Contemplative Exhibit of the Week
07.11.07
1. Searching for the Dalai Lama’s missing peace in Chelsea
2. Isamu Noguchi in Paris and Queens
3. British filmmakers lead the charge at the Walter Reade
4. The Asia Society hosts the Asian American International Film Festival
5. Mariana Yampolsky embraces Mexico in Midtown
Volume 7, Number 6
July 11-25, 2007
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Site Design/Subway Photo:
Fred Gates Design, New York.
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Rubin Museum of Art, fourth & fifth floors
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Through September 3
Closed Tuesday
Admission: $10 (free Friday nights from 7:00 — 10:00)
212-620-5000
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Lewis deSoto, detail, "Paranirvana," mixed media with nylon, painted cloth, 1999
Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (Holy Lord, Gentle Glory, Compassionate, Defender of the Faith, Ocean of Wisdom), also known as Kundun (the Presence), is like a rock star. He sells out the Beacon Theater, attracts huge crowds to Central Park, and inspires loyalty, dedication, and worship from his fans all over the world. More familiarly known as the fourteenth incarnation of the Dalai Lama, he is the in-exile spiritual leader of Tibet, having escaped from China in 1959 to his new home in India. Curator Randy Jayne Rosenberg has brought together photographs, paintings, video, sculpture, audiovisual projects, and other unique multimedia installations from more than eighty artists from more than two dozen countries to create "The Missing Peace," an extensive two-part exhibition (at the Rubin Museum and the SVA Visual Arts Gallery in Chelsea) that celebrates the Dalai Lama by examining and spreading his mission of peace. In addition, the Rubin has included pieces from its permanent collection that detail the history of the Dalai Lama through the centuries.
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Marina Abramovic, detail, "At the Waterfall," continuous video loop projection, 2000-2003
The Rubin spreads the works across three of its floors, divided into such categories as "Empathy and Compassion," "Transformation," "The Path to Peace," "Spirituality and Globalization," and "Impermanence." Visitors are practically invited to walk in the Dalai Lama’s footsteps in Sylvie Fleury’s "The Dalai Lama’s Shoes," a Kirlian photograph that shows a bright aura emanating from the shoes. (The actual Dexters are in a nearby case.) Take a seat and meditate to Marina Abramovic’s "At the Waterfall," a cascade of 108 monks chanting simultaneously. Guy Buffet’s playful acrylic painting "His Holiness and the Bee (How a Little Annoyance Can Bring Great Joy)" follows the Dalai Lama as he reaches for a bee that has interrupted his prayers. Dove Bradshaw’s "Salt, Half-Heard" features water slowly dripping from a funnel onto a mountainous pile of Himalayan salt, creating a volcano-like hole in the center.
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Laurie Anderson, "From the Air," video projection and installation, 2006
In "From the Air," Laurie Anderson tells a story about taking her dog to a Zen monastery by projecting video onto small clay figures of her and Lolabelle sitting in chairs. Adam Fuss’s enlarged photograph of a caterpillar in a chrysalis, soon to turn into a butterfly, and Mike & Doug Starn’s oversized shot of an ice crystal speak to such Buddhist precepts as impermanence and transformation. Michael Rovner’s swirling "Spiral-Link" demonstrates how people can interact and connect with each other. Jim Hodges’s "When in There Is Out There" consists of a broken mirror that forces viewers to self-reflect on the ego. "These works of art collectively seek to create zones of peace, and are intended to inspire others to generate compassion, love and patience, which are essential if human beings are to achieve passion," the Dalai Lama writes in the preface to the excellent catalog, which also includes short essays by Joel Makower, Robert A. Thurman, Laurie Anderson, Pico Iyer, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and others. In addition, the Rubin’s Web site has audio interviews with many of the artists discussing their involvement in this exciting and fascinating project.
"Panoramic Map of Wutaishan," Sino-Mongolian, painted and colored woodblock, 1846
Rubin Museum of Art
Closed Tuesday
Admission: $10 (free Friday nights from 7:00 — 10:00)
212-620-5000
There are only a few days left to see "Illumination: Photographs by Lynn Davis" (sixth floor, through July 16), a collection of large-scale prints taken by Lynn Davis in Nepal, Thailand, Egypt, Greenland, and elsewhere, focusing on intriguing, abstract natural landscapes. Davis has also selected sculptures from the Rubin’s permanent collection to supplement the exhibit. On the third floor, through October 16, is the beguiling "Wutaishan: Pilgrimage to Five-Peak Mountain." Situated in China’s Shanxi Province, Wutaishan is believed to be the earthly home of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, known as Manjushri, where pilgrims from China, Manchu, Mongolia, and Tibet congregate. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a six-foot-wide Sino-Mongolian panoramic map of Wutaishan, made in 1846 from painted and colored woodblock. We suggest taking one of the Rubin’s magnifying glasses to zoom in on some of the remarkable stories detailed on the map.
Michelle Shocked is part of new
Naked Soul series at the Rubin Museum
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Friday nights from 7:00 to 10:00; includes free admission to galleries
212-620-5000 ext 344
Friday, July 13 Naked Soul: Michelle Shocked, $40-$45, 7:00
Friday, July 13 Artists on Art: Katrina Wong, free, 7:30
Friday, July 13 Artists on Art: Andra Samelson, free, 8:30
Friday, July 13 CabaretCinema — Artists’ Choice: GROUNDHOG DAY (Harold Ramis, 1993), introduced by Andra Samelson, $7 food/drink minimum, 9:30
Groundhog Day keeps repeating for Bill Murray, starting at 6:00 every morning
Don’t sell this outstanding comedy short. Bill Murray stars as a self-obsessed TV weatherman sent to cover the groundhog’s emergence, announcing to the world whether winter will continue. He ends up waking up over and over again reliving the same day — but he’s the only person with the knowledge of what he did the last time around. The supporting cast, including Andie MacDowell and Chris Elliott, breathes great life into this absolute joy of a film that we can never turn off whenever we find it on cable. It should be even better with a group of Himalayan enthusiasts at the Rubin.
Friday, July 20 CabaretCinema — Artists’ Choice: IKIRU (Akira Kurosawa, 1952), $7 food/drink minimum, 9:30
Friday, July 27 Naked Soul: Ellis Paul, $30-$35, 7:00
Friday, July 27 CabaretCinema — Artists’ Choice: THE KING OF MASKS (Wu Tianming, 1996), introduced by Rosemary Rawcliffe, $7 food/drink minimum, 9:30
Friday, August 3 Naked Soul: Richard Shindell, $40-$45, 7:00
Friday, August 3 CabaretCinema — Spirals: THE RED SHOES (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1948), $7 food/drink minimum, 9:30
Friday, August 10 CabaretCinema — Spirals: THE HAUNTING (Robert Wise, 1963), introduced by Alex McCown, $7 food/drink minimum, 9:30
Friday, August 17 Naked Soul: Lucy Kaplansky, $35-$40, 7:00
Friday, August 17 CabaretCinema — Spirals: THE THIRD MAN (Carol Reed, 1949), introduced by Kurt Andersen, $7 food/drink minimum, 9:30
Carol Reed’s thriller is quite simply the most entertaining film we have ever seen, twi-ny’s absolute all-time fave. Set in divided post-WWII Vienna amid a thriving black market, THE THIRD MAN is heavy in atmosphere, untrustworthy characters, and sly humor, with a marvelous zither score by Anton Karas. Joseph Cotten stars as Holly Martins, an American writer of Western paperbacks who has come to Vienna to see his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), but he seems to have shown up a little late. While trying to find out what happened to Harry, Martins falls for Harry’s lover, Anna (Alida Valli); is told to get out of town by Major Calloway (Trevor Howard); meets a stream of Harry’s more interesting, mysterious friends, including Baron Kurtz (Ernst Deutsch) and Popescu (Siegfried Breuer); and is talked into giving a lecture to a literary club by old Mr. Crabbin (Wilfrid Hyde-White). SPOILER: The shot in which Lime is first revealed, standing in a doorway, a cat brushing by his feet, his tongue firmly in cheek as he lets go a miraculous, knowing smile, is one of the greatest single shots in the history of cinema.
Friday, August 24 CabaretCinema — Spirals: MIKAËL (MICHAEL) (Carl Theodore Dreyer, 1924), $7 food/drink minimum, 9:30
Friday, August 31 CabaretCinema — WRITTEN ON THE WIND (Douglas Sirk, 1956), $7 food/drink minimum, 9:30
Seyed Alavi, "Sign of the Times," digital prints, wood, canvas, 2006
School of Visual Arts Gallery
601 West 26th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., fifteenth floor
Through August 22
Closed Sunday
Admission: free
212-592-2145
http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu
The Rubin Museum exhibit "The Missing Peace" continues at the School of Visual Arts Gallery in Chelsea, featuring another twenty-three works that illuminate on the Dalai Lama’s message of peace, unity, and compassion. Era & Donald Farnsworth’s tapestry "Dharmakaya" is a traditional thangka except there is no deity in the center, evoking the Dalai Lama’s exile from Tibet. Sanford Biggers’s video installation "Hip-Hop Ni Sasagu (In Fond Memory of Hip-Hop)" interweaves hip-hop bling into a Zen bell ceremony. Seyed Alavi’s "Sign of the Times" consists of sixteen yellow signs (two are at the Rubin) that question reality, existence, and meaning in life. Long-Bin Chen creates a DNA helix out of recycled phone books, with faces of an animal, a human, and a Buddha. Salustiano’s mesmerizing painting "Reincarnation," bathed in frightening red, envisions the next Dalai Lama to be a young girl, who does not look happy about it. Visitors are encouraged to add sand to Ryuichi Sakamato’s multimedia tabletop mandala. And Louis Fox & Free Range Graphics project a lotus flower floating on water in the center of constructed Buddhas representing the six realms of existence in their animated installation "Om Mani Padme Hum."
Suzanne Anker, "Buddha Baby," plaster and resin with pyrite, 2004
Visual Art Gallery
601 West 26th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., fifteenth floor
Through August 22
Admission: free
212-592-2145
http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu
Curator Milton Glaser has brought together more than two dozen works from SVA faculty and alums in "Everything I Do Always Comes Back to Me," a companion exhibit to "The Missing Peace." Such themes as war, 9/11, impermanence, the natural world, and spiritual enlightenment are examined in sculptures, paintings, and mixed-media installations by such artists as Robert Weaver, Kate Cunningham, Deborah Ross, Stephen Frailey, and others. A horizontal tree removes the subject’s identity in Stuart Hawkins’s "Fast Food Workers in the Forest." Suzanne Anker’s rapid rototype sculpture "Buddha Baby" depicts the birth of an enlightened embryo. Teresa Fasolino gives Earth Day back to the animals in "Peaceable Kingdom." Michael Pisano uses a rifle to grow tomatoes in "Tomato Planter." Warren Lehrer’s "The Poetry Roll" is a multipurpose roll of toilet paper meant for people to "read, wipe, ponder & flush." And Bruce Wands’s "The Buddha Light Painting Series" reveals the inner spirit blazing in a digital print.
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Shepard Fairey, detail, "Two Sides of Capitalism: Bad," screened collage on canvas
Jonathan LeVine Gallery
529 West 20th St., ninth floor
Through July 21
Closed Sunday & Monday
Admission: free
212-243-3822
http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com
L.A.-based artist Shepard Fairey has been displaying his propagandist street art since 1989, when he started putting up stickers of Andre the Giant wherever he could. The "Obey Giant" campaign soon spread to include stencils, drawings, posters, collages, and album covers, all using easily recognizable, mass-produced imagery and techniques. The familiar, mass-produced package delivers content that attacks America’s unquestioning obedience to the dictates of both advertising and government control, focusing on war and the almighty dollar. More than 150 new works are on view at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in "E Pluribus Venom" (out of many, poison), a play on the phrase "E Pluribus Unum" (out of many, one) found on U.S. currency. In fact, several of the pieces are large-scale send-ups of U.S. bills featuring such lines as "Obedience Is the Most Valuable Currency," "More Militerry Less Skool," and "Never Bow to the System, Change the System, or Create Your Own." Fairey’s mixed-media canvases are often made of snippets of newspaper articles on violence and war as well as advertisements, which are painted or printed over with his iconography of soldiers, gas masks, floral patterns, nuclear warheads, birds, rifles with roses, and fists at the ready.
© Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey, "These Sunsets Are to Die For!" stencil collage and mixed media on canvas
In one of the most stunning and powerful pieces, "These Sunsets Are to Die For!" a man and a woman hold hands on a rock in the left foreground, watching as a city across a bloody river shoots polluted smoke and fire into the sky, the huge canvas bathed in (communist) red, with the title words at the bottom signifying that the American dream is now a living nightmare. In "Uncle Scam," an Uncle Sam-like figure is holding skulls labeled "Human Rights," "Civil Liberty," "Privacy," "Justice," and other supposed freedoms, with the admonition "Do as He Says, Not as He Does." And in "Proud Parents Canvas," a happy couple cradles their beautiful new baby warhead. Despite everything being right in your face, the show doesn’t come off as being didactic or simplistic, because that’s the point; Fairey’s turning the government’s own propagandist language inside out, spitting it right back at them. We think this is a must-see exhibit, but don’t just listen to us. After all, as Fairey notes, "Blind Acceptance Can Be Hazardous."
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Souther Salazar exhibit is a wonderland of imagination
Jonathan LeVine Gallery
529 West 20th St., ninth floor
Through July 21
Closed Sunday & Monday
Admission: free
212-243-3822
http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com
After contemplating Shepard Fairey’s complex and angry world view, head into the back room at Jonathan LeVine to delight in Souther Salazar’s wonderful fantasy land. Salazar’s creative creatures fly through the air, relax in futuristic, alien landscapes, have playfully monstrous dreams, live in tree trunks, and talk to animals in engaging collages with such titles as "This Is the Modern World," "It Was the Greatest Story Ever Told," "Lost in Space Again," "Mr. Smashed Apples Rides Again," and "Complicated Social Organization." He also fashions little dioramas featuring cute fire-baked clay figures escaping in a bottle of glue, taking a ride in a lightbulb balloon, standing guard in a tower built on pencils, and swimming atop a box of thumb tacks. And cat lovers will linger over the charming "Widely Distributed Little Creatures," made from orange pigment ink on archival paper. Be sure to look all around the room, as Salazar has added little touches in virtually every nook and cranny.
Courtesy the Noguchi Museum
Isamu Noguchi in his studio, Gentilly, France, ca. 1928-29
The Noguchi Museum
9-01 33rd Rd. at Vernon Blvd.
Closed Monday and Tuesday
Through August 26
Admission: $10
Weekend shuttle service: $10 round trip
718-204-7088
The Noguchi Museum’s first-ever summer special exhibition examines the influence Isamu Noguchi’s 1927 Paris apprenticeship with Constantin Brancusi had on his output, both immediately and throughout his career. Noguchi studied under Brancusi while traveling on a Guggenheim Fellowship, leading him to experiment with abstraction in black-and-white water-based gouache drawings and metal and wood sculptures. "Survey of Paris Abstractions" consists of more than fifty drawings, sculptures, and photographs that reveal Noguchi developing his own visual language, incorporating geometric patterns, unique constructions, and light and shadow. Grooves, curves, and sharp edges that appear in many of the drawings can be seen in finished works (actual sculptures in the gallery as well as in photos); for example, compare "Untitled [7000*11/35]" to "Power House (Study for Neon Tube Sculpture)" or "Untitled [7015]" to "Foot Tree." The individual forms in two versions of "Worksheet for Figure" look like letters spelling out impossible-to-decipher words, although they are actually abstract shapes that led to the nearby bronze "Figure." Perhaps the most Brancusi-like object is "Globular," a smooth, curvilinear sculpture of polished brass (that also happens to serve as a funhouse mirror). Other highlights include a stand of Akari light sculptures, a model for "Memorial to Buddha," and several wood-and-paper study models for "Red Cube," which rests in Lower Manhattan.
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Isamu Noguchi, "Ding Dong Bat," marble, 1968
The Noguchi Museum
Closed Monday and Tuesday
Through September 2
The Noguchi Museum is one of the most peaceful, beautiful, spiritual, and moving places in New York. Master sculptor Isamu Noguchi designed the space himself; it previously was a photo-engraving plant. Make your way slowly through the different rooms, some of which are open to the sky, and save the remarkable garden for last. Take your time breathing in the essence of each individual piece, walking around it to feel the full force of Noguchi’s expert craftsmanship. Notice the difference between the smooth and rough sides of "Shiva Pentagonal" (area 1). You can almost hear the soothing flows of "Waterfall" (area 3). Area 14 houses the circular red marble "Sun at Noon," "Downward Pulling" on the ground, and "Ding Dong Bat" hovering near the center. Two versions of "Walking Void" begin area 6, in which you’ll also find "Magic Ring" on the floor — check out the rough edges where you can see Noguchi’s chisel marks. In a room virtually unto itself resides "Memorial to the Dead of Hiroshima."
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Isamu Noguchi, "Variations on a Millstone #2," granite, 1962
There are still more treasures upstairs. Area 11 is made up of photographs, models, and works created for public spaces and gardens, both realized and not, from playgrounds and parks to memorials and fountains. Among the recent additions are sets Noguchi designed for productions by Martha Graham and the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. Area 12 is simply spectacular, showing off Noguchi’s vast range with works in marble, alabaster, brass, ink on paper, terra-cotta, mahogany, aluminum, slate, and glass. In area 9, "Double Red Mountain" rises from below, alongside ISAMU NOGUCHI, 18 DRAWINGS AND 18 PHOTOGRAPHS, elements from a limited-edition, handcrafted artist’s book made on special paper. Noguchi envisioned area 10, which includes "Planet in Transit #1," as a place that "recalls us to another life. Within the room there is a calm and, I hope, a wish to rest or contemplate — a change of pace." Before heading outside to the garden, take a seat in the museum shop, where you can learn about Noguchi’s Akari lamps while having an awesome Sage chocolate brownie.
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Sculpture Garden is a beautiful place to relax and contemplate life and art
Take a deep breath and then enter the gorgeous garden, which will revive your body and soul. Look all around "The Well (Variation on a Tsukubai)," following the water as it comes out of the top and glides down the rough and glistening sides. Notice how the holes on both sides of "Core" invite in natural light. "Indian Dancer" stands amid "Practical Rocks in Placement." "Behind Inner Seeking Shiva Dancing" is perhaps the best-named sculpture in the garden. In the far corner is a burial marker, signifying where part of Noguchi was laid to rest. Other mesmerizing pieces carefully arranged around Japanese and U.S. foliage are "The Big Bang," "Unmei," and the naturally formed "Spin-off #1 from the Chase Manhattan Garden." You’ll find it hard to leave this urban oasis.
Sunday, August 12 Music in the Garden: ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble), 3:00
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James Johnson’s 2007 "Freedom of Movement" lurks in Socrates Sculpture Park
Socrates Sculpture Park
Broadway at Vernon Blvd.
Through August 5
Admission: free
718-956-1819
http://www.socratessculpturepark.org
Socrates Sculpture Park slideshow
Socrates Sculpture Park continues the celebration of its twentieth anniversary with "L.I.C., NYC," a rather sparse collection of pieces by Long Island City artists. Flux Factory contributed "Albatross," an abandoned ship run aground, with a skeleton hanging on a clothesline, plastic barnacles, and various tableaux inside. Feel free to take a seat on Isamu Noguchi’s "Pierced Seat / Pierced Table." Joel Shapiro’s "Untitled, for David" and Mark di Suvero’s "Clock Knot" reach toward the sky. Kurt Lightner’s "I Hauled" consists of a narrative told on the boards of a wooden fence. James Johnson’s "Freedom of Movement" is made up of a pair of intricately designed whale fins jutting out from the ground. Unfortunately, you can’t get Rachel Stevens’s panopticon, "Bread Mascots and Heroes," whirling fast enough to get completely immersed in its repeating images of the Lone Ranger and Tonto and Tony Soprano amid a bunch of ducks. Although there are a handful of interesting pieces, most of the works are rather boring and mundane, making for an overall uninspired exhibit.
Saturday, July 14 Saturday Sculpture Workshops: Pop-up Sculpture Park with Jane Benson, 12 noon — 3:00
Saturday, July 21 Saturday Sculpture Workshops: Pom-pom Creatures with Jane Benson, 12 noon — 3:00
Sunday, July 22 Debut of third monumental balloon sculpture by Jason Hackenwerth
Saturday, July 28 Saturday Sculpture Workshops: Do the Hustle with Shaun Leonardo, 12 noon — 3:00
Saturday, August 4 Saturday Sculpture Workshops: Let’s Rock with Cameron Gainer, 12 noon — 3:00
Sunday, August 5 "L.I.C., NYC Video," short videos curated by Andréa Salerno, 7:00
Saturday, August 11 Saturday Sculpture Workshops: Drawing with Light with Cameron Gainer, 12 noon — 3:00
Saturday, August 18 Saturday Sculpture Workshops: Xylophone Jam with FreeStyle Arts Association, 12 noon — 3:00
Saturday, August 25 Saturday Sculpture Workshops: Giant Tinkertoys with FreeStyle Arts Association, 12 noon — 3:00
Socrates Sculpture Park
Broadway at Vernon Blvd.
Wednesdays at sundown through August 29
Live performances at 7:00, films begin at sunset
Admission: free
718-956-1819
http://www.socratessculpturepark.org
Wednesday, July 11 CROSSING THE BRIDGE: THE SOUND OF ISTANBUL (Fatih Akin, 2005)
Wednesday, July 18 THIS IS BOSSA NOVA (Paulo Thiago, 2005)
Wednesday, July 25 LINDA LINDA LINDA (Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2005)
Wednesday, August 1 Canceled: THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T (Roy Rowland 1953), new film to be announced
Wednesday, August 8 KAL HOO NA HO (Nikhil Advani)
Wednesday, August 15 CALLE 54 (Fernando Trueba, 2000)
Wednesday, August 22 U-CARMEN E-KHYELLSTSHA (Mark Dornford, 2005)
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Roosevelt Island Tram offers fab views of Queensboro Bridge and LIC
Sunday — Thursday 6:00 am — 2:00 am
Friday & Saturday 6:00 am — 3:30 am
Admission: $2 (MetroCard accepted)
212-832-4555
http://www.roosevelt-island.ny.us
Getting to the Noguchi Museum and Socrates Sculpture Park is much easier than you think. Just ride the Roosevelt Island Tram, hop on the RIOC shuttle bus (twenty-five cents), take a casual stroll over the Roosevelt Island Bridge (formerly known as the Welfare Island Bridge), and then just walk a few blocks. Hey, it’s what Isamu Noguchi did every day when he went to work. During rush hour, trams leave every seven and a half minutes, while at all other times they leave every fifteen minutes. Featuring a capacity of 125 people, the tram, which debuted in 1976, travels 3,100 feet at 16 miles per hour, reaching a height of 250 feet as it crosses the East River in a crisp 4 1/2 minutes, offering great views of Manhattan, Roosevelt Island, and Queens.
Woodfall / the Kobal Collection
Albert Finney is ready to take on the world in TOM JONES
Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. between Eighth Ave. & Broadway
July 13-26
Tickets: $11
212-875-5600
British director Tony Richardson, British playwright John Osborne, and American producer Harry Saltzman founded Woodfall Film Productions in 1956, seeking to show the real England. Mixing in documentary-like elements, controversial subject matter, and a postwar modernist sensibility, they produced such seminal cinema as TOM JONES, LOOK BACK IN ANGER, SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING, and THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER, featuring such stars as Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins, Trevor Howard, John Gielgud, and Tom Courtenay, among others.
Friday, July 13 TOM JONES (Tony Richardson, 1963), 1:30 & 6:30 (introduced by Lynn Redgrave)
Friday, July 13 LOOK BACK IN ANGER (Tony Richardson, 1958), and MOMMA DON’T ALLOW (Tony Richardson & Karel Reisz, 1955), 4:00
Friday, July 13 KES (Ken Loach, 1969), 9:00
Saturday, July 14 LOOK BACK IN ANGER (Tony Richardson, 1958), and MOMMA DON’T ALLOW (Tony Richardson & Karel Reisz, 1955), 1:30
Saturday, July 14 KES (Ken Loach, 1969), 3:50
Saturday, July 14 THE ENTERTAINER (Tony Richardson, 1960), 6:10
Sunday, July 15 TOM JONES (Tony Richardson, 1963), 1:00 & 5:30
Sunday, July 15 THE ENTERTAINER (Tony Richardson, 1960), 3:30
Sunday, July 15 LOOK BACK IN ANGER (Tony Richardson, 1958), and MOMMA DON’T ALLOW (Tony Richardson & Karel Reisz, 1955), introduced by Michael Sheen, 8:00
Monday, July 16 THE ENTERTAINER (Tony Richardson, 1960), 2:00
Monday, July 16 A TASTE OF HONEY (Tony Richardson, 1961), 4:00
Monday, July 16 THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (Tony Richardson, 1968), introduced by Vanessa Redgrave, 6:15
Tuesday, July 17 THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (Tony Richardson, 1968), 2:00
Wednesday, July 18 A TASTE OF HONEY (Tony Richardson, 1961), 4:30 & 9
Wednesday, July 18 A DELICATE BALANCE (Tony Richardson, 1973), 6:30
Thursday, July 19 A DELICATE BALANCE (Tony Richardson, 1973), 1:30 & 6:20
Thursday, July 19 THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER (Tony Richardson, 1962), 4:10 & 9:00
Saturday, July 21 HAMLET (Tony Richardson, 1969), 1:30 & 8:45
Saturday, July 21 THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER (Tony Richardson, 1962), 3:50
Saturday, July 21 THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (Tony Richardson, 1968), 6:00
Sunday, July 22 A DELICATE BALANCE (Tony Richardson, 1973), 1:30
Monday, July 23 MADEMOISELLE (Tony Richardson, 1966), 8:00
Tuesday, July 24 THE BORDER (Tony Richardson, 1982), 2:00 & 6:15
Woodfall / Lopert / the Kobal Collection
Jane Birkin and Ray Brooks get the knack in THE KNACK…
Tuesday, July 24 THE KNACK…AND HOW TO GET IT (Richard Lester, 1965), 4:15 & 8:30
Wednesday, July 25 NED KELLY (Tony Richardson, 1970), 4:00 & 8:15
Wednesday, July 25 SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING (Karel Reisz, 1960), 2:00 & 6:15
Thursday, July 26 MADEMOISELLE (Tony Richardson, 1966), 1:30 & 6:15
Thursday, July 26 THE BORDER (Tony Richardson, 1982), 3:45
Thursday, July 26 HAMLET (Tony Richardson, 1969), 8:30
Patrick Tam epic AFTER THIS OUR EXILE is set in 1990s Malaysia
Asia Society and Museum, New York Auditorium
725 Park Ave. at 70th St.
July 19-28
Tickets: $10
212-327-9385
Hot on the heels of the New York Asian Film Festival at the IFC Center and Japan Cuts at the Japan Society, the thirtieth annual Asian American International Film Festival comprises documentaries, short programs, and feature-length works from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, China, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Cambodia, the Netherlands, and the United States. This year’s honoree is Patrick Tam, who will be present for several special events. Among the more familiar stars appearing in this year’s selections are Meryl Streep, Vera Farmiga, Leslie Cheung, and Norah Jones. Below is a partial list of the 2007 schedule.
Thursday, July 19 FINISHING THE GAME (Justin Lin, 2007), 7:00
Friday, July 20 AFTER THIS OUR EXILE (FU ZI) (Patrick Tam, 2006), 6:30
Friday, July 20 NA KAMALEI: THE MEN OF HULA (Lisette Marie Flanary, 2006), preceded by a live hula performance by Na Lehua Melemele, 7:00
Friday, July 20 Opening Night Presentation: FINISHING THE GAME (Justin Lin, 2007), followed by a reception, $50, 10:00
Saturday, July 21 AMERICAN PASTIME (Desmond Nakano, 2007), 11:00 am
Saturday, July 21 DRIVING WITH MY WIFE’S LOVER (Kim Tai-sik, 2006), 1:15
Tae-han (Park Kwang-jung) is a pathetic excuse of a man, a nerdy jellyfish with no backbone. After discovering that his vivacious young wife, Eun-soo (Kim Sung-mi), is having an affair with Jung-shik (Jung Bo-suk), a smooth-talking taxi driver, sad-sack Tae-han hires him to drive him from Seoul back to his seaside town of faraway Naksan, a trip that ends up taking them several days. Along the way, Tae-han slumps in the corner of the backseat, unable to get up the guts to say or do anything to Jung-shik, who constantly boasts of his many conquests and seems to have women lined up in every town. But when Tae-han finally gets back home, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Well, sort of. Directed and cowritten by Kim Tai-sik, DRIVING WITH MY WIFE’S LOVER is a charming yet goofy flick that will have viewers practically screaming at Tae-han to take some kind of action — and even after he does. Jeong Jong-jin’s amazing theme music will be rolling around in your head for weeks after seeing this fun little film from South Korea.
Saturday, July 21 NOMAD (LIE HUO QING CHUN) (Patrick Tam, 1982), 3:30
Saturday, July 21 CAMPAIGN (SENKYO) (Kazuhiro Soda, 2006) 4:30
Saturday, July 21 One on One with Patrick Tam: screening of MIU KAM-FUNG (Parick Tam, 1976), followed by book signing and reception, 5:45
Saturday, July 21 DANCING BELLS (CHALANGGAI) (Deepak Kumaran Menon, 2007), 7:15
Saturday, July 21 BLACKOUT (Ato Bautista, 2007), 10:30
Awkward, derivative, and frustrating, the Filipino horror flick BLACKOUT is a puerile psychological thriller with a ridiculous screenplay by Shugo Praico and minor-league direction by Ato Bautista. Philippines movie star Robin Padilla is downright annoying as Gil, an unemployed alcoholic trying to take care of his young son (John Michael Reyes) as a single parent, having driven away his wife. Gil suffers blackouts that only come back to him in fits and starts, including one particularly bad night in which he backed over a neighbor girl, Isabel (Ella Guevarra). Not knowing what else to do, Gil cements Isabel into his complex’s septic tank, but when her mother, Belen (Iza Calzado), comes a-callin’, the guilt builds to explosive levels inside the deeply troubled Gil. BLACKOUT is a mishmash of elements from THE SIXTH SENSE, DARK WATER, THE TELLTALE HEART, and the TWILIGHT ZONE episode “You Drive,” except inferior on all counts. Even the final twist will leave you wanting to black this film out of your memory.
Sunday, July 22 DO OVER (YI NIAN ZHI CHU) (Cheng Yu-Chieh, 2006), 11:30 am
The Grand Prize winner at the 2006 Taipei Film Festival, DO OVER is a complex, nonlinear tale set in modern-day Taiwan. It’s New Year’s Eve, and a handful of main characters will cross paths as the night goes on, brought together via interweaving story lines merging in past and present. Ding-An (Chien-wei Huang), who came over illegally from mainland China, is working for gangsters and waiting for the ID card he needs to break free of them — and he’s not afraid to challenge his best friend, Kao (Ying-hsien Kao), to get it. Pang (Ching-kuan Wang), a PA on a film set, has a desperate crush on the leading lady, who might just be showing more than a hint of interest. Rat (Yue-Lin Ko) suddenly finds himself in a strange hospital, blood all over his shirt. Butterfly (Chia-yen Ko) goes to the airport every morning, waiting for something or someone to arrive. And Li-hsiang (Tzu-yi Mo), the director of the film within a film, is trying to keep his gangster brother (Chung Hua Tou) a secret from the crew while they both reevaluate their lives. At times DO OVER, the debut feature from highly touted writer-director Cheng Yu-Chieh, is maddeningly confusing, and it’s at least twenty minutes too long, but it’s worth sticking around to watch it all come together — well, those parts that do come together, anyway.
Sunday, July 22 72 Hr Shootout, preceded by a reception with the filmmaking teams, 8:30
Sunday, July 22 THE ELEPHANT AND THE SEA (Woo Ming Jin, 2007), 8:45
Woo Ming Jin’s international festival favorite THE ELEPHANT AND THE SEA is a meditative, elegiac film filled with simple beauty and a subtle elegance. Shot in and around the coastal village of Kuala Selangor on the west coast of Malaysia, the film has sparse dialogue, natural sound and light, and offbeat, intriguing characters. Yun Ding is a teen who scrapes up money selling whatever he can find, including a young woman. Ah Ngau is a fisherman whose wife died and was cremated while he was out to sea; their home has been quarantined, so he is forced to live in a public men’s shelter. Barely saying a word, the two main characters go through life slowly, treating every incident with the same nonchalance, as if nothing has any real meaning. Eventually, Yun Ding shows interest in a fish with special lottery powers, and Ah Ngau visits a prostitute that awakens something inside him, but even then it is hard to tell if anything can ever truly move either of them. Woo Ming Jin wrote, directed, and edited this minimalist delight, gorgeously shot by cinematographer Chan Hai Liang.
Wednesday, July 25 NEW YEAR BABY (Socheata Poeuv, 2006), 6:30
Wednesday, July 25 KING AND THE CLOWN (WANGAE NAMJA) (Lee Jun-ik, 2005), 9:15
Meryl Streep stars in centerpiece film, DARK MATTER
Thursday, July 26 Centerpiece Presentation: DARK MATTER (Chen Shi-Zheng, 2006), followed by reception, $15, 7:00
Thursday, July 26 YEAR OF THE FISH (David Kaplan, 2006), followed by a Q&A with the director, 9:15
Friday, July 27 TIE A YELLOW RIBBON (Joy Dietrich, 2007), 9:15
Saturday, July 28 ETERNAL SUMMER (SHENG XIA GUANG NIAN) (Leste Chen, 2006), 2:30
Saturday, July 28 ONE FOOT OFF THE GROUND (JI QUAN BU NING) (Chen Daming, 2006), 4:45
Saturday, July 28 Closing Presentation: NEVER FOREVER (Gina Kim, 2006), followed by reception and awards ceremony, $30, 7:30
© Fundación Cultural Mariana Yampolsky
Mariana Yampolsky, "Cine, genios y abogados (Movies, Geniuses and Lawyers)," linoleum-block print, undated
The UBS Art Gallery
1285 Sixth Ave. between 51st & 52nd Sts.
Monday through Friday, 8:00 am — 6:00 pm
Through August 3
Admission: free
212-713-2885
Chicago-born artist Mariana Yampolsky (1925-2002) left for Mexico after college and remained there for nearly sixty years, documenting the country’s cultural life in black-and-white photographs and linoleum and woodcut prints. As part of the Taller de Gráfica Popular, she helped spread progressive causes and expose the realities of everyday existence in Mexico. She didn’t just snap photos of the indigenous poor; she stayed in the community, got to know the people, and then photographed them only with permission. Reminiscent of the work of such photographers as Helen Levitt and Walker Evans, Yampolsky’s output reveals the strength and beauty of the land, the people, and the architecture in troubling times, as the growth of the big cities hurt those who remained behind. In "Mujeres Mazahua," a determined young woman looks to the left, as if searching for something, anything, while another woman stands off to the side and a little girl takes a drink from a glass, not worrying about her future.
© Fundación Cultural Mariana Yampolsky
Mariana Yampolsky, "Mujeres Mazahuas" (Mazahua Women), gelatin silver print, 1989
In "Huipil de Tapar," a woman walks away from the camera and down a small walkway, a white headdress flapping in the wind, her shadow lining up with the shadow on a nearby building. In "Waiting for the Priest," four women are sitting on a bench, seemingly gossiping as they await their spiritual leader. And in the stunning linoleum-block print "Cine, genios y abogados," skeletons have taken over on the Day of the Dead. In addition to being a photographer, Yampolsky was a curator, collector, and book editor. The exhibition also features various books she participated in, works from artists who influenced her, and items from her personal collection of Mexican folk art, including colorful masks and figurines.
Courtesy of MGM
Iconic image is part of Woody Allen’s love letter to city
Film Forum
209 West Houston St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
July 13-19, 1:30, 3:25, 5:20, 7:15, 9:10
212-727-8110
Woody Allen’s masterwork, MANHATTAN, is a nonstop celebration of the city he so loves. Coming off the overwhelming critical and popular success of ANNIE HALL (1977) and the mixed reaction to the Bergmanesque INTERIORS (1978), Allen combines the best of both in this heartbreakingly funny look at life and love involving brown water, religion, television, Nazis, infidelity, tell-all books, geniuses, and a stellar cast that includes Allen, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway, and Michael Murphy. Shot in breathtaking black and white by cinematographer Gordon Willis and with a spectacular soundtrack — featuring George Gershwin music performed by Zubin Mehta conducting the New York Philharmonic and Michael Tilson Thomas leading the Buffalo Philharmonic — MANHATTAN is a film meant to be seen on the big screen, and Film Forum is doing just that for a special one-week run, in a new 35mm scope print. And try not to read too much into the plot, in which television writer Isaac Davis (Allen) goes bananas over a high school girl (Hemingway).
Daniel Auteuil is desperate to find a friend in Leconte flick
Opens Friday, July 13
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
http://www.monmeilleurami-lefilm.com
The great and suddenly ubiquitous Daniel Autieul is a goofy delight in Patrice Leconte’s lightweight but fun MY BEST FRIEND. Auteuil stars as François, a successful antique dealer who is surprised to suddenly discover that no one likes him. His business partner, Catherine (Julie Gayet), bets him that he won’t be able to prove that he has a best friend. Given ten days, François sets out to find someone he can call his best friend, with pathetically funny results. Desperate, he hires Bruno, a gregarious cabdriver (Dany Boon, who also stars in THE VALET), to show him how to be nice to people and make friends. Leconte, the director of such acerbic comedies as THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND and RIDICULE as well as such powerful dramas as INTIMATE STRANGERS and THE WIDOW OF ST. PIERRE, aims low but hits high with this charming, if silly, little film. Add half a star if you can’t get enough of Autieul.
© Focus Features
Don Cheadle talks up a storm in Lemmons’s docudrama
Opens Friday, July 13
http://www.focusfeatures.com/talktome
Not afraid to speak his mind, Petey Greene revolutionized talk radio in Washington, DC, in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, influencing the next generation of shock jocks (including an impressionable DC newbie named Howard Stern). Kasi Lemmons’s TALK TO ME details Greene’s (Don Cheadle) transformation from incarcerated armed robber to controversial media celebrity by concentrating on his friendship with young radio executive Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), two black men with very different personalities. While Greene preferred a wild, flamboyant lifestyle, Hughes chose to walk the straight and narrow, quietly working within the system, personified by Martin Sheen as conservative station owner E. G. Sonderling. But Greene’s unwillingness to play the game has a profound effect on Hughes as well as on the people of DC. As major cultural events unfold, Lemmons (EVE’S BAYOU, THE CAVEMAN’S VALENTINE) lets the audience experience them through Greene, offering a unique perspective on familiar happenings. Cheadle and Ojiofor make a great team, but Taraji P. Henson nearly steals the show as Vernell Watson, Greene’s far-out lover. TALK TO ME skips around a bit too much and teeters too often on the edge of preachiness, especially when Terence Blanchard’s sappy score overheats the melodrama, but the central story — the screenplay was cowritten by Hughes’s son, Michael Genet, with Hughes serving as a consultant — helps the film rise above its maudlin tendencies. The awesome, if obvious, soundtrack includes songs by Sam Cooke, James Brown, the Supremes, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Booker T & the MGs, Sam and Dave, Archie Bell and the Drells, Al Green, Sly & the Family Stone, and the Chambers Brothers.
Troubled lovers try to rekindle their romance in TIME
Opens Friday, July 13
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
212-924-3363
After two years together, See-hee (Seong Hyeon-ah) thinks that her boyfriend, Ji-woo (Ha Jung-woo), has lost interest in her. She goes crazy jealous whenever he even so much as takes a peek at another woman, embarrassing him in public time and time again. But when she suddenly disappears, he soon realizes that he can’t live without her. And he won’t necessarily have to; See-hee has taken off to have a plastic surgeon (Kim Sung-min) completely change her face so she can make Ji-woo fall in love with her (now played by Park Ji-yun) all over again, even if he doesn’t know who she really is. But it is a lot harder to change one’s inner psyche than outward physical appearance. Korean writer-director Kim Ki-duk, who has made such unusual and compelling films as 3-IRON, THE BOW (see DVD review below), and SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...and SPRING, has crafted yet another fascinating drama that challenges the audience with its unique and unexpected twists and turns, asking intriguing questions rather than doling out simplistic answers. Kim shows the passage of time as a natural enemy to love and romance — but one that can be overcome. "Time travels in divers paces with divers persons," Shakespeare wrote in AS YOU LIKE IT. And so it does in this difficult yet memorable film.
Gena Rowlands takes Parker Posey shopping for a good man in BROKEN ENGLISH
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
212-330-8182
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts.
212-757-0359
http://lincolnplaza.moviefone.com
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/NewYork_frameset.htm
Parker Posey is simply delightful as Nora Wilder, the hard-pressed protagonist of BROKEN ENGLISH, the debut feature film by writer-director Zoe Cassavetes. Nora is the behind-the-scenes concierge of a ritzy Midtown hotel who, while pulling off miracles for the hotel’s VIPs, can’t get anything to work in her own life. Her mother (Gena Rowlands) and seemingly happily married best friend (Drea de Matteo) try their best to help, but she seems doomed to live life alone. After a series of ridiculously bad dates, she’s about to give up on ever falling in love when she bumps into Julien (Melvil Poupaud), a gorgeous but somewhat goofy French playboy-type who is everything she never wanted in a long-term relationship. Despite her misgivings, the two hit it off, but that is only the start of a whole new slew of problems. Cassavetes, the daughter of John Cassavetes and Rowlands, shows an astute sensibility in BROKEN ENGLISH, mixing in pathos and humor with a fine ear for dialogue and good character development. The film also includes some great New York locations, including Film Forum, the Central Park Zoo (where Cassavetes brutally steals a scene from Woody Allen), the Chambers Hotel, and more.
Hagen Keller
Ulriche Mühe keeps his eyes open in German thriller
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts.
212-757-0359
Village East
181 Second Ave. at 12th St.
212-777-3456
http://citycinemas.moviefone.com
http://lincolnplaza.moviefone.com
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.
© Edward Burtynsky
Documentary about Edward Burtynsky is filled with unsettling beauty
Film Forum
209 West Houston St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
212-727-8110
http://www.filmforum.org/films/manufactured.html
Burtynsky at the Brooklyn Museum
Photographer Edward Burtynsky has been traveling the world with his large-format viewfinder camera, taking remarkable photographs of environmental landscapes undergoing industrial change. Cinematographer Peter Mettler and director Jennifer Baichwal joined Burtynsky on his journey as he documented ships being broken down in Chittagong, Bangladesh; the controversial development of the Three Gorges Dam Project in China, which displaced more than a million people; the uniformity at a factory in Cankun that makes irons and the Deda Chicken Processing Plant in Dehui City; as well as various mines and quarries. Burtynsky’s photos, which were on view at the Brooklyn Museum in late 2005, are filled with gorgeous colors and a horrible sadness at the lack of humanity they portray. As in the exhibit, the audience is not hit over the head with facts and figures and environmental rhetoric; instead, the pictures pretty much speak for themselves, although Burtynsky does give some limited narration. Baichwal lets the camera linger on its subject, as in the remarkable opening shot, a long, slow pan across a seemingly endless factory. She is also able to get inside the photographs, making them appear to be three-dimensional as she slowly pulls away.
Satoshi Kon’s animated fantasy is set in a dreamlike future
Village East
181 Second Ave. at 12th St.
212-777-3456
http://citycinemas.moviefone.com
http://www.sonyclassics.com/paprika
Based on the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, PAPRIKA is an animated, futuristic sci-fi thriller in which reality and dreams merge in clever and confusing ways. The title character is a superhero psychotherapist who can enter people’s dreams by using cutting-edge technology known as the DC MINI, which was invented by Dr. Tokita, a huge man with a baby face and a tremendous appetite. When one of the prototypes is stolen, Paprika, whose alter ego is Dr. Atsuko Chiba of the Foundation for Psychiatric Research, sets out to find the thief, who is using the invaluable — and not fully tested and approved — equipment for seemingly evil purposes. Other central characters include Torataro Shima, the adorable old chief of the lab; the ruthless, wheelchair-bound foundation chairman, Seijiro Inui; Detective Konakawa, who develops a liking for Paprika; Dr. Osanai, a hunky researcher; and lab assistant Himuro, who has gone missing but can be seen in dreams. Adapted by Satoshi Kon, the director of MILLENNIUM ACTRESS and TOKYO GODFATHERS, and featuring the voices of Megumi Hayashibara, Toru Emori, Katsunosuke Hori, Toru Furuya, and Akio Ohtsuka, PAPRIKA is an entertaining, if at times hard to follow, anime with lots of cute characters and some very beautiful scenes.
Barbet Schroeder gets a leg up in one of eighteen cinematic love letters to Paris
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.
Michael Moore heads to Paris to look for quality health care in SiCKO
In theaters now
After taking on GM in ROGER & ME, the gun lobby in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, and the Iraq war in FAHRENHEIT 9/11, Michael Moore goes after the health-care industry in SiCKO, another vastly entertaining and wildly informative documentary that will make you laugh till it hurts. Instead of focusing on the 50 million Americans who don't have health insurance, Moore zeroes in on the 250 million who do — and still can’t afford treatment when they become seriously ill. Collecting ridiculous stories culled from tens of thousands e-mailed to him via his Website, Moore shares remarkable tales of maddening insurance company denials, including one woman who was dragged unconscious from a car accident and taken to the hospital — and whose carrier refused to pay for the ambulance because she failed to get the emergency ride preapproved. And that’s only the tip of this melting iceberg. Moore goes inside the industry to reveal frightening details of how these for-profit institutions run and why it is always in their best interest to say no. He also travels to Canada, France, England, and even Cuba to show how the supposed evils of socialized medicine actually work for everyone. And just wait till you see how Nixon and Reagan are involved. SiCKO rips the million-dollar mask off the health-care industry; be prepared to leave the theater as mad as hell and not wanting to take it anymore.
Ben Kingsley and Téa Leoni develop an offbeat relationship in YOU KILL ME
In theaters now
http://www.youkillmethefilm.com
John Dahl’s YOU KILL ME opens with a fabulous scene in which a man (Ben Kingsley) walks out onto his stoop, swigs from a bottle of vodka, tosses it a bit ahead of him, then shovels some snow until he reaches the bottle again, then takes another swallow, tosses it again, shovels, etc. It immediately establishes the nature of the character, a hit man named Frank Falenczyk who toils for the Polish mob in Buffalo. (Who knew?) But when he blows a crucial assignment to kill incoming Irish boss O’Leary (Dennis Farina), the family insists he either go to rehab in San Francisco or else. Unfortunately, despite the good setup, the rest of the film is maddeningly uneven, as Frank begins attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, hangs out with his sponsor, a gay toll taker (Luke Wilson), gets pushed around by a slimy real estate dude (Bill Pullman), and falls for a beautiful but confused younger woman (Téa Leoni). Dahl, one of Hollywood’s best modern-noir directors, has done better, with such complex thrillers as RED ROCK WEST and THE LAST SEDUCTION. YOU KILL ME does feature fine performances by Kingsley and Leoni, but otherwise the plot is just too dried out.
Now available on DVD from Tartan Video
http://www.tfmdistribution.com
On a fishing boat anchored in the middle of the ocean, an old man (Jeon Sung-hwan) lives with a teenage girl (Han Yeo-rum). A gruff, bearded, dour sort, he has been raising the beautiful but silent girl for ten years, planning to marry her when she turns seventeen. Whenever men — who come to the boat to fish in peace — get fresh with the girl, the old man starts shooting arrows at them to scare them off, with the same bow that he also turns into a musical instrument and plays while sitting on the mast. He also uses the bow to shoot arrows at a Buddhist painting on the side of the boat as the girl swings in front of it, in order to tell the future for his customers. But when the girl takes an immediate liking to a college student (Seo Ji-seok) who wants to show her more of the world, the old man starts worrying that his own future might not include the girl, so he begins taking drastic measures. An official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, THE BOW is another gripping visual poem from Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk, director of such moving films as 3-IRON and SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER…AND SPRING. Han, who also starred in Kim’s SAMARITAN GIRL, is mesmerizing as the girl, evoking tender emotion with her body, eyes, and magical lips. The DVD includes a making-of featurette in which the cast and crew are extremely honest about the quality of their work.
Now available on DVD from Tartan Video
Unhappy that his parents have shipped him off to a boarding school run by a strange woman named Ms. Pranee (Jintara Sukaphatana), twelve-year-old Chatree (Chalee Trairut) is about to see his life get more complicated than he could ever imagine: ghost stories, being bullied by other kids, mysteriously getting locked in the bathroom, and wetting his bed — and that’s just the first day. Refusing to speak with his father, Chatree feels alone in the world — until he meets Vichien (Sirachuch Chienthaworn), a young boy with a very dark secret. Directed and cowritten by Thai filmmaker Songyos Sugmakanan, DORM has trouble deciding whether it’s a horror film or a coming-of-age drama, often leaving it lost in the middle somewhere (sort of like Chatree himself?), but a chilling soundtrack and enough good scenes make it worthwhile viewing.
Dustin Pittman
Crowd piles in for 2006 Siren Music Festival
Main Stage: West Tenth St. & the Boardwalk
Stillwell Stage: Stillwell Ave. & the Boardwalk
Saturday, July 21, 12 noon - 9:00 pm
http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/siren
The Village Voice Seventh Annual Siren Music Festival at Coney Island is one of the summer’s hottest shows, featuring two stages of diverse live music, including the New York Dolls, We Are Scientists, Matt and Kim, the Black Lips, Dr. Dog, the Noisettes, Lavender Diamond, M.I.A., the Detroit Cobras, Elvis Perkins, Cursive, Voxtrot, the White Rabbits, the Twilight Sad, and DJ Gibby Haynes, as well as unusual cabaret and circus acts and multimedia artists along the boardwalk. Get there nice and early to grab a good spot — last year’s fest attracted 150,000 sweaty fans — and to check out bands that might be headlining future summer festivals, such as past Siren singers as Scissor Sisters, Tapes’N Tapes, Spoon, Mates of State, Death Cab for Cutie, TV on the Radio, Blonde Redhead, the Fiery Furnaces, Modest Mouse, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mooney Suzuki, Superchunk, and others.
New York Dolls glam it up this summer in Huntington and Brooklyn
IMAC, Huntington
Saturday, July 14, $45, 8:00
212-549-ARTS
Siren Music Festival, Coney Island
Saturday, July 21, free, 12 noon - 9:00 pm
http://www.myspace.com/newyorkdolls
In 2004, Morrissey reunited original band members David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain, and Arthur "Killer" Kane for the Meltdown Festival, where they performed as the New York Dolls for the first time in nearly thirty years. Shortly thereafter, Kane died of leukemia, joining the great Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan in that glam dollhouse in the sky. (As Johansen sings on the new album, "It’s a punishing world.") But Johansen and Sylvain decided to forge ahead nonetheless, playing lots of tour dates and releasing ONE DAY IT WILL PLEASE US TO REMEMBER EVEN THIS (Roadrunner) last summer. The album looks both forward and back, featuring Johansen’s in-your-face vocals on such numbers as the biographical "Fishnets & Cigarettes" ("Happiness / Fishnets and cigarettes / A pagan monkey in a dress / Tell me who I impress?"), "We’re All in Love" (with its sing-along chorus and Johansen’s declaration that "love ain’t pretty"), and the 1950s girl-group throwback "Plenty of Music." The album also includes strings (!), Michael Stipe, and the Igster himself. When Iggy Pop joins Johansen on the harmonica-driven blues tune "Gimme Luv & Turn on the Light," singing, "This is infinity / This is eternity / This is my destiny!" who could have predicted, more than three decades ago, that the Stooges and the Dolls would be touring in 2006-7 behind good new albums? The Dolls, who predated both the Ramones and the Sex Pistols (but came after the Stooges), will be headlining the Siren Music Festival, featuring many groups whose members weren’t yet born when the Dolls disbanded in the mid-1970s. They’re also playing a pay gig at the IMAC theater in Huntington. We’ve seen them several times since they reunited, and they put on one helluva great rock and roll show.
twi-ny/mdr
Black Lips let things fly at Bowery Ballroom in March
Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington St., Hoboken
Thursday, July 19, $12, 9:00
201-653-1703
Siren Music Festival, Coney Island
Saturday, July 21, free, 12 noon - 9:00 pm
http://www.myspace.com/theblacklips
Atlanta’s Black Lips let things fly at their live shows with all the psychotic reactions and carburetor dung they can muster. Playing it fast and loose, they race through crazy, messy tunes sounding like the Replacements if the ’Mats were ’60s darlings. Cole Alexander, Jared Swilley, Ian St. Pe, and Joe Bradley, who cite Robitussin as one of their influences, tear through wild sets of what they call "flower punk." Their recent live album, LOS VALIENTES DEL MUNDO NUEVO (Vice, February 2007), is like their own condensed NUGGETS compilation, chock full of familiar-sounding songs with bizarre twists, turns, screams, and confusion that endear them to their fanatic fans. LOS VALIENTES kicks butt with such stompers from LET IT BLOOM and WE DID NOT KNOW THE FOREST SPIRIT MADE THE FLOWERS GROW as "Buried Alive," "Hippie, Hippie, Hoorah," "Not a Problem," "Juvenile," and the riotous Beatles riff "Dirty Hands" ("Do you really wanna hold my dirty hands?" they sing), cementing the Black Lips’ growing rep as one helluva great retro party band. At the end of "Stranger," the band announces, "This is gonna be the best live record of all time"; while that might not be quite true, it is pretty freakin’ awesome. We caught them in March, when they tore apart the Bowery Ballroom. Before playing the Siren Music Festival on Coney Island, they’ll be at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, where they’re likely to kick butt yet again (on a bill with Turbo Fruits and the Coathangers). And prepare yourself for the July 31 release of their live DVD, WILDMEN IN ACTION.
The Detroit Cobras come to Coney and Jersey this summer
Siren Music Festival, Coney Island
Saturday, July 21, free, 12 noon - 9:00 pm
Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington St., Hoboken
Sunday, July 22, $13, 8:30
201-653-1703
Garage-band heroes the Detroit Cobras are touring the country in support of their first new record in three years, TIED & TRUE (Bloodshot, 2007), thirteen covers of old-time rock-and-soul tunage by such songwriters as James Brown, Gerry Goffin, Eddy Grant, and Bob Elgin — but avoiding overly recognizable hits, instead making these relatively unfamiliar songs their own. Original members Rachel Nagy on vocals and guitarist Mary Ramirez (previously known as Maribel Restrepo) rip through such gems as "Nothing But a Heart Ache," "Leave My Kitten Alone" (complete with meows!), and "(I Wanna Know) What’s Going On," propelled by Kenny Tudrick’s rollicking drums. If the jaunty "On a Monday" sounds familiar, that’s because when Johnny Cash recorded it, he called it "I Got Stripes." The Cobras will be playing the Siren Festival on July 21, followed by a show at Maxwell’s with the Willowz and the Ribeye Bros.
twi-ny/mdr
The New Pornographers fought off the rain for solid set on July 4
River to River Festival
Historic Battery Park Lawn
Wednesday, July 4,
Admission: free
212-528-2733
http://thenewpornographers.com
As lucky ticket holders started congregating for Battery Park’s annual July 4 concert — which in the past has featured such acts as Emmylou Harris, Yo La Tengo, Dr. John with Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, and Belle & Sebastian — Downtown Kitchen handed out free sandwiches and everyone hoped that the threatening rain would never come. Shortly after a sleepy, overly long set by Denton, TX’s Midlake that found us nearly napping, the New Pornographers hit the stage, with Neko Case in tow. The Canadian group marveled at being able to see Lady Liberty from their vantage point — "Ain’t she a grand ol’ dame?" asked chief singer-songwriter Carl Newman, who is now a resident of Brooklyn — while previewing songs from their upcoming album, CHALLENGERS (Matador, August 21, 2007). Relying on infectious three-part harmonies from Newman, Case, and pianist Kathryn Calder, the NPs featured such new tunes as "My Rights Versus Yours," "Go Places," and "This Spirit of Giving" in addition to such groovy old-time favorites as "Twin Cinema," "The Bleeding Heart Show," "Sing Me Spanish Techno," and "From Blown Speakers,"with plenty of playful banter in between (sometimes a little too much, detracting from any flow). When the rain did finally arrive, someone had to hold an umbrella over John Collins’s laptop to keep it dry. The band finished up their eighty-plus-minute set with "Testament to Youth in Verse" and "Slow Descent into Alcoholism," as Newman promised they’d be playing indoors in the city soon. In the meantime, Case fans can catch her free solo gig with Eric Bachmann at SummerStage on July 20.
twi-ny/ofer rind
Elder statesman Bob Weir dips into Dead classics at SummerStage
Central Park SummerStage
Rumsey Playfield
Central Park (enter at Fifth Ave. & 69th St.)
Monday, July 9
212-360-2756
Having attended nearly a hundred Grateful Dead and related offshoot shows back in the spirited bloom of our youth, we sometimes wonder whatever happened to all of the characters that would ubiquitously reappear, like peonies, or San Juan de Capistrano’s swallows, in the parking lots and byways of each and every show, year in and year out. They’ll pop up once in a while at a folk festival, a Railroad Earth concert, a Rainbow family gathering. But by and large they seem to have vanished, like endangered species, rarely spotted in New York City anymore, consigned to college towns and hippie havens and marginalized into such fringed bastions as Boone, NC, and purportedly much of Oregon. Well, there was a homecoming of sorts on July 9 in Central Park. Bob Weir, last surviving guitarist of the Grateful Dead, joined by his constantly touring band Ratdog, played a benefit concert for SummerStage, and the lost nation of Deadheads were decidedly in the house. And outside of it. And around it. And all over the environs, actually, to the point where the number of tie-dyed celebrants with a finger in the air (sign language for “I need a [preferably free] ticket”) was incalculable, the pleasant aroma of cannabis omnipresent, and the hissing of nitrous tanks audible in plain earshot of anyone waltzing down Fifth Avenue. Professionals, panhandlers, hippies, schoolkids...they were all there to partake in the almost ritualistic interfaith sacrament that comes with the music and the scene, and Weir and Co. delivered.
twi-ny/ofer rind
Ratdog raises money while jamming out at SummerStage
With Weir’s longtime songwriting partner, John Perry Barlow, on hand, Ratdog played a set of mostly GD originals or songs covered by them, with the spirit of improvisation proving paramount. While refraining for the most part from long, meandering explorations and aimless jamming, the band played tunes that blended fluidly into one another, the performance succeeding not because these guys are extraordinary musicians but because they are clearly a band that can groove the hell out of familiar material: a hazy rendition of the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Dear Prudence,” stretched to epic lengths; the requisite “Playing in the Band”; Garcia’s “Ramble on Rose” (with its “just like New York City” verse drawing the expected response); “Help on the Way > Slipknot!” with its “Franklin’s Tower” finale coming later; and a flashy encore of “U.S. Blues.” Playing for about two hours, Ratdog seemed to leave the masses sated. The Grateful Dead may be no more, but the music lives on. And so do the acolytes.
http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday
British writer Jim Crace, who has won such prestigious literary awards as the Whitbread Novel of the Year, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Guardian Award (in addition to being shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and the Booker Prize), examines his own self-described "confused love-hate relationship with the United States" in THE PESTHOUSE, a spectacularly well written novel set in an undetermined time and place in America. In a postapocalyptic landscape, two disparate people come together to battle the elements and fight for survival: Margaret, a young woman who has had every hair plucked from her body and has been sent to the Pesthouse to either recover or die from the dreaded flux; and Franklin, a large, slightly younger man who, with his brother, Jackson, has left his beloved mother in order to find a better life. As they head west to the great sea, which holds the only promise of hope, they encounter pestilence, disease, rape, brutality, slavery, and death. For Crace, the future of America echoes its past as he reverses the Industrial Revolution, eliminates any form of government or law, and forces his extraordinary characters to rely on their basest of instincts. THE PESTHOUSE is a special book filled with great insight, lots of desperation, and surprising warmth.
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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twi-ny/mdr
Virginia Poundstone, "Life in the Fast Lane (Arrangement #3)," 2006-7
SmackMellon
92 Plymouth St. at Washington St., DUMBO
Wednesday through Sunday 12 noon — 6:00 pm
Through Sunday, July 22
Admission: free
718-834-8761
SmackMellon’s summer group show features the work of eight emerging artists, with the uniting theme being place. Virginia Poundstone’s "Life in the Fast Lane (Arrangement #3)" is an imaginary island with an impossibly looped roadway and the television show LOST screening continuously. Tracey Goodman uses plaster to create a fake series of electrical conduits, quad boxes, and switches. Suzanne Song plays with perspective in "White Lie." There are also pieces by Svetlana Rabey, Michael Schall, Devin Powers, Theresa Bloise, and Jason Rosenberg.
145 Nassau St. between Spruce St. & Beekman Pl.
Thursdays & Fridays, 12 noon — 8:00 pm
Through Saturday, July 28
Admission: free
http://anjahitzenberger.com/changingroom
"Changing Room" is a new "photo/installation/performance series" that takes place in a storefront on Nassau St., featuring live performances every Friday night at 6:00. On Thursdays and Fridays starting at 12 noon, visitors can see new photographs, installation pieces by Illya Azaroff, and more, with such participants as Deborah Lohse, Kathy Westwater, Thom Fogarty, Jimena Paz and Pascale Wettstein, Jennifer Monson, Edward Ratliff, Nicole Vlado, Alexandra Beller, Judith Sánchez Ruíz, and Beth Schenck.
Fred Gates, "Brooklyn Skyline (Red)," acrylic, krylon, lithography crayon on panel
Seed Gallery
111 Front St., DUMBO
Through Sunday, July 29
917-622-8761
http://www.seedgallerynewyork.com
The Seed Gallery describes its current exhibition as "awakening a myriad of messages — genesis, beauty, serenity, hope, and vision." The work of five artists is on view, liberally spread apart in the small room in order to allow visitors time to breathe in the spirit of each canvas. John Milton Ensor Parker incorporates mathematical equations into "A Life Worth Livin’." Twi-ny designer Fred Gates bathes the Brooklyn skyline in a shockingly dense red. Yuko Ueda’s "Waters of March" series of five small pieces combine nature scenes with metallic elements. Cecile Romat’s pigments explode in "Breeze of Love." And, on the far wall from the entrance, Isabel Carrio’s "Pilgrimage" lures passersby in with its breathtaking subtlety. To see more works by the artists, visit the above Web site or ask gallery owner Nya’ when you stop by.
Humanities and Social Sciences Library
Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery, first floor
Fifth Ave. at 42nd St.
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Through Saturday, August 4
Admission: free
212-869-8089
The NYPL’s fair copy of the Declaration of Independence in Thomas Jefferson’s hand is on display Tuesday & Wednesday from 11:00 am to 7:30 pm, Thursday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Lincoln Center, Josie Robertson Plaza
Through July 21
Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm unless otherwise noted
Preshow dance lessons at 6:30 pm
Single tickets: $15
Six-night pass: $78
Season pass: $225
212-721-6500/212-875-5766
Wednesday, July 11 Bill Haley’s Original Comets
Thursday, July 12 JC Hopkins Biggish Band
Friday, July 13 Hector Del Curto’s Eternal Tango Orchestra
Saturday, July 14 Kid’s Day! Salsa for Kids, 11:00 am
Saturday, July 14 Fruko y Sus Tesos con Alredo De La Fé
Tuesday, July 17 Pete Jacobs and His Wartime Radio Revue
Wednesday, July 18 Direct Latin Influence
Thursday, July 19 Midsummer Brazilian Carnaval with Beleza Brazil
Friday, July 20 Stompy Jones
Saturday, July 21 Harlem Renaissance Orchestra featuring a tribute to Illinois Jacquet
Rockefeller Park in Battery Park City (RP) / World Financial Center Plaza (WFC)
Wagner Park in Battery Park City (WP)/ Historic Battery Park Lawn (BPL)
Music at Castle Clinton, in Battery Park (CC) / South Street Seaport, Pier 17 (SSS)
Zuccotti Park (ZP) / Governors Island (GI)
Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University (MSC)
Admission: free
212-528-2733
http://www.rivertorivernyc.org
Wednesday, July 11 Music Under New York, 12 noon
Wednesday, July 11 Spoon, RP, 7:00
Thursday, July 12 Ron Sexsmith, CC, 7:00
Thursday, July 12 Strange Fruit, WFC, 7:00
Friday, July 13 Music Under New York, 12 noon
Monday, July 16 Summer Stars: Makoto Nakura, Marimba, MSC, 7:30
Tuesday, July 17 Marc Ribot — Musical Portraits, WFC
Wednesday, July 18 Music Under New York, 12 noon
Wednesday, July 18 Toumani Diabate’s Symmetric Orchestra, RP, 7:00
Thursday, July 19 Drive-By Truckers, CC, 7:00
Thursday, July 19 Summer Soul Nights: Ruben Studdard, SSS, 7:00
Friday, July 20 Music Under New York, 12 noon
Friday, July 20 Seaport Music: Bishop Allen with Rock Plaza Central, SSS
Monday, July 23 Summer Stars: Timothy Conner, Trombone, MSC, 7:30
Wednesday, July 25 Music Under New York, 12 noon
Japan Society
333 E. 47th St. at First Ave.
July 5-15
Tickets: $10
212-715-1258
Wednesday, July 11 MATSUGANE POTSHOT AFFAIR (MATSUGANE RANSHA JIKEN) (Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2006), 6:30
Wednesday, July 11 SWAY (YURERU) (Miwa Nishikawa, 2006), introduced by the director and followed by a Q&A, 8:45
Thursday, July 12 KAMOME DINER (KAMOME SHOKUDO) (Naoko Ogigami, 2005), 8:10
Friday, July 13 SWAY (YURERU) (Miwa Nishikawa, 2006), introduced by the director and followed by a Q&A, 6:30
Friday, July 13 FACES OF A FIG TREE (ICHIJIKU NO KAO) (Kaori Momoi, 2006), 9:00
Saturday, July 14 Puppet Animation Double Bill: KOMANEKO — THE CURIOUS CAT (Tsuneo Goda, 2006), 1:45, and MONSIEUR GREENPEAS (RYOKUTAMA SHINSHI) (Yasuo Kurita, 2004), 2:50, followed by a live puppet demonstration by director Yasuo Kurita
Saturday, July 14 INTO A DREAM (YUME NO NAKA E) (Shion Sono, 2005), 4:00
Saturday, July 14 KAMOME DINER (KAMOME SHOKUDO) (Naoko Ogigami, 2005), introduced by the director and followed by a Q&A, 8:15
Sunday, July 15 ANTS (ARI NO HEITAI) (Kaoru Ikeya, 2006), 1:30
Sunday, July 15 THE BLOSSOMING OF ETSUKO KAMIYA (KAMIYA ETSUKO NO SEISHUN) (Kazuo Kuroki, 2006), 3:30
Sunday, July 15 FACES OF A FIG TREE (ICHIJIKU NO KAO) (Kaori Momoi, 2006), 6:00
Saturday, July 15 THE PRISONER (YUHEISHA — TERORISUTO) (Masao Adachi, 2006), 6:00
twi-ny/mdr
After performing with the New Pornographers at Celebrate Brooklyn! on July 4, Neko Case goes solo at SummerStage on July 20
Rumsey Playfield
Central Park (enter at Fifth Ave. & 69th St.)
Admission: free unless otherwise noted
212-360-2756
Wednesday, July 11 Femi Kuti & the Positive Force, DJ Rich Medina, and screening of MUSIC IS THE WEAPON (Jean-Jacques Flori & Stéphane Tchalgadjieff, 1982), 7:00
Saturday, July 14 Café Tacuba, Pacha Massive, La Sista, 3:00
Sunday, July 15 Global Family Day, with Hip-Hop Harry, Sippy Cups, Break!, and guest chefs Craig Samuel and Ben Grossman of the Smoke Joint, 1:30
Monday, July 16 Benefit Concert: The Decemberists, Grizzly Bear, Land of Talk, $35, 6:30
Thursday, July 19 UCB Theatre’s Comedy Cabaret, with Human Giant, Demetri Martin, Rebecca Drysdale, and the Defibulators, 7:30
Friday, July 20 Neko Case, Eric Bachmann, 7:00
Saturday, July 21 Music of Sudan, with Shurahibeel Ahmed, Abu Araki Al Bakhiet, Yousif El Moseley, Ali El Sigade, Omer Banaga, Rasha Sheikh Aldein Gibreel, Al Warif, Sheikh Aldein Gibreel, Brides of the Nile Dance Group, Emmanuel Kempe (South of Sudan), Omer Ihsas (Darfur), the Nile Music Orchestra, and Hadia, Ammal, Hayat "Al Balabil" (The Humming Birds), 3:00
Sunday, July 22 Brazilian Girls, Cat Empire, HIMALAYAS conducted by Kenny Wollesen & Jonathon Haffner, 3:00
Central Park Great Lawn
Midpark from 79th to 85th Sts.
Admission: free
212-484-1222
Wednesday, July 11 The New York Philharmonic, conducted by Ludovic Morlot: Berlioz’s Le Corsaire Overture, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto featuring soloist Stefan Jackiw, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, "Pathéthique," followed by fireworks, 8:00
Tuesday, July 17 The New York Philharmonic, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis: Richard Strauss, "Til Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks"; various arias by Puccini, Massenet, Catalani, and Weber, featuring soprano Measha Brueggergosman; and Mussorgsky/Ravel’s "Pictures at an Exhibition," followed by fireworks, 8:00
Bryant Park Reading Room
42nd St. side of Bryant Park between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Wednesdays at 12:30 through September 11
Admission: free
212-768-4242
http://www.bryantpark.org/calendar
Wednesday, July 11 Pamela Des Barres and special guest readers, LET’S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER: BACKSTAGE SECRETS OF ROCK MUSES AND SUPERGROUPIES
Wednesday, July 18 Chuck Klosterman, CHUCK KLOSTERMAN IV: A DECADE OF CURIOUS PEOPLE AND DANGEROUS IDEAS, hosted by Rich Cohen, SWEET AND LOW: A FAMILY STORY
Pier A Park at First & Sinatra Dr.
Hoboken
June & July, around 9:00
August & September, around 8:15
Admission: free
Blankets & low lawn chairs encouraged
201-420-2207
Wednesday, July 11 GREASE (Randal Kleiser, 1978), with a look-a-like contest, sing-a-long, karaoke, prizes and more
Wednesday, July 18 LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, 2006)
Wednesday, July 25 SHUT UP & SING (Barbara Kopple & Cecilia Peck, 2006)
Brookhaven Amphitheater
Arts & Cultural Center at Bald Hill, Farmingville, Long Island
Wednesday nights in July and August at approximately 7:45
Admission: $5 per carload
631-732-4011
http://brookhavenamphitheater.com
Wednesday, July 11 HAPPY FEET (George Miller & Warren Coleman, 2006)
Wednesday, July 18 BARNYARD (Steve Oedekerk, 2006)
Wednesday, July 25 CURIOUS GEORGE (Matthew O’Callaghan, 2006)
Pier 54, Hudson River at Fourteenth St.
Wednesdays around dusk July 11 — August 22
Admission: free
http://www.hudsonriverpark.org
Wednesday, July 11 ROCKY BALBOA (Sylvester Stallone, 2006)
Wednesday, July 18 NACHO LIBRE (Jared Hess, 2006)
Wednesday, July 25 THE MATRIX (Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski, 1999)
APT
419 West 13th St. between Ninth Ave. and Washington
Admission: free
212-414-4245
Thursday, July 12 Still Music Presents DJs Marcus Worgull, the Subliminal Kid, and Jerome Derradji, 9:00
Solar One at Stuyvesant Cove Park
2420 FDR Dr. at 22nd St. and Ave. C
Admission: free
212-505-6050
http://solar1.org/about/events/index.html
Thursday, July 12 Opening Night, with Dragons of Zynth, DJ Mistakes, and Brightside, 6:00 pm — 11:00 pm
Friday, July 13 Good Morning Sunshine, featuring sunrise projections, breakfast, and a live performance by High Places, 6:00 am — 10:00 am
Saturday, July 14 Renewable Powered Performances, featuring Les Savy Fav, Land of Talk, O’Death, Besnard Lakes, These Are Powers, the Budos Band, Frankpollis, OCDJ, WNYU DJs, and a green-product marketplace, 11:00 am — 11:00 pm
Sunday, July 15 Games and Workshops, including Biodiesel in a Blender, Soundwalks, Experiments in Urban Camping, Shop for Air!, Solar Powered Toys, Old Goat Karts Obstacle Course, DIY Micro Turbines, Experimental Outdoor Ambulatory Sound Performances, Go Ahead and Touch It!, and Old Goat Karts Drag Race, 11:00 am — 6:00 pm
Sideshows by the Seashore
Surf Ave. & West 12th St.
Coney Island, Brooklyn
Friday night burlesque & vaudeville shows at 10:00, followed by fireworks
Thursday night Bawdville at the Beach shows at 10:00
Through September 21
Admission: $10 at the door
Thursday, July 12 Sweet & Nasty Burlesque
Friday, July 13 Starshine Burlesque Presents: I *pastie* NY, a Burlesque A love/hate story, with Creamy Stevens, Little Brooklyn, Tigger!, Nasty Canasta, Darlinda Just Darlinda, an music by: DJ Fresh Prince of Darkness
Thursday, July 19 Rose Wood Presents: Sister Frederique’s Home for Wayward Girls
Friday, July 20 Fisherman’s Love Luau, with Bunny Love, Harvest Moon, Pinky Special, Gal Friday, Heather Holiday, and Albert Cadabra.
Trinity Church virtual pipe organ
Broadway at Wall St.
Thursdays at 1:00 from July 5 to August 9
Admission: free
http://www.trinitywallstreet.org
Thursday, July 12 Nathan Laube, 1:00
Thursday, July 19 Tom Trenney: works by Ives, Franck, and Bach, plus improvisation, 1:00
Brooklyn Bridge Park at Empire-Fulton State Park
1 Main St. at Water St.
Thursday nights at sunset, preceded by music by live DJs at 6:00
Admission: free
718-802-0603
Thursday, July 12 THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Robert Wise, 1951)
Thursday, July 19 THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN (Frank Oz, 1984)
El Museo del Barrio Teatro Heckscher
1230 Fifth Ave. at 104th St.
Thursday nights at 6:30 through August 23
Admission: free
212-831-7272
Thursday, July 12 CIRCO, part of the Latin Alternative Music Conference
Thursday, July 19 Plena Libre
JCC in Manhattan
334 Amsterdam Ave. at 76th St.
Thursday nights in July at 8:00
Admission: $5
646-505-5708
Thursday, July 12 WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER (David Wain, 2001)
Thursday, July 19 BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN (Larry Charles, 2006)
Believe the hype. Sacha Baron Cohen holds a mirror up to America, and you might not like what you see — although you’ll laugh your head off while watching it. Cohen stars as bushy haired Kazakhstan journalist Borat Sagdiyev, a role he created for DA ALI G SHOW, the 2001 series in which he interviewed such luminaries as Newt Gingrich, Boutrous Boutros-Ghali, Andy Rooney, and Norman Mailer while pretending to be a British hip-hop wigger (Ali G); he also disguised himself as a German fashionista (Bruno) and Borat, a reporter who likes to talk about sex, especially with his sister. In CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN, Borat leaves his little village in Kazakhstan and travels across the United States with his producer, the rotund Azamat (Ken Davitian), in search of his true love, BAYWATCH’s Pamela Anderson. Along the way, he is making a documentary about the American way of life, turning a revealing lens on racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, blind patriotism, fundamentalism, and southern hospitality, with a healthy dose of toilet humor (literally). The people he speaks with — a feminist group, gun and car dealers, rodeo cowboys, conservative politicians Bob Barr and Alan Keyes, etiquette and humor experts, Christian evangelicals at a revivalist tent meeting, drunk frat boys in an RV — believe he is really a Kazakh journalist, and Cohen holds nothing back, unafraid to ask any question or kiss any man, often risking his personal safety in hysterical ways. He’s got the biggest cojones we’ve ever seen — and you nearly get to see them when he and Azamat chase each other naked through a hotel, ending up fighting onstage at a mortgage bankers convention. BORAT is more EASY RIDER than JACKASS and BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA, a road trip movie that captures the state of the nation in frightening yet very funny ways.
Asser Levy Seaside Park
Sea Breeze Ave. & Ocean Pkwy.
Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
Limited seating: $5 per chair ($10 for special shows), but you can bring your own for free
Requested donation: $5
Thursday nights at 7:30 pm
718-469-1912/718-222-0600
http://www.brooklynconcerts.com/seaside
Thursday, July 12 Tommy James & the Shondells, Jay Black, and Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge
Thursday, July 19 Billy Ocean, Air Supply, and special solo performance by Graham Russell
Multiple venues
Live music: 8:30
Film screening: 9:00
Tickets: $8 at the door, $5 online
718-417-7362
Friday, July 13 Rural Route Film Festival, short films, with live music by Feral Foster, Automotive High School, 50 Bedford Ave. between North 12th St. & Lorimer, Williamsburg
Saturday, July 14 CROSSING THE LINE (Daniel Gordon), the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third St. at Third Ave., Gowanus, followed by a reception and Q&A with the director
Bryant Park Upper Terrace
42nd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Fridays through August 24 at 7:00 am
Admission: free
http://abcnews.go.com/Sections/GMA
Friday, July 13 Fantasia
Friday, July 20 John Mayer & Special Guest
Rockefeller Plaza
49th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Outside TODAY studio 1A
Fridays from 7:00 to 9:00 am
Friday, July 13 KT Tunstall
Friday, July 20 HAIRSPRAY the movie
Pier 46, Hudson River Park at Christopher St.
Fridays around dusk July 7 — August 25
Admission: free
http://www.hudsonriverpark.org
Friday, July 13 CHARLOTTE’S WEB (Gary Winick, 2006)
Friday, July 20 OPEN SEASON (Roger Allers & Jill Culton, 2006)
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
Robert J. Hurst Family Gallery
Free with pay-what-you-wish admission after 6:00
212-570-7715
Friday, July 13 Kompasshun, hosted by Elan Vytal, aka DJ Scientific, and multi-instrumentalist Dana Leong
Friday, July 20 Psychedelia’s Progeny: Dirty Projectors, reimagining Black Flag’s DAMAGED and Luke Fischbeck performing as Lucky Dragons
Friday, July 27 Earth to Sun Ra, with a reading of a new opera, MR. MYSTERY: THE RETURN OF SUN RA TO SAVE PLANET EARTH!, featuring music by Fred Ho and libretto by Quincy Troupe, and additional performances by Latasha N. Nevada Diggs, Taylor Ho Bynum, VJs Love Intelligence Group; and DJ Steinski
Les Halles Downtown
15 John St. off Broadway
Admission to block party: free
Suggested entry fee for races: $10
212-571-2100
Saturday, July 14 Block party with such standard-bearers as the Children’s Race (12 noon), Cook/Chef’s Race (12:30), Customer’s Race (1:00), and Waiter’s Race (2:30), with a special menu
Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St. between East Fourth St. & Astor Pl.
Tickets: $25
212-967-7555
Saturday, July 14 Bastille Day Celebration, 7:00 & 9:30
Symphony Space, Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
Through September 2
Tickets: $11
212-864-5400
Saturday, July 14
and
Sunday, July 15 A FOREIGN AFFAIR (Billy Wilder, 1948), 6:00, and NINOTCHKA (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939), 8:15
Saturday, July 21
and
Sunday, July 22 BLONDE VENUS (Josef von Sternberg, 1932), 6:00, and CAMILLE (George Cukor, 1937), 7:45
Ferry leaves from Battery Maritime Building, Slip 7, at 10 South St.
Saturdays at 1:30 from July 7 to July 28
Admission and ferry service: free
212-602-0768
http://www.folksontheisland.com
Saturday, July 14 Harry Chapin: A Celebration in Song, 1:30
Saturday, July 21 Richie Havens, 1:30
P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center / MoMA
22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave.
Long Island City
Saturdays from 3:00 — 9:00 pm through September 1
Admission: $10, includes admission to art galleries, free from 12 noon to 2:00
718-784-2084
Saturday, July 14 Poni Hoax, the Penelopes, Frustration, Morpheus, JB Whiz, Ex Nihilo Cres, and Marina Rosenfeld and Zeena Perkins
Saturday, July 21 Dennis Ferrer, the Martinez Brothers, Eric Singer’s LEMUR (League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots), and special guests, hosted by Objektivity
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
2 East 92nd St. at Fifth Ave.
Friday nights through September 8 from 6:00 to 9:00
Free with museum admission of $12
212-849-8380
Friday, July 14 DJ Shalako
Friday, July 21 Jeannie Hopper
Water Taxi Beach
Second St. & Borden Ave., Long Island City
Saturdays from 8:00 pm to 3:00 am
Cover charge: $3 (twenty-one and over only)
All shows will feature residents Justin Carter, Probus, and the Brothers’ Brothers in addition to the below special guests.
Saturday, July 14 DJ Gilb’R from Chateau Flight (Versatile)
Saturday, July 21 Turntables on the Hudson
Coney Island Museum
1208 Surf Ave. between Stillwell Ave. and West 12th St.
Saturday nights at 8:30 through September 8
Tickets $5, including free popcorn
718-372-5159
Saturday, July 14 DOG DAY AFTERNOON (Sidney Lumet, 1975)
Saturday, July 21 KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE (Stephen Chiodo, 1988), preceded by FOOL (Lux Killmore)
B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
237 West 42nd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tickets: $75
212-997-4144
Sunday, July 15
and
Tuesday, July 17 Brian Johnson and Cliff Williams of AC/DC with special guests Mark Farner, Joe Lynn Turner, Steve Luongo, and Mark Hitt, playing new songs and classics by AC/DC, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Grand Funk, and more, raising money for "free music education and instruments for underprivileged children through the public library system," 8:00
Brookhaven National Laboratory
U.S. Department of Energy
William Floyd Pkwy. (County Road 46)
Sundays through August 19, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Whiz Bang Science Show: 10:30 am, 12 noon, 1:30 & 3:00 pm
Admission: free
631-344-2651
Sunday, July 15 See with Invisible Light
Sunday, July 22 Explore the Frontier of Ultrasmall Science
Charles A. Dana Discovery Center
Inside Central Park at 110th St. & Lenox Ave.
Through September 30
Sundays at 4:00
Admission: free
212-860-1370
Sunday, July 15 Max Pollak & Rumbatap
Sunday, July 22 Casym Steel Orchestra
Museum of Modern Art
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden
July 8 — August 26
Gates open at 7:00, concerts begin at 8:00
Admission: free
Sunday, July 15 Jazz Concert I: Marc Cary Focus Trio
Sunday, July 22 Juilliard Concert II: Music for String Quartet
July 16-20; July 23-27
Lunch: $24.07; dinner: $35
Reservations now being accepted
More than one hundred eateries will be offering prix-fixe lunches and/or dinners, including Aquavit, Artisanal, Asia de Cuba, Asiate, Aureole, Barbetta, Beacon, Blue Smoke, Butter, Café Boulud, Compass, Craftbar, davidburke & donatella, db Bistro Moderne, Devi, Estiatorio Milos, Fleur de Sel, Frankie & Johnny’s, Gotham Bar & Grill, Gramercy Tavern, Inagiku, JoJo, Megu, Nice Matin, Patroon, Payard, Riingo, the River Cafe, San Domenico, Smith & Wollensky, Spice Market, Steak Frites, SushiSamba, Tabla, the Modern, Union Square Cafe, Vong, and the ‘21’ Club, among dozens of others — but you better book your reservations fast.
Symphony Space, Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
July 16 — August 6
Admission: free
212-864-5400
Monday, July 16 HELPERS, written by Isaiah Sheffer, directed by Eduardo Machado, followed by a Q&A with the cast and creative team, 7:00
Monday, July 23 THE SPLIT, written by Frank Strausser, directed by Michael Bush, followed by a Q&A with the cast and creative team, 7:00
Wingate Field
Winthrop St. between Brooklyn & Kingston Aves., across the street from Kings County Hospital
Monday nights at 7:30
Admission: free, chairs recommended
718-469-1912
http://www.brooklynconcerts.com/mlk
Monday, July 16 Annual Gospel Night, with Fred Hammond, Byron Cage, and Vanessa Bell Armstrong
Monday, July 23 An Evening of Smooth Grooves, with Boyz II Men and Ruben Studdard
All Saints Parish Hall
707 Washington St.
Screenings begin at 6:30 pm
Discussion follows film
Admission: free, with free popcorn and seltzer
Monday, July 16 LILIES OF THE FIELD (Ralph Nelson, 1963)
Monday, July 23 HIGH SIERRA (Raoul Walsh, 1941)
Bryant Park
Sixth Ave. from 40th to 42nd Sts.
Monday nights through August 20
Lawn opens at 5:00 pm for blankets and picnicking
Films begin at dusk (between 8:00 & 9:00 pm)
Admission: free
212-512-5700/212-983-4142
Monday, July 16 TO SIR, WITH LOVE (James Clavell, 1967)
Monday, July 23 THE STING (George Roy Hill, 1973)
The Town Hall
123 West 43rd St. between Sixth Ave. & Broadway
Monday nights at 8:00, July 16-30
Tickets: $35-$40 ($75-$90 for all three shows)
212-608-0555
http://www.the-townhall-nyc.org
Monday, July 16 A Night at the Operetta, with Christianne Noll, Sarah Jane McMahon, Douglas Ladnier, Marc Kudisch, and more, 8:00
Monday, July 23 Broadway’s Rising Stars, 8:00
Monday, July 30 All Singin! All Dancin! The Song & Dance of the Great White Way, with Kimberly Ziemba, Nancy Anderson, Joyce Chittick, Sean Martin Hingston, Nancy Lemenager, Julia Murney, Rachelle Rak, Megan Sikora, and more, 8:00
92nd St. Y
1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St.
July 17-26 at 8:00
Tickets: $50 (6 concerts $234, 4 concerts $168)
212-415-5500
Tuesday, July 17 Phil Woods Plays Q and Ollie: The Music of Quincy Jones and Oliver Nelson
Wednesday, July 18 Cole Porter: All Through the Night
Thursday, July 19 Bird & Diz: Bebop Today
Tuesday, July 24 Moody’s Moods: An Evening with James Moody
Wednesday, July 25 Piano Jam
Thursday, July 26 Eddie Palmieri-Brian Lynch: Latin Rhythms
McCarren Park Pool
Lorimer St. between Driggs & Bayard Aves.
Tuesdays through August 21
Live music at 7:00, screening at 9:00
Admission: free
718-596-3462
Tuesday, July 17 DAZED AND CONFUSED (Richard Linklater, 1993)
Tuesday, July 24 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS (Lou Adler, 1981)
Washington Square Park
Fifth Ave. below Eighth St. by Garibaldi statue
Rain space: NYU’s Frederick Loewe Theater, 35 West Fourth St.
Tuesday nights through July 31 at 8:00
Admission: free
212-252-3621
http://washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org
Tuesday, July 17 Gershwin/Weill — Music as Political Statement: Strike Up the Band, featuring mezzo Laila Maria Salins, bass baritone Steven Marking, and winds and strings arranged by Eric Saltzman
Tuesday, July 24 Music for Piano, Winds, and Strings: works by Rimsky-Korsavov, Mozart, and Kalkbrenner
Iridium Jazz Club
1650 Broadway at 51st St.
Select Wednesday nights through August 29
Tickets: $25
212-582-2121
http://www.iridiumjazzclub.com
Wednesday, July 18
and
Wednesday, July 25 Vince Giordano leads his Nighthawks through jazz and popular classics of the 1920s and 1930s, from the more than thirty thousand big-band charts he keeps in his Brooklyn home, 7:30 & 9:30
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
108 Orchard St. between Delancey & Broome Sts.
Admission: free
212-982-8420
Thursday, July 19 Book readings and signings with Jed Rubenfeld, THE INTERPRETATION OF MURDER, and Joel Rose, THE BLACKEST BIRD, 6:00
Collective:Unconscious
279 Church St.
212-352-3101
Thursday, July 19
through
Sunday, August 5 Deserving shows from the previous year are given reprise performances, highlighting some of the city’s best directors, writers, and actors in what is being billed as a "laboratory for a new model for the future of off-off Broadway where good productions can find a home and grow in a repertory setting"
Sorrento Cheese Summer in Little Italy
DePalo’s Fine Foods
Mulberry St. at Hester St.
Admission: free
212-302-0551
http://www.littleitalynyconline.com
Saturday, July 21 Book signing and cooking lecture by Lidia Bastianich, host of LIDIA’S ITALY, introduced by Lou DePalo, 3:00
Blue Note
131 West Third St.
Tickets: $25 table, $15 bar
212-475-8592
Tuesday, July 24
and
Wednesday, July 25 Half Note CD Release Party for Grady Tate’s FROM THE HEART: SONGS SUNG LIVE AT THE BLUE NOTE, 8:00 & 10:30