this week in film and television

HEARTBREAKER

Alex (Romain Duris) has his work cut out for him trying to woo Juliette (Vanessa Paradis) in HEARTBREAKER

HEARTBREAKER (L’ARNACOEUR) (Pascal Chaumeil, 2010)
IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. at Third St., 212-924-7771
Lincoln Plaza Cinema, 1886 Broadway at 63rd St., 212-757-2280
Opens Friday, September 10
www.ifcfilms.com

A big hit in France, Pascal Chaumeil’s debut film, HEARTBREAKER, is a ridiculously mundane romantic comedy that is neither very romantic nor much of a comedy. Romain Duris stars as Alex, a sensitive stud who earns a meager living by breaking up couples in which he has determined that the woman does not realize that she is not truly in love with her partner. Working with his sister (Julie Ferrier) and brother-in-law (François Damiens) as a kind of Impossible Mission force, he charms the women just enough so they see their unhappiness, then he walks away, claiming that he is unable to fall in love again and telling them to begin anew. In debt to a local mobster, Alex decides to take a job breaking up an impending Monte Carlo marriage between Juliette (Vanessa Paradis) and Jonathan (Andrew Lincoln) even though he believes the couple is truly in love. Going against his code, he tries to woo Juliette, but she is his toughest case yet, especially when he starts falling for her. Chaumeil previously directed sitcoms, advertisements, and series television in France, and it shows; HEARTBREAKER plays more like a TV program than a feature-length film. The plot is paper thin, the subplots just plain silly, and the humor sophomoric. The film attempts to redeem itself in the end, but it is far too late to save it from drowning in an absurd lack of originality.

NEW YORKER FESTIVAL

Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg will kick off the New Yorker Festival with a screening of their new film THE SOCIAL NETWORK, which will be followed by a Q&A with the two stars and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin

Multiple venues
October 1-3
Tickets: $25-$150 (most events $25-$35)
www.newyorker.com/festival

And they’re off! The race to get the hottest tickets to this year’s New Yorker Festival will begin September 10 at 12 noon, as literary snobs, wanna-be writers, and the glitterati battle it out to see conversations, lectures, book readings, live music, panel discussions, film screenings, and other events featuring such stars as Steve Carell, James Taylor, Justin Timberlake, Lorrie Moore, Yo-Yo Ma, Stephen King, Regina Spektor, Paul Goldberger, Ian Frazier, Neil Gaiman, Patricia Clarkson, Michael Chabon and Zadie Smith, David Simon, mumblecore masters Andrew Bujalski, Greta Gerwig, and Joe Swanberg, and many others. Good luck getting tickets for “Living History,” in which Peter Carey, E. L. Doctorow, and Annie Proulx share their thoughts with moderator Simon Schama; Paul Reubens talking about life, with Susan Morrison; Werner Herzog telling tales with Judith Thurman; Calvin Trillin’s annual tasting walk from Greenwich Village to Chinatown; a private tour of the Frick with Peter Schjeldahl; and “The Cartoon Caption Game,” in which audience members participate in a live caption-writing contest in the Condé Nast executive dining room.

BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL

Former honoree Paul Auster will talk with 2010 BoBi award winner John Ashbery during Brooklyn Book Festival (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Multiple locations in Brooklyn
Sunday, September 12, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
www.brooklynbookfestival.org

The fifth annual Brooklyn Book Festival takes place on Sunday, September 12, with a host of literary events at such locations as the Borough Hall Courtroom, St. Francis College Auditorium, and the Brooklyn Historical Society. The festival opens at 10:00 in the morning with the promising “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It),” with Steve Almond, Jennifer Egan, and Colson Whitehead reading from music-inspired writings, followed by a Q&A, as well as Stewart O’Nan, Siri Hustvedt, and T Cooper discussing “How Things Shake Out.” Jon Scieszka, E. Lockhart, and Mac Barnett will team up for “You’ve Got to Be Kidding,” Paul Krugman and Robin Wells will converse about “The Economic Crisis and What to Do About It,” Naomi Klein, Kurt Andersen, Jordan Flaherty, and Paul Reyes will get serious for “The Culture of Disaster: How Crisis Defines America,” while Kate Christensen, Sam Lipsyte, and Rakesh Satyal will get personal for “Me . . . in the World.” Amy Goodman and David Zirin will lead a tribute to the late Howard Zinn, Paul Auster will talk with 2010 BoBi award winner John Ashbery, Sarah Silverman will get down and dirty with David Rakoff, and Cristina Garcia, Steven Millhauser, and Peter Straub will delve into “Hallucinations of Your Neighbors.” Among the dozens of other participants are Dennis Lehane, Bernice L. McFadden, Michael Connelly, Francine Prose, Matthew Sharpe, Jacqueline Woodson, Phillip Lopate, Kristin Hersh, John Hodgman, Kristen Schaal, Adam Haslett, Kate Milford, Ben Katchor, Jessica Abel, Melvin Van Peebles, Mona Simpson, Pete Hamill, Venus Williams, Charles Fuller, and many, many more. Although all programs are free, some require advanced tickets, which will be distributed an hour before the presentation. There will also be a bevy of “bookend events” held September 10-12 at Light Industry, Greenlight Bookstore, Coco 66, the Bell House, powerHouse Arena, BAM Rose Cinemas, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and other spots, featuring film screenings, flash readings, live music, cocktail hours, and pizza; highlights include Rob Sheffield chatting up TALKING TO GIRLS ABOUT DURAN DURAN, Carolyn Kellogg in “An Intimate Conversation with John Waters,” Russell Banks discussing Atom Egoyan’s 1997 adaptation of his novel THE SWEET HEREAFTER after a screening of the film, live performances by Mountains and Lymbyc Systym, and a free showing of COSMOS: A PERSONAL VOYAGE in Brooklyn Bridge Park, complete with telescopes.

ContemporAsian

Jia Zhang-ke’s CRY ME A RIVER is part of exciting MoMA ContemporAsian showing of four short films by extraordinary directors

MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
September 10-16
Tickets: $10, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days,
same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk
212-708-9400
www.moma.org

MoMA’s ongoing ContemporAsian series offers a special treat September 10-16, screening short recent works by four of the world’s most intriguing filmmakers: China’s Jia Zhang-ke (THE WORLD, STILL LIFE), South Korea’s Hong Sang-soo (TALE OF CINEMA, LIKE YOU KNOW IT ALL), Taiwan-by-way-of-Malaysia’s Tsai Ming-liang (REBELS OF THE NEON GOD, THE HOLE), and Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul (TROPICAL MALADY, SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY). In Jia’s CRY ME A RIVER (2008), four friends rehash old times as they meet to celebrate a teacher’s birthday, poignantly looking at where their dreams got derailed; it’s a bittersweet tale that pays tribute to Fei Mu’s 1948 film SPRING IN A SMALL TOWN. Tsai’s MADAM BUTTERFLY (2008) reimagines the famous Puccini opera at a bus stop, Hong’s LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS (2009) brings together a writer and an old flame, and Weerasethakul’s A LETTER TO UNCLE BOONMEE (2009) is a forerunner to the Palme d’Or winner UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES.

MASTER CLASS WITH ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY

Eclectic iconoclast Alejandro Jodorowsky will lead a seminar at the Museum of Arts & Design on September 25

ART AS A WAY OF TRANSFORMATION
Museum of Arts & Design
2 Columbus Circle at 58th St. & Broadway
Saturday, September 25, $60-$85, 3:00
212-299-7777
www.madmuseum.org
www.clubcultura.com

The Museum of Arts & Design is quickly becoming a major player in the world of independent, foreign, and avant-garde film in the city. In July, they presented “Zombo Italiano: The Italian Zombie Film Movement, 1972-1985,” which included screenings of works by George A. Romero, Lucio Fulci, Lamberto Bava, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Later this month, they are featuring the hypnotic, surreal films of one of the twentieth century’s most bizarre characters in the series “Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky.” While the museum will be screening such cult favorites as EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, and SANTA SANGRE, the premier event will be a master class with the Chilean-born Mexican filmmaker, who is also a prolific playwright, poet, puppeteer, performance artist, psychoshaman, philosopher, comic-book writer (with Moebius), composer, mime, novelist, musician, tarot interpreter, and anarchist. The eighty-one-year-old Jodorowsky will be focusing on “the power of film and art, with attention given to art-making as a means for enlightenment.” Advance registration is a must, as space is extremely limited, so sign up quickly to be part of what should be an eye-opening experience.

75 YEARS OF 20th CENTURY FOX

Elliott Gould (third from left) and Tom Skerritt (far right) will be at Lincoln Center for fortieth anniversary screening of M*A*S*H, part of Labor Day weekend celebration of 20th Century Fox’s seventy-fifth anniversary

Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
September 4-6, $9 per screening, $49 All Access Pass
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com

In 1935, Fox Films merged with 20th Century Pictures to form 20th Century Fox. The Film Society of Lincoln Center is honoring the company’s seventy-fifth anniversary with a fabulous slate of 20th Century Fox flicks this Labor Day weekend, with screenings only nine bucks apiece. The series begins Saturday with the noir greats HANGOVER SQUARE (John Brahm, 1945) and KISS OF DEATH (Henry Hathaway, 1947) and also includes the cult classic VANISHING POINT (Richard C. Sarafian, 1971), in which Barry Newman rides that white Dodge Challenger across the country, on the run from the law as well as life itself. Saturday’s big event, however, is the fortieth anniversary screening of a new print of M*A*S*H (Robert Altman, 1970), with Elliott Gould, Sally Kellerman, Tom Skerritt, and Kathryn Reed Altman participating in a Q&A. Sunday’s films begin with William A. Wellman’s harrowing 1943 Western THE OX-BOW INCIDENT, in which Anthony Quinn barely grits his teeth when removing a bullet from his body; the film takes on added significance in light of the border war with Mexico and the anti-immigrant law in Arizona. Sunday also features restored prints of NIAGARA (Henry Hathaway, 1953) and ALL ABOUT EVE (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950) and the director’s cut of ALIEN (Ridley Scott, 1979), with Skerritt again hanging around for a Q&A. The evening concludes with FIGHT CLUB (David Fincher, 1999), but we can’t say any more about that, because you know what the first rule of Fight Club is. On Monday, a trio of all-time favorites starts with a restored print of Elia Kazan’s 1947 exploration of anti-Semitism, GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT, followed by 70mm prints of CLEOPATRA (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1963) and the military biopic to end all military biopics, PATTON (Franklin L. Schaffner, 1970). It’s quite a collection of memorable films, and you can see them all for a mere $49 with an All Access Pass, which is quite a deal, especially since the Fox Movie Channel now charges on-demand for each of its flicks.

A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP

Zhang Yimou’s BLOOD SIMPLE remake looks beautiful but comes up too limp



A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP (Zhang Yimou, 2010)
Landmark Sunshine
143 East Houston St.
Opens Friday, September 3
212-330-8182
www.sonyclassics.com
www.landmarktheatres.com

Chinese film director Zhang Yimou nearly always hits the mark, having scored major successes with such outstanding early work as RED SORGHUM, JU DOU, RAISE THE RED LANTERN, THE STORY OF QIU JU, and TO LOVE as well as such more recent fare as HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES, and CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER. But the award-winning director, who turns sixty this year, has taken a silly turn with his latest, A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP, a farcical remake of the Coen brothers’ modern noir classic, BLOOD SIMPLE. Thought not nearly as intolerable as the Coens’ own remake flop, 2004’s THE LADYKILLERS, Yimou’s version of greed, infidelity, and double and triple crosses has a tense, thrilling ending, but much of what leads up to it is just too over the top. In a noodle shop in a nearly deserted region of China, a young woman (Yan Ni) is cheating on her much older, disgusting husband, Wang (Ni Dahong), with the hapless, weak-willed Li (Xiao Shenyang). Wang hires a dedicated soldier, Zhang (Sun Hunglei), as a private detective to catch the lovers in action and kill them. Meanwhile, Zhao (Cheng Ye) and Chen (Mao Mao), who also work in the noodle shop for Wang and his wife, primarily stay in the background as the crazy shenanigans unfold, the comic relief in a movie already overburdened with comic relief. Interspersing elements of Peking Opera and slapstick comedy, Yimou loses sight of the heart of the crooked tale, getting lost in vaudevillian set pieces that often feel out of place, although it is fun watching Li, Zhao, and Mao Mao stretch, throw, and spin around dough like they’re making a pizza. The film also features gorgeous cinematography courtesy of Zhao Xiaoding, who beautifully captures the mountainous region and the colorful costumes. But if Yan Ni screams one more time. . . .