twi-ny recommended events

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) and Pat Jr. (Bradley Cooper) explore love, loss, and dance in Oscar-nominated SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (David O. Russell, 2012)
In theaters now
www.silverliningsplaybookmovie.com

Benny & Joon meets Little Miss Sunshine in writer-director David O. Russell’s cute but severely overrated Silver Linings Playbook. Adapted from Matthew Quick’s novel, the film follows the unusual relationship between Patrick Solitano (Bradley Cooper), a bipolar man who has just been released from a mental institution after beating up his wife’s lover, and Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence), a woman trying desperately to get past the untimely death of her husband. They both deal with their situations in very different ways: While Pat refuses to face reality, clinging to the thinnest of hopes that his wife, Nikki (Brea Bee), still loves him and will take him back, Tiffany sleeps with nearly everyone in her office and gets fired, forcing her to move back in with her parents. The interplay between Pat and Tiffany is absolutely gripping as they each battle with inner demons and mental illness. Pat also battles with his father, Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro), a casualty of the economic crisis whose serious OCD comes out during Eagles games. (The film is set in Philadelphia.) The first half of Silver Linings Playbook is a fascinating study of mental illness, sensationally performed by Cooper and Lawrence, but the second half goes off in ludicrous, ridiculous directions, with Pat Jr. and Tiffany training for a dance competition and Pat Sr. and his friend Randy (Paul Herman) involved in a silly parlay about dance and football. What had been a distinctly different take on two unique characters becomes a standard, conventional tale that nearly, but not quite, destroys everything that had come before it. Russell, who has has displayed a penchant for taking chances in such previous films as Spanking the Monkey, Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings, and I ♥ Huckabees and was nominated for a Best Director Oscar for The Fighter, here takes the easy way out, settling for a sitcomlike finale when he could have had so much more. Still, Silver Linings Playbook has a lot going for it, even if it does end up satisfied with the lowest common denominator. The film is nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Cooper), Best Actress (Lawrence), Best Supporting Actor (De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Jacki Weaver as Pat Jr.’s loving mother), Best Film Editing (Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers), Best Adapted Screenplay (Russell), and Best Director.

GREGORY CREWDSON: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS

Gregory Crewdson carefully composes his next photograph in BRIEF ENCOUNTERS (courtesy Zeitgeist Films)

GREGORY CREWDSON: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS (Ben Shapiro, 2012)
IndieScreen
285 Kent Ave at South Second St.
January 26 & 29, $12, 7:00
212-727-8110
www.indiescreen.us
www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com

From 2002 to 2008, Gregory Crewdson created a sensational body of work he called “Beneath the Roses,” consisting of intricately arranged large-scale photographs that capture the mysterious underside of small-town, middle-class America. Filmed primarily in the Western Massachusetts community where his family spent their summers while he was growing up, the photographs, all taken at twilight, are powerful, emotional still shots that look like they’re from a movie, usually involving solitary figures on the street or in a tense room, staring out, often with a car nearby, its door or trunk flung open, compelling viewers to come up with their own narrative of what they’re seeing. For ten years, Ben Shapiro followed Crewdson around as he worked on that series and others, and he details the Park Slope-born photographer’s unique creative process in the vastly entertaining and informative documentary Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters. Crewdson, who shoots only at twilight, is obsessive about the shot he gets, agonizing first over the setting itself, then going over every little detail, from the turn of a character’s head to the proper amount of leg to reveal, with a crew that includes a director of photography, a production designer, a casting director, and other jobs usually more associated with film. “My pictures are about a search for a moment — a perfect moment,” he explains. “To me the most powerful moment in the whole process is when everything comes together and there is that perfect, beautiful, still moment. And for that instant, my life makes sense.”

Gregory Crewdson, “Untitled (The Madison),” from “Beneath the Roses,” archival pigment print, 2007 (© Gregory Crewdson)

Crewdson also talks about his past as he drives around Pittsfield searching out locations or looks through a photo album, discussing how he was influenced by his psychologist father and a trip they made to see a Diane Arbus exhibition at MoMA in 1972, when Crewdson was ten. Among those who share their thoughts about Crewdson are writers Russell Banks and Rick Moody, photographer Laurie Simmons, Aperture editor in chief Melissa Harris, and Crewdson’s director of photography, Richard Sands. Shapiro also travels to Rome with Crewdson for his 2010 “Sanctuary” series, taken at the abandoned Cinecittà studio in Rome, furthering his interest in film. Just as it’s fascinating to spend time exploring Crewdson’s photographs, it’s equally fascinating spending time with the man himself, a complex, bigger-than-life character with an intriguing outlook on his medium as well as the world at large. Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters, which somehow wasn’t even shortlisted for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, is being shown at IndieScreen in Brooklyn on January 26 and 29.

ALINA SZAPOCZNIKOW: SCULPTURE UNDONE, 1955–1972

Alina Szapocznikow, “Petit Dessert I (Small Dessert I),” colored polyester resin and glass, 1970–71(© The Estate of Alina Szapocznikow/Piotr Stanisławski/ADAGP, Paris. Photo by Thomas Mueller, courtesy Broadway 1602, New York, and Galerie Gisela Capitain GmbH, Cologne)

Museum of Modern Art, Special Exhibitions Gallery, third floor
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Through January 28
Museum admission: $25 ($12 can be applied to the purchase of a film ticket within thirty days)
212-708-9400
www.moma.org

It would be a mistake to categorize the work of Alina Szapocznikow as a morbid depiction of suffering and death because the Polish sculptor spent time in three Nazi concentration camps and ultimately died of cancer at the age of forty-seven. Instead, “Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955–1972,” continuing at MoMA through January 28, calls for a reexamination of this forward-thinking experimental artist. Comprising more than one hundred sculptures, drawings, and photographs, the exhibition reveals Szapocznikow to be well ahead of her time, belonging in the same canon as such influential artists as Hannah Arendt, Lynda Benglis, and Eva Hesse. “Spanning one of the most rich and complex periods of the twentieth century, Szapocznikow’s oeuvre responded to many of the ideological and artistic developments of her time,” write Elena Filipovic and Joanna Mytkowska in the introduction to the exhibition catalog. “Still, as a sculptor who emerged during the postwar period working in a classical figurative manner, Szapocznikow’s later conception of sculpture shifted considerably, leaving behind a legacy of provocative objects — at once sexualized, fragmented, vulnerable, humorous, and political — that sit uneasily between Surrealism, Nouveau Réalisme, and Pop art.”

Alina Szapocznikow, “Souvenirs,” polyester resin and photographs, 1967 (the Estate of Alina Szapocznikow/Piotr Stanisławski)

Primarily using polyester resin — along with polyurethane foam, photographs, nylon stockings, bronze, newspaper, wood, metal, and even cigarettes — Szapocznikow, who spent much of her professional life in Paris, cast works based on her own body as well as those of models and her adopted son, resulting in a compelling collection of breasts, hands, legs, torsos, heads, and mouths that stand on pedestals or hang on the wall. In “Petit Dessert I (Small Dessert I),” the lower half of a woman’s face, lips slightly apart, sits in a glass dish, a yellow blob oozing over the side. “Goldfinger,” a direct riff on the James Bond villain, is an upside-down figure, the head and lower body connected by a car part, all bathed in gold. “Femme illuminée (Illuminated Woman)” is a five-foot-high plaster woman with extremely long legs, her breasts cupped in red resin, her neck leading to a large, amorphous mass of other colored resin. “Lampe-bouche (Illuminated Lips)” is just that, a collection of lip lamps that actually light up. And “Dłoń. Projekt Pomnika Bohaterów Warszawy II (Hand. Monument to the Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto)” is a deformed hand made of patinated plaster and iron filings, its fingers reaching out, trying desperately to grasp something. Szapocznikow’s works range from charming, funny, and playful to dark, scary, and mysterious, often in the same piece. “Sculpture Undone” is a compelling journey through the life and career of an intriguing artist deserving of more attention. The show is supplemented by short video documentaries on the artist by Krzystof TchóRzewski, Jean-Marie Drot, and Helena Wlodarczyk, and MoMA has posted on the exhibition website the three-hour symposium that was held on Szapocznikow back in October.

HAPPY PEOPLE: A YEAR IN THE TAIGA

HAPPY PEOPLE explores the fascinating world of Siberian hunters living in virtual solitude year-round

HAPPY PEOPLE: A YEAR IN THE TAIGA (Dmitry Vasyukov & Werner Herzog, 2010)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Friday, January 25
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.musicboxfilms.com

In just the last few years, master German filmmaker Werner Herzog has ventured deep into space for Wild Blue Yonder, explored the mysteries of Antarctica in Encounters at the End of the World, went spelunking through a prehistoric French cave in the 3D Cave of Forgotten Dreams, and visited an inmate on Death Row in Texas in Into the Abyss. In Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, Herzog and codirector Dmitry Vasyukov follow Russian fur trapper Gennady Soloviev and others as they set their traps and capture their prey, living a solitary existence away from friends and family, but that is exactly how they like it. They do things the old-fashioned way, using the tools and methods of their fathers and their fathers before that, getting by with their hands, their ingenuity, and their brute strength, along with the help of their ever-faithful dogs. Soloviev, who first came to Siberia under the communist regime, decided to stay, doing his part to support the local economy while continuing the Muzhik traditions. He speaks openly and honestly about his daily existence, getting emotional when talking about the bonds he forms with his dogs, and one in particular. The footage was shot several years ago by Vasyukov, and Herzog came upon it quite accidentally, seeing it when paying a surprise visit to a friend. He got in touch with Vasyukov, who allowed Herzog to edit the footage, add a musical score by Klaus Badelt, and write his own English-language narration, which he delivers with great admiration, often getting philosophical about what is being shown onscreen. Unfortunately, the film does not have quite the visual vibrancy of Herzog’s original films, usually shot by cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger, and Herzog’s words lack the personal touch that has made such works as Grizzly Man and My Best Fiend, among many others, so magical. Still, Happy People is a fascinating look at a little-known group of men who live a very different kind of life in the twenty-first century. “You don’t need to pity us; we are proud,” Soloviev told Vasyukov upon learning that Herzog wanted to repurpose the footage. Happy People in no way pities these men, instead celebrating their adherence to the old ways and honoring their intimate connections to nature.

SONG OF THE DAY: “THE SINGULARITY” BY MIRACLES OF MODERN SCIENCE

Originally formed at Princeton University in 2005, Brooklyn-based chamber rockers Miracles of Modern Science create infectious grooves that often seem to come out of nowhere, fluttering in like a beautiful bird passing by in the sky, then soaring away again. It might take a few listens to their music, including their 2008 eponymous EP and 2011’s Dog Year LP, to even realize their unusual instrumentation, as MOMS contains no guitars, no electric bass, and no keyboards; their big, unique sound emanates from Evan Younger on lead vocals and double bass, Geoff McDonald on cello, Kieran Ledwidge on violin, Josh Hirshfeld on mandolin, and Tyler Pines on drums. “Consider the following / And some of the results you will hardly believe,” a voice intones at the beginning of the delightfully mad instrumental “Physics Is Our Business,” the closing song on the band’s upcoming EP, MEEMS, which comes out February 19. And indeed, some of the results you hear you will hardly believe. The instruments might be old-fashioned, but MOMS share their thoughts on modern problems on the EP’s first single, “The Singularity,” with Younger singing, “So shoot the supplements into our veins so we can reprogram our genes / And let the nanobots swim through our brains to keep our neurons sharp and clean / There’s not a problem that we cannot solve with our technology / Just as long as we can stay alive until the Singularity.” The disc opens with “Ahem,” which kicks off with lovely harmonies until breaking out into an epic sonic blast. In “Dear Pressure,” Younger proclaims, “Go ahead, I’ll tour when I’m dead.” Fortunately, that is not the case. MOMS will be at (le) poisson rouge on January 26 with Zammuto, then will hold an EP release party February 21 at the Studio at Webster Hall, where you can expect things to get crazy, for as Younger explains in “The Singularity: “So play it loud, turn up the kick / ’Cause by the time that we lose our hearing, we’ll have a fix for it / So play it loud, crank it up to ten / ’Cause by the time that our ears are broken, we’ll have no use for them.”

PICNIC

Pulitzer Prize–winning PICNIC looks at a day in the life of small-town America (photo by Joan Marcus)

American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
Through February 24, $42-$127
212-719-1300
www.roundabouttheatre.org

It’s been nearly sixty years since William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Picnic debuted on Broadway, with Ralph Meeker’s Hal and Paul Newman’s Alan battling over Janice Rule’s Madge; in the 1955 film, it was William Holden and Cliff Robertson with more than just their eyes on Kim Novak. So while the Roundabout’s current revival of Picnic at the American Airlines Theatre doesn’t boast quite the star power of those versions, it is still a charming and fun frolic through a bygone era. The two-hour play takes place in a small Kansas town in 1950s America that is preparing for the annual Labor Day picnic. Local beauty queen Madge Owens (Lost’s Maggie Grace) assumes she’ll be going to the picnic with Alan Seymour (Ben Rappaport), a relatively boring and self-satisfied college student from a wealthy family, along with her younger sister, the tomboy Millie (Californication’s Madeleine Martin), and their somewhat dowdy mother, Flo (Emmy winner Mare Winningham), whose husband walked out on her many years before, leaving her to raise her children on her own. The Owens family lives next door to Helen Potts (Oscar, Emmy, and Tony winner Ellen Burstyn), an older woman who has given up whatever life she could have had in order to care for her ailing mother. To get a cheap thrill, Helen hires a stranger, Hal Carter (Gossip Girl’s Sebastian Stan), to do some yard work for her, barely able to control herself when the Adonis-like man rips off his shirt, revealing his taut, sweaty chest. All of the other women notice as well, including spinster schoolteacher Rosemary Sydney (four-time Obie winner Elizabeth Marvel), who has been dating dull but reliable businessman Howard Bevans (two-time Obie winner Reed Birney). It turns out that Hal is a down-on-his-luck former fraternity brother of Alan’s who has come to town to get back on his feet, but after he is instantly attracted to Madge — and perhaps vice versa — things don’t exactly end up as planned.

Madge (Maggie Grace) shares her hopes and dreams with her mother, Flo (Mare Winningham), in Roundabout revival of William Inge’s PICNIC (photo by Joan Marcus)

In Picnic, Inge, who also wrote such plays as Bus Stop and Come Back, Little Sheba and won an Oscar for his screenplay for Splendor in the Grass, cleverly deals with people’s hopes, dreams, and expectations in this funny, tender, and tense drama that explores the soft underbelly lying beneath the old-fashioned values of small-town America. Surprisingly, the acting is a mixed bag, with Marvel overplaying her part, Winningham underplaying hers, and Burstyn at times seeming to be lost while Grace, Birney, and Martin are more effective. Director Sam Gold (Look Back in Anger, Seminar) makes excellent use of Andrew Lieberman’s charming set, a shared backyard that firmly sets the action in America’s heartland. When Madge is up in her room, applying her makeup in front of a window that looks out on the backyard, the audience is sneaking a peek at her just as several characters are doing, everyone dreaming of the possibilities life holds for us all. In a season dominated by revivals of long-ago Broadway classics, including Golden Boy, The Heiress, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Picnic is a fine addition.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: KENNY VANCE AT CITY WINERY

Longtime music man Kenny Vance will perform a special, intimate show at City Winery on January 27

KENNY VANCE: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
City Winery
155 Varick St.
Sunday, January 27, $35-$55, 8:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.planotones.com

Kenny Vance has been enthralled with rock and roll since he was a kid in Brooklyn in the 1950s, and he has continued to keep the music of his childhood alive for more than half a century. After hanging around the Brill Building as a teenager, Vance was a founding member of Jay and the Americans, which had such hits as “She Cried,” “Come a Little Bit Closer,” and “Cara Mia”; managed Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and Donald Fagen early in their career; served as musical director for Saturday Night Live in 1980-81; and was the music producer and/or supervisor on such films as Animal House, Eddie and the Cruisers, Hollywood Knights, The Warriors, and American Hot Wax — in that last movie, he also played bandleader Professor La Plano. More recently he’s been on the road with his band, the Planotones — Johnny Gale, Kurt “Frenchy” Yahjian, Jimmy Bense, Chip Degaard, and Tony Gallino — as they resurrect classic doo-wop oldies and create new ones, live and on such recordings as last year’s holiday-themed Mr. Santa and the Trilogy, which consists ofLover’s Island, Dancin’ and Romancin’, and Oceans of Time. Vance, whose Belle Harbor house, rehearsal studio, and vast memorabilia collection were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, will be at City Winery on January 27 for a special show, “Up Close and Personal,” looking back at his storied past while also highlighting new tracks from the Planotones’ upcoming release, Acapella (LaPlano, February 12), which also celebrates the band’s twentieth anniversary. (You can hear three tracks from the new album here.)

TICKET GIVEAWAY: Tickets to see “Kenny Vance: Up Close and Personal” at City Winery on January 27 are going fast, but twi-ny has a pair of primo seats to give away for free. Just send your name, daytime phone number, and all-time favorite doo-wop song to contest@twi-ny.com by Friday, January 25, at 12 noon to be eligible. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; one winner will be selected at random.