Orchids are beautiful from up close and from far away in lovely show at the New York Botanical Garden (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
The New York Botanical Garden
Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx
Tuesday – Sunday through April 19, $8-$10 children two to twelve, $20-$25 adults, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
718-817-8700
www.nybg.org
chandeliers slideshow
“They lean over the path / Adder-mouthed / Swaying close to the face / Coming out, soft and deceptive / Limp and damp, delicate as a young bird’s tongue / Their fluttery fledgling lips / Move slowly / Drawing in the warm air.” So begins Theodore Roethke’s 1946 poem “Orchids,” one of many poetic works that accompany the New York Botanical Garden’s thirteenth annual Orchid Show. This year’s edition is titled “Chandeliers,” as curator Francisca Coelho, who has been at the garden for three decades, has designed a gorgeous display with orchids everywhere — at floor level, on trees, in large pots, and especially hanging from the glass ceilings of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Thousands of orchids are on view, in mixes of white, purple, blue, yellow, red, and other colors and in varying shapes, as well as a few aromatic flowers. It’s an orchid heaven wherever you look, but the most glorious sections are at the beginning, with a series of orchids atop the conservatory’s reflecting pool, and near the middle, where a giant star-shaped chandelier of orchids hangs above a walkway so viewers can gather underneath and take in yet more beauty from an unexpected angle. There are even orchids more naturally posed, in the Tropical Rain Forest Galleries.
NYBG Orchid Show offers visitors a chance to reflect on the beauty of nature (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Occasional signage shares facts about the history and conservation of orchids, and phone numbers with codes to punch offer for more detailed information. The rooms can get crowded — especially in particularly resplendent areas that provide a profusion of Kodak moments — but everything is calm and lovely, the orchids’ charm spreading to all comers, even when that kid won’t get out of the way as you try to snap a photo. Numerous programs are being held in conjunction with the show, including free orchid care demonstrations on Sundays at 2:00 & 3:00, the ticketed class “Divide, Repot, Rejuvenate!” on April 18 at 10:00 ($59), and “Orchid Evenings” on April 17 & 18. In addition, a large selection of orchids are for sale in the shop; we make sure to bring a plant home every year.
After working on two previous fashion-related films, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel and Valentino: The Last Emperor, Frédéric Tcheng makes his solo directorial debut with Dior and I. In April 2012, fashion designer Raf Simons was named the new creative director of Christian Dior, bringing along his right-hand man, Pieter Mulier. Tcheng goes behind the scenes to follow Simons as he prepares his first-ever haute couture collection, which is due in a mere two months. Tcheng zooms in on the Belgian designer’s working methods and general anxiety as he takes over at the legendary company, developing important relationships with Dior CEO Sidney Toledano, première atelier flou Florence Chehet, première atelier tailleur Monique Bailly, the seamstresses, the models, and other employees. Simons chooses to pay homage to Dior’s past with his new collection while attempting to rid himself of the designation of “minimalist designer.” One of his most fascinating directions is attempting to incorporate the work of artist Sterling Ruby into his designs. All the while he is haunted by the ghost of company founder and New Look creator Christian Dior, who is shown by Tcheng in archival footage accompanied by a voice-over of Omar Berrada reading from Dior’s memoirs. Dior and I is a slight but affecting race against time, as one man in the present honors the past while laying the groundwork for a bright future. Dior and I opens April 10 at Film Forum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, with Tcheng and Berrada appearing at Film Forum for the 7:30 show April 10 and the 5:20 show April 11; Tcheng will also be at the Walter Reade Theater for a Q&A following the 7:00 show April 11.
Based on the wonderfully titled Tomáš Končinský short story “Julius Schmitke slipped through death’s fingers like an awkward seal,” Czech director Štěpán Altrichter’s debut feature, Schmitke, is a darkly comic, Kaurismäkian character study of a middle-aged engineer making his way through a pretty simple life. Julius Schmitke (Peter Kurth) wakes up each morning, watches the coffeemaker get going, walks about slowly, stares a lot, and follows the story of a Bear-Man living in the German woods. A bear of a man himself, he is disappointed when he is reassigned — demoted — to fix a broken wind turbine in the small, foggy Czech border town of Chřmeleva in the Ore Mountains. Meanwhile, his grown daughter shows up unexpectedly, moving in with him and declaring, “I invested my energy wrong!” Schmitke and his new partner, the young, rather talkative Thomas Gruber (Johann Jürgens), head out in their white van, getting lost before ultimately arriving at their destination, where everyone, including the mayor (Jakub Žáček), hangs out in the local pub, drinking all day. But when Gruber suddenly goes missing, Schmitke sets off on a desperate search to find him — and, perhaps, himself in the process.
The French Institute Alliance Française’s third annual “Fashion at Fiaf” festival kicks off April 7 with the “’s wonderful, ’s marvelous” 1957 romantic musical comedy Funny Face. When Quality magazine editor and publisher Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson) decides she’s after the next big thing, photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire playing a fictionalized version of Richard Avedon, who served as a consultant on the film and took the photos) asks, “Are there no models who can think as well as they look?” So they descend on a “sinister” bookstore in Greenwich Village, Embryo Concepts, to show the intellectual side of star model Marion (real-life model Dovima), but instead Dick believes that the bohemian bookstore’s mousy, idealistic sales clerk, Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn), might just be exactly what they’re looking for, a fresh face with “character, spirit, and intelligence.” Jo is steadfastly averse to the plan at first, until Dick convinces her that it would be a great opportunity for her to see Paris and go to a lecture by her favorite philosopher, professor Emile Flostre (Michel Auclair), the father of empathicalism. So Maggie, Dick, Jo, and their crew head over to France, where Jo will soon be strutting down the runway in a line specially created for her by superstar designer Paul Duval (Robert Flemyng). But once they get to the City of Lights, everything goes more than a bit haywire as haute couture battles counterculture chic.
