GOB SQUAD’S KITCHEN (YOU’VE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD) will be at La Mama January 6-8 during the seventh annual Under the Radar festival (photo by David Baltzer)
The Public Theater (and other venues)
425 Lafayette St. between East Fourth St. & Astor Pl.
January 5-16, $15-$30
212-967-7555
www.undertheradarfestival.com
The seventh annual Under the Radar: A Festival Tracking New Theater from Around the World features nineteen international productions, from the United States’ AMERIVILLE and LIVING IN EXILE to Belgium’s BONANZA, from Italy’s TOO LATE! ANTIGONE (CONTEST #2) to France’s VICE VERSA, from the UK’s THE INTERMINABLE SUICIDE OF GREGORY CHURCH to Slovenia/Latvia’s SHOW YOUR FACE! Several works investigate the nature of theater itself, including Vladimir Shcherban’s BEING HAROLD PINTER and Barry McGovern’s WATT BY SAMUEL BECKETT, while others feature such behind-the-scenes theater favorites as director JoAnne Akalaitis helming Nora York’s JUMP, about Sarah Bernhardt in Sardou’s TOSCA; Suzan-Lori Parks’s free WATCH ME WORK, in which the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright will literally work on her next project in the lobby of the Public Theater; and writer Taylor Mac’s THE WALK ACROSS AMERICA FOR MOTHER EARTH, a collaboration with the Talking Band that documents a cross-country antinuclear protest march. Other highlights include Reggie Watts’s multimedia collaboration with playwright Tommy Smith and journalist Brendan Kiley, DUTCH A/V; 2boys.tv’s PHOBOPHILIA, in which audiences will witness an interrogation in a secret location; and CORRESPONDENCES, a dance-theater piece in which Haitian/Malian Kettly Noël and South African Nelisiwe Xaba meet in person after having written to each other for a long time. While the Public Theater is home base for Under the Radar, there are also productions scheduled for HERE Arts Center, La MaMa, Dixon Place, the Abrons Arts Center, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and the Robert Moss Theater, in addition to several postshow discussions, a two-day symposium, festival lounges at the Chinatown Brasserie, and other special events.
When half-siblings Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson) decide to track down their anonymous sperm-donor father, their two moms, Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening), are justifiably concerned with how that might affect their close-knit family. And when the donor ends up being a motorcycle-riding, free-spirited hottie (Mark Ruffalo) who would like to become part of the kids’ lives, it doesn’t take long for some major dysfunction to set in. The third feature-length narrative written or cowritten and directed by Lisa Cholodenko, following 1998’s HIGH ART and 2002’s LAUREL CANYON (she directed 2004’s CAVEDWELLER but did not write it), THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is another intimate drama that explores deeply personal relationships with grace and intelligence — along with a little lesbianism. Bening is strong as the man of the house, overly determined to control and protect her family; Moore is beguiling as the other mother, wanting to develop her own business as a landscape architect; and Wasikowka, who was so outstanding in the HBO series IN TREATMENT, impresses again as the prodigal daughter preparing to go to college. Ruffalo, however, is too flat, and the film takes several missteps, including a final scene that is sadly predictable, detracting from an otherwise fresh and original story. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is being screened at the Museum of Modern Art on December 29 as part of the series “The Contenders 2010,” a collection of influential and innovative international movies the institution believes will stand the test of time. MoMA has already shown such works as Luca Guadagnino’s I AM LOVE, Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION, Roman Polanski’s THE GHOST WRITER, and David Fincher’s THE SOCIAL NETWORK, and upcoming films include Debra Granik’s WINTER’S BONE, Lixin Fan’s LAST TRAIN HOME, and Banksy’s EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP.
A companion piece to 2008’s multilayered THE WRESTLER, in which a rejuvenated Mickey Rourke plays an aging athlete trying to regain control of his body and his life while attempting to reestablish a connection with his daughter, Darren Aronofsky’s BLACK SWAN is an even more complex psychological study of just how far the mind and body can go to get what it wants and needs. Natalie Portman stars as Nina Sayers, a member of a Manhattan-based ballet company who is vying for the lead role in a new production of Tchaikovsky’s classic 1877 ballet, SWAN LAKE, the tragic tale of a princess transformed into a white swan who must find true human love to be released, complicated by an evil magician, a black swan rival, and a handsome prince. Nina lives a sheltered existence dominated by her failed-ballerina mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey), squeezed into a cramped New York City apartment and not allowed to have a social life. Womanizing choreographer Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) is convinced that Nina can dance the white swan but has severe doubts that she has it within her to dance the black swan, even after selecting her to replace former prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder). Desperate to bring out Nina’s dark side, Leroy creates a competition between her and free-spirited dancer Lily (Mila Kunis), a sexy, tattooed young dancer who lives life on the edge. As opening night approaches, Nina must reach deep inside herself if she is to attain her dream, leaving all her fears and insecurities behind.
In 1995, Disney/Pixar released its first movie, John Lasseter’s CGI-animated TOY STORY, about a boy (voiced by John Morris) and his toys, expanded from the short film TIN TOY. Four years later, Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, and Ash Brannon teamed up for TOY STORY 2, continuing the tale of Andy, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Woody (Tom Hanks), and friends. Now comes TOY STORY 3, directed by Unkrich, the most emotional of the three pictures. Preparing to leave for college, Andy decides to bring Woody with him and packs up everyone else to be stored in the attic. But his mother mistakes the bag for garbage and throws out Hamm (John Ratzenberger), Rex (Wallace Shawn), Jessie (Joan Cusack), Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head (Don Rickles & Estelle Harris), and the rest of the gang. The toys avoid the garbage heap but, feeling unloved and abandoned by Andy, opt to take their chances at Sunnyside Daycare, where, it turns out, unwanted toys are ruled by the iron fist of the evil Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear (Ned Beatty) — and where Barbie (Jodi Benson) finds out that Ken (Michael Keaton) is not necessarily all he’s cracked up to be. Meanwhile, Woody, knowing that the toys are still important to Andy, ends up in the hands of Bonnie (Emily Hahn), a young girl with a fertile imagination who restores Woody’s faith and increases his determination to reunite Andy and the gang, which is finding itself in more and more trouble at Sunnyside. Michael Arndt’s smart screenplay is about trust, friendship, miscommunication, and growing old, with Buzz, Woody, and the rest of the toys dealing with loss and facing death time and time again. The film, which also features the voices of Kristen Schaal, Bonnie Hunt, Whoopi Goldberg, R. Lee Ermey, Richard Kind, Laurie Metcalf, Jeff Garlin, and Timothy Dalton as Mr. Pricklepants, runs the gamut from exciting chase scenes to tender moments, once again capturing the spirit of childhood better than most live-action movies. TOY STORY 3 is being screened at the Museum of Modern Art on December 28 as part of the series “The Contenders 2010,” a collection of influential and innovative international movies the institution believes will stand the test of time. MoMA has already shown such works as Luca Guadagnino’s I AM LOVE, Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION, Roman Polanski’s THE GHOST WRITER, and David Fincher’s THE SOCIAL NETWORK, and upcoming films include Debra Granik’s WINTER’S BONE, Lixin Fan’s LAST TRAIN HOME, and Banksy’s EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP.
Stanley Kubrick’s harrowing PATHS OF GLORY, based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb, is quite simply the best English-language antiwar film ever made. Kirk Douglas stars as Colonel Dax, a French military man who disagrees with his superiors’ insistence on sending his men into certain annihilation in order to take a worthless hill during World War I. Dax’s verbal battles with Generals Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) and Mireau (George Macready) are unforgettable, as are the final scenes, in which three random men are chosen to pay the price for what the generals call cowardice. Filmed in stunning black and white, PATHS OF GLORY puts you right on the front lines of the folly of war. Kubrick, who wrote the unrelenting script with Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson, also made the best film about the cold war (DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB), the Roman slave revolt (SPARTACUS), and, arguably, the Vietnam War (FULL METAL JACKET). PATHS OF GLORY is one of the most emotional, powerful stories ever put on celluloid. It’s screening as part of “20 Years of Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation,” an eighteen-film salute to Scorsese’s ongoing work preserving and restoring more than five hundred films so far. The series runs through January 2 with such highlights as Alfred Hitchcock’s SABOTEUR, Luchino Visconti’s SENSO, Albert Lewin’s PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, Charles Laughton’s THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, John Ford’s HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, and William Wyler’s THE BIG COUNTRY.
