twi-ny recommended events

FOCUS FEATURES — 10th ANNIVERSARY SALUTE: A SERIOUS MAN

Joel and Ethan Coen’s Oscar-nominated A SERIOUS MAN kicks off MoMA tribute to Focus Features

A SERIOUS MAN (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2009)
MoMA Film, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Thursday, May 3, and Friday, May 4, 4:00
Series runs May 3-20
Tickets: $12, 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
www.focusfeatures.com

The Coen brothers take their unique brand of dry, black comedy to a whole new level with A Serious Man. Poor Larry Gopnik (a remarkably even-keeled Michael Stuhlbarg) just keeps getting dumped on: His wife, Judith (Sari Lennick), wants to leave him for, of all people, touchy-feely Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed); his brother, Arthur (Richard Kind), keeps hogging the bathroom so he can drain his cyst; his son, Danny (Aaron Wolf), won’t stop complaining that F-Troop isn’t coming in clearly and is constantly on the run from the school drug dealer (Jon Kaminsky Jr.); his daughter, Sarah (Jessica McManus), wants to get a nose job; one of his students (David Kang) has bribed him for a passing grade; his possible tenure appears to be in jeopardy; and he gets no help at all from a series of funnier and funnier rabbis. But Larry keeps on keepin’ on in the Jewish suburbs of Minnesota in 1967, trying to make a go of it as his woes pile higher and higher. Joel and Ethan Coen have crafted one of their best tales yet, nailing the look and feel of the era, from Hebrew school to Bar Mitzvah practice, from office jobs to parking lots, from the Columbia Record Club to transistor radios, from television antennas to the naked neighbor next door. The Coens get so many things right, you won’t mind the handful of mistakes in the film, and because it’s the Coens, who’s to say at least some of those errors weren’t intentional? A Serious Man is a seriously great film, made by a pair of seriously great filmmakers. And while you don’t have to be Jewish and from Minnesota to fall in love with it, it sure can’t hurt. A Serious Man is screening May 3 and 4 at MoMA as part of the series “Focus Features: 10th Anniversary Salute,” which pays tribute to the New York-based distributor responsible for such cutting-edge breakthrough independent films as Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, Fernando Meirelles’s The Constant Gardener, Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, and Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, all of which are part of this festival, which runs May 3-20.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: STRANGE CARGO

Pavel Zuštiak + Palissimo Company complete the Painted Bird trilogy with Strange Cargo, taking place Thursday through Sunday, May 3-13, at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Presented by PS 122 in the cathedral’s Synod Hall, Strange Cargo, the follow-up to Bastard (La MaMa, November 2010) and Amidst (Baryshnikov Arts Center, June 2011), concludes the multimedia production inspired by Jerzy Kosinski’s 1965 novel about a boy wandering around European towns during WWII and ultimately searching for home. The piece is once again directed and choreographed by Zuštiak, with live music composed and performed by Christian Frederickson and Ryan Rumery, lighting by Joe Levasseur, set by Peter Ksander, costumes by Asta Hostetter, and video design by Keith Skretch and Manny Pallad. The company consists of Giulia Carotenuto, Lindsey Dietz-Marchant, Luke Murphy, Denisa Musilova, and Jeremy Xido. On May 5 at 5:30, there will be a free, experimental public forum, “A Long Table on Migration & Displacement,” led by Masha Pyshkina, with sweets from the Hungarian Pastry Shop; advance reservations are strongly recommended.

NOODLEPALOOZA

World Financial Center
220 Vesey St.
Wednesday, May 2, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Admission: free (menu items $1-$5)
212-945-0505
www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com

The World Financial Center will be going noodle crazy at lunchtime on May 2 as fifteen restaurants will be serving up special noodle dishes for $1 to $5 between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm for Noodlepalooza. The WFC’s seasonal culinary showcase will feature a vast array of sample-size dough-based dishes, including Greek Bolognese / Makaronna Mekyma from Battery Place Market, steamed shrimp dumplings and pan-seared pork dumplings from Au Mandarin, macaroni & cheese from Blue Smoke, chicken & dumpling soup from Devon & Blakely, Asian noodle salad with shrimp from Financier Patisserie, baked ziti from Harry’s Italian, ratatouille potato kugel from Kutsher’s Tribeca, bacon mac & cheese from Milk Truck, cheong fun from Noodle Lane, crispy mac & cheese bites from PJ Clarke’s on the Hudson, chicken Thai basil dumplings with spicy peanut dip from Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, shells stuffed with Sunday gravy from Table Tales, homemade pasta (made on-site) with vodka sauce from Valducci’s Original Pizza, Singapore noodles from Wei West, and other treats. There will also be plenty of drinks and a raffle.

CROSSING BROOKLYN FERRY

Brothers Bryce and Aaron Dessner have put together quite a multimedia festival at BAM (photo by David Kressler)

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, Bam Rose Cinemas, BAMcafe
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
May 3-5, $45
718-636-4100
www.crossingbrooklynferry.com
www.bam.org

In his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” from Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman wrote, “Cross from shore to shore, countless crowds of passengers! / Stand up, tall masts of Mannahatta! — stand up, beautiful hills of Brooklyn! / Throb, baffled and curious brain! throw out questions and answers! / Suspend here and everywhere, eternal float of solution! / Gaze, loving and thirsting eyes, in the house, or street, or public assembly!” BAM is now inviting Manhattanites — and everyone else — to once again dare to venture across the river for “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” a three-day film and music festival curated by Bryce and Aaron Dessner of the National. The festivities begin May 3 with live performances by the Walkmen, Sharon Van Etten, Twin Shadow, Jherek Bischoff, ZS, Callers, People Get Ready, yMusic, JACK Quartet, Heather Broderick, and Yellowbirds, with nine short films (which will be screened each night) by Poppy de Villeneuve & Missy Mazzoli; Jonas Mekas, Dalius Naujo, and friends; Michael Brown & Glenn Kotche; Bill Morrison & William Basinski; Justin Davis Anderson & Juan Comas; Tunde Adebimpe & Ohal Grietzer; Matthew Ritchie & Bryce Dessner; Su Friedrich; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt & wirrow. On May 4, the musical lineup features St. Vincent, the Antlers, Tyondai Braxton, Sō Percussion, Buke and Gase, Sinkane, Ava Luna, Missy Mazzoli and Victoire, NOW Ensemble, Hubble, and Nadia Sirota, followed by DJ sets by Chris Keating and Joakim. The May 5 show is sold out, but in case you can still score a ticket somehow, it includes Beirut, Atlas Sound, My Brightest Diamond + yMusic, Caveman, Oneohtrix Point Never, Janka Nabay & the Bubu Gang, Skeletons, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the Yehudim, Benjamin Lanz, and Thieving Irons, with late-night / early-morning DJ sets by Pat Mahoney and Nancy Whang.

IVY BALDWIN: AMBIENT COWBOY

Ivy Baldwin’s AMBIENT COWBOY premieres this week at New York Live Arts

New York Live Arts
219 West 19th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
May 2-5, $15-$20, 7:30
212-691-6500
www.newyorklivearts.org
www.ivybaldwindance.org

In such works as Here Rests Peggy and Bear Crown, Brooklyn-based dancer and choreographer Ivy Baldwin has combined a unique sense of space with sonic and architectural elements to create highly emotional and physical pieces. Her latest evening-length work, Ambient Cowboy, which is having its world premiere May 2-5 at New York Live Arts, was inspired by master architect Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, a National Historic Site with structures that have no interior walls, only glass exteriors. Ambient Cowboy will be performed by Baldwin, Molly Poerstel, Lawrence Cassella, and Eleanor Smith, with sound design by Justin Jones, lighting by Chloë Z Brown, and a live, evolving set by painter and installation artist Anna Schuleit that changes every night. The May 2 show will be preceded by a talk with Ryan Tracy, while the May 4 performance will be followed by a discussion with Brian Brooks.

THE SEASONS OF NEW YORK

Rizzoli Bookshop at Saks Fifth Avenue and other locations
611 Fifth Ave., ninth floor
212-753-4000
www.rizzoliusa.com

With local weather patterns getting crazier and crazier, it’s becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference between the seasons here in the city. Thankfully, Charles J. Ziga reminds us about one of the main reasons why we love the Big Apple in The Seasons of New York (Rizzoli Universe, March 2012, $24.95). “Spring, summer, fall, or winter, New York City is magical and vibrant,” Ziga (New York Landmarks) writes in the brief introduction, then proves it with two hundred pages of full-color images of the most photographed city in the world. Beginning in spring, Ziga takes us on a yearlong adventure through Central Park, on the High Line, down Park Ave., and into various parades, visiting Rockefeller Center, the Intrepid, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the World Financial Center, the Apollo Theater, the Puck Building, the South Street Seaport, Grand Central Terminal, Ellis Island, and so many other destinations. Among some of the standouts are shots of a solitary person walking a dog across a snow-covered Brooklyn Bridge, Lincoln Center lit up at night, a surprisingly empty Broadway in the rain, Manhattanhenge casting an orange glow on Twenty-first St., and the reflecting pool at the World Trade Center site. Not merely a collection of postcard snapshots, The Seasons of New York offers an insider’s glimpse of our fabulous metropolis. Although it’s available everywhere, you might want to pick up your copy either at the classy Rizzoli Bookstore on West Fifty-seventh St. or at the new Rizzoli Bookshop on the ninth floor of Saks Fifth Ave.

PEN WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN LITERATURE

Salman Rushdie will deliver the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture at this year’s PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Multiple locations
April 30 – May 6, free – $75
www.pen.org

This year’s PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature celebrates the ninetieth anniversary of the organization, which is dedicated to freedom of speech and human rights around the globe, with a bevy of events beginning April 30 and continuing through May 6. Here are just some of the many highlights: On Monday night, Graydon Carter, Victor S. Navasky, George Packer, and Katha Pollit will pay tribute to the late Christopher Hitchens at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, and Hank Dutt, Onome Ekeh, Emily Howard, and Beth Levin will take part in the U.S. premiere of Kevin Malone’s thirty-five-minute Clockwork Orange operetta at the Top of the Standard. On Tuesday, Mike Daisey will host “Revolutionary Plays Since 2000: The Future of Political Theater” at the CUNY Graduate Center, an evening of readings, discussion, and live music with Lasha Bugadze, Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, Laila Soliman, and the Civilians. On Wednesday, the amazing trio of Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, and E. L. Doctorow will gather together for a TimesTalk at the Times Center, while the Kronos Quartet presents “Exit Strategies” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Rula Jebreal, Tony Kushner, and Marjane Satrapi. There are more than a dozen programs on Thursday, including Elevator Repair Service performing the site-specific Shuffle, a mash-up of classic novels at NYU’s Bobst Library, screenings of Satrapi’s Persepolis and Chicken with Plums at MoMA, and “Herta Müller on Silence” at Deutsches Haus. On Friday, Jennifer Egan will talk about “How to Create Your Own Rules” with Jacob Weisberg at the New School, seventeen writers will come together for “A Literary Safari” at the Westbeth Center, and the all-day “John Cage: How to Get Started” at Symphony Space will feature David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet, Aleksander Hemon, Etgar Keret, Sonia Sanchez, and audience performers. On Saturday, “An Evening with Doon Arbus, Francine Prose, and Michael Cunningham — and Diane Arbus” consists of readings from the recent biography Diane Arbus: A Chronology and a screening of A Slide Show and Talk by Diane Arbus at MoMA, author-illustrator Brian Selznick will be in conversation with David Levithan at the New School, Egan, Teju Cole, Karl O. Knausgaard, Riikka Pulkkinen, Luc Sante, and others will interact with R. Justin Stewart’s art installation at the Invisible Dog Art Center for “Messiah in Brooklyn,” and Sanchez, Keret, Adam Mansbach, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, Marcus Samuelsson, and Tracy K. Smith will discuss “Memory in Harlem” at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The festival concludes on Sunday with Cunningham, Deborah Eisenberg, Daniel Kehlmann, and Edmund White at the Museum of Jewish Heritage for “A Place Out of Time: Gregor von Rezzori’s Bukovina Trilogy” and Salman Rushdie delivering the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture at the Cooper Union, followed by a pop Q&A led by Gary Shteyngart.