Tag Archives: MoMA

CARTE BLANCHE: DIETER KOSSLICK, THE CULINARY CINEASTE — SIDEWAYS

Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church discuss merlot and more in Alexander Payne’s SIDEWAYS

SIDEWAYS (Alexander Payne, 2004)
MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Wednesday, August 24, 7:00; Friday, August 26, 4:00
Series runs August 22-30
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
www2.foxsearchlight.com/sideways

Eating, drinking, and going to the movies — three great things that go great together. In 2007, Dieter Kosslick, the Culinary Cineaste and director of the Berlin International Film Festival, introduced the series “Eat, Drink, See Movies” to the Berlinale, pairing films with specific meals. The German Slow Foodie has now put together a similar program for the Museum of Modern Art, teaming up with Gabriel Kreuther, executive chef of the Modern, to offer special drinks and dishes to accompany screenings of food-related films from MoMA’s vast library. First up is Stanley Tucci’s Big Night, screening tonight at 7:00, with Sepia Risotto with Gold Leaf added to the Modern’s menu. For the merlot-intensive Sideways (August 24 & 26), the Modern will be serving “Three Expressions of Pinot Noir, Paired with Charcuterie,” including Domaine Cornu “Les Barigards” with Vella Dry Jack Cheese, Becker Pinot Noir Estate with Iberico Ham, and Copain Gouttes d’Art with Quail Terrine. Alexander Payne’s fourth film, following the underseen Citizen Ruth, the excellent Election, and the overrated About Schmidt, is fabulously entertaining from start to finish, a smart, inventive, very funny dark comedy about friendship and love set in California wine country. Paul Giamatti stars as Miles, a schlumpy wine connoisseur who is having trouble getting over his divorce and the failure of his massive novel to get published. His best friend, Jack (Thomas Haden Church), is getting married, so the two head off on a road trip, with Miles looking forward to sampling fine wine, and Jack anticipating sampling fine women. While Jack finds what he is looking for in Stephanie (Sandra Oh, who was married to Payne at the time), Miles seems hell-bent on not allowing himself to enjoy life, even as a beautiful woman with a deep appreciation of the grape (the excellent Virginia Madsen in what should have been a career-redefining performance) shows an interest in him. You definitely do not have to be a wine drinker to fall in love with this marvelous movie, one of the best of 2004; it was nominated for Best Director, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Madsen), and Best Supporting Actor (Haden Church), and screenwriters Jim Taylor and Payne won for Best Adapted Screenplay.

BABETTE’S FEAST is on the menu both onscreen and at the Modern as part of culinary series

Kosslick’s series continues through August 30 with such tasty treats as David Gelb’s Jiro Dreams of Sushi on August 23 (followed by a panel discussion with Kosslick, Kreuther, Ruth Reichl, and chef Michael Romano; the Modern, meanwhile, will be serving Crudo Trio), Sandra Nettlebeck’s Mostly Martha (Vitello Tonato), Marcel Carne’s Harvest (Eckerton Hill Farm Heirloom Tomato Terrine), Gabriel Axel’s Babette’s Feast (Blini with Crème Fraîche and American Sturgeon Caviar), Brad Bird’s Ratatouille (Ratatouille Panna Cotta with Yellow Tomato Coulis), and D. A. Pennebaker’s Kings of Pastry (Trio of Desserts), among other cinematic culinary delights.

HOT AND HUMID: SUMMER FILMS FROM THE ARCHIVES — A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Warner Bros. production of Shakespeare play is a bizarre classic

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Max Reinhardt & William Dieterle, 2004)
MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Thursday, August 11, 4:30; Friday, August 19, 4:00
Series runs through September 7
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

Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle’s 1935 adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one freakishly weird flick. In a misty forest, fairies go around sprinkling love potions on sleeping humans, creating mixed-up relationships that even venture out into the realm of bestiality. “The course of true love never did run smooth,” Lysander tells Hermia, and that sums up this star-studded screwball comedy of a sort. Warner Bros. put together quite a lineup for this big-time production, with plenty of strange casting choices that end up working rather splendidly. James Cagney prances about as Bottom, Dick Powell plays Lysander, Olivia de Havilland makes her film debut as Hermia, Joe E. Brown is Flute, Billy Barty plays Mustardseed, and a teenage Mickey Rooney offers a delirious take on Puck, howling at the moon with sheer glee. The wacky movie also features Ian Hunter, Arthur Treacher, Victor Jory, and Anita Louise as the fairy queen Titania. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, and won for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing, will be screening August 11 at 4:30 and August 19 at 4:00 as part of MoMA’s “Hot and Humid: Summer Films from the Archives” series, which continues through September 7 with such seasonal dramas as Hou Hsiao-hsien’s A Summer at Grandpa’s, Federico Fellini’s I vitelloni, Ingmar Bergman’s Summer with Monika, André Téchiné’s Wild Reeds, Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.

SUMMERGARDEN: NEW MUSIC FOR NEW YORK

Pianist Geri Allen will lead Timeline in a jazz show July 31 in MoMA’s sculpture garden

Museum of Modern Art
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden
West 54th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Sunday, July 24 & 31, free, gates open at 7:00, concert begins at 8:00
www.moma.org
sculpture garden slideshow

The final two concerts in MoMA’s free annual Summergarden series take place July 24 & 31 in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, where you can hear classical music and jazz amid some of the finest sculptures from the Museum of Modern Art’s collection. On July 24, “Juilliard Concert II: New Music for String Quartet” will feature violinists David Fulmer and Rebekah Durham, violist Jennifer Chang, and cellist Avery Waite from the New Juilliard Ensemble performing the Western Hemisphere premiere of Jiří Kadeřábek’s “Barefoot Boy!” and the New York premieres of Judith Lang Zaimont’s “The Fugue” for string quartet, Carson Cooman’s “Four Aphoristic Inventions,” “Tombeau-Aria,” and “Estampie” for two violins, and Louis Andriessen’s “Facing Death.” On July 31, “Jazz Concert II: Geri Allen and Timeline” will combine music and movement with pianist Geri Allen, saxophonist JD Allen, bassist Kenny Davis, drummer Kassa Overall, and tap-dancer Maurice Chestnut in the premiere of Allen’s “Flower of May,” which honors Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille. Free admission is first come, first served, with gates opening at 7:00 and the concert starting at 8:00. Although the MoMA galleries are closed, you can enjoy the wonderful sculptures in the garden, including Auguste Rodin’s “St. John the Baptist Preaching,” Elie Nadelman’s “Man in the Open Air,” Gaston Lachaise’s “Floating Figure,” Tom Otterness’s “Head,” Henry Moore’s “Family Group,” Renee Sintenis’s “Daphne,” Henri Matisse’s “Back” series, and one of the most colorful works to ever grace the sculpture garden, Katharina Fritsch’s “Figurengruppe (Group of Figures).”

PIXAR REVISITED: THE INCREDIBLES

Pixar fans better run to MoMA to catch final days of excellent film series, beginning today with THE INCREDIBLES

THE INCREDIBLES (Brad Bird, 2004)
MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Thursday, July 7, 4:30
Series runs through July 9
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
www.disney.go.com

The Incredibles, which nabbed the Best Animated Feature Oscar, is yet more fun from Pixar, John Lasseter’s remarkably creative studio that previously brought us Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc.., and Finding Nemo. After the crime-fighting family the Incredibles are sued into early retirement and given a new identity in harmless suburbia, Bob/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) can’t stop protecting the world from evildoers, sneaking away from his suspicious wife, Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), to work with Lucius/Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) in defeating evil. But he meets more than he bargained for in Syndrome (Jason Lee), a piece of his past resurrected to destroy him. Other recognizable voices include Wallace Shawn as Gilbert Huph, writer Sarah Vowell as Violet, John Ratzenberger as Underminer, and Elizabeth Peña as Mirage; writer/director Brad Bird (The Iron Giant) voices fashion designer Edna ‘E’ Mode. The Incredibles kicks off the big finale of MoMA’s Pixar Revisited series, which also includes the terrific Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007), screening with Gary Rydstrom’s short Lifted on July 8 at 8:00; the thrilling Up (Pete Docter, 2009), being shown with the Peter Sohn short Partly Cloudy on July 9 at 5:00; and the brilliant Wall-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008), screening with the Doug Sweetland short Presto on July 9 at 8:00.

CRAFTING GENRE: KATHRYN BIGELOW — THE HURT LOCKER

Oscar winner THE HURT LOCKER is part of MoMA retrospective of director Kathryn Bigelow

THE HURT LOCKER (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009)
MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Sunday, June 5, 5:30
Monday, June 13, 8:00
Saturday, July 23, 5:00
Series runs June 1 – August 13
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.thehurtlocker-movie.com
www.moma.org

Based on embedded journalist Mark Boal’s experiences in Iraq, The Hurt Locker follows a three-member Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit as they are called in to defuse a series of dangerous situations involving various kinds of bombs, including IEDs and other life-threatening explosive devices. Team leader Will James (Jeremy Renner) is an expert bomb defuser and maverick who doesn’t follow protocol and likes to live on the edge. Spc. Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) is a greenhorn who just wants to survive the last forty days of their rotation. And Sgt. J. T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) likes to go by the book and take no unnecessary chances, which puts him in constant conflict with the unpredictable James. Recalling the second half of Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam drama Full Metal Jacket (1987), The Hurt Locker unfolds in a series of harrowing set pieces in which the EOD unit is called in to either safely detonate or defuse explosive devices while under the eyes of local Iraqis, any of whom could potentially be the bomber or a sniper. Director Kathryn Bigelow (Blue Steel, Point Break) masterfully builds suspense scene after scene, beginning with the edge-of-your-seat opener through to the gripping conclusion. The experiences of the EOD unit serve as a microcosm for modern warfare in general and the U.S. involvement in the Middle East specifically, placing viewers in the midst of a tense, bitter, psychologically and emotionally draining battle that can never be won. The outstanding cast also features Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Evangeline Lilly in small roles; many of the Iraqis were played by actual war refugees. Shot in Jordan not far from the Iraq border, The Hurt Locker is a remarkable story, one of the best war films of the decade.

With The Hurt Locker, Bigelow, who will turn sixty later this year, beat out her ex-husband, Avatar megadirector and producer James Cameron, for the Best Director and Best Picture Oscars at the 2010 Academy Awards. She has made a mere eight feature films in her thirty-year career, all of which will be shown during the MoMA retrospective “Crafting Genre: Kathryn Bigelow.” The series begins June 1 with Bigelow introducing her 1978 short about violence, Set-Up, and her full-length debut, 1982’s The Loveless, followed by a Q&A. Bigelow always adds a twist to her genre pictures, from the vampire thriller Near Dark (1987) and the police procedural Blue Steel (1989) to the futuristic sci-fi fantasy Strange Days (1995) and the historical murder mystery The Weight of Water (2000). And then there’s 1991’s Point Break, a modern surf-camp classic starring Keanu Reeves as an FBI agent determined to catch master bank robber Patrick Swayze; you’ve got to see it to believe it, and even then you’re likely to be completely flummoxed. (Be sure to allow extra time, as MoMA is also displaying storyboards, notes, two of Bigelow’s short experimental works, and other related paraphernalia in conjunction with the screenings.)

TWI-NY TENTH ANNIVERSARY TALK: EVAN SHINNERS

Evan Shinners will give an all-Bach solo upright piano recital at Barbès on May 10, then play twi-ny’s tenth anniversary party at Fontana’s on May 18 with a full band

Tuesday, May 10, Barbès, 376 Ninth St. at Sixth Ave., Brooklyn, strongly suggested donation $10, 347-422-0248, 7:00
Wednesday, May 18, Fontana’s, 105 Eldridge St. between Grand & Broome Sts., free, 212-334-6740, 7:00
www.evanshinners.com

Juilliard graduate Evan Shinners has been playing the piano since he was nine and made his orchestral debut when he was a mere twelve years old, with the Utah Symphony. But the Bach-loving New Yorker is not your average classical musician. In addition to having appeared at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Museum of Modern Art, and other prestigious venues around the world, he leads a band that pounds away at aggressive pop music in smaller clubs. Shinners, who sees a melding of styles as the future of classical music, will be at Barbès in Park Slope on Tuesday night as part of the Upright Piano Brigade series being presented by the Concert Artist Guild, a Tuesday–night residency through July in which musicians will perform solo classical works on upright piano. Shinners will be playing an all-Bach program that includes Toccatas in E and D, a “wild” prelude and fugue in A, an early version of the triple concerto, a partita, and a few smaller rarities. Then, on May 18, Shinners and his band will be the closing act at twi-ny’s tenth anniversary party at Fontana’s on the Lower East Side.

twi-ny: You recently played Beethoven at MoMA in a mobile, cut-out piano followed by onlookers who were snapping photos in your face as you all moved around the space together. What was that experience like?

Evan Shinners: One of my goals is to bring classical music to people in a setting where they would not normally hear it. If someone hears Beethoven’s Ninth from that piano all hollowed out in an art museum and they appreciate it, it only proves the universality of the great classical composers and speaks volumes about how classical music can reach the masses anywhere outside the concert halls.

twi-ny: What are a bunch of Juilliard graduates doing playing punk rock?

Evan Shinners: Well, I wouldn’t call the band punk by any means, and I have my own theories about what classical music of 2011 is and what it isn’t. If I had to briefly touch on that, we play what is closer to classical than what classical pretends to be today. I could argue that for a while. . . . Essentially, it is important to know that most of the band did not get their first music lessons in classical or jazz. In fact, three out of five of them started learning rock/pop songs first before taking up their Juilliard “callings.” I am lucky that the members can play all styles, and I wouldn’t have it any other way as we often jump from Bach to rock within one piece.

Evan Shinners was one of six pianists who performed Allora & Calzadilla’s moving “Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on Ode to Joy for a Prepared Piano” in the MoMA atrium (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

twi-ny: Your upcoming album, @bach, which will be released later this month, is a collection of live Bach works performed on keyboard. What is it that draws you to Bach? What about other favorites?

Evan Shinners: The universality of Bach is it. No other music is so adaptable. Rappers rap over him, saxophones blow over him, I lift chord progressions directly from his cantatas and make rock songs based on him — his music is perfectly timeless. With Bach I can take up all my influences, from [Thelonius] Monk to Eminem, and have them come out in the same piece of Bach’s. . . . Try doing that with Schumann (no disrespect to ol’ Robert, though).

twi-ny: What is on your iPod these days?

Evan Shinners: On the iPod it is either [harpsichordist] Wanda Landowska or rap.

twi-ny: Do you get different types of satisfaction when playing classical music as opposed to when you play pop and rock? How do the very different kinds of audiences, and their energy levels, affect or influence your playing?

Evan Shinners: I love the rock audiences. I love getting yelled at, taunted, rushed, et cetera. I’m also tired of musicians complaining about noisy audiences — try being Bob Dylan (or anyone else who dealt with it) and get booed everywhere you go and still play your heart out; I have respect for those musicians who can. A goal of mine: all Bach in Carnegie Hall where everyone sits down with red wine in paper cups, claps between the pieces (gasp!), yells, taunts, boos, screams, riots, mosh pits in the aisles. . . . You want the classical audiences to start growing? Try that atmosphere for starters; Paganini’s crowds used to be a lot more rowdy than the crowds of today.

AN AUTEURIST HISTORY OF FILM: CITIZEN KANE

Orson Welles masterpiece is screening at MoMA this week as part of month-long look at 1941

CITIZEN KANE (Orson Welles, 1941
MoMA Film, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
May 4-6, 1:30
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
www2.warnerbros.com/citizenkane

Citizen Kane is the best-made film we have ever had the pleasure to watch — again and again and again — and it is even more brilliant on the big screen. A young, brash, determined Orson Welles created a masterpiece unlike anything seen before or since — a beautifully woven complex narrative with a stunning visual style (compliments of director of photography Gregg Toland) and a fabulous cast of veterans from his Mercury radio days, including Everett Sloane, Joseph Cotten, Ray Collins, Paul Stewart, and Agnes Moorehead. Each moment in the film is unforgettable, not a word or shot out of place as Welles details the rise and fall of a self-obsessed media mogul. The film is prophetic in many ways; at one point Kane utters, “The news goes on for twenty-four hours a day,” foreseeing today’s 24/7 news overload. And it doesn’t matter if you’ve never seen it and you know what Rosebud refers to; the film is about a whole lot more than just that minor mystery. Like every film Welles made, Citizen Kane was fraught with controversy, not the least of which was a very unhappy William Randolph Hearst seeking to destroy the negative of a film he thought ridiculed him. Kane won only one Oscar, for writing — which also resulted in controversy when Herman J. Mankiewicz claimed that he was the primary scribe, not Welles. The film lost the Oscar for Best Picture to John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley, but it has topped nearly every greatest-films-of-all-time list ever since. Citizen Kane will be screening May 4-6 at 1:30 as part of MoMA’s ongoing series “An Auteurist History of Film,” focusing on the director as creator and which this month looks back at that banner year of 1941 with How Green Was My Valley (May 11-13, 1:30), John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (May 18-20, 1:30), and Preston Sturges’s The Lady Eve (May 25-27, 1:30).