Exhibit of the Week
05.09.07
1. A walk around the United Nations and through Zen painting at the Japan Society
2. David Bowie’s High Line Festival and the seventh annual Bicycle Film Fest
3. Film series honoring tough guys Lee Marvin, Sam Fuller, and Werner Herzog
4. The Sisters Grimm, Robin Hood, Harry Potter, and Winnie-the-Pooh at the Donnell
Volume 6, Number 49
May 9-23, 2007
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Site Design/Subway Photo:
Fred Gates Design, New York.
Reisai, detail, “Bukan, Kanzan, and Jittoku,” fifteenth century, pair of hanging scrolls, ink and colors on paper, property of Mary Griggs Burke, photo by Bruce Schwarz
Japan Society
333 E. 47th St. at First Ave.
Closed Monday
Through June 17
Admission: $10 ($5 with receipt from first rotation)
212-715-1288
“Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan” is a contemplative examination of the depiction of figures from the Zen Buddhist pantheon in Japan and China. Reshaping the galleries into separate walled areas dedicated to specific subjects, the show presents forty-seven hanging scrolls, handscrolls, and door panels from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, placing Japanese Zen Buddhist works next to similar or related Chinese Chan pieces. The beautiful, intricately designed paintings honor patriarchs, monks, and sansheng (scattered priests), often pointing to their time of awakening. The rooms are organized around such themes as “Patriarchs and Eccentrics” and “Ritual and Portraiture,” with many of the works featuring poetic inscriptions, in gorgeous calligraphy, that were added after the original paintings were completed. Appropriately, the exhibit opens with three versions of Sakyamuni Descending the Mountain, one from China, two from different Japanese periods. All three illustrate a pivotal moment as the man soon to become known as the Buddha prepares to seek his own awakening under the Bodhi Tree.
Photo: Kanai Morio, courtesy of Kyoto National Museum
Oguri Sokei, “The Four Gentlemanly Accomplishments,” sixteenth century, eight sliding-door panels, ink and light colors on paper
In “Bodhidarma Meditating Facing a Wall” (Chinese, thirteenth century), Bodhidarma meditates on a rock at the mouth of a cave, a jagged cliff looming ominously over his head, his disciple Huike Shenguang sitting behind him, at a lower level. In “Slumbering Budai” (Chinese, thirteenth century), the sansheng Budai rests on a large bag, his walking stick lying horizontally before him, a mostly empty scroll filled with his spirit. The Japanese version of Budai is shown in “Hotei” (Japanese, late fifteenth/early sixteenth centuries) as a jolly, rotund man with his hand on his big belly, smiling widely. In one of the most spectacular paintings, “Zen Patriarchs” (Japanese, ca. 1513), a monk, in the far left of four sliding-door panels, stands with his walking stick, looking up at a tree branch, surrounded by craggy rocks and a waterfall seemingly pouring out of the sky. One of the most playful characters is the Shrimp Eater (Chinese Xianzi, Japanese Kensu), a sansheng pleased with his capture of a large shrimp, delighted to devour the crustacean despite Buddhist canon against killing (and eating) sentient beings.
Do not hurry through “Awakenings,” a subtle, illuminating exhibit that sneaks up on you. Linger by works that grab, puzzle, or delight you; sit for a moment on the bench overlooking the Japan Society’s pond as you contemplate what you have just seen; and turn back around to find something you missed your first time through. Because of the fragility of many of the works, twenty-two pieces were rotated out this week, replaced with other paintings of similar subjects. (Admission is half price with the ticket stub from the first rotation.) Accompanying the show — the featured exhibition of Japan100: Celebrating a Century, the Japan Society’s yearlong celebration of its centennial — is a comprehensive oversized catalog with essays, splendid reproductions, and detailed discussions of every piece.
Tuesday, May 15 Exhibition Talk: Zen Art in Historical & Comparative Context, with Yoshiaki Shimizu, Yukio Lippit, Gregory P. Levine, and Sarah E. Fraser, moderated by Barbara B. Ford, $12, 6:30
Thursday, June 14 Exhibition Talk: Zen & Popular Culture: Interpretations, Re-interpretations, Misinterpretations, with Sun Ock Lee, Michael O’Keefe, and Kenneth Kraft, moderated by Helen Tworkov, $12, 6:30
© Laurie Lambrecht.
The South Wing’s AOI!
comes to the Japan Society
Japan Society
333 E. 47th St. at First Ave.
212-715-1258
http://www.japansociety.org/events
Friday, May 11, 18
and
Saturday, May 12, 19 Works in Progress: Yukio Mishima’s Modern Noh Plays: HANJO & THE LADY AOI, performed by Leon Ingulsrud of the SITI Company (HANJO) and the South Wing company (THE LADY AOI), $12, 7:30
Thursday, May 31
through
Saturday, June 2 Koosil-Ja’s mech[A] OUTPUT, a 3D multimedia dance performance, $25, 7:30
In the Neighborhood
twi-ny/mdr
Memorial honors Raoul Wallenberg’s life and work
First Ave. meridian at 47th St.
http://www.raoulwallenberg.net
On the meridian at the end of 47th St. along First Ave., in front of the United Nations Sculpture Garden, stands a moving monument to hope. "Hope," designed by Gustav Kraitz, consists of five twenty-three-feet-tall marble monoliths and a bronze briefcase donated by Hungary and dedicated to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish WWII savior of nearly 100,000 Jews; Wallenberg has been missing since his arrest by the Russians in January 1945, although a few years ago Russia returned his passport to his descendants, virtually admitting his fate. Each of the black pillars, polished on the front and back, rough hewn on the sides, contains information about Wallenberg’s life and work; for example, one says, "Displaying great daring and ingenuity, Raoul Wallenberg saved the lives of countless Hungarian Jews by placing them under the protection of the Swedish Government." Another features a quote from Wallenberg himself: "I could never return to Stockholm, knowing that I had failed to do everything within human power to save as many Jews as possible." At the foot of the pillars is a bronze replica of a briefcase with the initials RW engraved on it, a lonely reminder of not only his own fate but the work that still has to be done around the world to end genocide. Interestingly, one of Wallenberg’s relatives is married to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
twi-ny/mdr
Arnaldo Pomodoro’s "Sphere Within a Sphere," at the UN
46th St. & First Ave.
Plaza, garden, and lobby: free
Tour: $13
Monday-Friday, 9:00 to 4:45
Saturday & Sunday, 10:00 am — 4:30 pm
Sculpture Garden: Daily, 11:00 am — 3:00 pm
One of our favorite things to do this time of year is take an afternoon wandering around the grounds of the United Nations, both inside and outside. The plaza and gardens — currently the cherry trees are in gorgeous bloom, with the roses (including such varieties as All-That Jazz, Fame, Betty Boop, Marmalade Skies, and Love & Peace) to follow next month — are dotted with sculpture gifts from member nations from around the world. Near the front gate on Visitor’s Plaza is Luxembourg’s donation, Karl Fredrik Reutersward’s "Non-Violence," a sculpture of a large-scale .45-caliber revolver with its barrel tied into a knot. Across the way is Arnaldo Pomodoro’s "Sphere Within a Sphere," a golden globe that has been ripped open, revealing another blasted globe inside, as if the earth has been torn apart; it’s similar to one he made that stands at the Vatican as well as eerily reminiscent of Fritz Koenig’s "Sphere," which was badly damaged on 9/11 on the World Trade Center’s Austin J. Tobin Plaza and can now be found in Battery Park. Walk east toward the river until you come to Finnish sculptor Eila Hiltunen’s small version of her "Passio Musicae," an abstract tribute to composer Jean Sibelius.
twi-ny/mdr
Evgeniy Vuchetich statue is seen through cherry blossoms
Follow Ranan Lurie’s colorful "Uniting Painting" down the steps to the garden and over to Evgeniy Vuchetich’s "Let Us Beat Our Swords into Ploughshares," in which a man holds a mallet over his head, smashing a sword, declaring an end to war, a gift from the Soviet Union. Be sure to walk to the water for a terrific view of everything between the Queensboro and Williamsburg Bridges, including Roosevelt Island and the old Silvercup Studios sign in Long Island City. Then turn back into the garden, where you’ll soon come upon a gift from women from member countries of the League of Arab States, Silvio Russo’s brushed stainless-steel sculpture "Symbolizing Sisterhood Solidarity," which shows twelve women holding hands in a "synergetic representation of a Rising Sun."
twi-ny/mdr
Silvio Russo celebrates solidarity of sisterhood with circular sculpture
Take a break in the alcove dedicated to Eleanor Roosevelt, which praises her with the quote "She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness and her glow has warmed the world." Kani Alavi’s "Trophy of Civil Rights" features the artist’s graffiti on a piece of the Berlin Wall, a gift from Germany. John Behan’s "Arrival" is a bronze statue of the Irish coming to America, disembarking from a ship. Giacomo Manzu’s "Mother and Child," a gift from Italy, features an elongated woman standing tall, her arms reaching over her head, while a baby suckles at her breast. The USSR also presented the United Nations with a striking work by Zurab Tsereteli, alternately known as "Good Defeats Evil" and "Dragon of War," in which St. George is slaying a dragon that is partly made up of pieces of actual missiles from the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
twi-ny/mdr
Stunning photo exhibit honors best pics of 2007
There’s also a lot to see inside the UN. After going through the very slow metal-detector line, walk around the main lobby, which is free. To your right is the Marc Chagall Peace Window and a tribute to those "fallen in the cause of peace." Nearby is Robert Berks’s bust of Pablo Casals and the "Only One Earth" glass monument. There are three main exhibitions currently on display: "Enduring Fear" features photographs by Bobby Neel Adams and Charlotte Ostervang of men, women, and children who have been affected by landmines in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Mozambique. "World Press Photo 07" includes dozens of remarkable award-winning photographs in such categories as "Spot News," "Sports Action," "Contemporary Issues," "Daily Life," and "Nature"; while Michael Nichols’s first-prize photo of a serval cat is amazingly cute and Franck Seguin’s winning shot of Guillaume Néry underwater, attempting to break the world freediving record, is simply wonderful, the majority of the photos are graphic depictions of war and strife from all over the world. At the far end of the lobby, near the entrance to the guided tours, is "Lessons from Rwanda," a brief examination of what went wrong there and how such tragedies can be avoided in the future.
Finally, English-language tours ($13) of about fifteen people each leave from the back of the lobby every fifteen to thirty minutes or so; tours in other languages run less frequently. The forty-five-minute tour could include stops in the Security Council, the Trusteeship Council, the Economic & Social Council, and the General Assembly. You might be lucky and catch part of an actual meeting, or you might be unlucky if a more important meeting is going on and that chamber is closed to the public that day. After the tour is over, go downstairs to the basement and check out the gift shops, which sell dolls, jewelry, carvings, flags, and tons of other cool stuff, all grouped by country of origin. And don’t miss the post office, where you can buy stamps and postcards you can’t find anywhere else — and that must be mailed from this facility.
Meow Meow purr their way into High Line Fest
Highline Ballroom (HLB)
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
http://www.highlinefestival.com
http://www.highlineballroom.com
Built between 1929 and 1934, the High Line is an elevated rail line that ran downtown from 34th St. and goes as far as Gansevoort St. before being shut down. After a long, hard fight with the city, Friends of the High Line managed to keep the High Line from the wrecking ball; it is now being developed as an open public space, scheduled to be completed next year. Taking a page out of England’s annual Meltdown Festival, event organizers David Binder and Josh Wood have enlisted David Bowie to curate the first of what they hope is an annual arts festival all over town, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Friends of the High Line.
Wednesday, May 9 Arcade Fire with the National, Radio City Music Hall, $35.50, 8:00
Wednesday, May 9
through
Saturday, May 19 Laurie McLeod Presents Waterhaven Underwater Films, water tower at corner of 14th & Washington Sts., free, sunset to midnight
Thursday, May 10 Air with Kate Havnevik and TV on the Radio, Theater at Madison Square Garden, $36-$46, 8:00
Friday, May 11 The Polyphonic Spree, Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves., $35, 6:30
Friday, May 11 Homage to Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore: Film, Panel, and Performances, featuring screenings of LOVER OTHER (Barbara Hammer) at 2:00, 3:30, and 5:00, with a panel discussion and performance at 6:30 with Shelley Rice, Barbara Hammer, JD Samson, and Murray Hill, Aperture Gallery, 547 West 27th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., fourth floor, 6:30
Friday, May 11
through
Thursday, May 17 David Bowie Presents 10 Latin American and Spanish Film from the Last 100 Years, Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th St.
Wednesday, May 16 Daniel Johnston, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, HLB, $21.50 (sold out), 8:00
Wednesday, May 16
and
Thursday, May 17 Ken Nordine, the Kitchen, 512 West 19th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., $19, 8:00
Thursday, May 17 Deerhoof with Dirty Projectors and Robert Stillman’s Horses, Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Pl. between 14th & 15th Sts., $16.50, 8:00
Thursday, May 17
and
Friday, May 18 Laurie Anderson, HLB, $37, 7:30
Thursday, May 17
and
Friday, May 18 Ricky Gervais, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., $30, 8:00
The innovative work of Claude Cahun is celebrated at fest
Thursday, May 17
through
Sunday, May 20 Claude Cahun multimedia art installation, General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church gardens, 175 Ninth Ave. at 20th St., free, dusk to midnight
Friday, May 18 Meow Meow with John Cameron Mitchell & Lance Horne, Hiro Ballroom, 371 West 16th St., $19, 7:30
Friday, May 18 Talib Kweli, HLB, $30-$35, 11:00
Saturday, May 19 Ricky Gervais, Theater at Madison Square Garden, $46-$66, 8:00
Saturday, May 19 Secret Machines, HLB, $26.50 (sold out), 9:00
KLUNKERZ makes East Coast premiere at bike fest
Anthology Film Archives unless otherwise noted
32 Second St. at Second Ave.
Admission: $8.50 for screenings, everything else free
http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com
The seventh annual Bicycle Film Festival features special musical performances, an art exhibit, a parade, a street fair, film screenings, and a couple of ultracool parties. The films all involve bicycles and, often, bike messengers, with several premieres. Make sure not to drive your SUV to any of the below events; take alternative forms of transportation, including bicycles and, of course, foot when possible.
Wednesday, May 16 Bikes Rock: opening party featuring Mates of State and Gang Gang Dance, 23rd St. & the East River, free, 7:00 — 10:00
Wednesday, May 16 Opening night afterparty, featuring GANG GANG DANCE, Studio B, 259 Banker St., free, 10:00 pm — 4:00 am
Thursday, May 17 Joyride: An Art Show Inspired by the Bicycle, curated by Brendt Barbur, hosted by Fountainhead Films, featuring work by such artists as Swoon, Michel Gondry, Shepard Fairey, Peter Sutherland, DAZE, ESPO, Julia Chiang, and more, ArtSpace, 33 West 17th St. near Fifth Ave., free, 6:00 pm — 12 noon
Friday, May 18 SKI BOYS (Benny Zenga, 2006), BIKE KILL 4 (Nick Golebiewski, 2006), and the New York premiere of MONKEY WARFARE (Reginald Harkema, 2006), 7:00, 9:00, 11:00
Saturday, May 19 Bike Parade: individuals, groups, organized teams, and all other bike riders are invited to take part in this annual event, meet at 33 West 17th St. near Fifth Ave., free, 1:00
Saturday, May 19 Street Party, featuring bike games, BunnyHop Challenge, live performance by Ines Brunn, and more, Second St. at Second Ave., free, 1:00 — 7:00
Ines Brunn will be among the performers at bikefest block party
Saturday, May 19 Shorts, including THE NEW WOMAN: ANNIE "LONDONDERRY" KOPCHOVSKY (Gillian Klempner & Meghan Shoa, 2006), HIT A FROG (Andrew Lynn & Victoria Kereszi, 2007), THE CASE FOR SEPARATED BIKE LANES (Clarence Eckerson Jr., 2007), TO STEAL A BICYCLE (Jes Therkelsen, 2006), PR07ECTOR BIKE (Oliver Walker, 2007), MILANO BYE BIKE (Stefano Carugati, 2006), CHAIN (Ana Ribeiro, 2006), THE TIDES (Eva Flodstrom, 2007), and more, 3:00
Saturday, May 19 BROTHER (Syd Woodward, 2006) and the East Coast premiere of KLUNKERZ (Billy Salvage, 2006), 5:00
Saturday, May 19 Messenger Shorts, including DAO & THE ART OF BICYCLE INVENTION (Danny Beck, 2006), WOLFPACK. THE HUSTLE RIDE, (Donny Digital, 2007), BICYCLE FOR SLEEPING OR MAYBE DRUNK OK (Ross Harris, 2007), NIGHT OF THE LIVING BICYCLES CYKLERNES NAT (Louise Falck Bruun, 2006), ON THE BOARD: FREECALL MESSENGERS IN SAN FRANCISCO (Dan Gingold, 2007), RIDING BIKES & ROBBING TRAINS (Philip Parkin, 2006), TRACK KAIJU (Michael Green, 2007), LUCAS BRUNELLE VIDEO #2 (Lucas Brunelle, 2007), and more, 7:00, 9:00, 11:00
Sunday, May 20 Shorts, including A HISTORY OF THE BICYCLE (Michael P. Guaghan, 2001), IT’S BITCHIN! (Crazy Girl + Ladypat, 2006), DICK CHENEY (Ann T. Rossetti, 2006), ERIC NG MEMORIAL RIDE (Clarence Eckerson Jr., 2006), SHERIDAN EXPRESSWAY (Steve McMaster, 2006), AFRICYCLE (Benny Zenga, 2006), PARK(ING) DAY (Matthew Passmare, 2007), BICYCLE — THE PEDALS REVOLUTION (B-Bunker, 2006), and more, 1:30
Sunday, May 20 A VERY LONG SUMMER AFTERNOON (Eliza Zdrv, 2006), THE BICYCLE: FIGHTING AIDS WITH COMMUNITY MEDICINE (Katerina Cizek, 2006), WRITTEN IN THE STREETS (Philip Diprose, 2006), HUNGER IN THE CITY (Paola Gomez, 2007), and the world premiere of AYAMYE: GOODNESS, KINDNESS, GENEROSITY (Eric Matthies & Tricia Todd, 2007), 3:30
Sunday, May 20 Shorts, including BICYCLE SAMBA (Sophie Clements, 2005), YELLOW JACKET (Bruno Collet, 2005), PUMP (Sinisa Kukic, 2006), REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE (Joseph Knowles 2005), EAT! SLEEP? BIKES! (Sasha Edge, 2007), WE JUST WORK HERE (Brian Vernor, 2007), 5:30
Sunday, May 20 LUCAS BRUNELLE VIDEO #2 (Lucas Brunelle, 2007), PHAT RIDE (Kristian Andrews, 2006), THE TOOLBOX (Chombo, 2007), THE BURG EPISODE 7: TRAINING (Kathleen Grace & Thom Woodley, 2006), SUNDAY SCHOOL (Luke Stiles, 2007), and the East Coast premiere of BIKECAR (J.T. Fountain, 2006), 7:30
Monday, May 21 BFF Wrap Party & B.I.K.E. DVD Release, with complimentary refreshments, Art Space, 33 West 17th St. near Fifth Ave., 7:00 — 10:00
Selmur Pictures / The Kobal Collection
Lee Marvin as a pilot in John Boorman’s HELL IN THE PACIFIC
Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. between Eighth Ave. & Broadway
May 11—24
Tickets: $11
212-875-5600
They don’t come much cooler than Lee Marvin, a tough guy who starred in Westerns, war movies, crime thrillers, and, yes, even a musical. He worked with a host of great directors, including Fritz Lang, John Boorman, Robert Altman, Sam Fuller, John Ford, John Frankenheimer, Don Siegel, and Stanley Kramer, and alongside such costars as Spencer Tracy, Jane Fonda, Jack Palance, John Wayne, Ernest Borgnine, Toshiro Mifune, Fredric March, John Cassavetes, Jean Seberg, Jimmy Stewart, Clint Eastwood, and so many more. Lincoln Center has put together a great selection from his career — among our faves are THE KILLERS, CAT BALLOU, and POINT BLANK — but what, no DIRTY DOZEN?
Friday, May 11 THE BIG HEAT (Fritz Lang, 1953), 2:15
Friday, May 11 BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (John Sturges, 1954), 4:15
Friday, May 11 POINT BLANK (John Boorman, 1967), 6:15
Friday, May 11 LEE MARVIN: A PERSONAL PORTRAIT (John Boorman, 1998) and M SQUAD (Season 1, Episode 21): "Lover’s Lane Killing" (Robert Altman, 1958), 8:30
Saturday, May 12 PRIME CUT (Michael Ritchie, 1972), 2:00
Saturday, May 12 THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (John Ford, 1962), 4:00
Saturday, May 12 HELL IN THE PACIFIC (John Boorman, 1968), 6:30
Saturday, May 12 SHACK OUT ON 101 (Edward Dein, 1955), 9:00
Sunday, May 13 THE BIG RED ONE (Samuel Fuller, 1980; restored 2004), 1:15
Sunday, May 13 PRIME CUT (Michael Ritchie, 1972), 4:30
Sunday, May 13 SHACK OUT ON 101 (Edward Dein, 1955), 6:30
Sunday, May 13 BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (John Sturges, 1954), 8:15
Monday, May 14 CAT BALLOU (Elliot Silverstein, 1965), 1:30
Monday, May 14 THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (John Ford, 1962), 3:30
Monday, May 14 THE ICEMAN COMETH (John Frankenheimer, 1973), 6:30
Tuesday, May 15 HELL IN THE PACIFIC (John Boorman, 1968), 1:00
Tuesday, May 15 CAT BALLOU (Elliot Silverstein, 1965), 8:30
Wednesday, May 16 PAINT YOUR WAGON (Joshua Logan, 1969), 1:00
Wednesday, May 16 SEVEN MEN FROM NOW (Budd Boetticher, 1956), 4:15
Wednesday, May 16 THE BIG HEAT (Fritz Lang, 1953), 6:15
Thursday, May 17 ATTACK (Robert Aldrich, 1956), 1:00
Thursday, May 17 POINT BLANK (John Boorman, 1967), 3:15
Friday, May 18 THE COMANCHEROS (Michael Curtiz, 1961), 1:15
Lorimar / The Kobal Collection
Lee Marvin keeps a lookout in Sam Fuller’s THE BIG RED ONE
Friday, May 18 THE BIG RED ONE (Samuel Fuller, 1980; restored 2004), 3:30
Friday, May 18 THE SPIKES GANG (Richard Fleischer, 1974), 6:30
Friday, May 18 ATTACK (Robert Aldrich, 1956), 8:30
Saturday, May 19 THE SPIKES GANG (Richard Fleischer, 1974), 2:00
Saturday, May 19 SEVEN MEN FROM NOW (Budd Boetticher, 1956), 4:00
Saturday, May 19 EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE (Robert Aldrich, 1973), 8:30
Sunday, May 20 THE COMANCHEROS (Michael Curtiz, 1961), 2:00
Sunday, May 20 PAINT YOUR WAGON (Joshua Logan, 1969), 4:15
Sunday, May 20 SHIP OF FOOLS (Stanley Kramer, 1965), 7:30
Monday, May 21 THE KILLERS (Don Siegel, 1964), 2:30
Tuesday, May 22 MONTE WALSH (William A. Fraker, 1970), 1:00
Tuesday, May 22 EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE (Robert Aldrich, 1973), 3:10
Wednesday, May 23 THE PROFESSIONALS (Richard Brooks, 1966), 1:45
Wednesday, May 23 THE KILLERS (Don Siegel, 1964), 4:15 & 8:30
Wednesday, May 23 MONTE WALSH (William A. Fraker, 1970), 6:15
Thursday, May 24 THE PROFESSIONALS (Richard Brooks, 1966), 8:00
© Silvano Campeggi
James Dean is one of many
Hollywood subjects painted
by Nano Campeggi
Walter Reade Theater
Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery
Open daily from 2:00 to 8:00
Admission: free
212-875-5600
http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/gallery/nano
Wednesday, May 16
through
Wednesday, June 13 Show designed by Silvano "Nano" Campeggi featuring his film-related artwork and the images that inspired them, including movie posters of such films as BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S GILDA, and GONE WITH THE WIND
Richard Widmark keeps an eye on the shadows in PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
May 12 — June 10
Admission: $10
718-784-4520
Iconoclastic filmmaker Sam Fuller was one of the great independents, making eclectic works that challenged conventional Hollywood cinema. While he created such innovative flicks as PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET, THE NAKED KISS, THE BIG RED ONE, and UNDERWORLD, USA, he also made some downright stinkers, including the Western RUN OF THE ARROW and his personal favorite, the insipid newspaper drama PARK ROW. Most often described as a maverick, Sam Fuller usually pushed the envelope — don’t miss the extremely strange SHOCK CORRIDOR — but he’s more well known among cineastes, film students, and directors than by the general public. Here’s a good chance to do some catching up.
Saturday, May 12 THE STEEL HELMET (Sam Fuller, 1951), 2:00
Saturday, May 12 FALKENAU, VISION OF THE IMPOSSIBLE (Emil Weiss, 1988), followed by the first public screening of a thirty-eight-minute reel of Fuller's Falkenau footage, 4:00
Saturday, May 12 PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (Sam Fuller, 1953), preceded by THE TYPEWRITER, THE RIFLE, AND THE MOVIE CAMERA (Adam Simon, 1996), 6:30
Sunday, May 13 PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (Sam Fuller, 1953), preceded by THE TYPEWRITER, THE RIFLE, AND THE MOVIE CAMERA (Adam Simon, 1996), 6:30
Three-time loser Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) gets more than he bargained for when he lifts femme fatale Candy’s (Jean Peters) wallet on the subway, landing him in trouble with mysterious Joey (Richard Kiley) and the Feds in Samuel Fuller’s fab Cold War noir set in New York City. Widmark is almost too good as Skip, a suave pickpocket who lives under the Brooklyn Bridge in an old bait and tackle shack. Yeah, it gets a little melodramatic at the end, which comes too soon (the film is only eighty minutes long), but it’s worth every minute nonetheless. And yes, that is Brooklyn’s own Thelma Ritter as the curious little lady who sells ties for information.
Sunday, May 13 I SHOTE JESSE JAMES (Sam Fuller, 1949), 2:00
Sunday, May 13 THE BARON OF ARIZONA (Sam Fuller, 1950), 4:00
Saturday, May 19 FIXED BAYONETS (Sam Fuller, 1951), 2:00
Saturday, May 19 HELL AND HIGH WATER (Sam Fuller, 1954), 4:00
Saturday, May 19 HOUSE OF BAMBOO (Sam Fuller, 1955), 6:30
Sunday, May 20 HOUSE OF BAMBOO (Sam Fuller, 1955), 6:30
Sunday, May 20 PARK ROW (Sam Fuller, 1952), 4:30
Iconoclastic and fiercely independent filmmaker Samuel Fuller got his start as a New York City journalist, and we have that to blame for this miserably overbearing and horribly preachy dreck about a battle between a wealthy sell-out tabloid rag and an ethical-to-a-fault tiny newspaper. Fuller wears so much of his heart on his sleeve that you’ll want to take a shower right after seeing this claptrap -- set but not shot in Lower Manhattan.
Saturday, May 26 CHINA GATE (Sam Fuller, 1957), 2:00
Saturday, May 26 RUN OF THE ARROW (Sam Fuller, 1957), 4:00
Saturday, May 26 FORTY GUNS (Sam Fuller, 1957), 6:30
Sunday, May 27 FORTY GUNS (Sam Fuller, 1957), 6:30
Sunday, May 27 VERBOTEN! (Sam Fuller, 1958), 2:00
Sunday, May 27 THE CRIMSON KIMONO (Sam Fuller, 1959), 4:00
Saturday, June 2 UNDERWORLD, USA (Sam Fuller, 1960), 2:00
Saturday, June 2 MERRILL’S MARAUDERS (Sam Fuller, 1962), 4:00
SHOCK CORRIDOR is another Fuller gem
Saturday, June 2 SHOCK CORRIDOR (Sam Fuller, 1963), 6:30
Sunday, June 3 SHOCK CORRIDOR (Sam Fuller, 1963), 4:00
Sunday, June 3 THE NAKED KISS (Sam Fuller, 1964), 2:00
Sunday, June 3 THE BIG RED ONE (Sam Fuller, 1980), 6:30
Saturday, June 9 THE BIG RED ONE (Sam Fuller, 1980), 6:30
Saturday, June 9 DEAD PIGEON ON BEETHOVEN STREET (Sam Fuller, 1972), 2:00
Saturday, June 9 WHITE DOG (Sam Fuller, 1981), 4:30
Sunday, June 10 TIGRERO: A FILM THAT WAS NEVER MADE (Sam Fuller, 1994), 4:00
Sunday, June 10 STREET OF NO RETURN (Sam Fuller, 1982), 6:30
Courtesy Film Forum
Werner Herzog in THE WHITE DIAMOND
Film Forum
209 West Houston St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
May 18 — June 7
212-727-8110
Completing New York City’s cinematic triple play of tough guys in movies, with Lee Marvin at Lincoln Center and Sam Fuller at the Museum of the Moving Image, Film Forum pays tribute to iconoclastic director Werner Herzog, who has shown no fear throughout his thirty-plus-year career. This series focuses on Herzog’s documentary work in addition to nine films that he has personally chosen to be included alongside his own, from such directors as Chris Marker, Les Blank, and Errol Morris. Herzog will be on hand for several screenings as well.
Friday, May 18
and
Saturday, May 19 LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY (Werner Herzog, 1997), 1:00, 4:00, 7:00 (with Herzog in person), 10:00, and WINGS OF HOPE (Werner Herzog, 1999), 2:35, 5:35, 8:35
Sunday, May 20 THE WHITE DIAMOND (Werner Herzog, 2004) and TEN THOUSAND YEARS OLDER (Werner Herzog, 2001), 2:45, 6:25, 10:05, with THE GREAT ECSTASY OF WOODCARVER STEINER (Werner Herzog, 1973) and THE DARK GLOW OF THE MOUNTAINS (Werner Herzog, 1984), 1:00, 4:40, 8:20 (with Herzog in person)
Monday, May 21 Werner’s Picks: SANS SOLEIL (Chris Marker, 1983) and LES MAÎTRES FOUS (Jean Rouch, 1955), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00 (with Herzog in person), 9:30
Tuesday, May 22 DEATH FOR FIVE VOICES (Werner Herzog, 1995), 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00, and THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD INTO MUSIC (Werner Herzog, 1994), 2:15, 5:15, 8:15
Wednesday, May 23 I AM MY FILMS (Christian Weisenborn and Erwin Keusch, 1979), 1:00, 4:20, 7:40, with THE BALL IS A SCUMBAG (Christian Weisenborn and Rudolph Herzog, 2000) and PORTRAIT WERNER HERZOG (Werner Herzog, 1986), 2:50, 6:10, 9:30
Thursday, May 24 I AM MY FILMS (Christian Weisenborn and Erwin Keusch, 1979), 1:00, 4:20, with THE BALL IS A SCUMBAG (Christian Weisenborn and Rudolph Herzog, 2000) and PORTRAIT WERNER HERZOG (Werner Herzog, 1986), 2:50, 6:10
Thursday, May 24 JAG MANDIR (Werner Herzog, 1991), 8:00
Friday, May 25 WODAABE — HERDSMEN OF THE SUN (Werner Herzog, 1989), 3:20, 6:20, 9:20, and ECHOES FROM A SOMBER EMPIRE (Werner Herzog, 1990), 1:30, 4:30, 7:30
Saturday, May 26 HOW MUCH WOOD WOULD A WOODCHUCK CHUCK? (Werner Herzog, 1976), BALLAD OF THE LITTLE SOLDIER (Werner Herzog and Denis Reichle, 1984), and LAST WORDS (Werner Herzog, 1967), 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30
Sunday, May 27 BELLS FROM THE DEEP (Werner Herzog, 1993) and CHRIST AND DEMONS IN NEW SPAIN (Werner Herzog, 1999), 1:45, 3:40, 5:35, 7:30, 9:25
Monday, May 28 Werner’s Picks: DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE (Hubert Sauper, 2004), 3:10, 7:25, and ANIMAL LOVE (Ulrich Seidl, 1995), 1:00, 5:15, 9:30
Tuesday, May 29 Werner’s Picks: GATES OF HEAVEN (Errol Morris, 1980), 2:10, 5:00, 7:50, and VERNON, FLORIDA (Errol Morris, 1982), 1:00, 3:50, 6:40, 9:30
Wednesday, May 30 HUIE’S SERMON (Werner Herzog, 1980), GOD’S ANGRY MAN (Werner Herzog, 1980) and PRECAUTIONS AGAINST FANATICS (Werner Herzog, 1969), 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30
Thursday, May 31 HUIE’S SERMON (Werner Herzog, 1980), GOD’S ANGRY MAN (Werner Herzog, 1980) and PRECAUTIONS AGAINST FANATICS (Werner Herzog, 1969), 1:30, 3:30, 5:30
Thursday, May 31 Rare Early Shorts: THE FLYING DOCTORS OF EAST AFRICA (Werner Herzog, 1969), HANDICAPPED FUTURE (Werner Herzog, 1971), NO ONE WILL PLAY WITH ME (Werner Herzog, 1976), and THE UNPRECEDENTED DEFENCE OF FORTRESS DEUTSCHKREUZ (Werner Herzog, 1966), 8:00
Friday, June 1 FATA MORGANA (Werner Herzog, 1970), 2:25, 5:05, 7:45, and LESSONS OF DARKNESS (Werner Herzog, 1992), 1:20, 4:00, 6:40, 9:20
Saturday, June 2 LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS (Werner Herzog, 1971) and LA SOUFRIÈRE (Werner Herzog, 1977), 2:30, 5:00, 7:15, 9:30
Sunday, June 3 BURDEN OF DREAMS (Les Blank, 1971) and WERNER HERZOG EATS HIS SHOE (Les Blank, 1982), 3:10, 7:00, plus Werner’s Picks: SPEND IT ALL (Les Blank, 1971) and A WELL SPENT LIFE (Les Blank, 1971), 1:30, 5:20, 9:10
Monday, June 4 Werner’s Picks: THE EMPEROR’S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON (Kazuo Hara, 1987), 2:00, 4:20, 6:40, 9:00
Tuesday, June 5 WHEEL OF TIME (Werner Herzog, 2003), 3:35, 7:45, and THE WILD BLUE YONDER (Werner Herzog, 2005), 2:00, 5:10, 9:20
© Werner Herzog Film
Werner Herzog takes to the stars in "science fiction fantasy"
http://wildblueyonder.wernerherzog.com
Werner Herzog takes to the skies and beyond in this thrilling "science fiction fantasy" set in the near future. Using archival footage of flight — from the very early days of aviation through more recent NASA missions — Herzog weaves together a marvelous tale of a bleak future for Earth. Brad Dourif (ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, WISE BLOOD) stars as an alien from Andromeda who narrates the story from in front of an abandoned would-be shopping mall in a desolate landscape. In voice-overs eerily reminiscent of Martin Sheen’s in APOCALYPSE NOW (Francis Ford Coppola, 1978), the alien delves into Roswell, the Galileo probe, and just how long it would actually take to get to Alpha Centauri as Herzog (GRIZZLY MAN, FITZCARRALDO, NOSFERATU) follows the adventures of a space shuttle crew desperately seeking a new, livable planet. The master director also throws in real mathematicians carefully explaining string theory and intergalactic science, making it that much easier to believe this pseudodocumentary, a lyrical poem that is a subtle metaphor for our own planet if we’re not more careful. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize for Parallel Sections at the 2005 Venice Film Festival, THE WILD BLUE YONDER also features a dark, haunting score by Ernst Reijseger, with vocals by Senegalese singer Mola Sylla and a Sardinian shepherd choir.
Wednesday, June 6
and
Thursday, June 7 MY BEST FIEND (Werner Herzog, 1999), 3:40, 7:30, and GRIZZLY MAN (Werner Herzog, 2005), 1:40, 5:30, 9:20
Also available on DVD
http://www.grizzlymanmovie.com
For thirteen straight summers, Timothy Treadwell ventured into the wilds of Katmai National Park in Alaska, where he lived among grizzly bears. For the last five of those years, he brought along a video camera and detailed his life with them and his battle to protect the bears (all of which he named) from poachers. "I have no idea if there’s a God, but if there’s a God, God would be very, very pleased with me," Treadwell says into his camera in Werner Herzog’s brilliant documentary GRIZZLY MAN, "because he can just watch me, how much I love them, how much I adore them, how respectful I am of them, how I am one of them…. Be warned: I will die for these animals, I will die for these animals, I will die for these animals. Thank you so much for letting me do this. Thank you so much to these animals for giving me a life. I had no life. Now I have a life." In October 2003, Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were brutally killed and eaten by one of the bears. Herzog, who knows a little something about filming in treacherous locations (FITZCARRALDO, LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY, AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD), made GRIZZLY MAN from more than one hundred hours of tape, supplementing that with interviews with Treadwell’s friends and family. They all talk about a much-loved but troubled man who was desperate to be famous. His life with the bears got him onto television with Rosie O’Donnell and David Letterman, but it also got him killed, which some people think was what he deserved for crossing the line and thinking he could survive living with grizzlies. But Herzog shows him to be a thoughtful, compassionate man who just might have found his true purpose in life.
© Peter Ferguson
Peter Ferguson, illustration from THE SISTERS GRIMM: THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS
Donnell Library Center Central Children’s Room
New York Public Library
20 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Through May 31
Admission: free
212-621-0619
The bestselling children’s book series the Sisters Grimm, about female descendants of the Brothers Grimm who get caught up in all kinds of fantastical mysteries, is written by FOT (friend of twi-ny) Michael Buckley, with original jacket-art paintings and black-and-white interior illustrations by Peter Ferguson. The Donnell is displaying original artwork from the first four books — THE FAIRY-TALE DETECTIVES, THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS, THE PROBLEM CHILD, and the just-published ONCE UPON A CRIME — in addition to the cover art for book five in the second-floor Central Children’s Room. There are also several copies of foreign-language editions of the books. If you’ve never been in the Donnell, you’re in for a treat — in addition to the Sisters Grimm exhibit, there are large-size paintings by N. C. Wyeth from a 1917 edition of ROBIN HOOD; Mary Poppins memorabilia donated by author P. L. Travers; Harry Potter trinkets, including a character chess set and a book inscribed, "To the people of New York, with love and admiration," from J. K. Rowling; and a display case of the original stuffed animals that inspired A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh series, including Winnie-the-Pooh, Kanga, Tigger, and Eeyore. Not that you need an excuse to go to the Donnell to see these cool exhibits, but there are also plenty of worthwhile free programs at the branch, for children and adults.
Wednesday, May 9 Featuring…Arthur Freed and the American Musical: THE DUCKSTERS (Chuck Jones, 1950) and SUMMER HOLIDAY (Rouben Mamoulian, 1948), 2:30
Thursday, May 10 Gotham Jazzmen, 12:30
Thursday, May 10 Viewpoint...Roaring into the Twenties: THE COLLEGIANS: THE RELAY (Wesley Ruggles, 1927) and THE WILD PARTY (Dorothy Arzner, 1929), 2:30
Thursday, May 10 Meet the Makers… Shari Robertson & Michael Camerini Present A WELL ROUNDED FEAR, 6:00
Saturday, May 12 Annual concert in celebration of the birthday of Theodor Leschetizky, featuring pianist Yun Young Cho, 2:30
Sunday, May 13 In concert with Beryl Chang, violin and Terry Eder, piano, 2:30
Monday, May 14 In concert with Charu Sai, piano, 2:30
Music
Wed, May 16 Let’s Talk Modern Art: Around the World in 20 Artworks, an illustrated lecture by Jennifer Katanik, 12:30
Wednesday, May 16 Featuring…Arthur Freed and the American Musical: SCAREDY CAT (Chuck Jones, 1948) and ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (George Sidney, 1950), 2:30
Thursday, May 17 Gotham Jazzmen, 12:30
Thursday, May 17 Viewpoint...Roaring into the Twenties: MARGARET SANGER: A PUBLIC NUISANCE (Theresa Svoboda, 1992) and THE BLOT (Phillips Smalley & Lois Weber, 1921), 2:30
Thursday, May 17 Meet the Makers…Lynn Sachs, with Sachs and web designer Susan Agliata discussing their interactive project Abecedarium NYC, 6:00
Saturday, May 19 Piano/Four Hands Concert: Lucille Felsenthal and Jean Vandersall, 2:30
Sunday, May 20 Chamber Music Concert, with Kurt Briggs, violin, and Renee Cometa Briggs, piano, 2:30
Monday, May 21 In concert with Ann Roggen, viola, Mayuki Fukuhara, violin, Mitsuru Tsubota, violin, and Nelson Padgett, piano, 2:30
Tuesday, May 22 Songbook: new Broadway music performed by composers, lyricists, and Broadway singers, directed by John Znidarsic, with free tickets available one hour prior to the program, 6:00
Elmer, Bugs, and Daffy debate which hunting season it is in Jones classic
Wednesday, May 23 Featuring…Arthur Freed and the American Musical: RABBIT SEASONING (Chuck Jones, 1951) and SILK STOCKINGS (Rouben Mamoulian, 1957), 2:30
Thursday, May 24 Gotham Jazzmen, 12:30
Thursday, May 24 Viewpoint...Roaring into the Twenties: FELINE FOLLIES (Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer, 1919) and THE BAT WHISPERS (dir. Roland West, 1930), 2:30
Tuesday, May 29 World Children’s Song Festival: The Songs of Numbers — A Concert of Songs, Dances, and Games and an Art Exhibition of Children’s Songs for Peace, featuring the World Children’s Folk Song Group, MCCS Chinese School , the Brooklyn School, and the Waldorf School of Princeton, 6:00
Wednesday, May 30 Featuring…Arthur Freed and the American Musical: DUCK AMUCK (Chuck Jones, 1953) and THE BELLS ARE RINGING (Vincente Minnelli, 1960), 2:30
Thursday, May 31 Gotham Jazzmen, 12:30
Thursday, May 31 Viewpoint...Roaring into the Twenties: PICCADILLY (Arnold Bennett, 1929), 2:30
Opens Friday, May 18
Oscar-nominated director Mark Rydell, who has made such well-regarded flicks as THE COWBOYS, ON GOLDEN POND, and THE RIVER in his five-decade career, hadn’t made a feature film since 1994’s silly INTERSECTION with Richard Gere and Sharon Stone (and before that the absurd Bette Midler vehicle FOR THE BOYS in 1991). Unfortunately, he should have stayed away from the camera for this turkey, a lame crime drama with unlikable characters in ridiculous situations. Kim Basinger stars as Carolyn, a beautiful novelist having trouble with her second book, so she starts gambling recklessly in a nearby casino and grows close to a washed-up loser magician (Danny DeVito) while lying to her loving husband (Ray Liotta). Among the myriad subplots is one involving a college basketball star (Nick Cannon) forced into a dangerous situation by his older brother (Forest Whitaker in one of his most clichéd roles ever), who is being threatened by a local kingpin’s right-hand man (a more uneasy than usual Tim Roth). Meanwhile, poor Kelsey Grammer is given the unenviable task of re-creating Orson Welles’s eerie portrayal of Captain Hank Quinlan from TOUCH OF EVIL. There’s a lot more going on in this mess — which can’t quite decide whether to take itself seriously or be a tongue-in-cheek genre buster — but we’ve already taken up enough of your time.
© Pathé Films
Just hanging around is extremely dangerous in wry thriller
Opens Friday, May 18
http://www.severancethemovie.co.uk
We don’t know quite what to make of this British film. The opening is extremely promising, as two hot babes and a burly dude are running through the woods, being chased by an unseen predator with a really big knife, while the Small Faces’ feel-good "Itchykoo Park" plays on the soundtrack. Then, for the next hour or so, things bounce back and forth between slasher flick and slasher-flick parody as seven people who work for a cutting-edge weapons manufacturer go out on a team-building adventure that soon involves a lot of blood and body parts. By being both traditional to the genre and snarky about it, the film’s irony is hard to swallow. But then comes the last twenty minutes or so, an awesome ending to the ever-more-violent festivities. Smith, who directed the underground thriller CREEP, doesn’t have a firm grip on which direction to take, although he sure knows how to begin and end it all. SEVERANCE barely ekes by, helped by the stand-out performances of Laura Harris as the hot American and Danny Dyer as the drug-addled comic relief.
© City Lights Pictures
Prinze, Ferrara, and Caan play by a different set of rules in Brooklyn
Opens Friday, May 18
BROOKLYN RULES is a tremendously entertaining sleeper about just how far friends will go for each other. In 1974, three kids find a dead body in a car, the driver killed in an apparent mob hit. While one decides to take home the guy’s cute little dog, another secretly stashes away the man’s gun, hinting at things to come. Eleven years later, Michael (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is going to Columbia, dressing like a preppie, and making a play for one of his classmates, Ellen (Mena Suvari), a sophisticated rich chick from Connecticut. Bobby (ENTOURAGE’s Jerry Ferrara) is a cheapskate preparing for his post-office exam and considering proposing to his sweetheart, Amy (Monica Keena). And tough-guy Carmine (Scott Caan, channeling his father’s performance as Sonny Corleone in THE GODFATHER) has started doing small jobs for local hood Caesar (the ubiquitous Alec Baldwin), who is tied in to the about-to-explode mob wars involving such central figures as Paul Castellano and John Gotti. Writer Terence Winter, who has won three Emmys for his work on THE SOPRANOS, based the three main characters on his childhood (although most of the plot is fictional); in fact, the real-life Carmine, Chris Caldovino, plays Philly, Caesar’s right-hand man. Winter has delivered a terrific script that gets everything just right. Director Michael Corrente (FEDERAL HILL) shot the film in a mere twenty-nine days, but there’s nothing rushed about it. We have no idea why it took more than four years for the screenplay to get produced and another two and a half years for the film to finally get distributed. The fab soundtrack includes period songs by the Rolling Stones, Dire Straits, a Flock of Seagulls, Billy Idol, Culture Club, and others.
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts.
212-757-0359
http://lincolnplaza.moviefone.com
Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, AFTER THE WEDDING is a complex, uneasy family drama filled with secrets and lies. Mads Mikkelsen (so good in Nicolas Winding Refn’s PUSHER trilogy) stars as Jacob, an angry, unhappy man who helps run an orphanage in India. Beloved by the kids — and especially Pramod (Neeral Mulchandani), who depends on him — Jacob must return to his native Denmark to try to solicit much-needed funds from the orphanage’s benefactor, a powerful businessman named Jørgen (Rolf Lassgård). Jørgen ends up insisting that Jacob stay for the wedding of his daughter, Anna (Stine Fischer Christensen), but when Jacob sees Jørgen’s wife, Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen), the past comes flooding back on him, affecting everyone’s future. Mikkelsen gives a tense, foreboding performance in this gripping, intelligent film, written by Oscar winner Anders Thomas Jensen and strongly directed by Susanne Bier (BROTHERS, OPEN HEARTS).
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
212-255-8800
Cecile de France is absolutely captivating in AVENUE MONTAIGNE, bringing an endearing charm to every second she’s on camera. The illegitimate offspring of Audrey Hepburn and Audrey Tatou, de France stars as Jessica, a young woman who ventures onto the fashionable Avenue Montaigne in Paris in search of her place in the world. She finagles a job waitressing at a popular bistro that serves as the center of the film, a place that attracts artistic folk from the nearby concert hall, auction house, and theater. At the theater, soap opera star Catherine Versen (Valérie Lemercier) desperately wants to be in the next Brian Sobinski (Sydney Pollack) film, while beloved longtime usher Claudie (Claudie Dani) is convincing herself she is ready to retire. At the concert hall, Jean-François Lefort (Albert Dupontel) is considering hanging it up as a successful classical pianist, much to the chagrin of his manager wife, Valentine (Laura Morante). And at the auction house, Jacques Grumberg (Claude Brasseur) is selling off his massive art collection and trying to reconnect with his son, Frédéric (Christopher Thompson). There’s a lot of talk about life and art, plenty of sexual intrigue, and some fine individual performances, but the film occasionally gets bogged down in heavy melodrama and unconvincing scenes. However, through it all, de France lights the way. AVENUE MONTAIGNE was directed by Danièle Thompson and cowritten by Thompson and her son, Christopher, who plays a major role in the film.
In theaters now
http://www.sonyclassics.com/blackbook
Paul Verhoeven (TOTAL RECALL, BASIC INSTINCT) returns to his Dutch roots with BLACK BOOK, an epic tale set during the Holocaust. It’s 1944, and Rachel Stein (Carice Van Houten) and her family are trying desperately to get out of Holland, which is being taken over by the Gestapo. But after the small boat they are on gets ambushed, with Rachel the only survivor of a brutal massacre, she soon finds herself working for the Dutch resistance, under the leadership of Gerben Kuipers (Derek de Lint). After a successful mission with Hans (Thom Hoffman), Rachel gets assigned a much more dangerous task — to get as close as possible to Gestapo commander Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch), no matter what it takes. As she climbs into bed with Müntze, lies, treachery, and betrayal threaten to tear apart the resistance. BLACK BOOK is a big, ambitious film that can’t quite live up to its promise; there are just too many plot holes and individual scenes gone wrong. Still, Van Houten and Koch — an emerging international star who was so good in THE LIVES OF OTHERS — are both compelling in complex roles that outshine the story itself.
In theaters now
http://www.mgm.com/theflyingscotsman
Based on the true story of innovative Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree, THE FLYING SCOTSMAN follows Obree (Jonny Lee Miller) as he attempts to break the world one-hour record in 1993. Bullied as a kid, Obree finds his release on his bike. After winning some local contests, he sets up a small bike shop in his hometown. But as the store reaches its last legs, he suddenly decides to build a new kind of bike and go for the record, which has stood for nearly a decade. With the support of his wife, Anne (Laura Fraser), and best friend, Malky (Billy Boyd), he trains for the big day. But as he gains success, the cycling board does not want such a rogue athlete to be their champion, so they create obstacles that threaten to destroy everything that Obree has worked for. But an even greater obstacle is the severe depression that could also prevent him from reaching his goals, both professional and personal. Miller is convincing as Obree on and off the bike — although Obree himself does some of the more dangerous riding in the film. Directed by Douglas Mackinnon and with a screenplay based on Obree’s autobiography, THE FLYING SCOTSMAN is a well-told tale of the competitive spirit and inner demons of a simple yet unique individual who insists on doing things his own way.
In theaters now
Gregory Hoblit’s psychological thriller FRACTURE starts out with a promising premise: Wealthy aeronautics expert Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) calmly shoots his significantly younger wife (Embeth Davidtz) in cold blood after catching her having an affair with cop Rob Nunally (Billy Burke) and then waits for the police to arrive. Nunnally, who did not know his lover’s real name or address, is shocked to find her lying in a pool of blood, though Crawford seems delighted with his handiwork. Crawford surrenders, confesses, but then pleads not guilty and chooses to represent himself against hotshot prosecutor Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), who is on the fast track to a position with a high-powered corporate law firm. Beachum thinks he has been handed an open-and-shut case, but Crawford has very carefully plotted out what might just be the perfect crime. Unfortunately, the screenplay by Daniel Pyne and Glenn Gers is far from perfect, filled with gaping holes, not mere cracks and fractures; director Gregory Hoblit (PRIMAL FEAR, HILL STREET BLUES) manipulates the audience through hard-to-believe scenes and ludicrous relationships, particularly between Beachum and his soon-to-be boss, gorgeous lawyer Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike); and Mychael and Jeff Danna’s score is so frighteningly amateurish, you’ll think you’re watching a TV movie. The film is tense and gripping when Hopkins is on-screen, though his character delves into some ridiculously silly dialogue at times, but he’s in the flick for less than half an hour; the rest focuses on Beachum, who is an absurdly clichéd character every step of the way. If the twist ending surprises you, then you haven’t seen enough COLUMBO episodes. (By the way, you’re much better off renting an episode of that great series than watching this wannabe.)
In theaters now
In 1969, Clifford Irving published FAKE! THE STORY OF ELMYR DE HORY, THE GREATEST ART FORGER OF OUR TIME, the biography of a man who made a rather nice living painting forgeries and questioning the nature and market value of art itself. After Irving’s next book, a work of fiction, was rejected miserably, he concocted a seat-of-the-pants plot to write the autobiography of hermetic billionaire Howard Hughes — and convinced McGraw-Hill to pay him a boatload of bucks to do it. This elaborate fiction, pulled off with the help of his best friend, writer Dick Suskind, set into motion lie upon lie upon lie — ultimately reaching as high as the White House and leading to the downfall of Richard Nixon. That is, if you believe Irving’s side of things. Directed with a flashy, fast hand by Lasse Hallström (CIDER HOUSE RULES, MY LIFE AS A DOG), THE HOAX, based on Irving’s book, is a fabulously entertaining flick that weaves together fact and fiction — it’s often impossible to tell which is which — led by a charming performance by Richard Gere as Irving, along with Alfred Molina as Suskind, Marcia Gay Harden as Irving’s suspicious wife, Hope Davis as Irving’s editor, and the great Eli Wallach as a doddering old Hughes associate.
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
212-330-8182
http://www.landmarktheatres.com
Several years after the government improperly disposes of chemical waste, a huge monster appears under a bridge on the Han River. The lazy, childlike Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho), who works at his grandfather’s food stand on the shore — that is, when he’s not sleeping — tries desperately to save his young daughter, Hyun-seo (Ko A-sung), from the creature’s grasp, but when the monster runs off with her, Gang-du does everything in his limited power to try to get her back — if she’s even still alive. He gets help from his well-dressed brother and Olympian archer sister, who are determined to rescue their niece, but the creature has no intentions of just coughing her up. THE HOST wants to be more than just another monster movie, injecting humor and strong family bonds, but it never quite pulls itself together. For every great scene with the creature, there’s a silly scene with the family that misses the mark. Still, Song is a hoot to watch, and the special effects folks have created one heck of a cool monster.
In theaters now
The same team that brilliantly parodied zombie movies in SHAUN OF THE DEAD — star and cowriter Simon Pegg and director and cowriter Edgar Wright — are back to skewer the buddy-cop genre in the riotously funny HOT FUZZ. Pegg stars as supercop Nicholas Angel, one of London’s Finest, who is exiled to the country because he was outshining the other city officers too much, making them look bad. Relegated to perennial Village of the Year winner Sandford, the by-the-book sergeant listens obediently to his new boss, Inspector Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent), the leader of a motley crew that wouldn’t know a crime if it walked right up to them and chopped off their head. When Angel tries to convince them that a series of gory accidents is actually the evil doing of a serial killer, they instead poke fun at him and ignore his pleas. Meanwhile, Butterman’s bungling son, Danny (SHAUN’s Nick Frost), stands by his partner, acting as if they’re in POINT BREAK or BAD BOYS II. HOT FUZZ doesn’t miss a beat, from the villainous Simon Skinner (former James Bond Timothy Dalton!) to an escaped swan. HOT FUZZ is bloody good fun.
In theaters now
Ray Lawrence’s third film, following BLISS (1985) and LANTANA (2001), JINDABYNE, based on Raymond Carver’s short story "So Much Water So Close to Home," is a complex, heart-wrenching drama about family and responsibility. Gabriel Byrne stars as Stewart, a local auto repair shop owner who is married to the younger Claire (Laura Linney), who ran away for eighteen months after the birth of their son, Tom (Sean Rees-Wemyss). Stewart and his buddies Carl (John Howard), Rocco (Stelios Tiakmis), and Billy the Kid (Simon Stone) head out for their annual fishing trip in the mountains, but once they set up camp, they find a dead woman floating in the river, most likely the victim of sexual abuse and murder. Instead of turning back and reporting it immediately, they decide there’s nothing they can do to help her, so they finish their fishing weekend before going back and calling the police. Upon their return home, their relationships with their friends, the community as a whole, and their families are ripped apart. Shot in two months in and around Jindabyne in New South Wales in Australia, JINDABYNE features strong acting, surprising emotional twists, and gorgeous cinematography by David Williamson — but the penultimate scene is so stupefyingly awful that it ruins what is otherwise a brilliant, elegiac film, a painful slap in the face that destroys the subtle beauty of the rest of the film, the single worst scene we’ve ever seen in such a movie. At times during the film, we were flirting with giving it an extremely high rating, but that terrible scene so decimated us that we’re not sure if we can now even recommend it at all.
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
212-924-7771
Milestone Films is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Charles Burnett’s low-budget feature-length debut, KILLER OF SHEEP, with a new 35mm restoration with the soundtrack intact; the film has not been available on VHS or DVD for decades because of music rights problems that have finally been cleared, and it has never before been released theatrically. (The soundtrack includes such seminal black artists as Etta James, Dinah Washington, Little Walter, and Paul Robeson.) Shot on weekends for less than $10,000, KILLER OF SHEEP took four years to put together and another four years to get noticed, when it won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1981 Berlin Film Festival. Reminiscent of the work of Jean Renoir and the Italian neo-Realists, KILLER OF SHEEP is a simple story about a family just trying to get by, struggling to survive in their tough Watts neighborhood in the mid-1970s. The slice-of-life scenes are sometimes very funny, sometimes scary, but always poignant, as Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders) trudges to his dirty job in a slaughterhouse in order to provide for his wife (Kaycee Moore) and children (Jack Drummond and Angela Burnett). Every day he is faced with new choices, from participating in a murder to buying a used car engine, but he takes it all in stride. The motley cast of characters, including Charles Bracy and Eugene Cherry, is primarily made up of nonprofessional actors with a limited range of talent, but that is all part of what makes it all feel so real. KILLER OF SHEEP was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1989, the second year of the program, making it among the first fifty to be selected, in the same group as REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, THE GODFATHER, DUCK SOUP, ALL ABOUT EVE, and IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
Angelika Film Center
18 West Houston St. at Mercer St.
212-995-2000
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts.
212-757-0359
http://lincolnplaza.moviefone.com
http://www.city-cinemas.com/angelika
http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelivesofothers
Winnter of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, THE LIVES OF OTHERS is a tense political thriller set in 1980s East Berlin. Ulriche Mühe gives a mesmerizing performance as Capt. Gerd Wiesler, an expert interrogator for the Stasi, the German Democratic Republic’s secret police, who keep a close watch on all suspicious activity — and to them, everything is suspicious. When powerful culture minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme) tells Wiesler’s nervous yes-man boss, Lt. Col. Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur), to spy on noted playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), Wiesler takes the case, setting up audio surveillance on Dreyman and his actress girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). But when the ever-loyal, humorless, always stalwart Wiesler discovers that Hempf ordered the surveillance primarily because he has a thing for Sieland, Wiesler begins to reconsider the case — and the ultimate responsibility of the Stasi itself. And the more he learns, the more he understands. THE LIVES OF OTHERS was written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, making an extremely impressive feature-film debut, capturing a precarious, paranoid part of recent German history in which the vast majority of the nation was either being spied on or were informers themselves.
Village East
181 Second Ave. at 12th St.
212-777-3456
http://citycinemas.moviefone.com
Playing at an audition to get into a prestigious conservatory, ten-year-old pianist Mélanie (Julie Richalet) is distracted and unable to recover when the chairwoman of the jury (Catherine Frot) signs an autograph during the performance, not paying attention to her. As Mélanie leaves the room, she stares straight ahead, a fury building inside her. Ten years later, Mélanie (Déborah François) has blossomed into a beautiful young woman who gets a job as an intern for prominent attorney Monsieur Fouchecourt (Pascal Greggory). But it is not the valuable work experience she is after — it just so happens that the lawyer’s wife, Ariane, who is trying to resurrect her flailing musical career, turns out to be the chairwoman who Mélanie believes ruined her life. Quietly and with an eerie, subtle confidence, Mélanie immerses herself into the family, which also includes young Tristan (Antoine Martynciow), a piano virtuoso himself. Mélanie’s relationship with Ariane is reminiscent of that of Hedy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Allie’s (Bridget Fonda) in SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, where all hell could break loose at any moment. Writer-director Denis Dercourt’s tense psychological thriller is built around François’s stellar performance; audiences will be kept on the edge of their seats waiting for Mélanie to explode — if revenge is indeed part of her plan.
Barbet Schroeder gets a leg up in one of eighteen cinematic love letters to Paris
Paris Theater
4 West 58th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
212-688-3800
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
212-330-8182
http://www.landmarktheatres.com
http://www.firstlookstudios.com/pjt
The City of Light is celebrated in eighteen short tales about love and loss in PARIS JE T’AIME, each set in a different Paris neighborhood. Each director was assigned a location and given only a few days to shoot a work of no more than five minutes. Joel & Ethan Coen set "Tuilieries" in the Metro, where an American tourist (Steve Buscemi) pays the price for making eye contact with a couple making out across the tracks. In Isabel Coixet’s "Bastille," a cheating husband (Sergio Castellito) decides to dump his girlfriend (Leonor Watling) and help his wife (Miranda Richardson) fight cancer. In Nouhiro Suwa’s "Place des Victoires," a grieving mother (Juliette Binoche) wants one last chance to say goodbye to her dead son, with assistance from a mysterious cowboy on a horse (Willem Dafoe). The producers cleverly put Vincenzo Natali’s vampire story, "Quartier de la Madeleine," after Wes Craven’s surprisingly poignant "Pere-Lachaise," which is set in the famous cemetery (and with Alexander Payne, who directed the bittersweet "14eme Arrondissement," playing Oscar Wilde).
While there are no blockbusters, the majority of the films are successful in their own way, and because they’re only five minutes long, the dull ones are over rather quickly. Other highlights include Gus Van Sant’s "Le Marais," Alfonso Cuaron’s "Parc Monceau" (with Nick Nolte, Ludivine Sagnier, and a cool plot twist), Oliver Schmitz’s evocative "Place des Fetes," and Frédéric Auburtin and Gérard Depardieu’s "Quartier Latin," with Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands preparing to make their divorce final. Interestingly, Olivier Assayas’s "Quartier des Enfants Rouges" features Maggie Gyllenhaal as an actress with a drug problem; last year, Gyllenhaal starred in Laurie Collyer’s SHERRYBABY, which was essentially an uncredited remake of Assayas’s 2004 film CLEAN, with Maggie Cheung in the drug-addict role.
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
212-924-3363
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts.
212-757-0359
http://lincolnplaza.moviefone.com
Winner of the International Critics Week Grand Prize at Cannes, POISON FRIENDS is a bitter tale of friendship set at a French college. As a new semester begins, André Morney (Thibault Vinçon) quickly shows off his literary brilliance in class, impressing Professor Mortier (Jacques Bonnaffé) as well as the students — in particular, Eloi Duhaut (Malik Zidi) and Alexandre Pariente (Alexandre Steiger), who immediately become his disciples, and Marguerite (Natacha Régnier), who becomes his girlfriend. Eloi wants to be a writer but is overshadowed by his famous mother, well-known author Florence (Dominique Blanc), while what Alexandre really wants to do is act. André has a massive library and continually references Karl Kraus’s quote "Why do some write? Because they’re too weak not to," but as he manipulates Eloi, Alexandre, and Marguerite, a dark secret of his own threatens to come out. POISON FRIENDS is burdened with way too much (repetitive) talk about the nature of writing, but it is still a compelling coming-of-age story of devotion and friendship.
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts.
212-757-0359
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
212-924-7771
http://lincolnplaza.moviefone.com
For nearly sixty years, French auteur Alain Resnais has been making intelligent, complex, and controversial films, including such well-regarded masterworks as NIGHT AND FOG (1955), HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR (1959), LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (1961), and MON ONCLE d’AMERIQUE (1980). Now eighty-four, Resnais’s latest is PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES (COEURS), a surprisingly conventional drama based on the play by Alan Ayckbourn. The film follows the travails of six lonely people: Thierry (André Dussolier) is a real estate agent showing apartments to Nicole (Laura Morante) for her and her fiancé, Dan (Lambert Wilson), who are engaged to be married but are drifting apart. Dan spends much of his time at a brightly colored hotel bar drinking and talking with the bartender, Lionel (Pierre Arditi), a widower who is having an extremely difficult time taking care of his ailing father, so he hires Charlotte (Sabine Azéma), Thierry’s very religious coworker, to watch the old man at night. And Gaëlle (Isabelle Carré) is a former wild woman now relegated to being stood up on blind dates and becoming increasingly annoyed when she finds her brother, Thierry, watching porn videos that Charlotte gave him — perhaps unknowingly. Made up of slow-moving, talky, contemplative scenes that blend into one another with falling snow, PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES reveals the fears and desires of these six interrelated people, touching on such subjects as love, faith, and honesty, but too much of the film is old fashioned, with very little new to offer. Add half a star if talky, slow-moving, contemplative French films are your thing.
In theaters now
http://thereapingmovie.warnerbros.com
THE REAPING, a new horror flick directed by Stephen Hopkins (LOST IN SPACE, JUDGMENT NIGHT), is genuinely creepy and not without its share of who’s-there-and-when-will-you-jump-out-at-me thrills. (Hint: it’s always a few seconds after the scary music stops.) You might not feel like you’ve wasted your money on this piece of entertainment fluff, but you also won’t feel like you’ve gotten the better part of the deal. Hilary Swank stars as a former minister of an unspecified denomination who specializes in debunking religious “miracles.” Embittered by the death of her husband and child — shown in grisly flashbacks — she has unfortunately become a one-dimensional cartoon of the skeptical nonbeliever, trading confrontational glances at locals too freakish to be picked for DELIVERANCE; hoping the lab tests won’t show that the river is blood; and drinkin’ and cussin’ and enjoying first-date sex. Against mounting evidence to the contrary, she maintains that the series of biblical plagues (boils, locusts, lice, dead livestock, etc.) visiting Haven, LA, can be explained scientifically while we all pray to God Almighty that she is right. While the “twist” ending is satisfying in a sequel-ready kind of way, it’s also the favored storytelling conclusion of people under the age of six. (Hint: they all ____ !) There’s not much to recommend here, unless you have nothing better to do on a Saturday night.
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts.
212-757-0359
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
212-330-8182
http://www.landmarktheatres.com
http://lincolnplaza.moviefone.com
RED ROAD is a brilliant, harrowing feature debut from writer-director Andrea Arnold, who won a Best Live Action Short Oscar for her short film WASP. Kate Dickie, in her first feature film, gives a bravura performance as Jackie, a lonely woman trying to get past a horrific event that tore apart her family. Working as a CCTV operator in Glasgow, she is surprised to spot Clyde (Tony Curran), who she thought was still in prison for his evil deed. Confused, Jackie begins stalking Clyde and soon finds herself in way too deep. Arnold’s masterful hand will keep audiences on the edge of their seats with every unexpected twist and infuriating turn. Also starring Martin Compston and Natalie Press, RED ROAD is the first of three films by Scottish writers that will all star the same four actors as the same four characters, although the plot lines and relationships can change in each work. RED ROAD is a stunning beginning to the experiment.
In theaters now
After a mission in Ethiopia goes terribly wrong, expert military marksman Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) calls it quits and heads off to the mountains, where he lives a rustic, reclusive existence with his dog — until Col. Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) shows up at his doorstep, telling him that it’s Swagger’s duty to help thwart a plot to assassinate the president. Swagger resists until Johnson appeals to his sense of honor and patriotism. The assassination attempt goes awry, but Swagger is immediately pegged as the assassin, sending him on the run, with no one to turn to but Sarah Fenn (Kate Mara), the beautiful wife of his former partner, and novice CIA agent Nick Memphis (Michael Pena), who has uncovered some troubling information that he is told to bury. Together they try to prove Swagger’s innocence while fighting for their own lives. Based on a novel by Stephen Hunter and directed by Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY, THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS), SHOOTER is a gripping man-on-the-run conspiracy drama that fortunately survives some ridiculous twists and too many clichéd characters.
Angelika Film Center
18 West Houston St. at Mercer St.
212-995-2000
http://www.city-cinemas.com/angelika
Tilda Swinton and Amber Tamblyn are excellent in the well-meaning but overwrought STEPHANIE DALEY, a torn-from-the-headlines melodrama that has been winning awards at festivals around the world. Tamblyn (JOAN OF ARCADIA) stars as the title character, a teenager who, to everyone’s surprise — and maybe even her own — gives birth on a school ski trip and throws the baby away. Claiming she didn’t know she was pregnant, she is ordered to speak to a forensic psychologist, Lydie Crane (Swinton), hired by the state prosecutor to find out the truth, as Stephanie is facing murder charges. Crane, who suffered a stillbirth the previous year, is pregnant herself, worried that she might lose this baby as well — in addition to her husband, Paul (Timothy Hutton), who might be cheating on her, sending her into the arms of her husband’s best friend, Frank (Dennis O’Hare). Got all that? Writer-director Hilary Brougher throws too much into the mix, including an infuriating dream sequence and too many unnecessary TV-movie subplots, detracting from the intense and harrowing central story.
In theaters now
Documentarian Oren Rudavsky (HIDING AND SEEKING: FAITH AND TOLERANCE AFTER THE HOLOCAUST, SAYING KADDISH) makes his feature-film debut with THE TREATMENT, a well-meaning but way-too-obvious romantic comedy set in New York City. After watching a few commercials, you might not realize that THE TREATMENT has actually started, as the opening looks like yet another ad. And following the opening credits, you’ll think you stumbled into some kind of mediocre Showtime cable drama, a feeling that is enhanced by John Zorn’s silly score that seems to be torn right from the soundtrack of HBO’s SEX AND THE CITY. Based on the novel by Daniel Menaker, THE TREATMENT stars Chris Eigeman as Jake Singer, a teacher at the prestigious Coventry school on Irving Place who can’t get over his previous girlfriend, Julia (Stephanie March); he is devastated when she tells him she is getting married. A cynical, dry kind of guy, Jake is also haunted by his Freudian psychoanalyst, Dr. Ernesto Morales (a very funny, very dirty Ian Holm), who not only listens to him in his office but also shows up as a surreal presence at the most inopportune moments. Jake’s life finally takes a turn for the better when he falls for Allegra Marshall (a solid Famke Janssen), an extremely wealthy mother of two who Jake thinks is way out of his league. THE TREATMENT is about as average as they come, sort of like Jake himself; you’ll be predicting lines before they’re spoken, and you’ll know where just about every scene will end up once it’s begun. (Heck, the new woman in Jake’s boring life is even named Allegra, which means “happiness” in Italian.) And the vast majority of bit players are stock characters that lack any uniqueness, including Blair Brown as an adoption specialist, Stephen Lang as a hotheaded basketball coach, Roger Rees as a stuffy headmaster, and Harris Yulin as Jake’s aging father. In years past, the lead role might have been played by Griffin Dunne to better effect; unfortunately, Eigeman, who has done a lot of television work and is a regular in Whit Stillman’s films (METROPOLITAN, BARCELONA, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO), is not quite up to the task of lead performer, though he makes a valiant effort.
Angelika Film Center
18 West Houston St. at Mercer St.
212-995-2000
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts.
212-757-0359
http://lincolnplaza.moviefone.com
http://www.city-cinemas.com/angelika
http://www.sonyclassics.com/thevalet
An absolutely delightful, thoroughly charming farce, THE VALET is the best French episode of THREE’S COMPANY never filmed. (And we mean that in a completely complimentary way.) Written and directed by Francis Veber (LE CHEVRE, LE JAGUAR), THE VALET has a ridiculously silly plot stolen right out of a 1970s sitcom: Accidentally photographed with married billionaire CEO Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil) and his supermodel girlfriend (Alice Taglioni), hapless valet François (Gad Elmaleh) is paid by Pierre to pretend that he is Elena’s real boyfriend in an attempt to dupe the executive’s determined, suspicious wife, Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas). But Christine is not easily convinced, putting poor François in the middle of a major power play when all he wants is the simple love of his childhood friend, bookstore owner Emilie (Virginie Ledoyen). Got that? Auteuil is appropriately over the top, Scott Thomas is wonderfully ice cold, and Taglioni shows she is more than just a stunning beauty, but the film belongs to Elmaleh, who has the eyes and the demeanor of a young Buster Keaton. THE VALET is as sweetly silly as it is riotously funny.
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
212-924-7771
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts.
212-757-0359
http://lincolnplaza.moviefone.com
http://www.thewindthatshakesthebarley.co.uk
Winner of the 2006 Palme d’Or at Cannes, THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE LEAVE is a brutal masterpiece from director Ken Loach (RIFF-RAFF, BREAD AND ROSES). It’s 1920, and the English black and tans are running roughshod through Ireland, leaving broken and dead bodies in their wake as they keep the population frightened and in poverty. But poorly armed yet determined local guerrilla armies are forming, prepared to fight for freedom in their homeland. In one small town, Damien (Cillian Murphy) is getting ready to move to London to train as a doctor, but he decides instead to join the burgeoning Irish Republican Army after seeing one too many bloody beatings. Swearing their loyalty to the cause and led by Damien’s brother, Teddy (Padraic Delaney), they set up ambushes of British forces, gathering weapons in a desperate attempt to win back their country. Damien also falls for Sinead (Orla Fitzgerald), one of many women who work as messengers and spies and run safe houses. But when a questionable treaty is signed, loyalty is tested and families torn apart. Written by Paul Laverty and also featuring Liam Cunningham, Mary Riordan, Myles Horgan, and Mary Murphy, THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY is a fierce, no-holds-barred, if one-sided, look at a violent conflict that has lasted for centuries.
Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
Tuesday, May 15, doors at 6:30
Tickets: $30 (plus option of additional $1 to Common Ground Collective)
917-589-8578
http://www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys
British band Arctic Monkeys stormed on the indie scene last year with the megaselling WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT’S WHAT I’M NOT. They’re back now with their sophomore follow-up, FAVOURITE WORST NIGHTMARE, a dozen fun, pulsing, guitar-driven alterna-rock tunes led by Alex Turner’s fast-paced vocals through a tumble of lyrics. "Everything’s in order in a black hole / Nothing seems as pretty as the past, though / That Bloody Mary’s lacking her Tabasco / Remember when he used to be a rascal?" Turner sings in the gleefully infectious "Fluorescent Adolescent." Album opener "Brianstorm" is about a weird guy the band met for about one minute, resulting in this propulsive, playful rocker. Nick O’Malley’s bass and Matt Helders’ drums are the driving force behind "Do Me a Favour" and "Balaclava," the latter in which Turner sings, "Are you pulling her from a burning building or throwing her to the sharks / Can only hope the ending is as pleasurable as the start / The confidence is the balaclava / I’m sure you’ll baffle them straight / And its wrong wrong wrong she can hardly wait." Other highlights include the loungy ballad "Only Ones Who Knew"; "This House Is a Circus," with its cute little guitar hook; and "Teddy Picker," which is about a teddy picker, whatever the hell that is. Perhaps the best thing about FAVOURITE WORST NIGHTMARE is that it rewards repeated listening. Dare we say that it is "delightful," which is one of the letters "D" stands for in "D Is for Dangerous"? The Monkeys will be playing the Hammerstein Ballroom on May 15, with Nashville’s Be Your Own Pet opening.
Writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima, the creative team behind the masterful twenty-eight-part series LONE WOLF & CUB and the ultracool ten-part spin-off SAMURAI EXECUTIONER, delve into the real-life relationship between suppa (ninja) Hattori Hanzo Masanari and Matsudaira Jiro Saburo Motonobu (soon to be known as Ieyasu), who is destined to become the shogun. At the age of fifteen, the well-trained Hanzo begins serving his goofy and hapless master, who is but a year older, in 1557, twelve years after the young lord was taken hostage by Imagawa. Hanzo is charged with protecting the immature lord and ends up becoming his teacher and confidant as Ieyasu learns the ways of the world. It is a time of confusion in Japan as clans battle over control of the nation, and that confusion is evident in Koike’s story; good luck following who’s who and what’s what. But the developing friendship and respect between Hanzo and Ieyasu is thrilling, as is Kojima’s always inspiring, often breathtaking black-and-white panels. However, Hanzo’s treatment of women is disturbing; twice he takes advantage of unconscious women who decide to stay with him. Volumes 6-8 are scheduled to be released monthly through August 2007.
All contents copyright 2007 by Mark Rifkin and twi-ny. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. Please note that events, dates, and prices are subject to change.
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Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
Tickets: $36
212-645-2904
Tuesday, May 8
through
Sunday, May 13 Jawole Zollar’s Urban Bush Women celebrate their twenty-third season with seven performances, including special Mother’s Day events at the 2:00 show on May 13
Barnes & Noble Union Square
33 East 17th St. between Park Ave. & Broadway
Admission: free
212-253-0810
http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/palahniuk/rant
Wednesday, May 9 , Chuck Palahniuk reads from RANT: THE ORAL BIOGRAPHY OF BUSTER CASEY, with presigned books available, 7:00
Film Forum
209 West Houston St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Through May 17
212-727-8110
Wednesday, May 9 FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (John Glen, 1981), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Thursday, May 10 THE IPCRESS FILE (Sydney J. Furie, 1965), 3:30, 7:40, and BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN (Ken Russell, 1967), 1:25, 5:35, 9:45
Friday, May 11 YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (Lewis Gilbert, 1967), 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:50
Saturday, May 12 ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (Peter R. Hunt, 1969), 1:40, 4:20, 7:00, 9:40
Sunday, May 13 THUNDERBALL (Terence Young, 1965), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Monday, May 14 CASINO ROYALE (John Huston, 1967), 2:45, 7:00, and DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE (Norman Taurog, 1965), 1:00, 5:10, 9:25
Tuesday, May 15 A VIEW TO A KILL (John Glen, 1985), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Wednesday, May 16 THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (Guy Hamilton, 1974), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Thursday, May 17 NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (Irvin Kershner, 1983), 1:40, 4:20, 7:00, 9:40
Asia Society and Museum, New York Auditorium
725 Park Ave.
Tickets: $29
212-517-ASIA
Thursday, May 10 In honor of Cambodian-born composer Chinary Ung’s sixty-fifth birthday, special program includes panel discussion at 6:30, followed by works by Ung, Chou wen-chung, Kee-Yong Chong, Hi Kyung Kim, and Koji Nakano performed by Antares, Brentano String Quartet, Maya Beiser (cello), Thomas Buckner (baritone), Steven Schick (percussion), and others at 8:00
Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tickets: $20
212-414-5994
http://www.highlineballroom.com
Thursday, May 10 New York City-based Girlyman celebrate release of their latest album, JOYFUL SIGN, with opening act Chris Pureka, 8:00
419 West 13th St. between Ninth Ave. and Washington
Cover charge: $8 (includes open bar from 9:00 to 10:00)
212-414-4245
Thursday, May 10 Still Music Presents Karizma, celebrating the release of A MIND OF ITS OWN, along with Irfan, Jerome Derradji, DJ Alex from Tokyo, and Trusme, hosted by Brent Arnold from More Than Us, 9:00
Scandinavia House
58 Park Ave. at 38th St.
212-847-9740
http://www.scandinaviahouse.org
Thursday, May 10 ALPHA/Kammerer Septet, free, 7:30
Tuesday, May 15 Roi Ruottinen Ensemble & Ilari Kaila, $10, 7:30
Thursday, May 24 A Nordic Tapestry: ASF Fellows Concert with Soprano Elly Erickson, free, 7:30
St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water St. between Main & Dock Sts.
Smack Mellon, 92 Plymouth St. between Washington & Main Sts.
Bklyn Designs Annex, 81 Front St.
Tickets: $12 per day
718-243-1414
http://www.brooklyndesigns.net
Friday, May 11
through
Sunday, May 13 Fifth anniversary event featuring more than five dozen Brooklyn-based designers and manufacturers of contemporary furnishings, including a design mart, seminars, readings, and offsite events, with Bruce Fowle, Ismael Leyva, Beyer Blinder Belle; Ralph Pucci, Andrew Dent, Richard Haas, Danny Simmons, Chris Coleman, Ellen Hamilton, Chris Kraig, Akiko Bush, Kira Gould, Kate Zuckerman, and others, presented by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Artists on Art: free
Harlem in the Himalayas: $15-$20, 7:00
CabaretCinema: $7 food/drink minimum, 7:00
212-620-5000 ext 344
Friday, May 11 Harlem in the Himalayas: Execution Quintet
Friday, May 11 Artists on Art: Tenzing Rigdol, 7:30
Friday, May 11 CabaretCinema: Artists’ Choice Series . . . DAO (THE BLADE) (Tsui Hark, 1995), introduced by Justin Guariglia, 9:30
Friday, May 18 Concerts of Impermanence: Suphala, $15 in advance, $20 at the door, 7:00
Friday, May 18 Artists on Art, 7:30
Friday, May 18 CabaretCinema: Artists’ Choice Series . . . DEATH IN VENICE (Luchino Visconti, 1971), 9:30
twi-ny/mdr
Watch out for that "northbund" train at 49th & Seventh
The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Ave. at 112th St.
Fee: $65 (includes bike, helmet, and guide, $10 less with your own bike)
RSVP: explore@bikethebigapple.com
877-865-0078
http://www.toursbybike.com/tourscustom.html
Saturday, May 12 Bike the Big Apple leads a seven-mile tour of SOHA, a live poultry market, Harlem, Morningside Heights, Washington Heights, and Sugar Hill, 8:30 am — 1:00 pm
Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park
Brooklyn Bridge Park
Tobacco Warehouse
Tickets: $75 in advance, $85 at the door if available
718-802-0603
http://www.brooklynbridgepark.org
Saturday, May 12 Seventh annual event benefiting the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, featuring cold beer from the Brooklyn Brewery, live music by the Cowboy Hillbillies and the South Slope String Band, and slow-cooked barbecue from Waterfront Alehouse’s Sam Barbieri, Steve Harkavy and the New York City Barbecue Team, Jeff Riley of the Smokin’ Grill, and Rob Richter and his Big Island Barbecue Team, 1:00 — 6:00
Lehmann Maupin Gallery
540 West 26th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Sonnabend Gallery
536 West 22nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Admission: free
212-255-2923 / 1`1-627-1018
http://www.artnet.com/sonnabend
Saturday, May 12 In celebration of the publication of GILBERT & GEORGE: THE COMPLETE PICTURES, 1971-2005 (Aperture, April 2007, $89.95), an afternoon tea will be held at Lehmann Maupin Gallery and a book signing at Sonnabend Gallery, with Gilbert & George going back and forth between galleries, 4:00 — 6:00
Church of St. Luke in the Fields
487 Hudson St. south of Christopher St.
Tickets: $15-$20
212-517-1776
http://www.westvillagechorale.org
Saturday, May 12 Part II: The Modern Era, an exploration of the relationship between poets and the music they inspire, featuring works by Charles Gounod, Emma Lou Diemer, David Hamilton, Martha Sullivan, Paul Hindemith, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Henk Badings, Samuel Barber, Sir Charles H. H. Parry, and music director Michael Conley, with words by Shakespeare, Rainer Maria Rilke, John Donne, Théodore Botrel, James Stephens, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Emily Dickinson, and others, 8:00
Galapagos Art Space
70 North Sixth St. between Wythe and Kent
Admission: $5 with RSVP to cassettenights@gmail.com, $2 if you wear a cassette
718-384-4586
http://www.galapagosartspace.com
Saturday, May 12 Art, film, live music from Daedalus and the Guts, DJ sets from Machinedrum, Col Malveau, Jungletalk, the Flashbulb, Egg Foo Young, Praveen, and Neighborhood DJ, and more, 10:00
Green-Wood Cemetery
Fifth Ave. at 25th St.
Saturday, 10:00 am & 3:30 pm
Sunday, 12:30 & 3:30 pm
Advance purchase advised: $10
718-768-7300, stevene@green-wood.com
Saturday, May 12
and
Sunday, May 13 Fundraiser in which middle school students from Holy Name School in Brooklyn will tell stories about such Green-Wood residents as Henry "the Father of Baseball" Chadwick, McDonald "the Mad Poet of Broadway" Clarke, and Leonard Bernstein
Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
566 LaGuardia Pl.
Admission: free
212-992-8484
http://www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu
Saturday, May 12
and
Sunday, May 13 The City Opera Orchestra plays excerpts from the work of twelve American composers, including "La Machine de I’tre" by John Zorn, with discussions, video introductions, and more, Saturday 12 noon — 10:00 pm, Sunday 12 noon — 5:30
Multiple venues
Through May 20
877-711-6667
http://mamapalooza.com/thefestival
Saturday, May 12 Nancy Lombardo Momedy Comedy Show, Joe Franklin Comedy Club, 761 Seventh Ave. at 50th St., 212-541-8106, 4:00
Monday, May 14 Jill Shely’s Moms Cracking Up, 14th YWCA, 344 East 14th St., free, 212-780-0800
Thursday, May 17 Poets Walk the Beat, featuring free slam poetry on the corner of Bleecker & Cornelia Sts., 4:00 — 5:30 pm
Thursday, May 17 Po’Jazz, featuring Merge and the Hastings Blues Mothers, hosted by Golda Solomon, $15 (includes one drink), 6:00
Thursday, May 17 Witches in Bikinis, featuring killer screams by "Mommy Juju," the Slipper Room, 167 Orchard St., $8, 9:00
Saturday, May 19 WHAT IS INDIE? A LOOK INTO THE WORLD OF INDEPENDENT MUSICIANS (Dave Cool, 2006), 6:00, followed by Singer Songwriter Showcase featuring moms and dads from Australia, America, and Spain from 7:00 to 11:00, including Boys from Barcelona, Jamie Manning, Annette Daniels Taylor, Deb/Sal/Daughter, Sunny Taylor, Eileen Motok, Laurie Lindeen, Deb Knox, Susan Kane, Ruth Greenwood, KNS All Stars, Sheryl Paige, Vee Malnar, Lisa Roma, Patrice Moerman of Hot Flashes, Joy Adler, Sarah LeMieux & Super Blue Band, and Jo Wymer, Arlene’s Grocery, 95 Stanton St. between Ludlow & Orchard Sts., 212-358-1633, $10
Sunday, May 20 Mamapalooza Outdoor Extravaganza, with arts and crafts, vendors, food, and live music and dance by moms who rock, hosted by BETTY’s Alyson Palmer, Riverside Park South pier, entrance at 68th St. & the Hudson River, free, 12 noon — 5:00
Library of Performing Arts
Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Bruno Walter Auditorium
40 Lincoln Center Plaza
Admission: free
212-870-1630 / 212-642-0142
Saturday, May 12 Performing Arts of Asia and the Middle East: Heian Culture and the Tale of Genji, with Saeko Ichinohe and Dancers, 3:00
Thursday, May 17 The Turbulent Life and Times of John Osborne: A Conversation Between Sir Harold Evans and John Heilpern, 6:00
Saturday, May 19 Maxim Anikushin, piano, 3:30
Central Park
Admission: free
Saturday, May 12 Celebrate Urban Birds!, Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, inside the park at 110th St. between Fifth & Lenox Aves., featuring a theatrical performance, a public arts project, a mural creation, bird walks, books signings and readings, and workshops, 212-860-1370, 12 noon — 4:00
Saturday, May 19 West African Percussion and Dance with Alvin Ailey, Great Hill, west side from 103rd to 107th Sts., featuring a 1:00 performance and a 1:30 West African movement workshop, 212-860-1370
Monday, May 21 Central Park Brass: Jewish-American Composers and Their Music: works by Goldman, Bernstein, and Gottschalk, Naumburg Bandshell and Mall Concert Ground, midpark between 66th & 72nd Sts., 646-201-5242, 7:30
Retreat
147 Front St., DUMBO
Tickets: $12 per session, $40 for all four
http://www.michaelalanart.com/drawathon
Friday, May 12, 19, 26 Draw-a-thon hosted by artist Michael Alan, 8:00 pm — 12 midnight
Merchant’s House Museum
29 East Fourth St. between Lafayette St. and Bowery
Reservations and prepayment required: $50 per couple, one guest per couple $20
212-777-1089
Sunday, May 13 Traditional afternoon tea, including scones with clotted cream and jam, finger sandwiches, frosted confections, and pots of brewed English tea, followed by a tour of the museum, 1:30 & 3:00
Lit Lounge / Fuse Gallery
93 Second Ave. between Fifth & Sixth Sts.
Admission: free
212-777-7988
Sunday, May 13 Art Exhibition + Auction, featuring work by Royce Bannon, PHAT 1, Yuko Shimizu, Ellis G, Matt Siren, and others, with proceeds benefiting MercyCorps, 6:00 pm — 12 midnight
Monday, May 14
through
Friday, May 18 Online auction continues
Blue Note
131 West Third St.
Tickets: $10
212-475-8592
Monday, May 14 Brooklyn-born singer / activist Maya Azucena celebrates the release of her latest CD, JUNKYARD JEWEL, free admission for the first twenty-five to each show who donate a used cell phone, 8:00 & 10:30
The Living Room
154 Ludlow St. between Stanton & Rivington Sts.
Admission: free
212-533-7235
http://www.thelivingroomny.com
http://www.johnwesleyharding.com
Monday, May 14 Singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding plays a free forty-five-minute acoustic set with Mike Viola of Candy Butchers, 9:00
Tribeca Performing Arts Center
Borough of Manhattan Community College
199 Chambers St.
Admission: free
212-220-1460
Tuesday, May 15 Latin Jazz and Jazz as an International Music, film and discussion moderated by Krin Gabbard, including A NIGHT IN HAVANA: DIZZY GILLESPIE IN CUBA (1988), performance clips, and more, 8:00
Museum of Television & Radio
25 West 52nd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Tickets: $25
212-621-6800
Wednesday, May 16 Panel discussion with Nick Clooney, Mia Farrow, George Papagiannis, and Gayle Smith, moderated by Tara Sonenshine, 6:00
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Admission: free
917-606-8200