this week in film and television

CURATORS’ CHOICE — THE BEST OF 2012: MOONRISE KINGDOM

Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) and Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) are on the run in Wes Anderson’s delightful MOONRISE KINGDOM

MOONRISE KINGDOM (Wes Anderson, 2012)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Sunday, January 20, free with museum admission, 5:00
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
www.moonrisekingdom.com

In such unique films as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Darjeeling Limited, black-comedy master Wes Anderson has created a bizarre collection of characters who seem to live in their own alternate realities. In his latest, Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson has once again assembled an oddball assortment of men, women, and children in a terrifically clever and entertaining fairy tale all its own. Tired of being abused by his fellow Khaki Scouts and dismissed by his foster parents, twelve-year-old orphan Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) runs away from Camp Ivanhoe on the island of New Penzance, much to the chagrin of dedicated scout master Randy Ward (Edward Norton). Meanwhile, twelve-year-old loner Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) is fed up with her life as well, which she mostly spends listening to Benjamin Britten, reading fairy tales (fictitious stories made up by Anderson), watching the world through a pair of ever-present binoculars, and despising her parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand). Afraid of what might have happened to the children, the local police officer, Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), gets involved, as does a stern woman from social services (Tilda Swinton) and, eventually, a very different kind of scout, Cousin Ben (Jason Schwartzman). The proceedings are overseen by a narrator (Bob Balaban) who ends up being more than just an omniscient presence. Moonrise Kingdom is an absolute gem of a film, an exciting, original tale about growing up told in a fabulously funny deadpan manner that combines slapstick humor with wildly ironic elements, filled with the endless wonders of childhood, although it is most definitely not for children. Newcomers Gilman and Hayward appear wise beyond their years in the lead roles, with outstanding support from an all-star cast, most prominently Norton as the by-the-book scout master on a mission. Written by Anderson with Roman Coppola and featuring a lovely score by Alexandre Desplat, Moonrise Kingdom is one of the best films of 2012, by a director whose imagination never ceases to amaze, and the Museum of the Moving Image agrees, as Moonrise Kingdom is screening January 20 as part of the museum’s “Curators’ Choice: The Best of 2012” series, consisting of works selected by chief curator David Schwartz and assistant film curator Rachael Rakes; the series continues next month with David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis and Hong Sang-soo’s In Another Country.

CURATORS’ CHOICE — THE BEST OF 2012: THIS IS NOT A FILM

Even house arrest and potential imprisonment cannot stop Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi from telling cinematic stories

THIS IS NOT A FILM (IN FILM NIST) (Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, 2011)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Sunday, January 20, free with museum admission, 3:00
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
www.thisisnotafilm.net

“You call this a film?” Jafar Panahi asks rhetorically about halfway through the revealing documentary This Is Not a Film. After several arrests beginning in July 2009 for supporting the opposition party, the highly influential and respected Iranian filmmaker (Crimson Gold, Offside) was convicted in December 2010 for “assembly and colluding with the intention to commit crimes against the country’s national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” Although facing a six-year prison sentence and twenty-year ban on making or writing any kind of movie, Panahi is a born storyteller, so he can’t stop himself, no matter the risks. Under house arrest, Panahi has his friend, fellow director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (Lady of the Roses), film him with a handheld DV camera over ten days as Panahi plans out his next movie, speaks with his lawyer, lets his pet iguana climb over him, and is asked to watch a neighbor’s dog, taking viewers “behind the scenes of Iranian filmmakers not making films.” Panahi even pulls out his iPhone to take additional video, photographing New Year’s fireworks that sound suspiciously like a military attack. Panahi is calm throughout, never panicking (although he clearly does not want to take care of the barking dog) and not complaining about his situation, which becomes especially poignant as he watches news reports on the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan. “But you can’t make a film now anyhow, can you?” Mirtahmasb — who will later be arrested and imprisoned as well — asks at one point. “So what I can’t make a film?” Panahi responds. “That means I ask you to take a film of me? Do you think it will turn into some major work of art?” This Is Not a Film, which was smuggled out of Iran in a USB drive hidden in a birthday cake so it could be shown at Cannes, is indeed a major work of art, an important document of government repression of free speech as well as a fascinating examination of one man’s intense dedication to his art and the creative process. This Is Not a Film is screening January 20 at the Museum of the Moving Image as part of the “Curators’ Choice: The Best of 2012” series, consisting of works selected by chief curator David Schwartz and assistant film curator Rachael Rakes; upcoming screenings include Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, and Hong Sang-soo’s In Another Country.

MAMA

Annabel (Jessica Chastain) learns more than she ever needs to know about motherhood in creepy MAMA

MAMA (Andres Muschietti, 2013)
Opens Friday, January 18
www.mamamovie.com

Jessica Chastain has rocketed into stardom in just two years, starring in seven major motion pictures in 2011 (including The Help and The Tree of Life) and four more in 2012 (from Madagascar 3 to Zero Dark Thirty) while also playing the lead role in the Broadway revival of The Heiress. Chastain kicks off 2013 with the intensely creepy scarefest Mama. Expanded from his Spanish-language short film of the same name, director and cowriter Andrés Muschietti turns motherhood inside out and upside down in the thriller, with the help of executive producer Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth). Chastain stars as Annabel, a tattooed punk rocker with jet-black hair who is living with Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Lucas’s brother goes off the deep end, killing his wife and abandoning his two young daughters, Victoria (Morgan McGarry) and Lilly (Maya and Sierra Dawe), in a cabin in the woods, where it turns out the girls are not quite so alone. Five years later, the girls are finally found, with Lucas fighting for custody with his dead sister-in-law’s sister, Jean (Jane Moffat), but Victoria (now played by Megan Charpentier) and Lilly (Isabelle Nélisse) are more like animals than children, grunting, sniffing around, jumping around on all fours, and attacking at will. While Dr. Dreyfuss (Daniel Kash) views this as a fascinating research project, Annabel is soon acting as mother to the girls — something completely unexpected, as the film begins with her rejoicing at a negative pregnancy test — but there’s something else lurking about that has a different kind of connection with Victoria and Lilly. Evoking such diverse works as Takashi Shimizu’s Ju-on: The Grudge, Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others, Richard Donner’s The Omen, François Truffaut’s The Wild Child, and even Jan Švankmajer’s Little Otik, Mama is filled with plenty of takes on horror film conventions, with Antonio Riestra’s camera lurking around doorways and closets and slipping under beds and Fernando Velázquez’s score exploding at carefully manipulated moments, trying to make the audience jump out of their seats. There are also glaring plot holes, stupid developments, and other problems, but Mama overcomes them with just enough surprising twists, a daring ending, and a strong lead performance by Chastain, who continues to show her impressive range. But the film is nearly stolen away by Nélisse, who is absolutely frightening as Lilly, a compelling, complex character that is liable to scare the hell out of you.

CURATORS’ CHOICE — THE BEST OF 2012: NEIGHBORING SOUNDS

Brazilian film NEIGHBORING SOUNDS examines a changing community in changing times

NEIGHBORING SOUNDS (O SOM AO REDOR) (Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2011)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Saturday, July 19, free with museum admission, 6:00
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
www.cinemaguild.com

Inspired by actual events that took place in his hometown of Recife, Brazil, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Neighboring Sounds is an engaging slice-of-life examination of class differences and a community in the midst of social and economic change. When Clodoaldo (Irandhir Santos) and Fernando (Nivaldo Nascimento) go door-to-door offering their services as overnight security guards protecting the street, only Francisco (W. J. Solha), an aging, wealthy sugar baron who owns much of the surrounding property, and his grandson João (Gustavo Jahn) refuse to participate in the shady proposal, but Francisco insists that they keep their hands off another of his grandsons, Dinho (Yuri Holanda), who is responsible for a spate of car-stereo robberies. This suburban neighborhood, ever more in the architectural shadow of bigger high rises going up all around them, is filled with little secrets and minor resentments. A mechanic keys an expensive car when the owner is rude to him. Clodoaldo and a maid (Clébia Souza) make use of a fancy gated house he is taking care of while the owners are away. Sisters fight over the size of a flat-screen television. And a co-op board wants to fire their longtime night watchman without a severance package because he has taken to napping on the job. Meanwhile, João, who has two children by the daughter of the family’s maid, has started a relationship with the more acceptable Sofia (Irma Brown), but the privileged João still lives in the past; when he shows an apartment in one of Francisco’s condos, he points out what would be the maid’s room, assuming everyone can afford domestic help. And Bia (Meve Jinkings) finds a different kind of domestic help, buying large quantities of pot from the water guy, finding unique ways to deal with her neighbor’s howling dog, and using household appliances to pleasure herself. A film critic who has previously made documentaries, Filho, who wrote, directed, and coedited (with João Maria) Neighboring Sounds, has populated his debut full-length feature with believable characters caught up in realistic situations, along with just the right dose of black comedy. The film was shot with natural sound at a relaxed pace, inviting viewers into this intriguing fictional tale filled with real-world implications, involving a decaying past and modern issues of safety and surveillance. While João might be the moral conscious of the story, it is Jinkings’s Bia who steals this small gem of a film, her unique methods of daily survival a joy to behold. Neighboring Sounds is screening January 19 at the Museum of the Moving Image as part of the “Curators’ Choice: The Best of 2012” series, consisting of works selected by chief curator David Schwartz and assistant film curator Rachael Rakes; upcoming screenings include Jafar Panahi’s This Is Not a Film, Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, and Hong Sang-soo’s In Another Country.

NEW YAWK NEW WAVE: THE INCIDENT

A group of straphangers are terrorized by thugs in Larry Peerce’s THE INCIDENT

THE INCIDENT (Larry Peerce, 1967)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
January 16-17
Series continues through January 31
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.com

One of the ultimate nightmare scenarios of 1960s New York City, Larry Peerce’s gritty black-and-white The Incident takes viewers deep down into the subway as two thugs terrorize a group of helpless passengers. Joe Ferrante (Tony Musante) and Artie Connors (Martin Sheen, in his first movie role) are out for kicks, so after getting some out on the streets, they head underground, where they find a wide-ranging collection of twentieth-century Americans to torture, including Arnold and Joan Robinson (Brock Peters and Ruby Dee), Bill and Helen Wilks (Ed McMahon and Diana Van der Vlis), Sam and Bertha Beckerman (Jack Gilford and Thelma Ritter, in her last role), Douglas McCann (Gary Merrill), Muriel and Harry Purvis (Jan Sterling and Mike Kellin), Alice Keenan (Donna Mills), soldiers Felix Teflinger and Phillip Carmatti (Beau Bridges and Robert Bannard), and others, each representing various aspects of contemporary culture and society, all with their own personal problems that come to the surface as the harrowing ride continues. It’s a brutal, claustrophobic, highly theatrical film that captures the fear that haunted the city in the 1960s and well into the ’70s, with an all-star cast tackling such subjects as racism, teen sex, alcoholism, homosexuality, war, and the state of the American family. The rarely shown drama, some of which was filmed in the actual subway system against the MTA’s warnings, is screening at Film Forum January 16-17 in a double feature with Anthony Harvey’s Dutchman as part of the three-week festival “New Yawk New Wave,” comprising seminal independent films made in and about New York City; among the other double features in the series are Jim McBride’s David Holzman’s Diary and Milton Moses Ginsberg’s Coming Apart, Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising and Andy Warhol’s My Hustler, Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets and Who’s That Knocking at My Door, and Brian De Palma’s Greetings and Hi, Mom!

NEW YORK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL: HAVA NAGILA

Documentary delves into the fascinating history behind traditional Jewish song that became an international sensation

HAVA NAGILA (THE MOVIE) (Roberta Grossman, 2012)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
70 Lincoln Center Plaza, 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Tuesday, January 15, 6:00
Festival runs January 9-24
212-875-5601
www.thejewishmuseum.org
www.havanagilamovie.com
www.filmlinc.com

“What’s up with this song? So kitschy, yet so profound,” director and narrator Roberta Grossman says at the beginning of her rollicking documentary, Hava Nagila (The Movie). “And what’s the deal with the chair?” A staple at Jewish celebrations, primarily weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs, “Hava Nagila” instantly gets friends and family members out on the dance floor, forming a circle and doing the Hora. Grossman delves into the history and mystery of the catchy song, which over the years has been performed by an unlikely crew that has included Harry Belafonte, Connie Francis, Glen Campbell, Johnny Yune, and Regina Spektor, all of whom appear in the film and discuss the tune’s popularity. (There are also archival performances from all around the world as well as an anti-“Hava” song from Bob Dylan.) Also putting “Hava Nagila” into perspective are Yiddish theater veteran Leonard Nimoy, communications professor Josh Kun, and KlezKamp founder Henry Sapoznik, a “Hava” hater who says with a more than a touch of cynicism, “It’s relentless. It’s resilient. But then again, so are cockroaches,” a statement that exemplifies Grossman’s playful attitude, exemplified by her corny captioning and clever clips from such TV shows and movies as Laugh-In, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Danny Kaye Show, A Serious Man, Wedding Crashers, History of the World Part I, and Fiddler on the Roof. But she also reveals another side to the song, as described by professor James Loeffler, who explains, “‘Hava’ is a portal into a century and a half of Jewish history.” Grossman ( Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh) sets off on what she calls a “Hava Quest,” venturing to the village of Sadagora in Ukraine, the birthplace of the song, and later meeting with two warring families battling over authorship of the words and music. She traces its impact on the development of the State of Israel and the Jewish migration to suburban America, and, yes, she lays out precisely what the words of the song mean. Like the song itself, Hava Nagila (The Movie) is a fun and fanciful frolic into the fascinating story behind one of the most famous songs that so many know so little about. Hava Nagila, which opens March 1 at Lincoln Plaza, is screening January 15 at the twenty-second annual New York Jewish Film Festival, presented by the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, with Grossman on hand to participate in a Q&A following the show.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: “MECHANICAL MAMMOTH” BY MYSTICAL WEAPONS

After bumping into each other when their bands were playing in San Francisco, Sean Lennon (the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, Plastic Ono Band) and Greg Saunier (Deerhoof) improvised a jam and decided to form a new art rock supergroup. Mystical Weapons consists of Lennon, Saunier, and multimedia artist and activist Martha Colburn, who incorporates politics and pop culture in short animated collages that have included “Anti-fracture Mining Film,” “Triumph of the Wild,” “Join the Freedom Force,” “Dolls vs. Dictators vs. Deerhoof vs. Evil,” and the Deerhoof music video “Wrong Time Capsule.” On their eponymously titled debut album, which is streaming for free here through January 18, drummer Saunier and guitarist-keyboardist Lennon power through thirteen experimental instrumentals that venture across multiple genres, from psychedelia, futuristic noise, and prog rock to horror and spaghetti Western soundtracks and even a taste of Tin Pan Alley balladry on such tracks as “Impossible Shapes,” “Whispers of the Blue Tongue,” “Gross Domestic Happiness,” and “Gilbert Releases His Pet Salamander into the Wild.” Mystical Weapons will be at Big Sky Works in Brooklyn on Saturday, January 12, at 9:00, with Miles Robbins and DJ Alix Brown also on the bill. And yes, you can expect multiple mad drum solos.