. Among the participants are Bubby’s and the River Café in DUMBO, BarTabac in Cobble Hill, Northeast Kingdom in Bushwick, Marco Polo and Provence en Boite in Carroll Gardens, Stan’s Place in Boerum Hill, 68 in Greenpoint, Gargiulo’s in Coney Island, Clementine’s Maryland Crabhouse in Sheepshead Bay, A’shay and Aurora in Williamsburg, and applewood, Blue Ribbon, Melt, Rose Water, and Sotto Voce in Park Slope. In addition, eighteen restaurants are offering 2 for $23, including the Atlantic ChipShop in Brooklyn Heights, the Smoke Joint in Fort Greene, and one of our Brooklyn faves, Rice, at both the Fort Greene and DUMBO locations. As always, this annual event promises "Quality Food. No Attitude on the Side."
Angela Bassett is transcendent in latest Tyler Perry flick
Opens Friday, March 21
http://www.meetthebrownsfilm.com
Angela Bassett gives a terrific performance as a struggling single mother in MEET THE BROWNS, the latest film from Tyler Perry’s growing media franchise, which includes books, TV shows, plays, CDs, and such critic-proof hits as MADEA’S FAMILY REUNION and DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN. Bassett stars as Brenda, a gorgeous woman with three children, from three different men, trying to get by in the Chicago projects. After the plant where she works shuts down and moves to Mexico, Bassett doesn’t have enough money to pay any of her bills. But when a letter and bus tickets arrive inviting her to a small Georgia town for the funeral of her father, whom she never knew, she decides to head down south with her kids to meet the rest of her family. And what a family it is, including the overly dramatic diva Vera (Jenifer Lewis) and the ridiculously wacky Leroy (David Mann). Although Perry takes a major step up in quality in the first half of the movie, he takes a big step back in the second half, once again relying on his regular cast of characters, who are way too over the top as usual, detracting from the honest, compelling narrative of Brenda’s quest. And the resolution of the subplot involving a talent scout (a stiff but cute Rick Fox) and Brenda’s son, Michael (Lance Gross), a high school basketball star, is utterly absurd and patently false. Perry even forces Madea into the action, albeit in a thankfully very brief way. Still, Bassett lights up the screen every time she appears, giving a performance reminiscent of Diahann Carroll’s breakthrough role for black women in CLAUDINE (John Berry, 1974). Add a star if you can’t get enough of Perry’s HOUSE OF PAYNE.
Bill and Ted’s adventure is anything but excellent
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Friday, March 21, and Saturday, March 22, at midnight
212-924-7771
For the finale of its Midnights: Class of the 80s series, the IFC Center is showing one of the most overrated comedies of that decade. Trust us: It is not as funny as you remember, no matter what you might have been on when you first saw it. Desperate to come up with ideas for a history project, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) end up going through time with the help of a parking-lot guru played by George Carlin. Along the way they hang with Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Socrates, Sigmund Freud, Billy the Kid, Beethoven, Genghis Khan, and Abraham Lincoln, each successive scene getting more and more embarrassing. This bogus cult classic spawned the equally absurd BILL AND TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY two years later, again with Reeves and Winter in the leads.
Jared Leto stars as Mark David Chapman
in Lennon assassination flick
Angelika Film Center
18 West Houston St. at Mercer St.
Opens Friday, March 28
212-995-2000
Earlier this year, Andrew Piddington’s THE KILLING OF JOHN LENNON, a lurid re-creation of the assassination of John Lennon, played a short run at the IFC Center, featuring an awkward Jonas Ball as Mark David Chapman. Now J. P. Schaefer attacks the same subject with CHAPTER 27, a not-quite-as-lurid re-creation of the same events, starring Jared Leto as Lennon’s mad killer. Using internal narration that includes quotations from the book that obsessed Chapman, J. D. Salinger’s THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, as well as text from Jack Jones’s book of interviews with Chapman, LET ME TAKE YOU DOWN: INSIDE THE MIND OF MARK DAVID CHAPMAN, Schaefer’s version looks at the three days Chapman spent in New York City hanging out in front of the Dakota, waiting to get an autograph from and then shoot the former Beatle, who preached peace and love but had the audacity to be a multimillionaire. A nearly unrecognizable Leto gained more than sixty pounds for the role, and although he does an admirable job, he’s trapped in a film that offers nothing new on the tragic murder of John Lennon or the inner workings of a deeply troubled soul. Salinger’s novel is twenty-six chapters long; the title of Schaefer’s film relates to Chapman’s adding his own chapter, in which he puts an end to the life of a world-famous phony. Twenty-six chapters were just fine, thank you very much. The supporting cast includes Judah Friedlander as Paul, a photographer Chapman met while outside the Dakota, and Lindsay Lohan as Jude, a Lennon groupie who befriends Chapman. Lennon, curiously enough, is played by Mark Lindsay Chapman, no relation. (On opening weekend, March 28-29, Jared Leto will participate in a Q&A after the 8:00 shows and will introduce the 10:20 screenings.)
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
Opens Friday, March 28
212-924-3363
While postwar modern art was exploding in New York in the 1950s, a small, close-knit group of artists were coming together in Los Angeles, exploring abstract expressionism in a tiny gallery called Ferus. Mixing archival footage with new interviews — shot in black and white to maintain the old-time, DIY feel — director Morgan Neville delves into the fascinating world of the L.A. art scene as seen through the Ferus Gallery, which was founded in 1957 by Walter Hopps, a medical school dropout who looked and acted like a Fed, and assemblage artist Ed Kienholz. “The work was really special,” notes Dennis Hopper, enjoying a cigar with Dean Stockwell. “And there [were] a lot of really, really gifted artists that really have to be looked at again.” Among those artists were Wallace Berman, Ed Moses, Ed Ruscha, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John Baldessari, and Larry Bell. (All of them participate in the documentary except for Berman, who died in 1976.) In addition to featuring up-and-coming West Coast painters, sculptors, and conceptual artists, Ferus also hosted a Marcel Duchamp retrospective as well as early shows by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, and other East Coast favorites. For nearly ten years, Hopps, Kienholz, and crafty businessman Irwin Blum kept Ferus going until various personality clashes led to its demise. The film includes an engaging roundtable from 2004 in which Neville brought many of the artists together to discuss what Ferus meant to them — and the art world in general. Behind a jazzy score, Neville also speaks with collectors, curators, and critics, putting it all into perspective. THE COOL SCHOOL, narrated by actor and photographer Jeff Bridges, is a fun-filled trip through a heretofore little-known part of postwar American art, perfectly timed to open just as all the art fairs come to New York. Art aficionados should definitely add this to their weekend travels as they make their way through the Armory Show, PULSE, SCOPE, Red Dot, Bridge, Art Now, and VOLTA.
People flipped for PLANET B-BOY at TriBeCa last year
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
Opens Friday, March 28
212-330-8182
http://www.landmarktheatres.com
http://www.battleoftheyear.net/worldwide
In the mid-1980s, b-boy culture exploded, with breakdancing, an outgrowth of hip-hop and graffiti, surging through New York City and then around the world as a way for the young generation to express themselves. Director Benson Lee traces the roots of this phenomenon from 1983’s FLASHDANCE to the present day, when international competitions, leading up to the Battle of the Year, are held across the globe. Lee follows such crews as Korea’s Gamblerz and Last for One, Japan’s Ichigeki, France’s Phase T, and America’s Knucklehead Zoo as they prepare for the 2005 event. Lil’ Kev, B-Boy Joe, Katsu, Taiyo, Fonzie, and others describe what dancing means to them – and show off lots of unbelievable moves, including head spins that will leave you dizzy with excitement and exhaustion. Several of the dancers are also interviewed with family members, talking about how dancing and the b-boy life impact their relationship with their parents. The film was a major part of the 2007 TriBeca Film Festival, with several special events and appearances built around it.
Gondry’s latest is another strangely entertaining tale
AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
212-398-3939
Clearview’s Chelsea
260 West 23rd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Village East
181 Second Ave. at 12th St.
212-529-6998
http://citycinemas.moviefone.com
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
Village East
181 Second Ave. at 12th St.
212-529-6998
http://citycinemas.moviefone.com
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.
AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
212-398-3939
Angelika Film Center
18 West Houston St. at Mercer St.
212-995-2000
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 in the 3/5 issue.) 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.
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
AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
212-398-3939
Regal Union Square Stadium
850 Broadway at Thirteenth St.
212-253-6266
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
AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
212-398-3939
Village East
181 Second Ave. at 12th St.
212-529-6998
http://citycinemas.moviefone.com
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.
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
Regal E-Walk 13
247 West 42nd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
AMC Loews 84th St. 6
2310 Broadway at 84th St.
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
Regal Union Square Stadium
13th St. & Broadway
AMC Loews 84th St. 6
2310 Broadway at 84th St.
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.
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.
twi-ny/mdr
Emma Ditchbum and Adrian Jewett at TMSR gig at 2007 CMJ
Mercury Lounge
217 East Houston St. at Ave. A
Friday, March 21, $12, 8:00
212-260-4700
http://www.mercuryloungenyc.com
Fresh off a coupla gigs at SXSW, Canada’s the Most Serene Republic returns to New York City, where they were one of the highlights of last October’s CMJ festival. The band is out touring behind its latest CD, POPULATION (Arts & Crafts, October 2007), thirteen carefully crafted, wildly varied songs with long musical passages and complex lyrics sung by Adrian Jewett and Emma Ditchbum. The disc kicks off with "Humble Peasants," an instrumental featuring strings, brass, synth, percussion, whistling, banging, and various other unusual sounds, letting listeners know from the start that they’re in for something different — and exciting. On the acoustic-based "The Men Who Live Upstairs," TMSR gives a taste of their dark, poetic lyrics, which are often in conflict with the upbeat music: "Behaviour lies in the food we eat, insipid sedatives," they sing. "Much of all those cloy chemicals are building up to give…uncontrolled division of cells from the men who live upstairs." Stream-of-consciousness lyrics permeate such tunes as "Sherry and Her Butterfly Net" ("Yes we eat, yes we shop, yes we sleep and yes, we talk / All this yes and none this no makes restless war on park ground snow") and "Sollipsism Millionaires" ("Older brother states, sis’ will see its crumbling / No more mouth with paste, stabled horse will ride"). In some ways TMSR is like an experimental twenty-first-century Steely Dan, just without the pop hooks. They’ll be playing songs from POPULATION as well as 2005’s UNDERWATER CINEMATOGRAPHER and 2006’s PHAGES at the Mercury Lounge on March 21, along with Miracle Fortress, Liam Finn, and Frances.
twi-ny/ees
The Holy F*ck will spin their magic in Williamsburg on March 22
Music Hall of Williamsburg
66 North Sixth St.
Saturday, March 22, $12, 9:00
212-260-4700
http://www.musichallofwilliamsburg.com
http://www.myspace.com/holyfuck
The Holy F&ck are four dudes from Toronto who play low-fi electronica-type dance music without electronics. Seriously. When we caught them last May at the Bowery Ballroom, they spent thirty-five minutes having a lot of fun — us too — opening for !!! Two goofy guys spent the set in front on homemade trestle tables, an ocarina, 35mm film sequencer, and some really cheesy keyboards — as in physically decrepit-looking items, not particularly Farfisa-sounding things. The two live musicians were a drum-beating moptop with an admirable Moe haircut and a hyperkinetic bald guy who wielded quite an ax. They weirdly suggest a little prog rock in their soaring keyboards, laid over and in between lots of twitchy dancing stuff and crazy beats working together and off each other, with intense guitar work on the side. It was like . . . Emerson, Lake, and Palmer at 90 BPM on Red Bull. And lots o’ it. On March 22, they’ll be headlining the Music Hall of Williamsburg, with a Place to Bury Strangers and Beat the Devil also on the bill.
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St.
Monday, March 24, $18-$20, 7:00
212-533-2111
http://www.myspace.com/ludorock
While the Presidents of the United States of America are the headliners at this Bowery Ballroom gig, make sure to get their early to check out the St. Louis band Ludo, whose new album, YOU’RE AWFUL, I LOVE YOU! (Island, February 2008), features such tunes as “Drunken Lament,” the MTV/YouTube hit “Love Me Dead,” and the not-too-scary “The Horror of Our Love” and “Scream, Scream, Scream.” Andrew Volpe, Tim Ferrell, Tim Convy, Marshall Fanciullo, and Matt Palermo have a lot of fun onstage, so it should be a good show. And get there even earlier to see Joe Jack Talcum from the Dead Milkmen perform a solo set.
José Luiz Pederneiras
Grupo Corpo is a must-see in return to BAM
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
March 25-29
Tickets: $20-$60
718-636-4100
Since 1975, Grupo Corpo has been spreading their diverse Brazilian heritage and culture through innovative dance. The family-run enterprise — choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras, artistic director Paulo Pederneiras, technical director Pedro Pederneiras, choreography assistant Miriam Pederneiras, and photographer Jose Luiz Pederneiras — has returned to BAM for its third presentation, following 2002’s excellent 21 and O CORPO and 2005’s marvelous LECUONA and ONQOTO. Featuring two radically different forty-minute pieces, the current show is stunning: in turns exuberant, ecstatic, fierce, and, most of all, virtuosic. BENGUELÊ celebrates the Afro-American culture of Brazil, opening with the eighteen supremely talented dancers proceeding across the stage single file, their profiles evoking a timeless frieze. Mixing the company’s trademark high kicks with sinuous, fluid gestures, the piece explores a multitude of Afro-Brazilian movement and musical styles, including congado, candoble, and samba, all set to João Bosco’s acoustic-guitar-based soundtrack. The rubbery-limbed dancers traverse parallel horizons across the floor and a raised platform in the back of the stage. The passage featuring a male dancer in the foreground, swirling low to the earth with the sweeping kicks of capoeria, while a backlit line of female performers spider-walk across the platform above, their silhouettes evoking animal outlines (a breathtaking vision, dazzlingly lit by Paulo Pederneiras, who also designed the sets), brought the audience to spontaneous applause. At the end, the company bursts out of their severe, monochrome costumes, wearing colored ribbons and dancing in front of a bright, energizing color chart in a fast-paced celebration of the Congado festival.
Making its New York debut, BREU is a dark, harsh, mesmerizing piece, filled with violence and anger. The company, wearing body-hugging cat suits with varying black-and-white geometric patterns and stripes on the front, all black on the back, spend much of the time on the reflective floor, writhing about, bouncing, and flipping over mechanically, set to Lenine’s compelling electronic score, which includes avant-garde jazz, heavy breathing, and noisy percussion and horns. The cold, black set is an inescapable box of dully gleaming metallic tiles, trapping the dancers in a clanging, menacing, inhuman grid. BREU is a brilliant evocation of the complications and difficulties of modern life, challenging the audience, who has previously experienced the overt joys and pleasures of BENGUELÊ. It also challenges the dancers, whose interactions are punishing and confrontational, resulting in spectacularly demanding displays of physical discipline as bodies pound each other and slap the floor again and again. This exciting program is not to be missed, marking a signal turn in Grupo Corpo’s evolution.
Webster Hall
125 East Eleventh St. between Third & Fourth Aves.
Wednesday, March 26, $30, 7:00
http://www.myspace.com/morcheeba
Morcheeba’s sixth album, two years in the making and much anticipated, is appropriately titled DIVE DEEP (Ultra, February 2008). The Godfrey brothers, the heart of Morcheeba, took the tough times that followed the departure of lead singer Skye Edwards and dove deep into their psyches, delivering what they refer to as an “emotional blueprint” on this album. Skye’s leaving seemed to have hit Morcheeba hard; the first album made without her, THE ANTIDOTE, was panned by many critics and listeners for, well, just not having the super-talented Skye on it. But DIVE DEEP will entice listeners back, studded as it is with a variety of guest vocalists and Morcheeba’s floaty, soothing melodies. Singers on the eleven tracks include Judie Tzuke, who appears on the gentle, down-tempo “Enjoy the Ride,” as well as unknowns and lesser-knowns such as Norwegian singer Thomas Dybdahl, French singer Manda, and rapper Cool Calm Pete. The album does reflect what can be perceived as a bit of that randomness, with some hip-hop flavor on “One Love Karma,” and everything from digeridoo and Celtic effects to American folk influence on others, but overall the peaceful vibe of DIVE DEEP is a great soundscape for people to dive deep into a little introspection of their own. Morcheeba will be in the city on March 26 playing Webster Hall. Federico Aubele, whom we saw opening for Thievery Corporation at Webster Hall two years ago, will open the show with his mesmerizing vocals and energizing beats, setting the stage for what should be a dreamy evening.
Heather Olson will share program with Walter Dundervill at DTW
Dance Theater Workshop
219 West 19th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tickets: $20
212-924-0077
http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org
Wednesday, March 26
through
Saturday, March 29 Walter Dundervill presents YOU WROTE THE BOOK and Heather Olson presents CURIOUS AWAKE NOT POSSIBLE in a shared program of world premieres by the two New York-based dancers and choreographers
twi-ny/mdr
Rutles tribute at Blender Theater is a guilty pleasure
Blender Theater at Gramercy
127 East 23rd St. at Lexington Ave.
March 26-29, $35-$45, 8:00
From May 1977 through October 1979, BEATLEMANIA played on Broadway — “Not the Beatles but an incredible simulation.” Just as the Rutles were a takeoff on the Beatles, RUTLEMANIA is a takeoff on BEATLEMANIA, in the guise of a Rutles tribute band celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the release of ALL YOU NEED IS CASH, the mockumentary that included cameos by such SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE stars as John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Bill Murray as well as George Harrison and Monty Python’s Michael Palin. Python Eric Idle, who was the original Dirk McQuickly, devised and directed the new show, featuring the music and lyrics of Neil Innes, the original Nasty. RUTLEMANIA is a chronological adventure through the career of the Rutles, with Dirk, Stig, Nasty, and Barry changing costumes as they perform all the old hits, opening with “Goose-Step Mama” and continuing with “Hold My Hand,” “Blue Suede Schubert,” “With a Girl Like You,” “I Must Be in Love,” “Doubleback Alley,” “Piggy in the Middle,” the great “Cheese and Onions,” and the rest of the Pre-Fab Four’s “hits.” While the band plays live, accompanied by a pair of groovy go-go dancers, clips from ALL YOU NEED IS CASH and 2002’s disappointing CAN’T BUY ME LUNCH, featuring very funny interviews with David Bowie, Tom Hanks, Conan O’Brien, Steve Martin, Garry Shandling, and others, plays on a screen behind them. There are also classic clips from fictional Rutles films A HARD DAY’S RUT, OUCH!, TRAGICAL HISTORY TOUR, YELLOW SUBMARINE SANDWICH, and LET IT ROT. The show ended with a medley of Beatles covers for which Dirk had a tough time convincing the sparse crowd to get up and dance.
The original Pre-Fab Four are celebrated in special tribute show
During intermission we met with Idle, who was sipping a Guinness in a dark alcove downstairs. He said he got the idea for Rutlemania after the Fab Four (Ron McNeil, Ardy Sarraf, Michael Amador, and Rolo Sandoval) played a party at his house about five years ago, mixing in Beatles covers with Rutles songs. And he was thrilled to hear that Sid Bernstein, the man who brought the Beatles to America, was in the audience, sitting in the front row. Even without appearances by any of the original Rutles, RUTLEMANIA turned out to more fun than it had any right to be, so Beatles and Rutles fans should just “get up and go.”
Juan Carlos Hernandez
Ornette Coleman will celebrate his birthday early at Town Hall
The Town Hall
123 West 43rd St. between Sixth Ave. & Broadway
Friday, March 28, $76.50-$101.50, 8:00
212-608-0555
http://www.the-townhall-nyc.org
Avant-garde jazz master Ornette Coleman has had quite a year, winning the 2007 Pulitzer Prize, collapsing from dehydration at Bonnaroo, and earning a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. The Texas-born saxman changed the face of music with his seminal 1959 record, THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME, recorded with Don Cherry on trumpet, Charlie Haden on double bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. FREE JAZZ: A COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION BY THE ORNETTE COLEMAN DOUBLE QUARTET followed, featuring Cherry, Haden and Higgins as well as Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, and Ed Blackwell, expanding even more the language of music. But while his innovative compositions and interpretations were hailed by many, it was also decried as mere noise. Now in his sixth decade of releasing records, he is still creating a new musical vocabulary; his most recent release, SOUND GRAMMAR (September 2006), recorded live in Italy, was his first in more than a decade, featuring his latest band, with Ornette playing sax, trumpet, and violin, his son Denardo on drums, and Greg Cohen and Tony Falanga on acoustic bass. "I seek to play pure emotion," Coleman has said. Things could get mighty emotional on March 28 at the Town Hall, where he’ll be playing a rare New York City gig, two days before his seventy-eighth birthday. Don’t miss the festivities.
Junko Futagawa
Boredoms will play in the round at Terminal 5
Terminal 5
610 West 56th St. between Eleventh & Twelfth Aves.
Sunday, March 30, $25-$30, 7:00
212-260-4700
http://www.terminal5nyc.com/calendar/show/1094
http://www.myspace.com/boredoms
Hailing from Osaka, Japan, Boredoms have been making their unique brand of music for more than twenty years. On such albums as SUPER ARE, VISION CREATION NEWSUN, CHOCOLATE SYNTHESIZER, and POP TATARI, an ever-changing mix of members combined to create experimental noise, hallucinatory rock, screaming punk, and other songs that sound, as they like to say, like "nobody else." Last year they gathered with seventy-seven drummers to present a special free show in Brooklyn Bridge Park on July 7, 2007. Now Eye, Yoshimi, Senju, and Yojiro are back, playing in the round at Terminal 5 in support of its brand-new record, SUPER ROOTS #9 (March 2008), which consists of one mesmerizing, forty-minute foray into ethereal, trippy orchestral music. Soft Circle and Black Pus will open the show.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway debut is a rousing triumph
Richard Rodgers Theatre
226 West 46th St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
Tickets: $20-$110 (limited number of $26.50 front-row tickets sold by lottery every day two hours prior to show)
212-307-4100
http://www.intheheightsthemusical.com
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s off-Broadway hit IN THE HEIGHTS has made an immediate splash on the Great White Way. After last year’s successful run at 37 Arts, the show has expanded into the Richard Rodgers Theatre, where audiences are falling in love with the story of a tight-knit Latino neighborhood in Washington Heights in a changing world. Miranda, who wrote the music and lyrics, stars as Usnavi, a nice guy who runs the local bodega (just as his father had) and is terrified of revealing his feelings for the very hot — and very popular — Vanessa (Karen Olivo), who is having difficulty trying to move out of the Heights and into the West Village. Meanwhile, Nina (Mandy Gonzalez) has returned from her first year at Stanford, where she lost her scholarship and feels that she has let down the entire community. Her parents, Kevin (Carlos Gomez) and Camila (Priscilla Lopez), who own a car service, become angry and upset when Nina shows an interest in Ben (Christopher Jackson), one of the only non-Latinos on the block — and Kevin’s most loyal employee. Comic relief comes in the form of Daniela (Andréa Burns), who keeps the gossip flowing at her salon — even though she’s leaving town soon as well. And in the middle of it all is Abuela (Olga Merediz), who dishes out friendship, advice, and lots of love to everyone.
Usnavi looks on as Sonny makes reaches for Vanessa
Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes, who wrote the book, do a terrific job of not overdoing the melodrama as the characters share their hopes and dreams amid Anna Louizos’s gritty set, consisting of realistic storefronts and fire escapes, with the George Washington Bridge looming in the distance, a vision of freedom that is also overwhelming and confining (and which gives the neighborhood its name). As the Fourth of July approaches, friends and family prepare for a big celebration, but the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are just as much home to them as the Heights. There are no drugs, prostitution, or violence in this community — it’s more OUR TOWN than WEST SIDE STORY, but it still has an edge. Andy Blankenbuehler’s choreography grooves to the music, infused with hip hop, rap, disco, salsa, and pop, with exceptional work done by the ensemble, particularly Nina LaFarga (who also understudies for Nina). IN THE HEIGHTS is rousing good fun from top to bottom, from start to finish, a great time whether you’re from Uptown, Downtown, or out of town.
http://www.bloodshotrecords.com
Introducing "Death of Country Music," the Waco Brothers announce, "It’s something we’ve been working towards over the years. And I think with this album we will finally achieve it." Filled with hard-rockin’ raucous hardcore country punk from a misanthropic group of don’t-call-them-alt-country-vets all-stars, WACO EXPRESS is a nonstop paean to sweaty, gut-wrenching, foot-stomping music. As they sing in "Death of Country Music, they’re "picking the flesh off the bone." Singer-guitarist Jonboy Langford, drummer Steve Lil’ Willy Goulding, bassist Alan "Sprockets" Doughty, singer-guitarist Deano, singer-mandolinist Tracy Dear, and pedal steeler Marc "Durantula" Durante — with such pedigrees as the Mekons, Dollar Store, KMFDM, and Jesus Jones — are inspired by "booze and political malcontent," and those elements are plastered all over WACO EXPRESS, which was recorded live at Schubas Tavern in their adopted hometown of Chicago. (The club doesn’t use an apostrophe but the album title does.)
The Waco Brothers get down and dirty on sixteen mind-blowing forays into the depths of cowpunk. "Red Brick Wall" is a classic prison song, featuring such lyrics as "I’m standing in the alley / with my hands on a red brick wall / Well, the more I claim I’m innocent / the guiltier I become." "Too Sweet to Die" references Shelly Winters and NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. The band rollicks through such barnburners as "Cowboy in Flames," "Do What I Say," and "If You Don’t Change Yr Mind" before coming to a close with a killer version of Neil Young’s "Revolution Blues" and the pulsating honky-tonk number "Take Me to the Fires." Although they played the recent SXSW Festival, there are no plans for them touring in our area anytime soon, which is a shame. But in the meantime, at least we have this live album to get us through the night.
twi-ny/mdr
Anybody can now become a star atop Times Square
Chashama Gallery
112 West 44th St.
Through April 26
Admission: free
http://www.durst.org/iinthesky
Through April 26, visitor can come to the photo booth at Chashama and take pictures of themselves to be shown on the 2,500-sq.-ft. billboard atop the Conde Nast building at 4 Times Square. The booth is open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 12 noon — 8:00 pm. The photos will be animated by Raul Vincent Enriquez and displayed as part of a massive flip book.
Creative Time/Matthew Buckingham
Matthew Buckingham film lands on water taxi
NY Water Taxi Dock, Pier 45
Christopher St. at the Hudson River
Admission: free but advance tickets required
Friday, March 28
through
Sunday, March 30 Creative Time presents screenings of Matthew Buckingham’s MUHHEAKANTUCK — EVERYTHING HAS A NAME on board a water taxi, 7:00 & 8:00
Tuesday, April 1 New YorkCity-based artist Matthew Buckingham discusses his latest project, MUHHEAKANTUCK — EVERYTHING HAS A NAME, Cantor Film Center, 36 East Eighth St. between Broadway & University Pl.
Through April 12 Matthew Buckingham solo show featuring the film and video installations FALSE FUTURE and EVERYTHING I NEED, Murray Guy Gallery, 453 West 17th St. at Tenth Ave., second floor, Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm
Locations to be announced day of event
Tuesday, March 25, 8:00, $22
Photographers Jonathan Harris, Joseph Holmes, and Elizabeth Weinberg will battle it out at an undisclosed Brooklyn location, taking 180 Polaroids apiece to stitch together live narratives on a three-foot-by-three-foot canvas in LVHRD's latest mosh-up competition. LVHRD's events are always a lot of fun, whether duels in fashion, architecture, or eating (from a vending machine!). Complementary beverages will be available from Brooklyn Brewery, and Veer will be sponsoring a Bingo game as well.
Warren Ellis, the author of the popular graphic novel series Transmetropolitan, turns to the detective genre with his crooked little debut novel, CROOKED LITTLE VEIN. Ellis’s sad-sack hero is Michael McGill, a down-on-his-luck private dick who has just about given up on his life and career (or whatever career he had). He hates just about everything and everybody, including himself. But when the utterly bizarre White House chief of staff enters his domain, offering him an utterly bizarre case, McGill signs on, mostly because of the half-mil that the creepy guy wired into his account. Picking up a sex-crazed revolutionary named Trixie, McGill sets out on an utterly bizarre adventure trying to track down an alternate Constitution that has the power to change the world. While his initial stops along the way merely show off just how weird Ellis can be and get tiresome, he eventually settles into the plot, taking the reader on an utterly bizarre journey that includes — well, you’ll never believe what it includes, but it’s pretty downright funny and utterly bizarre.
All contents copyright 2008 by Mark Rifkin and twi-ny. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. Please note that events, dates, and prices are subject to change.
Send all comments, suggestions, reviews, and questions to mark.rifkin@twi-ny.com.
Please note that some e-mail clients may wrap links, so be sure to enter them fully into your browser.
To subscribe to this list, please e-mail the administrator at admin@twi-ny.com with the word Subscribe in the Subject line; be sure to ask for back issues, which are free as well. To unsubscribe from this list, please think it over twice before e-mailing the same address. Please let us know what you didn't like about this forum and we'll do our best to correct it in the future -- if we agree with you. If you would like to see something covered in a future issue, please let us know. Without you, there is no need for us to exist.
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
Blue Note
131 West Third St.
Tickets: table $27.50, bar $15
212-475-8592
Tuesday, March 18
through
Sunday, March 23 Bass player Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King play their trademark covers and originals, featuring group improvisation on such tunes as "Giant," "Mint," "1980 World Champion," "Tom Sawyer," "Life on Mars," "This Guy’s in Love with You," and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," 8:00 & 10:30
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
National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park South
Tickets: $25 (business attire required)
RSVP by March 19: 212-465-3184, events@metropolitandogclub.com
Thursday, March 20 Lecture by Dr. Robert Reisman and Officer Joseph Pentangelo of the ASPCA, followed by a cocktail reception, sponsored by the Metropolitan Dog Club, 6:30
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 20 GANGSTER SOLDIER (HEITAI YAKUZA) (Yasuzo Masumura, 1965), 7:00
Humanities and Social Sciences Library
Celeste Bartos Forum (CBF) or South Court Auditorium (SCA)
Fifth Ave. & 42nd St.
March 7-20
Tickets: $15
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
Multiple venues
Through March 24
Admission: free unless otherwise noted
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 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 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 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
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: Jaishri Abichandani, "Reconciliations," Queens Museum of Art, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, free with suggested museum donation of $5, 4:00
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
Cornelia Street Café
29 Cornelia St.
Admission: $7 (includes house drink)
212-989-9319
http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com
Friday, March 21 Limited open reading, with guest poets Mina Loy and Arthur Cravan, with multimedia show, "Christ on a Crossword Puzzle," and more, hosted by Kathi Georges, costumes encouraged, 6:00
Museum of Modern Art
Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building
4 West 54th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Tickets: $10
212-708-9400
Friday, March 21 Martin Creed in conversation with Pablo Helguera, Celeste Bartos Theater, 6:30
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Tickets: $25 (two day pass: $42)
212-715-1258
Friday, March 21 Multimedia experimental artists and musician Ikue Mori with Matt Welch and Bhima Swarga present a world premiere collaboration between Mori and vocalist Makigami Koichi, curated by John Zorn, 7:30
Saturday, March 22 Multimedia experimental artists and musician Ikue Mori with Phantom Orchard (including harpist Zeena Parkins and guest percussionist Cyro Baptista) and Mephista (with Sylvie Courvoisier and Susie Ibarra) play Mori’s scores to silent films by Maya Deren, curated by John Zorn, 7:30
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
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
Jacob Javits Convention Center
Eleventh Ave. between 34th & 39th Sts.
Admission: $14 adults, $4 children twelve and under
800-282-3336
Friday, March 21
through
Sunday, March 30 The 108th anniversary of one of the country’s biggest auto shows, featuring such new cars & trucks as the Smart Passion Coupe; such New York debuts as the Bentley Brooklands; such concept cars as the Cadillac Provoq; such alternative fuel vehicles as the SAAB 9-5 Aero Bio Power Concept; and a bevy of international beauties as well as such special events as the "Match It!" game show, the "Toyota Live!" talk show, the Automotive Career Fair, the National Automotive Technology Competition, and various breakout sessions
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 21 Mind Over Matter: SOLARIS (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972), introduced by Phillip Lopate, 8:00
Friday, March 28 Mind Over Matter: eXistenZ (David Cronenberg, 1999), introduced by Patricia Towers, 9:30
Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park
Admission: free
718-802-0603
Saturday, March 22 Fourth annual event featuring twelve thousand eggs, Marty Markowitz, kid-rock band AudraRox, the Heights Players, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the New York Transit Museum, and the Brooklyn Public Library, Equinox Fitness Centers (giving out yo-yos), and National Grid/KeySpan (providing kites), with prizes from Jacques Torres, Half Pint, and others, 11:00 am — 2:00 pm
JCC in Manhattan
334 Amsterdam Ave. at 76th St.
Tickets: $12
646-505-5708
Saturday, March 22 Music, storytelling, and masquerade ball, with Rabbi Jill Hammer and friends, 7:30
B.B. King Blues Club
237 West 42nd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tickets: $30
212-997-4144
Saturday, March 22 Veteran political satirist plays two very special shows, 7:30 & 10:00
709 Lorimer St. between Richardson & Frost Sts.
Williamsburg
Admission: free
718-302-3770
http://www.petescandystore.com
http://www.myspace.com/andrewgregory
Saturday, March 22 Andrew Gregory performs tunes from his latest release, THE COLOR RED AND OTHER SONGS ABOUT THE POWER OF LOVE, with other musicians who appear on the record, Malcolm Perkins AKA Look Alike at 9:00, Andrew Rose Gregory at 10:00, and the Gregory Brothers featuring Ms. Sara Fullen at 11:00
Galapagos Art Space
70 North Sixth St. between Wythe and Kent, Williamsburg
Monthly Saturdays
Admission: $15 ($10 with RSVP and in costume)
http://www.geminiandscorpio.com/e08-02-14.html
http://www.galapagosartspace.com
Saturday, March 22 Smokin’ hot 1920s jazz and early swing, with free Charleston / Lindy dance class and fire show (8:00), live music by Michael Arenella & Jis Dreamland Orchestra, the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn, and Baby Soda Jazz Band, burlesque from Molly Crabapple, performance by Angela Harriell’s Love Show Dancers, aerial stunts by Olseaux, spinning beats from DJ Dhundee and DJ Shakey, and much more, 9:00
Queens Museum of Art, New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Suggested donation: $5
Closed Monday & Tuesday
718-592-9700
Saturday, March 22 Queens Artists Connection, with live performances, raffle, slide slam, portfolio reviews, and more, 2:00 — 6:00
Sunday, March 23 New York States of Mind Film Program: 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
Saturday, March 29 Urdu Poet Raies Warsi Book Launch & Talk, with light refreshments, 5:00
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.
Sunday, March 23 STRIKE (Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1925)
Sunday, March 30 STORM OVER ASIA (POTOMOK CHINGIS-KHANA) (Vsevolod Pudovkin, 1928)
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 24 Lesa Terry and the Women’s Jazz Quartet, with Kaissa opening, 7:00
BAMcinematek / BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Through April 3
718-636-4100
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
Monday, March 31 JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES (Chantal Akerman, 1976), 7:00
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
Thursday, April 3 A CLOUD-CAPPED STAR (Ritwik Ghatak, 1960), 6:50, 9:30
French Institute Alliance Française
Tinker Auditorium
55 East 59th St. between Park & Madison Aves.
Tickets: $10
212-307-4100
Tuesday, March 25 Screening of LE DIVORCE (James Ivory, 2003), followed by a Q&A with James Ivory, moderated by Jean Christian Agid, 7:00
School of Visual Arts, third-floor amphitheater
133/141 West 21st St., room 101 C
Admission: free
212-592-2010
Tuesday, March 25 Beth B, POSITIVE ID: FROM THE CASE FILES OF ANTHONY FALSETTI, 7:00
Housing Works Used Book Café
126 Crosby St. between Houston & Prince Sts.
Admission: free
212-334-3324
Tuesday, March 25 Reading and conversation with Kim Cooper, Andrew Hultkrans, Amanda Petrusich, and Kate Schatz, followed by a Q&A and reception, 7:00
Legion
790 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg
Admission: free
718-387-3797
Tuesday, March 25 Free pool, happy hour drink specials, homemade lasagna buffet, and more, 8:00
Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
Tickets: $25-$34
212-645-2904
Tuesday, March 25
through
Sunday, March 30 Israel’s Emanuel Gat Dance makes its Joyce debut with K626, an evening-length work based on Mozart’s original uncompleted REQUIEM
Whitney Museum of American Art
745 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
212-570-7715
Tuesday, March 25 Matt Mullican, $6, 7:00
Friday, March 28 Multiple Edition: Ry Rocklen, free with museum admission, 7:00
The New School
Swayduck Auditorium, Albert List Academic Center
65 Fifth Ave, at 13th St.
Admission: free
Wednesday, March 26 Painter Marilyn Minter discusses her work, 3:15
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Ave. at 34th St.
Admission: free
212-817-8215
Wednesday, March 26 Jazz master Sonny Rollins in conversation with music critic Gary Giddins, 6:30
St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery
Second Ave. and Tenth St.
Admission: $8
212-674-0910
Wednesday, March 26 Pablo Medina and Mark Statman’s new translation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s POET IN NEW YORK is read by Ron Padgett, Jaime Manrique, Bill Zavatsky, Jane LeCroy, Pablo Medina, Mark Statman, Iraida Iturralde, and Aristedes Falcon, with live flamenco music by Roman Diaz on cajon, Carlos Revollar on guitar, and other musicians, 8:00
Hudson Guild Theater
441 West 26th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tickets: $20
http://www.wendyossermandance.org
Wednesday, March 26
through
Sunday, March 30 Czech singer, musician, and composer Iva Bittová will be performing a new collaborative piece with the Wendy Osserman Dance Company
American Museum of Natural History
Rose Center for Earth and Space
Central Park West & 81st St.
Admission: $20 (includes Space Show and free museum pass for future use)
212-769-5315
Friday, March 28 Multimedia dance party featuring Simian Mobile Disco, 9:00 pm — 1:00 am
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.
Tickets: $23
212-535-7710
Saturday, March 29 Illustrated lecture by Robert Storr, featuring works by Kara Walker, Kiki Smith, Chris Ofili, John Currin, Lisa Yuskavage, Mike Kelley, and Paul McCarthy, 6:00
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music
58 Seventh Ave. in Brooklyn
212-209-3370
Saturday, March 29 The inimitable trumpet player Roy Hargrove plays two shows at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 7:00 & 9:00
Church of St. Paul the Apostle
Columbus Avenue at 60th St.
Tickets: $15-$35
917-326-1422
http://www.nycmasterchorale.org
Saturday, March 29, 8:00
and
Sunday, March 30, 3:00 The New York City Master Chorale performs Nicolas Flagellos’s "The Passion of Martin Luther King" and traditional spirituals, with soprano Rhea Walker, baritone Elex Lee Vann, and pianist Tanya Gabrelian, conducted by artistic director and founder Dr. Thea Kano,
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, fourth floor
200 Eastern Parkway
Free with museum suggested contribution of $8
718-638-5000
Sunday, March 30 Panel discussion with Carolee Schneeman, Mira Shor, Brynna Tucker, Susan Bee, and Emma Bee-Bernstein, 3:00
Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 9
260 West 23rd St.
Tickets: $12
212-691-5519
http://dandeentertainment.com/falloutboy.html
Sunday, March 30 Special theatrical premiere of Fall Out Boy's brand-new two-disc CD/DVD release, ONE NIGHT ONLY: LIVE IN PHOENIX, 3:00
The Frick Collection
1 East 70th St. at Fifth Ave.
Tickets: $25
212-547-0700
Sunday, March 30 Soprano Kate Royal maker her New York recital debut with pianist Roger Vignoles: Rodrigo; Granados; Debussy, from Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire; Canteloube; Strauss, Mädchenblümen, Opus 22, 5:00
B.B. King Blues Club
237 West 42nd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tickets: $100
212-997-4144
Monday, March 31 James Moody plays a benefit concert to support the James Moody Scholarship Fund
Symphony Space, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
Tickets: $15-$50
212-864-5400
Monday, March 31
and
Tuesday, April 1 Live music and dance under the artistic direction of Jelon Vieria, performing their new work, RITMO, 8:00
Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tickets: $25-$30
212-414-5994
http://www.highlineballroom.com
Tuesday, April 1 Mark Oliver Everett and band play songs from their two new compilations, MEET THE EELS and USELESS TRINKETS, $25-$30, 7:00
The New School, John Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Tickets: $5
212-980-3942
Wednesday, April 2 Installation artist Liam Gillick, 6:30
Times Center
242 West 41st St.
Tickets: $25
718-784-4520
Thursday, April 3 Hong Kong director of such films as IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE and CHUNGKING EXPRESS will talk about his career and his first English-language work, MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS, presented by the Museum of the Moving Image and moderated by David Schwartz, 7:00