Hank & Cupcakes will bring the beat to Brooklyn Bowl on Tuesday night (photo by Alan Lugo)
Brooklyn Bowl
61 Wythe Ave.
Tuesday, November 23, free, 8:00
www.brooklynbowl.com
www.myspace.com/hankandcupcakes
You never know quite what to expect at a Hank & Cupcakes show, but you can be sure it’ll be one crazy time. The Brooklyn-based experimental duo of husband-and-wife team Ariel Scherbacovsky and Sagit Shir come from all over the musical and geographic map. Both were born in Israel, Hank spent part of his childhood in Australia, Cupcakes studied classical music for six years, they were once in an acoustic band that specialized in Beatles tunes, and they spent time in Havana together checking out the local music scene. Named after Charles Bukowski characters, Hank plays bass and electronics, with Cupcakes on drums and lead vocals, and what lead vocals they are: Cupcakes sings with a dynamic range, belting out everything from funky R&B (“Ain’t No Love”) to dance rock (“Pleasure Town”) to lovely, soulful pop ballads (“New Day,” “Roses”), her voice always front and center. When she blasts out, “You want out but you’re losing control / You gotta go but you can’t say no to the beat,” well, you won’t be able to say no to the beat. And just when you think you have them all figured out, they’ll hit you with a cover of Joy Division’s “She’s Lost Control.” Hank & Cupcakes will be at Brooklyn Bowl on November 23 for a free show with Kenan Bell and Biker Daughter.
In an unnamed West African nation besieged by a bloody civll war between rebels and the military government, Maria Vial (Isabelle Huppert) steadfastly refuses to leave her coffee plantation, determined to see the last crop through to fruition. Despite pleas from the French army, which is vacating the country; her ex-husband, André (Christophe Lambert), who is attempting to sell the plantation out from under her; and her workers, whose lives are in danger, Maria is unwilling to give up her home and way of life, apparently blind to what is going on all around her. She seems to be living in her own world, as if all the outside forces exploding around her do not affect her and her family. Without thinking twice, she even allows the Boxer (Isaach De Bankolé) to stay there, the seriously wounded leader of the rebel militia, not considering what kind of dire jeopardy that could result in. But when her slacker son, Manuel (Nicolas Duvauchelle), freaks out, she is forced to take a harder look at reality, but even then she continues to see only what she wants to see. A selection of both the New York and Venice Film Festivals, WHITE MATERIAL is an often obvious yet compelling look at the last remnants of postcolonial European domination as a new Africa is being born in disorder and violence. Directed and cowritten (with French playwright Marie Ndiaye) by Claire Denis (CHOCOLAT, BEAU TRAVAIL), who was born in Paris and raised in Africa, the film has a central flaw in its premise that viewers will either buy or reject: whether they accept Maria’s blindness to the evolving situation that has everyone else on the run. Watching Maria’s actions can be infuriating, and in the hands of another actress they might not have worked, but Huppert is mesmerizing in the decidedly unglamorous role.
Written and directed by first-time feature filmmakers Antonio Naharro and Álvaro Pastor, ME, TOO is a beautifully told story about a man with Down syndrome trying to make it in the so-called normal world. When Daniel (Pablo Pineda) first shows up for work at a government disability agency in Sevilla, Laura (Lola Dueñas) mistakes him for someone who has come seeking help, not the person who will be occupying the desk next to hers on a daily basis. Daniel does not see himself as a victim, and he is clearly not a charity case; instead, he has earned a university degree and refuses to allow his disease — or, more important, the way his disease is viewed by others — to limit the things he can accomplish in life. Soon Daniel and Laura grow very close, but she is unable to let their relationship reach the next level, regardless of how much they care for each other — and how many times she instead goes to a local bar and picks up strangers. Meanwhile, Luisa (Lourdes Naharro) and Pedro (Daniel Parejo), who both have Down syndrome and are members of the Danza Mobile dance company, which works with people suffering from intellectual disabilities, have fallen in love, but they feel free to express it, even in public, which gets them in trouble with Luisa’s mother (Catalina Lladó). The contrast between the two romances, one of which is “mixed” but both of which are complicated, is well handled by Naharro (who also plays Daniel’s older brother in the film) and Pastor, steering clear of the kind of sappy melodrama that could have compromised the film’s point of view. They deal with the issue of the infantilization and stereotyping of people with Down syndrome with just the right amount of honesty and subtlety to avoid becoming a pedantic message movie. Both Dueñas, an Almodóvar regular, and Pineda, making his cinematic debut, won Silver Shells for their acting at the 2009 San Sebastian Film Festival. Pineda is in fact the first person with Down syndrome in Europe to earn a major university degree, and he is endearing in the lead role, never overly sentimental, and the script avoids treacly moments, as does Guille Milkyway’s soundtrack. Codirector Pastor will participate in a Q&A following the 7:00 screening at Cinema Village on November 19.