Symphony Space, Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 97th St.
Monday, January 24, $15-$20, 7:30
212-864-5400
www.symphonyspace.org
In 2005, E. L. Doctorow released THE MARCH, an intricate novel of Major General William Tecumseh Sherman’s 1864 march through Georgia. Doctorow and his wife, Helen Henslee (PRETTY REDWING), have adapted the bestselling book for a dramatic staged reading to be held January 24 at Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia. Performers from stage and screen playing multiple roles include Francesca Choy-Kee, Mia Dillon, Keir Dullea, Ron McLarty, Joe Morton, and James Naughton, who also directs the production. The reading will be followed by a conversation with Doctorow, Henslee and Naughton.
After Yumiko’s husband mysteriously commits suicide, she gets remarried and moves to her new husband’s small seaside village home, where she begins to put her life back together. This stunning film is marvelously slow-paced, lingering on characters in the distance, down narrow alleys, across gorgeous horizons, with very little camera movement. The solid cast features Makiko Esumi, Akira Emoto, and the great Tadanobu Asano. MABOROSI is an amazing work from one of the leading members of Japan’s fifth generation, Hirokazu Kore-eda, who has gone on to make such treasures as NOBODY KNOWS and STILL WALKING. MABOROSI is screening at the IFC Center as part of the Weekend Classics series Milestone Films: 20 for 20, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the distribution company that continues to release and restore beautiful and important works. Upcoming films in the series include E. A. Dupont’s PICCADILLY, John Huston’s LET THERE BE LIGHT, and Manoel de Oliveira’s I’M GOING HOME.
As Im Sang-soo’s updated, reworked version of Kim Ki-young’s classic 1960 erotic thriller THE HOUSEMAID opens, restaurant worker Eun-yi (Jeon Do-yeon) is intrigued by a young woman’s suicide jump on the street right outside. It’s a rather ominous sign for Eun-yi, who then gets a job as a nanny for a rich businessman, Hoon (Lee Jung-jae), his pregnant wife, Hae-ra (Seo Woo), and their daughter, Nami (Ahn Seo-hyeon). When Hoon finds his way into her bed, Eun-yi is at first resistant, then surrenders to her master, much to the dismay of Mrs. Cho (Yoon Yeo-jeong), who has been running the household for years. And once Mrs. Cho tells Hae-ra’s mother, Mi-hee (Park Ji-young), precisely what’s going on, the real trouble starts. Im (THE PRESIDENT’S LAST BANG) infuses his tale of wealth, power, and sex with elements of horror and suspense, at times evoking Richard Donner’s THE OMEN as Mi-hee seeks to protect the family at all costs. Jeon, who was named Best Actress at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for her haunting work in SECRET SUNSHINE, is riveting as the conflicted young maid, caught in a web of shame, jealousy, betrayal, and ecstatic pleasure, going from childlike when playing with Nami to alluring when making passionate love with Hoon. Im’s fiftieth-anniversary reimagining of an influential Korean classic is a highly charged, potent melodrama with plenty of thrills, shocks, and surprises.
