Philip Miller and Ensemble Pi team up with William Kentridge at free show at the World Financial Center (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
THE MUSIC OF PHILIP MILLER FOR THE FILMS OF WILLIAM KENTRIDGE
World Financial Center Winter Garden
200 Vesey St.
Sunday, March 21, and Monday, March 22, free, 8:00
212-945-0505
www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com
The celebration of South African multimedia artist William Kentridge continues on March 21-22 with two free screenings of his latest animation work at the World Financial Center, with Philip Miller’s score performed live by Ensemble Pi. Kentridge’s abstract narrative films are made through a series of charcoal drawings on the same paper, with erasures and additions to create the appearance of motion. The majority of his work has focused on the story of industrialist Soho Eckstein and common man Felix Teitlebaum, who is having an affair with Mrs. Eckstein. In June 2005, Kentridge’s “9 Drawings for Projection,” featuring all of his Eckstein/Teitlebaum shorts, was screened for free in both Prospect Park and Central Park to adoring crowds, with Miller’s score performed live by pianist Jill Richards, the Sontonga Quartet, trumpeter Adam Howard, and vocalist Tumelo Moloi. This time around the music is being handled by the nonprofit eight-piece Ensemble Pi, led by artistic director and pianist Idith Meshulam, along with Miller and singer Tshidi Manye. Kentridge’s subtle, surreal films are beautiful to look at, filled with imagination and resonating with meaning, its primarily black, white, and gray color scheme sparked with splashes of blue and occasional reds. The ninety-minute program at the Winter Garden consists of a dozen Kentridge films, including the rarely screened “Medicine Chest,” “Hot-el,” and the Black Box duo of “Dance of the Rhino” and “Priest’s Lament.” If you’ve seen his terrific retrospective at MoMA, you must catch this as well — not all of these works are part of the museum show — while you’ll be running over to MoMA to take in everything you can if this serves as your introduction to the genius that is William Kentridge.
In 1985, the Cure released a song called “Inbetween Days” that included the line “And I know I was wrong / when I said it was true / that it couldn’t be me and be her / inbetween without you.” On the flip side of the single, “The Exploding Boy,” Robert Smith sang, “I knew if I turned / I’d turn away from you / and I couldn’t look back.” In 2006, South Korean native So Yong Kim made IN BETWEEN DAYS, the tender story of Aimee (Jiseon Kim), a young Korean immigrant on the cusp of her burgeoning sexuality who spends most of her time with her best friend, Tran (Taegu Andy Kang), who is ready for more as well. Three years later, Bradley Rust Gray, Kim’s husband and cinematic partner, made what he calls the flip side to IN BETWEEN DAYS, the gentle, touching coming-of-age drama THE EXPLODING GIRL, with Kim serving as one of the film’s producers and editing it with her husband. In THE EXPLODING GIRL, Zoe Kazan stars as Ivy, a young woman who comes home from college break ready to spend time with her best friend, Al (Mark Rendall). While Ivy attempts to see her new boyfriend, Greg, her relationship with Al threatens to unravel as she is unwilling to face her real feelings. Both films are beautifully paced slices of life shot in a cinema verité style that adds to their believability and charm. THE EXPLODING GIRL opens March 12 at the Landmark Sunshine theater on the Lower East Side; we highly recommend checking it out, then renting IN BETWEEN DAYS for an outstanding double feature.
Paul Greengrass, who teamed up with Matt Damon on the last two Bourne movies and made the excellent UNITED 93, is back with Damon for GREEN ZONE, an Iraq War thriller that is ultimately as misguided as America’s decision to attack Iraq in the first place. Damon stars as Roy Miller, the head of a unit that is using information from the Pentagon to find WMD. But after a third straight mission that comes up empty and costs lives, Miller begins questioning the intel, opening his mouth to his superiors and soon finding himself in the middle of a government conspiracy being protected by administration official Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear). While unwitting Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan) keeps writing about the WMD, Miller gets help from CIA agent Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson), who smells a big fat rat. Inspired by Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s book IMPERIAL LIFE IN THE EMERALD CITY, the story, though set in 2003, feels much older, tackling a situation that has long since been dealt with. GREEN ZONE lacks surprises and even devolves into the ridiculous in the second half, which includes a chase scene pretty much just so the movie can have a chase scene. Screenwriter Brian Helgeland, who did such a terrific job adapting L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, continues his streak of overwrought work; he is also responsible for such tripe as the remake of THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123, the overrated MYSTIC RIVER, and the just plain awful MAN ON FIRE, BLOOD WORK, and THE POSTMAN. Although it begins with promise, GREEN ZONE ends up being a disappointing piece of leftist propaganda, too little, too late.