The Great Hall of the Cooper Union
7 East Seventh St. at Third Ave.
Saturday, March 19, $15, 8:00
212-362-4745
www.ensemble-pi.org
Ensemble Pi’s Sixth Annual Peace Project concert, Echosystem: Protecting Our Water, will once again look to the environment for inspiration. Introduced by investigative journalist Karen Charman, the evening will feature performances of George Crumb’s 1971 “Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale)” for three Masked Players, the world premiere of Kristin Norderval’s “Echo Systems,” inspired by the BP and Exxon Valdez environmental disasters, Karl Kramer’s new arrangement of Pete Seeger’s 1971 ecology-minded “Rainbow Race,” and Christopher Kaufman’s multimedia “Hudson Valley,” which incorporates sound and image from the Hudson River Valley. Since 2005, Ensemble Pi has been hosting the Peace Project concert, seeking to combine music with eco-conscious issues. The 2011 event will include Norderval on voice and laptop, Airi Yoshioka on violin, Idith Meshulam on piano, Clair Bryant on cello, Kramer on French horn, Barry Crawford on flute, and Nick Gallas on clarinet.
Master documentarian Patricio Guzmán’s Nostalgia for the Light is a brilliant examination of memory and the past, one of the most intelligent and intellectual films you’re ever likely to see. But don’t let that scare you off — it is also a vastly entertaining, deeply emotional work that will blow you away with its stunning visuals and heartbreaking stories. Guzmán, who chronicled the assassination of Salvador Allende and the rise of Augusto Pinochet in the landmark three-part political documentary The Battle of Chile, this time visits the Atacama Desert in his native Chile, considered to be the driest place on Earth. Situated ten thousand feet above sea level, the desert is home to La Silla and Paranal Observatories, where astronomers come from all over the world to get unobstructed views of the stars and galaxies, unimpeded by pollution or electronic interference. However, it is also a place where women still desperately search for the remains of their loved ones murdered by Pinochet’s military regime and hidden away in mass graves. In addition, archaeologists have discovered mummies and other fossilized bones dating from pre-Columbian times there. Guzmán seamlessly weaves together these three journeys into the past — as astronomers such as Gaspar Galaz and Luis Hernandez note, by the time they see stars either with the naked eye or through the lens of their massive telescopes, the celestial bodies have been long dead — creating a fascinating narrative that is as thrilling as it is breathtaking. Constructing a riveting tale of memory, Guzmán speaks with architect Miguel Lawner, who draws detailed maps of the Chacabuca desert concentration camp where he and so many other political prisoners were held; Valentina, a young astronomer whose grandparents had to give up her parents in order to save her when she was a baby; archaeologist Lautaro Nunez, who digs up mummies while trying to help the women find “los desaparecidos”; and Victoria and Violeta, who regularly comb the barren landscape in search of their relatives. “I wish the telescopes didn’t just look into the sky but could also see through the earth so that we could find them,” Violeta says at one point. Spectacularly photographed by Katell Dijan, Nostalgia for the Light is a modern masterpiece, an unparalleled cinematic experience that has to be seen to be believed. (Guzmán will be at the IFC Center for the 8:10 screenings on Friday and Saturday night to talk about the film, and BAMcinématek will be presenting 
After having a blast with the zombie (Shaun of the Dead) and buddy-cop (Hot Fuzz) genres, cowriters Simon Pegg and Nick Frost look to the stars in their latest parody, Paul. Frost and Pegg play sci-fi writer Clive Gollings and illustrator Graeme Willy, respectively, geeky childhood friends who are in the midst of fulfilling a lifelong dream as they travel to San Diego for Comic Con, then set off on a road trip to such supposed UFO sites as Area 51, Roswell, and the Black Mailbox. Along the way, they meet a pair of gay-bashing rednecks (David Koechner and Jesse Plemons), a cool diner owner (Jane Lynch), and the Bible-thumping, shotgun-toting Moses Buggs (John Carroll Lynch) and his Bible-thumping daughter, Ruth (Kristen Wiig) — oh, and they pick up a cigarette-smoking hipster alien dude named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) who has escaped from the U.S. government. Rumbling cross-country in their RV, Clive, Graeme, Paul, and eventually Ruth are being hotly pursued by determined CIA agent Zoil (Jason Bateman) and Zoil’s two somewhat incompetent inferiors, Haggard (Bill Hader) and O’Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio), who aren’t sure what they’re after but are starting to believe it’s something big. The two legal British aliens and the illegal otherworldly alien begin to bond, but as Zoil closes in, they realize that this is no mere sci-fi story they’re in but the real thing. Paul is a hit-or-miss comedy that hits more than it misses, lovingly paying homage to the genre with references to such films and television shows as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, The X-Files, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek, Star Wars, and other faves. The road movie has its share of bumps, courtesy of director Greg Mottola, who previously helmed the overrated Superbad (2007) and the underrated Adventureland (2009), but Pegg and Frost are a hoot to watch, no matter what they’re doing.
Robert Mitchum stars in Charles Laughton’s lurid story of traveling preacher/con man/murderer Harry Powell, who has the word “love” tattooed on one set of knuckles and “hate” on the other. While in prison, Powell bunks with Ben Harper (Peter Graves), who got caught stealing $10,000 — but the only person who knows where the money is is Ben’s young son, John (Billy Chapin). When Preacher is released from jail, he shows up on the Harpers’ doorstep, ready to woo the widow Willa (Shelley Winters) — and get his hands on the money any way he can, including torturing John and his sister, Ruby (Gloria Castillo). Laughton’s only directorial effort is seriously flawed — the scenes in the beginning and end with Lillian Gish are wholly unnecessary and detract from the overall mood. Stanley Cortez’s cinematography is outstanding, featuring his unique use of shadows, the battle between light and dark (which plays off of several themes: old versus young, rich versus poor, good versus evil, and men versus women), and some marvelous silhouettes. The Night of the Hunter is screening March 18 at the Rubin Museum in conjunction with the Brainwave series of talks and will be introduced by actress Parker Posey. Andrei Tarkovsky’s Ivan’s Childhood follows on March 25 and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes on April 8.