twi-ny recommended events

WEEKEND CLASSICS — KUROSAWA: RAN

The Fool (Peter) sticks by Hidetaro (Tatsuya Nakadai) as the aging lord descends into madness in Kurosawa masterpiece RAN

RAN (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
July 22-24, $13, 11:00 am
Series continues through September 11
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

Inspired by the story of feudal lord Mori Motonari and Shakespeare’s King Lear, Akira Kurosawa’s Ran is an epic masterpiece about the decline and fall of the Ichimonji clan. Aging Lord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai) is ready to hand over his land and leadership to his three sons, Taro (Akira Terao), Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), and Saburo (Daisuke Ryû). But jealousy, misunderstandings, and outright deceit and treachery result in Saburo’s banishment and a violent power struggle between the weak eldest, Taro, and the warrior Jiro. Hidetaro soon finds himself rejected by his children and wandering the vast, empty landscape with his wise, sarcastic fool, Kyoami (Peter), as the once-proud king descends into madness. Dressed in white robes and with wild white hair, Nakadai (The Human Condition), in his early fifties at the time, portrays Hidetaro, one of the great characters of cinema history, with an unforgettable, Noh-like precision. Kurosawa, cinematographers Asakazu Nakai, Takao Saitô, and Masaharu Ueda, and Oscar-winning costume designer Emi Wada bathe the film in lush greens, brash blues, and bold reds and yellows that marvelously offset the white Hidetaro. Kurosawa shoots the first dazzling battle scene in an elongated period of near silence, with only Tôru Takemitsu’s classically based score playing on the soundtrack, turning the film into a thrilling, blood-drenched opera. Ran is a spectacular achievement, the last great major work by one of the twentieth century’s most important and influential filmmakers. Ran will be screening at 11:00 am on July 22, 23, and 24 as part of the IFC Center’s Weekend Classics — Kurosawa series, which continues with Dreams (July 29-31) and Rhapsody in August (August 5-7); ticket sales benefit Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund.

GET WEIRD: GRAY

Gray will be getting weird again at the New Museum on July 21 (photo by Linda Covello)

New Museum of Contemporary Art
235 Bowery at Prince St.
Thursday, July 21, $15, 7:00 & 9:00
212-219-1222
www.newmuseum.org

In 1979, Jean-Michel Basquiat teamed up with performance artist Michael Holman to form the jazzy, funky experimental No Wave ambient industrial band Gray, named after Gray’s Anatomy, an influential book on Basquiat’s career. “New York is my town / Lower East Side I get down,” they declared on “Life on the Streets.” On July 21, Holman and original Gray member Nicholas Taylor, who have re-formed and released the album Shades of . . . last year, consisting of new and old songs, will play two special shows at the New Museum on the Lower East Side as part of the monthly Get Weird series, which focuses on “experimental and freaky jams.” In the past twenty-three years, the band — which has also included such members as Justin Thyme (Wayne Clifford), Shannon Dawson, and Vincent Gallo — has played live only twice, including at Basquiat’s memorial service, so this is a rare occasion indeed. There will be two performances, one at 7:00 and another at 9:00. The New Museum is very busy this weekend as well. On Friday night, Shaina Anand and Ashok Sukumaran will give the talk “CAMP, or the Love of Technology,” and on Saturday the New Museum Block Party in Sara D. Roosevelt Park will include such acts as Lumberob, Geo Wyeth, BowWow, and Isle of Klezbos, art activities and workshops, and free admission to the museum, where you can check out the new exhibits “Ostalgia” and “Charles Atlas: Joints Array.”

WILLIAM LUSTIG PRESENTS: THE INCIDENT

Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. at Second St.
Wednesday, July 20, 7:00, and Sunday, July 24, 9:00
Series continues through July 25
212-505-5181
www.anthologyfilmarchives.org

One of the ultimate nightmare scenarios of 1960s New York City, Larry Peerce’s gritty black-and-white The Incident takes viewers deep down into the subway as two thugs terrorize a group of helpless passengers. Joe Ferrante (Tony Musante) and Artie Connors (Martin Sheen, in his first movie role) are out for kicks, so after getting some out on the streets, they head underground, where they find a wide-ranging collection of twentieth-century Americans to torture, including Arnold and Joan Robinson (Brock Peters and Ruby Dee), Bill and Helen Wilks (Ed McMahon and Diana Van der Vlis), Sam and Bertha Beckerman (Jack Gilford and Thelma Ritter, in her last role), Douglas McCann (Gary Merrill), Muriel and Harry Purvis (Jan Sterling and Mike Kellin), Alice Keenan (Donna Mills), soldiers Felix Teflinger and Phillip Carmatti (Beau Bridges and Robert Bannard), and others, each representing various aspects of contemporary culture and society, all with their own personal problems that come to the surface as the harrowing ride continues. It’s a brutal, claustrophobic, highly theatrical film that captures the fear that haunted the city in the 1960s and well into the ’70s, with an all-star cast tackling such subjects as racism, teen sex, alcoholism, homosexuality, war, and the state of the American family. The rarely shown drama, some of which was filmed in the actual subway system against the MTA’s warnings, is screening July 20 & 24 as part of Anthology Film Archives’ annual summer series “William Lustig Presents,” consisting of lesser-known selections from director, actor, producer, and 2009 New York City Horror Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award winner Bill Lustig. The Bronx-born creator of Maniac, Maniac Cop, and Vigilante and CEO of Blue Underground, which distributes exploitation and grindhouse flicks on DVD, has also chosen such films as Richard Fleischer’s The Last Run, Michael Tuchner’s Villain and Fear Is the Key, James Frawley’s Kid Blue, and William Friedkin’s The Brink’s Job, starring the late Peter Falk; the series continues through July 25.

ESSENTIAL PRE-CODE: GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933

GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 is screening as part of pre-Hays Code series at Film Forum

GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Friday, July 22, 1:00, 4:35, and 8:10
Series continues through August 11
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org

Hitting a little too close to home these days, Gold Diggers of 1933 is a depression-era musical directed by Mervyn LeRoy (Little Caesar, Mister Roberts) and featuring dance numbers choreographed by Busby Berkeley. Polly Parker (Ruby Keeler), Trixie Lorraine (Aline MacMahon), Carol King (Joan Blondell), and Fay Fortune (Ginger Rogers) are four out-of-work actresses desperate to find a job on Broadway. When cigar-chomping producer Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks) teams up with newcomer Brad Roberts (Dick Powell) to create a show about the Great Depression itself, the women get excited about the possibility of getting back on the Great White Way, but mistaken identity, financing problems, and class warfare — in the form of wealthy old-money barons Lawrence Bradford (Warren William) and Faneul H. Peabody (Guy Kibbee) — threaten the show and their love lives. Gold Diggers of 1933 is screening at Film Forum on July 22 in a double feature with Frank Tuttle’s Roman Scandals as part of the series “Essential Pre-Code,” which continues through August 11 with films made immediately prior to the enactment of the values-based Hays Code in 1930s Hollywood, including Rouben Moumalian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Cecil B. DeMille’s The Sign of the Cross, Josef von Sternberg’s Blonde Venus, Howard Hawks’s Scarface, Ernst Lubitsch’s Trouble in Paradise, and Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s King Kong (bestiality!), nearly all of which are part of double or triple features. Oh, and if you’re wondering why Gold Diggers made the cut here, the “Pettin’ in the Park” number should tell you all you need to know.

FriendsWithYou: ☺

FriendsWithYou’s first solo exhibition in New York City is filled with color and smiles (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The Hole
312 Bowery
Tuesday – Saturday through August 6, free
212-466-1100
www.theholenyc.com
www.friendswithyou.com
exhibition slideshow

The Hole has inaugurated its new gallery space on Bowery with the feel-good exhibit ☺ from the Miami-based FriendsWithYou duo of Samuel Borkson and Arturo “Tury” Sandoval III. Earlier this summer, the art collective helped celebrate the extension of the High Line with the interactive outdoor installation “Rainbow City,” consisting of forty colorful inflatables in various shapes and sizes, one reaching forty feet high, spread across sixteen thousand square feet. While there’s not quite so much room in the Hole’s Lower East Side Gallery, FWY has still created a color-drenched happy wonderland of sculptures placed on the walls and floors, across corners, and bursting through the ceiling, continuing their mission “to spread the idea of Magic, Luck, and Friendship.” The kinetic lasercut “Round & Round” features a pair of yellow smiley faces slowly spinning in circles. “Sonic Goo” (a tribute to New York City art rockers Sonic Youth and their album Goo?) is what you’d get if you took malleable red plastic and just threw it against the wall. “The Portal” is a rectangular black-and-white head seemingly at rest. “The Shadow of Death” and “Spirit Guide” resemble paint palettes, even though there are no traditional paintings in the show. (The latter includes a green tongue sticking out at the viewer.) In “Up & Up,” a black smiley face next to a white smiley face take turns moving up and down ever so slightly. And the candy-colored inflatable sculpture “Starburst” threatens to grow out of its own room, a giant child wanting to play. Collaborating with Native Shoes, FWY has also decorated the pop-up store next door with ghostly wall figures; inside you can buy such colorful, comfortable summer footwear as the Miller, the Jericho, the Howard, the Corrado, and the Jefferson. In an art world where exhibitions can get oh-so-serious, ☺ is an absolutely refreshing diversion, like the game of Candy Land, only there are no losers.

GOTHAM ROCKS 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Charetta is one of seven local hard-rocking bands celebrating the third anniversary of Gotham Rocks at Irving Plaza Thursday night

Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
17 Irving Pl. at East 15th St.
Thursday, July 21, $27 (with fees), 7:00
www.gothamrocks.net
www.irvingplaza.com

In May 2008, indie metal heads Cary Tamura and Mike Sankari formed Tech-9 Music, staging Gotham Rocks and No Mercy Metal showcases in New York City, Jersey, Long Island, and other locations. Focused on building a modern hard rock community of fans and musicians, the duo, both of whom have their own bands, put together shows featuring local groups at small clubs as well as Six Flags Great Adventure. They will be celebrating the third anniversary of Gotham Rocks on July 21 with a gala event at Irving Plaza. Staten Island hard rockers Woods of Arden kicks things off at 7:00, followed at 7:45 by New York glam rockers Sweet Fix. At 8:30, Queens foursome Bound by Substance is hoping to have recovered from their blowout show at the Gramercy back in December. At 9:15, New York City’s Charetta, led by vocalist Angelina DelCarmen, will be playing songs from their new EP, A Nation Distracted; if you buy a ticket to Gotham Rocks through their website, you get a free digital download of the album. At 10:00, Brooklyn’s the August Infinity, who discovered their singer, Joshua Hawksley, in the subway, will be partying with tracks from their new CD, To Whom It May Concern. Southern metal rockers Killcode take the stage at 10:45, highlighting songs from their upcoming follow-up to 2008’s Truce. The evening concludes at 11:30 with the bass-guitar-drums trio Crush of Empires. “I just might make you crazy,” Hawksley sings on the August Infinity’s new album. Indeed, this should be one crazy night at Irving Plaza.

INNER COURSE: PANTIES FOR DIAMONDS — A PSYCHODRAMATIC AUDITION FOR LOVE IN THE AGE OF ABANDONMENT

Inner Course helps you look deep inside yourself at Honey Space

Open Casting at Honey Space
148 11th Ave. between 21st & 22nd Sts.
Tuesday – Saturday through July 28, free with advance RSVP, 1:00 – 6:00
www.honey-space.com
www.innercourse.me

Inner Course, the performance duo of Tora Lopez and Rya Kleinpeter, has staged projects in Tasmania, New Orleans, and Sonoma and is currently presenting “Panties for Diamonds — A Psychodramatic Audition for Love in the Age of Abandonment” at Thomas Beale’s nonprofit Honey Space gallery in Chelsea. Funded with donations over Kickstarter, the three-part piece requires visitors to actively participate in a mental and physical examination of the self. The less you know about “Panties for Diamonds” the better, but you need to be prepared to be touched, and the more willing you are to dig into your past and future with complete honesty, the more rewarding an experience it will be. SPOILER ALERT: If you want to be surprised — and boy, will you be surprised — then stop reading here and reserve your time now. But if you want to know just a little more — don’t worry, we’re not about to give the whole thing away — then read on.

The approximately forty-five-minute “Panties for Diamonds” begins with “The Secretary,” in which you fill out a questionnaire that features some rather odd questions. That is followed by “The Softing,” about which we will say nothing more. Those two sections lead to “The Audition,” in which you sit down and discuss various aspects of your life with Rya, an L.A.-born photographer and installation artist, and New Orleans native Tora, a fashion designer and artist who regularly collaborates with Kirsha Kaechele’s KKProjects. Among the other rotating performers are Lisa Lozano, Anne Koch, Daphane Park. Amanda Kanter, Pamala Bishop, Benjamine Heller, Carlton de Woody, John Wells, Fauzeeya Hunter, Hellen Mathers, Matt Savitsky, Tyra Bombetto, and Class Actress. It’s all free, and you are not asked to give such personal information as your age, address, or phone number. Advance reservations are suggested, although walk-ins are welcome, but they might already be booked for that afternoon. We strongly recommend you be adventurous and sign up for this strange but ultimately exhilarating experience; we’re seriously considering going back for a second time.