Dave Wakeling will prove he’s still got the beat August 21 at Webster Hall
Webster Hall
125 East Eleventh St. between Second & Third Aves.
Saturday, August 21, $30, 8:00
212-353-1600
www.myspace.com/officialbeatspace
www.websterhall.com
The English Beat formed more than thirty years, then ruled the early ’80s with such ska smashes as “Mirror in the Bathroom” and “Save It for Later” and a killer cover of Smokey Robinson’s “Tears of a Clown.” In 1983, leaders Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger put together General Public, which had a huge hit with “Tenderness” before they broke up. There have been various incarnations of the English Beat, known as the Beat in England, over the last decade, but none that have included both Roger and Wakeling together (except for a one-off gig at Royal Festival Hall in February 2003). Wakeling is bringing the current incarnation of the band, with Rhythmm Epkins on drums, Wayne Lothian on bass, Raynier Jacildo on keyboards, Matt Morrish on saxophone, and Antonee First Class on toaster, to Webster Hall tonight, with Bad Manners and Chris Murray opening the show. Prepare to dance your ass off.
In a small village in the Peruvian Andes, children are playing with pockets of silver liquid that have emerged from belowground. During an outdoor religious celebration, the statue of the Virgin Mary comes crashing down, shattering into pieces. The statue’s caretaker, Saturnina (Magaly Solier), lets out a piercing cry. Meanwhile, Grace (Jasmin Tabatabai), an award-winning war photographer from Belgium, puts away her camera for good after being forced at gunpoint to take a picture of her Iraqi guide as he is brutally murdered in cold blood. The lives of these two women are soon thrust together as the people in the village begin losing their eyesight and Grace’s husband, Max (Olivier Gourmet), a doctor, tries to find out why. Written, directed, and coproduced by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth (KHADAK), ALTIPLANO is a masterful, brilliant film. The meditative pace, elegiac score, and surreal imagery — each stunning shot, courtesy of cinematographer Francisco Gózon, is composed like an individual work of art — combine to create an unparalleled cinematic experience that is nothing short of breathtaking. ALTIPLANO is not just about mercury poisoning, based on an actual mining spill that occurred in 2000; it’s about the very act of seeing and believing. “Without an image,” Saturnina says, “there is no story.” Grace no longer looks at the world through her camera, whereas Max is a relentless videographer, constantly sending his wife video messages. While the villagers continue to lose their sight, a blind man works hard to repair the Virgin Mary statue in time for Saturnina’s wedding. And audiences are not seeing double; the directors cast the same actor, Edgar Condori, as Saturnina’s fiancée and Grace’s guide, furthering the connection between the two women. ALTIPLANO melds Bergman and Fellini with Kubrick and Solanas, resulting in an unforgettable portrait of love and loss, faith and fate, made by two fiercely independent filmmakers. 
