this week in film and television

LAUGHTER AND LOVE AT THE BOX OFFICE! SUNNY

Kang Hyeong-cheol’s SUNNY goes back and forth between 1986 and 2011 as a group of friends reunites when one of them faces tragedy

KOREAN MOVIE NIGHT: SUNNY (Kang Hyeong-cheol, 2011)
Tribeca Cinemas
54 Varick St. at Laight St.
Tuesday, May 28, free, 7:00
212-759-9550
www.koreanculture.org
www.tribecacinemas.com

A huge critical and popular hit in South Korea, Sunny is a delightful melodrama about a group of high school friends who attempt to reunite after twenty-five years when one of them becomes seriously ill. Taking its name from Bobby Hebb’s bright and cheery 1966 song (“Sunny, yesterday my life was filled with rain / Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain”), the film opens with Im Na-mi (Yoo Ho-jeong) discovering that the leader of their old high school gang, Ha Chun-hwa (Jin Hee-kyung), has only two months to live. Na-mi, a housewife who is seeking more out of her boring, less-than-satisfying existence, decides to track down the rest of the members, none of whom, it turns out, is really happy with how their life turned out. Cowriter and director Kang Hyeong-cheol (Speedy Scandal) seamlessly weaves between 1986 and 2011 as the modern-day Na-mi looks back at her first days at school as a transfer student (played as a teenager by Shim Eun-kyung) befriended by the tough Chun-hwa (Kang Sora). Teaming up with the goofy Kim Jang-mi (Go Soo-hee as an adult, Kim Min-yeong as a teen), the older Na-mi tries to find Hwang Jin-hee (Hong Jin-hee / Park Jin-joo), Seo Geum-ok (Lee Yun-kyung / Nam Bo-ra), Ryu Bok-hee (Kim Sun-kyung / Kim Bo-mi), and Jung Su-ji (Yoon Jung / Min Hyo-rin), each of whom has their own personality and story both as teens and as grown-ups. Although it often gets silly, the film deals with such serious topics as bullying, terminal cancer, extramarital affairs, and slave labor as the young girls’ hopes and dreams seemingly remain just out of reach, anchored by the honest relationship among the characters, particularly between Na-mi and Chun-hwa, with standout performances by the adorable Shim and the compelling Kang, who won numerous awards for the role. Sunny is screening for free May 28 at Tribeca Cinemas as part of the Korean Movie Night series “Laughter and Love at the Box Office!,” which continues June 11 with Lee Yong-joo’s Architecture 101 and June 25 with Jo Sung-hee’s A Werewolf Boy.

SUNSHINE AT MIDNIGHT: THE WARRIORS

The Warriors will be making their way to the Lower East Side for a pair of midnight screenings at the Landmark Sunshine

THE WARRIORS (Walter Hill, 1979)
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
Friday, May 24, Saturday, May 25, and Sunday, May 26, $10, 12 midnight
212-330-8182
www.landmarktheatres.com
www.warriorsmovie.co.uk

At a huge gang meeting in the Bronx (actually shot in Riverside Park), the Warriors are wrongly accused of having killed Cyrus (Roger Hill), an outspoken leader trying to band all the warring factions together to form one huge force that can take over the New York City borough by borough. The Warriors then must make it back to their home turf, Coney Island, with every gang in New York lying in wait for them to pass through their territory. This iconic New York City gang movie is based on Sol Yurick’s novel, which in turn is loosely based on Xenophon’s Anabasis, which told of the ancient Greeks’ retreat from Persia. Michael Beck stars as Swan, who becomes the de-facto leader of the Warriors after Cleon (Dorsey Wright) gets taken down early. Battling Swan for control is Ajax (Sex and the City’s James Remar) and tough-talking Mercy (Too Close for Comfort’s Deborah Van Valkenburgh). Serving as a Greek chorus is Lynne (Law & Order) Thigpen as a radio DJ, and, yes, that young woman out too late in Central Park is eventual Oscar winner Mercedes Ruehl. Among the cartoony gangs of New York who try to stop the Warriors are the roller-skating Punks, the pathetic Orphans, the militaristic Gramercy Riffs, the all-girl Lizzies, the ragtag Rogues, and the inimitable Baseball Furies. Another main character is the New York City subway system itself. There’s nothing quite like The Warriors; be sure to come out and play at these Memorial Day weekend midnight screenings.

BEFORE MIDNIGHT

Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) are back together again in Richard Linklater’s BEFORE MIDNIGHT

BEFORE MIDNIGHT (Richard Linklater, 2013)
Angelika Film Center, 18 West Houston St. at Mercer St.
Loews Lincoln Square, 1998 Broadway at 68th St.
Opens Friday, May 24
www.sonyclassics.com/beforemidnight

Unable to resist revisiting the characters who first fell in love in 1995’s Before Sunrise and again in 2004’s Before Sunset, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reprise their roles as Jesse and Celine, respectively, in Richard Linklater’s absolutely wonderful Before Midnight. The couple first met on a train to Vienna in 1994, talking at length about their hopes and desires and planning on getting together in six months’ time, but they don’t reconnect for another nine years, when Celine comes to one of Jesse’s book signings in Paris. In real time, they walk around the City of Light, catching up on what has happened in their lives as Jesse prepares to take a plane back home to his wife and son. And now another nine years have passed, and Jesse and Celine are living together, the parents of twins (Charlotte and Jennifer Prior). As the film opens, the divorced Jesse is putting his teenage son, Hank (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick), on a plane after having spent the summer together in Greece. What follows is a marvelous fourteen-minute scene of Jesse driving down a mountain road as he and Celine essentially let the audience know what has occurred over the last nine years: They have twin girls (sleeping in the back), Celine has been offered an important environmental job, and Jesse is considering moving to Chicago to be closer to Hank. They return to a country estate owned by Patrick (award-winning cinematographer Walter Lassally, making his acting debut at the age of eighty-six), who is hosting an outdoor lunch with a group of friends (including French actress Ariane Labed, coproducer and filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari, and Xenia Kalogeropoulou, who came out of retirement to appear in her first picture since 1985). They all talk of life and love, with Celine being particularly charming. But when Jesse and Celine go off to a hotel room for what is supposed to be a romantic rendezvous, some things are said and truths revealed that complicate things.

Cowriters Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke explore life and love in Greece in third film about Celine and Jesse

As with the first two films, Before Midnight consists of long takes of Jesse and Celine discussing their past, present, and future as cowriters Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused), Delpy, and Hawke, who were nominated for an Oscar for their script for Before Sunset, continue to explore these engaging characters; both the dialogue and the acting have matured with an intelligent grace and elegance that are captivating. The couple wanders around Messinia examining their lives as only fortysomethings can, trying to figure out whether what they have is what they want. The central focus, though, once again is time, whether it is the years Jesse and Celine have spent together, the time they have left, time as a concept in Jesse’s semiautobiographical novels, or Jesse making a joke about being a time traveler. It’s been eighteen years since we first met Jesse and Celine, and we’ve grown eighteen years older too, lending fascinating perspectives that can’t help but force us to take a look at our own lives as well. The trilogy is America’s version of François Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series, filled with humor, lyricism, and an inherent understanding of twenty-first-century realities. Will there be a fourth film in nine years? As of now, the principals aren’t saying because they just don’t know, but Before Midnight ends on just about the perfect ambiguous note.

DANCEAFRICA 2013

The Bronx-based Harambee Dance Company is part of 2013 DanceAfrica festival at BAM (photo by Derrek Garret)

Brooklyn Academy of Music
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
May 24-27, free – $50
718-636-4100
www.bam.org

Last week, the incomparable Baba Chuck Davis, the founder and artistic director of BAM’s annual DanceAfrica festival, was one of the grand marshals of the seventh New York Dance Parade, the theme of which was “Unity Through Dance.” That same theme can apply to Davis and DanceAfrica, which this year brings three international companies to the Howard Gilman Opera House stage. Zimbabwe’s Umkhathi Theatre Works will perform the tribal dance Isitshikitsha, the hunting-and-gathering dance Chinyambera, the Shangani tribal dance Muchongoyo, and the social gathering Setapa, joined by the BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble. Atlanta’s Giwayen Mata’s program will include Perseverance: In My House, set to DJ Fresca’s “Amaphoyisa,” and the Lamban Dansa. Harambee Dance Company, which hails from the Bronx, will present the historical and spiritual journey Reflections, the partying Midnight in the City, and the musical piece “You Goin’ Get This Work.” As a special treat, Washington, DC’s Sweet Honey in the Rock will sing “Sabumoya,” “I Remember I Believe,” “Wholly Wholly,” and “Let There Be Peace.” As always, Davis will provide his welcoming address (“Ago!” “Amée!!”), introduce the Council of Elders, and honor those who are no longer with us. Meanwhile, BAMcinématek’s FilmAfrica will screen such movies as Taghreed Elsanhouri’s Our Beloved Sudan, Clemente Bococchi’s Black Africa White Marble, Charlie Vundla’s How to Steal 2 Million, and Rémi Bezançon and Jean-Christophe Lie’s animated Zarafa. BAMcafé Live continues the African celebration with a pair of free concerts: Abdou Mboup and Waakaw on May 24 and a Late Night Dance Party with Ralph McDaniels and Video Music Box on May 25. And the always fun DanceAfrica Bazaar will set up shop along Lafayette Ave. and Ashland Pl. Saturday through Monday, a global marketplace with great food, clothing, fashion, arts & crafts, and much more.

SEE IT BIG! THE MASTER

Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman form a unique bond in Paul Thomas Anderson’s THE MASTER

THE MASTER (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Friday, May 24, 7:00, and Saturday, May 25, 2:00, free with museum admission
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
www.themasterfilm.com

One of America’s most daring and adventurous filmmakers, California native Paul Thomas Anderson, who has dazzled, amazed, challenged, and confused audiences with such previous gems as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, and There Will Be Blood, has done it again with his latest, The Master. The film is built around the fascinating relationship between Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a WWII vet struggling to fit into the real world after seeing so much violence and death overseas, and the Master (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the leader of a cultlike organization known as the Cause that believes in past-life regression and invasive questioning known as Processing to help people deal with personal trauma. The Master essentially adopts Quell, intrigued by his distorted outlook on life, making him a member of the family, which also includes his wife, Peggy (Amy Adams), his son, Val (Jesse Plemons), and his daughter, Elizabeth (Ambyr Childers). Inspired by the real-life tale of L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology — and incorporating war stories he was told by Jason Robards on the set of Magnolia, elements from the life of John Steinbeck, and discarded scenes from the script for There Will Be Blood — Anderson crafts a, dare we say, masterful cinematic experience built around a pair of extraordinary performances. Phoenix absolutely inhabits the role of Quell, staggering about with an awkward gait, with impossibly deep lines on his face and eyes that seem to be able to look through lead. Hoffman is his equal as the much cooler and calmer spiritual leader, until he is faced with sudden turmoil. The scenes in which the two men sit across from each other, going through a Processing session, are mesmerizing, the most powerful moments to be found onscreen last year. (Both Phoenix and Hoffman received Oscar nods, along with Adams.) But despite the title, the focus remains on Quell, a lost soul searching for somewhere to belong in a changing postwar America. Anderson’s first film in four years, The Master is a bold, audacious work that is as unsettling as it is exhilarating. The Master is screening May 24 at 7:00 and May 25 at 2:00 as part of the Museum of the Moving Image series “See It Big!,” which continues into June with such other great films as Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, Roberto Rossellini’s Journey to Italy, and Nicholas Ray’s Bigger Than Life.

DOIN’ IT IN THE PARK: PICK-UP BASKETBALL, NEW YORK CITY

Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau celebrate New York City street ball in DOIN’ IT IN THE PARK

DOIN’ IT IN THE PARK: PICK-UP BASKETBALL, NEW YORK CITY (Bobbito Garcia & Kevin Couliau, 2012)
Maysles Cinema
343 Malcolm X Blvd. between 127th & 128th Sts.
May 22-28, $10
212-582-6050
www.mayslesinstitute.org
www.doinitinthepark.com

Some of the Big Apple’s best basketball doesn’t take place inside Madison Square Garden or the Barclays Center. Over the course of two summers, journalist, announcer, and native New Yorker Bobbito “Kool Bob Love” Garcia and French photographer and video director Kevin Couliau biked to 180 outdoor courts throughout the five boroughs, detailing the history of the social and cultural phenomenon of street hoops in the fast-paced, celebratory documentary Doin’ It in the Park: Pick-up Basketball, New York City. Garcia (Where’d You Get Those Shoes? NYC’s Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987) and Couliau (“Heart & Soul of New York City”) meet with many of the playground’s biggest stars, from those who made it to the NBA (Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Kenny “the Jet” Smith, Geoff Huston) to those whose legends remain on the street (James “Fly” Williams, Corey “Homicide” Williams, Niki “Lil’ Ratchet” Avery, Ed “the Sundance Kid” Davis, Andre “the Latin Assassin” Ortiz). Featuring a soundtrack that combines original music by Eddie Palmieri with songs by Donald Byrd & the Blackbyrds, Quantic, the Budos Band, Jurassic 5, and others, the film captures the rhythm and beat of street hoops, from three-on-three, half court, and full court to Horse and 21, with guys even shooting into garbage cans, milk crates, and monkey bars if no courts were available.

Garcia, who narrates the movie in worshipful tones, and Couliau hang out at such key spots as Rucker Park, King Towers, Dean St., LeFrak City, and the Cage at West Fourth St., where they film games and let the current and former players wax poetic about their dedication to the sport. “This is what we did, man. It’s in my blood,” explains George “White Chocolate” Ganley about playing in the rain, snow, or sleet. Ganley is one of two Caucasians highlighted in a sport dominated by blacks and Hispanics; the other is Jack “Black Jack” Ryan, who recalls the first time he got on the court and proved he got game by dunking. “It’s been heaven ever since,” he says. The filmmakers also pay tribute to such late legends of the street as Wilt Chamberlain and Earl “the Goat” Manigault, who many consider one of the best basketball players in the history of the sport. The codirectors also show the game’s positive impact on inmates behind bars. “It was about your pride, it was about who you was, it was about who you was trying to become,” says Richard “Pee Wee” Kirkland, who once scored 135 points in a prison game. After the credits, Garcia and Couliau add footage of themselves going one-on-one, unable to stop playing the game they clearly love so much. Indeed, Doin’ It in the Park is a love letter to a cultural touchstone that is uniquely New York. The film is having its official U.S. theatrical release May 22-28 at Maysles Cinema in Harlem, with five screenings followed by Q&As with Garcia, Couliau, and such special guests as Wild Style director Charlie Ahearn, photographer Charlie Samuels, executive producer Nick Quested, Ryan, Avery, and others, after which it moves to Harlem’s MISTcinema from May 31 to June 6.

BOOED AT CANNES: TROPICAL MALADY

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s TROPICAL MALADY was both booed and celebrated at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival

TROPICAL MALADY (SUD PRALAD) (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Thursday, May 23, 4:30, 7:00 & 9:30
Series runs through May 23
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.kickthemachine.com

Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Jury Prize at Cannes for this beautiful, mystical work that will thoroughly engage you — if you allow it to. Part tender love story between a country boy (Banlop Lomnoi) and a soldier (Dakda Kaewbuadee), part folktale set in the deep forests of Thailand, Tropical Malady is a like a visual poem in which details are not as important as the overall effect, which is intoxicating. The unorthodox film features ghosts, a shape-shifter, unusual characters, and a playful sense of humor that come together to form a subtle meditation on life and love. Weerasethakul once again displays the gentle, captivating narrative technique that lies at the heart of his oeuvre, which also includes such works as Blissfully Yours, Syndromes and a Century, and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Own Lives. Tropical Malady is screening on May 23 at BAM, concluding the BAMcinématek series “Booed at Cannes,” consisting of films that did not exactly thrill the Cannes glitterati but have gone on to gain their own unique reputations. In the case of Tropical Malady, while some people at Cannes walked out on the film and others stuck around to boo it, Quentin Tarantino headed the group that awarded it the Jury Prize.