Listings, Nov. 14-20

fri, nov 14

MUSIC | Veritones & LowKeys

Co-ed a cappella group the Harvard LowKeys make their Sanders debut in “Constructing the Jamurai” alongside fellow crooners the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones. 8 p.m. Tickets $10; $7 students. Sanders Theatre. (SLS)

THEATER | South Pacific

The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical makes its Harvard debut. Set against the colorful backdrop of World War II-era Hawaii, South Pacific confronts themes of love, fear and prejudice. Through Nov. 21. 8 p.m. Tickets $10; $5 students and seniors. Agassiz Theatre. (SLS)

THEATER | Little Shop of Horrors

The Currier House Musical Society presents this production of the classic story of a man-eating plant. Music and special effects were created by the composer and lyricist for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. Through Nov. 16. 8 p.m. Tickets $9; $7 students and seniors; $5 Currier House residents. Currier House Fishbowl. (SLS)

THEATER | Lorenzaccio

It is opening night for the Visiting Director’s Project Lorenzaccio, directed by Jay Scheib. Paul Schmidt’s translation of the Alfred de Musset play is a steamy depiction of 1530s Medici Florence. Through Nov. 22. 8 p.m. Tickets $12; $ 8 students and seniors. Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. (SLS)

THEATER | Noises Off

This farce by Michael Frayn (Copenhagen) depicts the travails of a hapless acting troupe as they tour a sex comedy across Britain. As their tour progresses, romances wither and egos are bruised, and soon there’s more mischief being wreaked offstage than on. Recent revivals of the play in London and New York were well-received. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets $10; $5 students; $4 Adams House residents. Through Nov. 23. Adams Pool Theatre. (BJS)

THEATER | The Real Thing

Tom Stoppard’s much-lauded story of love, language, culture and adultery comes to Harvard this weekend, courtesy of the Winthrop House Drama Society. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets $5; $3 students; $2 Winthrop House residents. Winthrop House JCR. (BJS)

FILM | The Animation Show

The Brattle is running this collection of notable animated shorts all weekend; the program includes work from Aardman Animations (the makers of Wallace and Gromit) and “Beavis and Butt-head”’s Mike Judge. But the film that makes this program a must-see is Don Hertzfeldt’s brilliant satire Rejected, a nominee for the Best Animated Short Oscar in 2001. Rejected purports to track its animator’s unraveling as his absurdist shorts go unappreciated in the commercial world; it’s black, bizarre and riotous. It may also be the only Oscar nominee ever to feature an anthropomorphic puffball screaming “My anus is bleeding!” over and over. Friday at 5:15, 7:30 and 9:45 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday at 12:45, 3:00, 5:15, 7:30 and 9:45. Brattle Theatre. (BJS)

sat, nov 15

MUSIC | Krokodiloes

Harvard’s oldest a cappella group takes the stage for their fall concert. This will be the gentlemen’s first public performance of the year. 8 p.m. Tickets $10; $7 students and seniors. Sanders Theatre. (SLS)

MUSIC | THUD

The Harvard Undergraduate Drummers, otherwise known as THUD, will perform a wide variety of percussion pieces, employing as instruments everything from cardboard boxes and plastic cups to vibraphones and bongos. Most of the music is original composition by the group members, and by director Julian O. S. Carlo ‘04. This year they will perform a version of their famous Cups piece with an unprecedented 12 performers. 8 p.m. Tickets $3. Lowell Lecture Hall.

MUSIC | Moonraker

Boston-based Moonraker mixes electronic elements into their rock. Touring on their recent self-titled album, the band share TT’s stage with Making It Right and Redletter. 9:30 p.m. Tickets $10. T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline St. (SLS)

mon, nov 17

FILM | Rebel Without A Cause

Nicholas Ray’s 1955 social statement is badly written, badly acted and badly dated. Some of its scenes are put together wonderfully—particularly the nighttime car race—and there’s also the treat of a very early turn from Dennis Hopper. But, at its core, this is a movie where James Dean screws up his wax sculpture of a face and screams, “You’re tearing me apart!”—a movie that mistakes cheap melodrama for genuine humanity and whose worldview is as clumsy as can be. This is the way that American Beauty is going to look in 50 years. Monday at 5:00, 7:30 and 10:00 p.m. Brattle Theatre. (BJS)

wed, nov 19

FILM | Tom Jones

There are two great scenes in Tom Jones—a droll prologue styled after a silent film and an equally soundless dinner scene in which the titular Jones (Albert Finney) and his latest squeeze stare at each other as they devour oysters and chicken with lascivious panache. When the film turns to its sprawling episodic plot (taken from the Henry Fielding novel), things grow slow and confusing. Finney proves an immensely charismatic hero, though, and he makes even the tedious spells entertaining. Wednesday at 4:30 and 9:30 p.m. Brattle Theatre. (BJS)

films

The Human Stain

In the midst of the 1998 Lewinsky sex scandal, Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins), a distinguished classics professor at a small Massachusetts liberal arts college, embroils himself in a microcosm of similar scandal and tragedy: one chance comment in class provokes an accusation of racism that culminates in his resignation and the death of his wife. Based on the novel by Philip Roth, The Human Stain follows Silk through four major stages of self-identification: anger, denial, acceptance and confession. A self-made man in every sense of the word, Silk’s success in life embodies a severely warped version of the American dream: an extremely light-skinned black man passing himself off as a Jewish intellectual. Newcomer Wentworth Miller is startlingly good as the tormented young Silk, torn between the pulls of family and future. Hopkins is almost convincing as the tragic hero Coleman Silk, Nicole Kidman less so as the battered Faunia—the cleaning woman who pulls Silk out of his shell. Much like Silk himself, the film is a prisoner of its own ambitions; it falls victim to its literal devotion to Roth’s novel. In any case, The Human Stain is a story better left in print. (TIH)

Kill Bill: Volume I

Quentin Tarantino’s new film centers on a woman known only as The Bride (Uma Thurman), who awakens from a coma four years after she is nearly assassinated at her wedding party by the elite fighting force to which she once belonged. Once she’s up and about again, The Bride sets out on a mission of revenge against her former compatriots. On paper, Kill Bill: Volume I sounds dangerously close to Charlie’s Angels: there are many martial arts action sequences, all of the main characters are women and one of them is played by Lucy Liu. However, whereas Angels was mindless fun, Kill Bill is a thoughtful and beautiful homage to classic themes and styles while remaining the most fun and exciting film of the year. Within the film, one can see hints of all of Tarantino’s influences and tastes—spaghetti westerns, Hong Kong kung fu, Japanese samurai, anime—but all are wonderfully adapted to fit into the unique Tarantino vision. (SNJ)

Lost in Translation

Fulfilling the boundless promise exhibited in her debut effort, The Virgin Suicides, director Sofia Coppola crafts a sublime love letter to both Tokyo and transitory friendship with her newest film, Lost in Translation. Hollywood star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) has been shipped off to Japan to hawk Suntory whiskey to the natives. There he encounters Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), the beautiful wife of a photographer who spends much of her day staring out her window in hopes of somehow finding herself within the city’s skyline. The pair are soon discovering Tokyo culture and a profundity in their friendship that is lacking in their respective marriages. Johansson perfects the prolonged sulk, while Murray delivers his best performance yet, donning the hats of weary voyager, droll companion and cynical mentor with equal comfort. There are plenty of belly laughs to be had along the way, but what remains with the viewer is the significance of the fleeting connection that these two people share. Coppola dreamily lingers on every scene, adorning each of them with the sensation of the aftermath of a first kiss. (BYC)

Veronica Guerin

Director Joel Schumacher’s latest movie is based upon on the life of the Sunday Independent reporter of the same name. The film is the story of her self-imposed mission to clear the streets of drugs and drug pushers, culminating in her brutal death at the hands of gang leaders attempting to protect themselves from the momentum of her crusade. Most important, it is the story of Guerin herself: her character, her motivations, her fears and doubts. Cate Blanchett’s resplendent performance as Guerin seethes with passion and intensity in every scene. It is her skillful work—as well as that of her supporting cast—that compensates for the film’s directorial inadequacies. (GPH)

—Happening was edited by Tiffany I. Hsieh ’04 and compiled by Ben Y. Chung ’06, Gary P. Ho ’04, Steven N. Jacobs ’05, Sarah L. Solorzano ’05 and Benjamin J. Soskin ’04.