Yearly Archives: 2011

TICKET GIVEAWAY: ALL FOR ONE THEATER FESTIVAL

MONSTER is just one of the solo plays in this year’s inaugural All for One Theater Festival

Theater 80 St. Marks
80 St. Marks Pl. at First Ave.
November 11-20, $20
www.afofest.org
www.theatre80.net

The inaugural All for One Theater Festival gets under way tonight at Theater 80 St. Marks in the East Village, kicking off ten days of solo performances and panel discussions. Among the shows are Over There — Comedy Is His Best Weapon, in which PJ Walsh gets funny about his stint in Afghanistan; unFRAMED, with Iyaba Ibo Mandingo telling the story of his illegal emigration from Antigua; Monster, with Avery Pearson playing sixteen characters in Daniel MacIvor’s chilling tale; the emotional Happiness, written by and starring Heather Harpham; and RASH, in which Jenni Wolfson delves into her time spent as a UN worker in Rwanda. There are also such free panels as “Why Solo Performance Matters,” “Directing the Solo Show,” “How to Best Enter and Utilize the Festival Circuit,” and “Producing and Contracting for Your Solo Show.”

TICKET GIVEAWAY: Tickets to each All for One Theater Festival show is $20, but we have five pairs of tickets to give away for free. To be eligible to win, just send your name, daytime phone number, and all-time favorite solo show to contest@twi-ny.com. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; the first five responses will win a pair of tickets to the show of their choice.

MELANCHOLIA

Justine (Kirsten Dunst) faces the end of the world in Lars von Trier’s dazzling MELANCHOLIA

MELANCHOLIA (Lars von Trier, 2011)
Lincoln Plaza Cinema, 1886 Broadway at 63rd St., 212-757-2280
Angelika Film Center, 18 West Houston St. at Mercer St., 212-995-2570
Opens Friday, November 11
www.melancholiathemovie.com

Danish writer-director Lars von Trier has nothing less than the end of the world on his mind in his latest controversial drama, Melancholia. Von Trier’s latest love-it-or-hate-it cinematic foray opens with epic Kubrickian grandeur, introducing characters in marvelously composed slow-motion and still shots (courtesy of cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro) as an apocalyptic collision threatens the earth and a Wagner overture dominates the soundtrack. Kirsten Dunst won the Best Actress award at Cannes for her portrayal of Justine, a seemingly carefree young woman celebrating her wedding day who soon turns out to be battling a debilitating mental illness. Her husband, Michael (Alexander Skarsgård), is madly in love with her and does not know quite what he has gotten himself into, especially as the partying continues and Justine’s motley crew of family and friends get caught up in various forms of intrigue, including Gaby, her marriage-hating mother (Charlotte Rampling), Dexter, her never serious father (John Hurt), Jack, her pompous boss (Stellan Skarsgård), Claire, her married sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and Claire’s filthy rich husband, John (Kiefer Sutherland), who is hosting the event at his massive waterfront estate. While most of the film focuses on the wildly unpredictable Justine, the latter section turns its attention on Claire, who is terrified that a newly discovered planet named Melancholia is on its way to destroy the world. But Melancholia is not just about sadness, depression, family dysfunction, and the end of the world. It’s about the search for real love and truth, things that are disappearing from the earth by the minute. Justine works as an advertising copywriter, attaching tag lines to photographs to help sell product; at the wedding, Jack is determined to get one more great line of copy from her, even siccing his young, inexperienced nephew, Tim (Brady Corbet), on her to make sure she delivers. But what she ends up delivering is not what either man expected. Perhaps the only character who really sees what is going on is a wedding planner played by the great Udo Kier, who continually, and comically, shields his eyes from Justine, unable to watch the impending disaster. Just as in the film, as some characters get out their telescopes to watch the approaching planet and others refuse to look, there are sure to be many in the moviegoing public who will shield their eyes from Melancholia, choosing not to view yet another controversial film from a director who likes to antagonize his audience. They don’t know what they’re missing.

MARGARET MEAD FILM FESTIVAL: 35th ANNIVERSARY

The thirty-fifth annual Margaret Mead Film Festival is sure to take viewers to places they’ve never been

American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th St.
November 10-13, $12-$40
212-769-5200
www.amnh.org/mead

“The first Margaret Mead Film Festival, held on Mead’s own seventy-fifth birthday and her fiftieth year at the [American Museum of Natural History], was meant to be a one-time celebration, but it became one of the most enduring legacies in support of visual anthropologists, inspiring generations of anthropologists and filmmakers, including myself,” writes Faye Ginsburg in the brochure for the thirty-fifth annual Margaret Mead Film Festival, running November 10-13 at AMNH. Ginsburg, an anthropology professor and director of the Center for Media, Culture, and History at NYU, will be moderating the panel discussion “How Do We Look?” on November 13 at 4:30, examining the history of the first documentary festival of its kind. Lotte Stoops’s Grande Hotel is the opening-night selection, while Meshakai Wolf’s Flames of God, introduced by Darren Aronofsky, closes things out on Sunday night. In between are such new documentaries as Robert Nugent’s Memoirs of a Plague and Alain LeTourneau and Pam Minty’s Empty Quarter along with retrospective screenings of Jean Rouch’s Jaguar from 1967, John Marshall and Adrienne Miesmer’s N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman from 1980, and Gregory Bateson and Mead’s Trance and Dance in Bali from 1952. Many of the screenings will include appearances by the filmmakers and subjects in addition to related live performances, most notably following Katja Esson’s Skydancer on Sunday afternoon. With the continual technological leaps being made these days, the world might appear to be getting smaller and smaller, but it still takes a festival such as the Mead to help open one’s eyes to what is really going on out there.

OTHER ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL

JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave. at West 76th St.
Cinema Village, 22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
November 10-17, free-$12
646-505-5708
www.otherisrael.org

The fifth annual Other Israel Film Festival, whose stated goal “is to promote awareness and appreciation of the diversity of the state of Israel, provide a dynamic and inclusive forum for exploration of, and dialogue about, populations in margins of Israeli society, and encourage cinematic expression and creativity dealing with these themes,” begins tonight with an opening-night gala screening of Dani Menkin and Yonatan Nir’s Dolphin Boy at the JCC in Manhattan, about an Arab boy being bullied in northern Israel. The festival continues at the JCC and Cinema Village with screenings of such films as Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Ester Gould’s Shout, Eitan Tzur’s Naomi (Hitpartzut X), Kikuo Kawasaki’s David & Kamal, and Ibtisam Mara’ana’s 77 Steps as well as the U.S. premiere of the Israeli version of The Office television series. In addition, there will be free storytelling by Deborah Da Costa, panel discussions, Q&As, the photography exhibit “Through Others’ Eyes,” and such special guests as Mohammad Bakri, Sigal Emanuel, Caryn James, Ronit Kertsner, Ilan Kutz, Dov Waxman, and Tamar Zandberg.

THE CHOCOLATE SHOW

The Chocolate Show will be at the Metropolitan Pavilion through Sunday

Metropolitan Pavilion
125 West 18th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
November 10-13, $30-$35
www.chocolateshow.com

If you’re like us, there’s virtually no problem that a good dose of chocolate can’t make better. Every night before we hit the sack, we partake in some high-quality chocolate, usually of the very dark variety. There will be just about every kind of variety you can think of at the fourteenth annual New York Chocolate Show, serving up delectable delights November 10-13 at the Metropolitan Pavilion. More than fifty exhibitors from around the world will be selling their wares — and, occasionally, offering free samples, so bring along a little plastic bag to take some goodies home (and so they don’t melt in your pocket). Scanning the current list, we didn’t see a lot of our favorites, although the always dependable Guittard will be there, along with Chocolate Christophe Roussel, Maison Boissier, and Vincent Guerlais from France, Jer’s Chocolates from California, and D.C.’s Divine Chocolate. More familiar names include Valrhona, Jacques Torres, François Payard, and Michel Cluizel. The four-day event also features demonstrations and workshops, book signings, a Kids Zone, and the always extravagant fashion display, which pairs master chocolatiers with clothing designers to create unique haute couture incorporating cacao, with this year’s theme based on Broadway musicals. We usually get the biggest kick out of Martin “Chocolatina” Howard’s contribution; he’ll be creating a “Playbill Dress” with 24-Hour Catwalk’s Michael Plosky.

Håkan Mårtensson admires his deluxe chocolate creations for Fika (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Update: The 2011 edition of the Chocolate Show might not have a bevy of familiar names, but it does have a lot of fresh newcomers giving away plenty of free samples and offering good deals. We suggest starting out at E. Guittard, whose large booth features multiple dishes stocked with varying degrees of dark chocolate from South American countries. (We went home with the Sur Del Lago and Ambanja Bittersweet bars.) You can then cleanse the palate with a shot of rich, historical melted chocolate from American Heritage before continuing on your cacao adventure; among the standouts are the Nib-a-Licious bar from the Grenada Chocolate Company, Håkan Mårtensson’s explosive gingerbread truffles, Liddabit Sweets’ sea salt caramels, 5th Avenue Chocolatiere’s cold cocoa covered truffles (being handed out by a third-generation youngster), Maria Luisa Rodriguez’s orange zest Jazz Brownies, Pacari’s Ecuadorian salt & nibs bar, Rogue Confections’ holiday-designed Belgian circles, ChocoBolo’s chocolate cake (formerly known as the Best Chocolate Cake in the World), Co Co. Sala’s crunch bar, and Comptoir du Cacao’s flaky pralines. But don’t miss Salt of the Earth Bakery, whose chocolate-chip cookies, made with E. Guittard chocolate and Maldon sea salt, are phenomenal, rivaled only by their well-named OMG caramel and Fleur de sel de l’Ile de Re salt brownie.

IN FOCUS: FORTISSIMO FILMS — LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE

LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE is part of twentieth-anniversary MoMA tribute to Fortissimo Films

LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE (RUANG TAK NOI MID MAHASAN) (Pen-ek Ratanaruang, 2003)
MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Saturday, November 12, 5:00, and Friday, November 18, 4:00
Series runs November 10-21
Tickets: $10, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days, same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk beginning at 9:30 am
212-708-9400
www.moma.org

Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano (Taboo, Ichi the Killer, Zatoichi), Australian-born Hong Kong cinematographer Christopher Doyle (Hero, In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express), and Thai cowriter-director Pen-ek Ratanuruang (6IXTYNIN9, Fun Bar Karaoke) combine their immense talents in the stunningly eloquent and marvelously offbeat black comedy Last Life in the Universe. Asano stars as Kenji, a librarian with OCD, a yakuza brother, and a propensity to consider various ways of killing himself. About to jump off a bridge, he sees a traffic accident, leading to a bizarrely touching Harold & Maude–like relationship with the young and beautiful Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak), who tends to be a little bit wild. As they try to make a simple life for themselves, danger lurks right around the corner in this nearly perfect, sadly overlooked film. Last Life in the Universe is screening at MoMA on November 12 & 18 as part of the “In Focus: Fortissimo Films” series, paying tribute to the company that has been distributing international independent releases for twenty years. The festival, which runs through November 21, opens November 10 with Taiwanese director Wei Te-sheng introducing his latest, Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, and continues with such global favorites as Wisit Sasanatieng’s Tears of the Black Tiger, Wong Kar-wai’s Happy Together (introduced by Doyle on November 11), Zhang Yuan’s Beijing Bastards, Zhang Yang’s Shower, and the Pang brothers’ creepy horror flick The Eye.

NEW YORK COMEDY FESTIVAL — THE JUDY SHOW: MY LIFE AS A SITCOM

Judy Gold examines her life through her favorite sitcoms in new one-woman show (photo by T Charles Erickson)

DR2 Theatre
103 East 15th St. at 20 Union Sq. East
Extended through November 27, $65-$75
www.judygold.com

Newark-born comedian Judy Gold was raised on sitcoms, and there’s nothing she’d like more than getting a sitcom of her own. She’s tried over the years, without success, as detailed in her charming, entertaining one-woman production, The Judy Show: My Life as a Sitcom. On a stage that mimics a sitcom set — with the addition of hundreds of images from famous sitcoms lining the walls and ceiling — Gold enters through a door like so many sitcom characters do, then directly addresses the audience for the next eighty minutes, taking occasional interludes to play snippets of famous sitcom theme songs on the piano. Gold tells the very funny story of her life from her early days in Clark, New Jersey, raised by an overbearing, Nazi-obsessed mother and a calmer father, through her college days, the emergence of her sexual orientation, her relationship with Schwendy (Gold’s first long-term girlfriend refused to give her permission to use her real name in the show), and her current home life, living with Sharon Callahan, a Jewish therapist from Rochester whom she met in a magazine singles column, and Gold’s two children with Schwendy. While Gold thinks a sitcom about a six-foot-three Jewish lesbian mother of two boys is, well, comic gold, she has yet to convince any network, represented here by a disembodied male voice. Gold talks about many of her favorite shows, including The Brady Brunch, Room 222, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, and The Facts of Life, as she shares the facts of her life and elicits continued audience response, becoming playfully angry if they don’t get a particular joke or reference. She supplements her tale with family photographs as well as images from the sitcoms she’s talking about and an endless supply of tsouris. Written by Gold and Kate Moira Ryan and directed by Amanda Charlton, The Judy Show, which has been extended several times during its successful run at the DR2 Theatre in Union Square and will hold eight performances as part of the New York Comedy Festival, is a whimsical, wonderfully self-effacing evening of theater, filled with good times and happy days, just taking life as it comes, one day at a time, with no commercial breaks. And maybe, just maybe, she’s gonna make it after all. (The New York Comedy Festival runs November 9-13, with a lineup that includes Louis C.K., Tracy Morgan, Russell Peters, Wanda Sykes, Michael Ian Black, Sarah Silverman, Bill Maher, and many others.)