LISTINGS -- April 11 to 17, 2003

POETRY AT RADCLIFFE. Twelve renowned women poets will gather on Saturday to celebrate four decades of fellowship at Radcliffe. The poets, all former Bunting Institute or Radcliffe Institute fellows, include such acclaimed writers as Maxine Kumin and Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric Jorie Graham. Readings by these two and Mary Karr intersperse panels on “The Use of Poetry” and “The Fellowship of Poetry.” Saturday, April 12 at 10 a.m. Free. First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden St., Cambridge. For more information call (617) 495-8600. (ABM)

speakers

ZADIE SMITH. Smith, a Radcliffe Institute fellow whose debut novel White Teeth earned her the Whitbread First Novel Award and comparisons to Salman Rushdie, will discuss the morality of the novel. The talk is sponsored by the Radcliffe Institute. Monday, April 14 at 4 p.m. Free. Agassiz Theatre, Radcliffe Yard, 10 Garden St. (BJS)

theater

REAL INSPECTOR HOUND/BLACK COMEDY. This doubleheader of serious comedies offers up Tom Stoppard (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead) and Peter Shaffer (Equus, Amadeus) at their funniest. The plays operate within the conceits of the dramatic and artistic spheres, respectively, in order to highlight the contrasts between illusion and reality, the unseen and the visible. Both plays tinker with theatrical conventions to create an evening of non-stop hysterics. Through Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $8, $5 for students and seniors, $4 for Adams House residents, available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Adams House Pool Theatre, 13 Bow St., Cambridge. (ABM)

STOPOVER. Emily Carmichael ’04 is the writer and director of this new play about young women in Paris in love, set to be performed for the first time this weekened in the Loeb Ex. With just twenty-four hours in which to explore the fabled city, the four protagonists taste absinthe, play paintball, see the sights (both the art in the Louvre and those who have come to watch it), get robbed and undergo emotional upheavals. Through Saturday, April 19 at 8 p.m. Free; tickets available at the Loeb Box Office. Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge. (ABM)

CHESS. In this season’s Mainstage rock musical, two master chess players and a woman caught between them face off in their pursuit to understand the ever-shifting alliances in love, life and politics. With lyrics by Tim Rice and a score by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA, Chess was originally inspired by Cold War politics and its effects on the lives of everyday people, played out through the metaphor of a chess game. The musical also offers a darker glimpse at the realities we avoid and the stories we invent, while “we go on pretending stories like ours have happy endings.” Through Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $12, $8 for seniors and students. Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge. (MC)

THE SORCEROR. The Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players promise to transform the Agassiz Theatre into the parodied Victorian England of The Sorceror. The duo’s first full-length operetta, also known as “The Elixir of Love,” follows “John Wellington Wells, a dealer in magic and spells” as he causes mayhem with his love potions in true Gilbert and Sullivan style. Though the show pokes fun at the outdated Victorian values of its time, the fresh and lighthearted score can still charm and entertain modern audiences. Through Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $12 in advance, $10 at the door, $8/$6 students, seniors and children, $4 with Harvard ID; matinees: tickets are $10 in advance, $8 at the door, $6/$4 students, seniors and children. Patrons making a donation receive two tickets: $40, friend; $70, donor; $100, benefactor; $150, sponsor, available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Agassiz Theatre, 10 Garden St., Cambridge. (MC)

TWELFTH NIGHT. The Quincy House Drama Society presents Shakespeare’s most gender-bending farce this weekend. In this tale of drowning and deception, two twins, Viola and Sebastian, take center stage after a shipwreck leaves them separated from each other on a foreign island. The only work of Shakespeare with an alternate title—Or What You Will—the romance abounds with questions of identity and self-determination. Feste the Clown, among other characters, provide wonderful comic relief in a play that is predominantly concerned with philosophical questions. Through Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m., Sunday, April 13 at ? p.m. Tickets $8, $5 students, available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Quincy House Dining Hall, Plympton St., Cambridge. (ABM)

music

HARVARD-RADCLIFFE COLLEGIUM MUSICUM. The Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, Harvard’s premiere co-ed choir, under conductor Jameson Marvin, will be performing “Gems of American Choral Literature,” a series of secular masterworks of contemporary British and American composers. The evening will also feature guest choir the Columbia Collegium Musicum. Friday, April 11 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18/$14 general; $9/$7 for students (two per ID) and senior citizens. Available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Sanders Theatre. (MC)

BEYOND RECALL: THE PROGRESSIVE TRADITION IN JAZZ. With the support of the Office of the Arts comes the Harvard Jazz Bands with guest artists Dave Douglas on trumpet, Roswell Rudd on trombone, Charles Kohlhas on saxophone, Barry Altschul on drums and Brad Jones on bass. The musicians will be performing works by Herbie Nichols, Mary Lou Williams, Thelonious Monk, Dave Douglas, Roswell Rudd, in addition to original works by Harvard students. Jazz Programs at Harvard were founded in 1971 to recognize significant contributors to jazz and to bring the genre to the general public. Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $15 general; $8 for students and senior citizens. Available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Wheelchair accessible. Sanders Theatre. (MC)

BRATTLE STREET CHAMBER PLAYERS SPRING CONCERT. Harvard’s premiere chamber music group will be performing this Saturday in Paine Hall. Pieces include Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia No. 9 and Britten’s Variations on a theme by Frank Bridge. The players will also be perfoming Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto No. 5, featuring Sonya Chung ’03 and Brian M. Seeve ’03 and Professor of Mathematics Noam D. Elkies. All proceeds from the show will go to the Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment Summer Program. Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $8 general; $6 for students (two per ID) and senior citizens. Available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Paine Hall. (MC)

THE YING QUARTET. Chosen as the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence for 2001-3, the quartet will play a diverse set of works by Brahms, Barber, Rorem and Yi. Three brothers and a sister, they began playing chamber music in the rural town of Jesup, Iowa in 1992, and since then have won the Naumberg Chamber Music Award and with it international fame. Friday, April 11 at 8 p. m. Free and open to the public with passes available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Tickets expire at 7:45 p.m. Limit two per person. For tickets on the day of the concert instead call (617) 495-9859. Paine Hall. (JPC)

dance

HARVARD DANCE PROGRAM. The Dance Program of the Office for the Arts at Harvard presents ”Dancer’s Viewpointe III,” the third installment of an annual series under the direction of Elizabeth Bergmann. Jazz, ballet, tap and modern dance all feature in these works by student and professional choreographers, performed by an ensemble of solely Harvard students. Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $10, $5 for students and seniors, available through the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Rieman Center for the Performing Arts, Radcliffe Yard. (JPC)

CITYSTEP’S 20TH ANNUAL SHOW. CityStep, the undergraduate volunteer organization that combines dance with public service, is putting on its annual show this weekend at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. The performance comes as the culmination of all the work this year from a diverse group of local public school grade students and their volunteer instructors. This year’s theme is “Explore, Dream, and Discover,” and students will focus on the idea of new frontiers. Friday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 12 at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets $5, Available through the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496.2222. Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. (MC)

CARIBBEAN SPLASH. The Harvard Caribbean Club is kicking off its first annual cultural show this Friday in Lowell Lecture Hall. The night will be featuring an exciting mix of various art forms, from dance to poetry, fashion, and music. Come beat the dreary Cambridge weather with this small taste of warm Caribbean culture. Friday, April 11, 7:30 p.m. Tickets $7 general; $5 for students (two per ID) and senior citizens. Lowell Lecture Hall. (MC)

visuals

JUST STAND THERE! The fourth program in an ongoing exhibition of video art for the MIT List Visual Arts Center’s Media Test Wall, Just Stand There! explores the idea that in many different arenas of life one must learn how to stay still. The artists utilize the structural concept of stillness and reactions to it in order to reflect on concerns internal and external to ourselves and our minds. The topics of the videos range from Cyclone, Coney Island’s archetypal rollercoaster, to a “Sesame Street”-like approach to teaching political philosophy. Through April 21. Free. MIT List Visual Arts center, Wiesner Building, E15-109, 20 Ames St., Cambridge. For more information call (617) 253-4400. (ABM)

GONESVILLE, or THE DISAPPEARING CITY. This exhibit in the Three Columns Gallery features photography by Martin Berenstein and sculpture by Christopher Frost. The collaborative installation explores the Boston neighborhood of Fort Point, which is rapidly disappearing due to gentrification and development, in two media photographs and wood. There will be an opening on Friday, April 11 at 6 p.m, followed by a talk and dinner at 6:30 p.m. Through April 27. Free. Three Columns Gallery, Mather House, 10 Cowperthwaite St., Cambridge. (ABM)

ON THE SURFACE. A solo exhibition of paintings and drawings by artist Sue Williams, who joins the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies as a visiting faculty member during Spring 2003. Through April 13. Hours are Mondays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., and Sundays noon to 11:30 p.m. Free admission. Lobby, Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St. Call (617) 495-3251 for more information. (TIH)

ALPHABETICS. This exhibit at the Amy Lowell Room in the Houghton Library features various historical artistic representations of different alphabets throughout the world. Works include a medival illustrated Bible, an early 18th century Russian alphabetic book and an early Latin translation of the Qu’ran. Through April 30. Amy Lowell Room, Houghton Library. For details, call Hope Mayo at 617.495.2444. (MC)

STEVEN HOLL: LIGHT, MATERIAL AND DETAIL. The highly celebrated American architect enjoys a double exhibition across MIT’s campus. Works examined include the Helsinki Museum of Contemporary Art, Holl’s expansion to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and MIT’s very own Simmons Hall dormitory. Through April 16. Free. Hours: Mondays through Fridays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wolk Gallery, MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Mondays to Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m, Compton Gallery, MIT Museum. (RJK)

THE COLOR YELLOW: BEAUFORD DELANEY. The exhibit, which is the first retrospective of an African-American artist at a Harvard museum, is also Delaney’s first retrospective since he passed away in 1979. It features 26 highly textured, vibrant paintings by the underappreciated 20th-century African-American expatriate artist, most of which are dominated by warm, vivid shades of yellow See full story in the Feb. 28 Arts section. Through May 4. Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 10 to 5 p.m.; Sundays 1 to 5 p.m. Free. Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., (617) 495-9400. (CWP)

IMAGE AND EMPIRE: PICTURING INDIA DURING THE COLONIAL ERA. The exhibit features about 50 different works of art that capture different views of colonial India. The paintings, decorative objects, figurines, photographs and sketches not only document the colonial era (17th-20th centuries) in India, but also demonstrate the cross-pollination between British and Indian artistic traditions. See full story in the Feb. 7 Arts section. Through May 25. Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. $6.50, $5 students/seniors, free for Harvard ID holders, Cambridge Public Library card holders and people under 18. Group rates available. Sackler Museum, 485 Broadway, (617) 495-9400 (CWP)

BUDDHIST ART: THE LATER TRADITION. This comprehensive exhibit of Buddhist art from China, Korea, Japan, Tibet and India at the Sackler spans more than a thousand years. Surveying the transmission of Buddhism throughout East Asia from the 10th through the 18th centuries, the exhibit feature 72 pieces, including scroll paintings, Buddhist “sutras” or sacred texts, Chinese censers and Tibetan bell handles. See full story in the Feb. 14 Arts section. Through Sept. 7. Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. $6.50, $5 students/seniors, free for Harvard ID holders, Cambridge Public Library card holders and people under 18. Group rates available. Sackler Museum, 485 Broadway, (617) 495-9400. (CWP)

film

AN EVENING WITH GORDON WILLIS. Gordon Willis, the cinematographer who turned Manhattan into a masterpiece of monochromaticism, gave The Godfather movies their distinctive yellow-and-mahogany palette and immortalized Harvard Law School in The Paper Chase, will be at the Brattle to discuss his career with MIT literature and film professor Paul Thorburn. Prior to the discussion, the Brattle will screen Willis’ favorite film from his career. What might it be? All the President’s Men? Annie Hall? Nope, it’ll be a new 35mm print of Klute, a forgotten 1971 Jane Fonda-Donald Sutherland crime thriller that won Fonda an Oscar for her role as a hooker. Thursday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $12, $10 members. Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., (617) 876-6837. (BJS)

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Now with topical overtones, David Lean’s 1962 classic will soon play on a wide silver screen. A life chronicle of T. E. Lawrence, a British officer who in WWI created a guerilla force out of Arabs waging their own private wars, Lawrence of Arabia has an immortal cast: Peter O’Toole (this year’s Oscar winner for lifetime achievement), Alec Guinness (a.k.a. Obi-Wan Kenobi), Claude Rains (Casablanca’s prefect of police) and Anthony Quinn (who was Zorba the Greek). Friday, April 11 through Sunday, April 13 at 3:30 and 8:00 p.m. Tickets $8.50, $7.50 matinees. $5.50 seniors and children. Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., (617) 876-6837. (JPC)

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE/ROGER DODGER. As part of their “Not Nominated (by the Academy)” series, the Brattle is running two of last year’s most intelligent films as a double feature. Punch-Drunk Love, the latest triumph from director Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights), is a shining comic love story with powerful, artifice-free turns from Adam Sandler and Emily Watson; Philip Seymour Hoffman also has a few funny moments as a crass Utah entrepreneur. Meanwhile, Roger Dodger follows a suave but immature ladies’ man (Campbell Scott, in one of the year’s best performances) through a night in New York City as he shows his high schooler nephew the city’s romantic ropes. Wednesday, April 16, with Roger Dodger showing at 5:30 and 9:45 p.m. and Punch-Drunk Love showing at 7:45 p.m. Tickets $8.50 (admits one to both films), $7.50 late show, $5.50 members, children and seniors. Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., (617) 876-6837. (BJS)

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. You have to see this one on the big screen at least once in your life, preferably late at night in a theater packed to capacity with unruly, appreciative misfits. I don’t know how unruly the late-night Brattle audience will be, but give the experience a shot regardless. This 1998 adaptation of writer Hunter S. Thompson’s gonzo opus was unjustly roasted when it premiered at Cannes and flopped at the box office in the same month, but its recent DVD release by the prestigious Criterion Collection is rehabilitating its reputation. Oh, and the film? Its a hilariously anarchic screed about the death of the sixties and the bankruptcy of polite society, starring Johnny Depp (sensational) and Benecio del Toro and featuring everybody from Cameron Diaz to Tobey Maguire. Tuesday, April 15 at 5, 7:30 and 10 p.m. Tickets $8.50, $5.50 members, children and seniors. Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., (617) 876-6837. (BJS)

THE RAF’S GERMANY: TERRORISM, POLITICS, PROTEST. In association with Boston’s Goethe Institut Inter Nationes, the Film Archive is presenting a series of films influenced by the Red Army Faction’s (RAF) 1977 wave of terrorism in West Germany. Included in the series are The Legends of Rita, Volker Schlondorffs acclaimed 1999 film about a terrorist forced into hiding when her organization crumbles, and Marianne and Julianne, Margarethe von Trotta’s 1981 examination of the bond between two sisters—one of them an imprisoned revolutionary—during the time of the terrorism. Friday, April 11 through Tuesday, April 15. Tickets $7, $5 students and seniors. Harvard Film Archive, 24 Quincy St., (617) 495-4700. (BJS)

HARVARD SQUARE LOEWS

10 CHURCH ST., (617) 864-4580

ADAPTATION. At its core, Adaptation is an analysis of the intellectual diseases that plague every writer, from editorial pressure to sibling rivalry to unrequited love. But its narrative edges make it a unique experience. Nicolas Cage plays writer Charlie Kaufman (the real-life writer of the film), who becomes consumed by his assignment to adapt Susan Orlean’s meditative nonfiction novel The Orchid Thief and his own personal eccentricities. Like Kaufman and director Spike Jonze’s previous film Being John Malkovich, several plots overlap and intertwine with surprising at dramatic twists, creating a frustrating, complex film that is infinitely insightful and weirdly moving. Adaptation screens at 3:30 and 9:15 p.m. (CJF)

AMANDLA!  A new documentary on the role that song played in the battle against apartheid in South Africa, Amandla begins with the sight of children singing as they watch the exhumation and reburial of their executed father’s corpse. Closing with the sight of newly-elected president Nelson Mandela gleefully dancing amid throngs of followers, the film contrasts the violence of South Africa’s apartheid era with the humanity and emotion of both its Afrikaaner and black South African subjects. The movie tells the story of black South African freedom music and how it articulated and embodied the people’s spirit during the struggle to end apartheid. “Amandla,” the Xhosa word for “power,” was the rallying cry that activists used to punctuate the end of many songs. Amandla is a compilation of personal interviews, musical performances, reenactment and original clippings from newsreels and films of rallies. Images and songs are allowed to present themselves, appearing with minimal explanation and subtitles. The frames practically drip with color, as though every object within them bursts with an energy and vitality reflected by the nation as a whole. Amandla screens at 12:15, 3:15, 6:30 and 9 p.m. (JJH)

CHICAGO. The potential revival of the Hollywood musical is upon us with Chicago—for better or worse. Ignoring its politicized ramifications as a genre revival, Chicago on its own is a pretty wild ride, showcasing once and for all that the new school of glitzy film stars can sing better than Jennifer Lopez. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, and especially John C. Reilly are surprisingly watchable in this furiously edited, expensive adaptation of the murderous Broadway classic. Winner of this year’s Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Editing and Best Sound. Chicago screens at 12, 3, 6:45 and 9:30 p.m. (CJF)

COWBOY BEBOP. This anime entertainment from Japan has marked time alongside The Powerpuff Girls on the Cartoon Network, but otherwise the two series don’t have much in common. Cowboy Bebop’s celluloid incarnation avoids Powerpuff’s sugar-and-spice conceit in favor of a complex plot involving Martians, killer Macadamia nuts and pharmaceutical corporations. The film borrows copiously from a range of niche genres—action, romance, western and sci-fi, among others. It’s a shame that it isn’t a musical, too (“Bebop” is the name of the film’s spaceship), considering that it’s been decades since Paint Your Wagon wiped out the potentially entertaining future of the song-and-dance western, and it couldn’t hurt to try reviving the genre. Cowboy Bebop screens at 1, 4, 7:15 and 10 p.m. (BJS)

THE GOOD THIEF. Neil Jordan, who hasn’t directed a feature since 1999’s The End of the Affair, ends his absence with this heist film, based upon Jean-Pierre Melville’s jazzy 1955 noir Bob le Flambeur. Nick Nolte, who weathered a well-publicized DUI arrest last year, does nothing to rehabilitate his image by starring as a graying, heroin-addicted gambler who tries to rob a casino. Holding the film together are a passel of modern noir/heist elements—the prostitute, the chummy detective, the technology whiz, exotic locations and lush cinematography (in this case, by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges, who did wonderfully evocative work on The Killing Fields). The Good Thief screens at 12:30, 3:45, 7 and 9:45 p.m. (BJS)

THE HOURS. This adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer-winning novel is unapologetically Oscar bait, backed by a triumvirate of A-list actresses (Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore). Yet for a film of its ostensible weight, The Hours certainly takes easy shots at its lead trio—three colossally boring straw women who rediscover their lost vitality in drearily obvious ways as the picture progresses. Perhaps The Hours’ greatest value rests in its side-by-side comparison of Moore, the greatest actress of her generation, and Streep, the most acclaimed actress of hers; when judged head-to-head, Moore ends up easily topping Streep, if for no other reason than that Streep persists in being an actress onscreen while Moore is content to be a person. Winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Actress. The Hours screens at 12:45 and 6:15 p.m. (BJS)

KENDALL SQUARE CINEMA

ONE KENDALL SQ., (617) 494-9800

ASSASSINATION TANGO. Robert Duvall’s career as a film actor reads like a smorgasbord of human types; he’s played a surf-crazy colonel in Apocalypse Now, a conformist tightass in MASH, a fire-spitting preacher in The Apostle and everybody in between. He lets his feet do some of the talking as he stars in Assassination Tango, a dance-tinged character study armed with a title that explains its plot with TV Guide-caliber brevity (Duvall’s an assassin, and he tangos!). Duvall’s aging hitman, his hair yanked back in a low-hanging mini-ponytail, departs his Brooklyn pad for a job in Argentina, where he drinks in the local color. Duvall also directs and writes—the first time he’s done so since The Apostle six years ago. Assassination Tango screens at 1:55, 4:30, 7:05 and 9:45. (BJS)

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM. This touching English comedy has won rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic for its humorous depiction of women’s soccer. Or, as the characters would say, football. The movie follows the trials and tribulations of an 18 year-old Sikh girl determined to pursue a career in professional football. Her incredible on-field talent, though, is not enough to convince her religiously orthodox parents to allow her to trade the kitchen for the football pitch. So, she runs away from her home in West London to move to Hamburg and follow her sporting dreams. A charming, light-hearted picture that will appeal to even those who are unfamiliar with papadums and penalty kicks. Bend It Like Beckham screens at 1:30, 2:10, 4:05, 4:45, 6:40, 7:20, 9:25 and 9:55 p.m. (ASAF)

BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE. Michael Moore’s quintessential documentary on red-neck Americana and its political basis has turned more heads in curiosity than a gun show in Harvard Square would. Criticized for its self-indulgence and questionable objectivity, Bowling for Columbine is nonetheless a dazzling example of the power of politically charged cinema. Probably the most talked-about film of the year, Bowling for Columbine effectively condenses nearly a decade of American history into a digestible, moving meditation on the sources of American gun violence. That’s no small feat. Winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary. Bowling for Columbine screens at 1:40 and 9:30 p.m. (CJF)

LAUREL CANYON. Frances McDormand plays against type in Laurel Canyon, a well-crafted family dramedy by director Lisa Cholodenko. McDormand, the overbearing mom in Almost Famous, this time plays the type of fast-moving music producer scorned by her character in Cameron Crowe’s amusing 2000 cult favorite. Among her character’s transgressions: inviting Alex (Beckinsale), her future daughter-in-law, to join a three-way as part of an unconventional “getting to know you” exercise. Sam, her uber-straightlaced son (Christian Bale), would not approve. Sam and Alex are the best-looking Harvard grad school alums since Reese Witherspoon’s law school party girl in Legally Blonde. Family issues aside, one leaves the film wishing that life imitated art more often. Laurel Canyon screens at 2, 4:35, 7:10 and 9:35. (NKB)

LAWLESS HEART. Friends and family converge on a small town in northern England for a funeral in Lawless Heart. Stuart, the deceased, was a young gay man who leaves behind a healthy bank account and successful restaurant when he drowns off the Isle of Man. Nick, his partner, and Dan, his brother-in-law, immediately begin competing over the restaurant. Both are sidetracked by unexpected relationships: Nick with his first woman, and Dan with an inappropriately frisky female guest at Stuart’s funeral. The film’s structure is initially somewhat confusing-it revisits the funeral and other scenes three times from the perspectives of three different people. But once the story gets going, it’s surprisingly humorous and heartfelt. Lawless Heart screens at 2:30, 4:55, 7:25 and 10. (NKB)

LEVITY. In some alternate universe, I’m sure that Billy Bob Thornton can go two years at a time without being cast as a killer, a psycho or a racist. In our universe, though, he is headlining the find-yourself drama Levity, playing a convicted murderer who has just been released from prison after 22 years. Back in the free world, he finds his way with the help of Holly Hunter as the sister of Thornton’s victim and Morgan Freeman as a local reverend (playing a man of God before warming up to play the big guy himself in Bruce Almighty). Kirsten Dunst also stars as the resident good-looking rebellious teen; who will be able to set her straight? Could it be America’s Favorite Psycho? Levity screens at 1:45, 4:15, 6:50 and 9:50 p.m. (BJS)

NOWHERE IN AFRICA. This year’s Oscar winner for best foreign film sheds new light on the exodus of one small group German Jewish refugees in the late 1930s. It’s the tale of Walter Redlich, a Jewish lawyer who goes to Africa to live with the European expatriate community (which is now mostly Jewish) in and around Nairobi. After opening with scenes of his family’s comfortable home life back in Germany, the film depicts the Redlichs adapt to their new home on a desolate Kenyan farm and struggle with relationships between family members and other refugees from Nazi-controlled Europe . Particularly interesting is Walter’s daughter, Regina, who quickly transitions to life Kenya, embracing the country as her true home and being accepted by native Kenyans after learning their language. The story ultimately questions what a home is. Despite early misgivings, Jettel, Regina’s mother, is ultimately won over as well. They grudgingly accompany Walter “home” to Germany-the country which rejected them and butchered the rest of their family-so that he can help rebuild the judicial system. The poignant story is enhanced by the Nowhere in Africa’s beautiful cinematography and evocative soundtrack. Winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Nowhere in Africa screens at 3, 6:15 and 9:20 p.m. (EC)

THE PIANIST. Adrien Brody’s magnetic, largely silent performance in Roman Polanski’s Holocaust drama almost compensates for The Pianist’s inconsistent tone and distasteful politi

cal sensibilities. Brody’s Wladek Szpilman, who could hardly have picked a worse time and place to be Jewish, transforms from cocky concert pianist to starving phantom hunted by Nazis after escaping death in the bombed-out ghetto. The film soars briefly as it reflects on the redemptive power of music and the Szpilman’s commitment to survival; it stumbles badly in its misleading depiction of universally heroic Poles and in its sympathy for an officer of Hitler’s vicious army to the east. Winner of this year’s Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. The Pianist screens at 2:50, 6 and 9:10 p.m. (NKB)

TALK TO HER. The only recognition that Pedro Almodovar’s pretentious Talk to Her deserves is as the year’s most overrated film. Though beautifully shot and populated with a set of unusually complicated characters, Talk to Her shamelessly and outrageously asks its audience to sympathize with a rapist. The film manages, paradoxically, to be both sloppily edited and deadeningly self-conscious. As it progresses, the audience is slowly but surely ushered into a stupor very closely resembling that of the coma victim at the story’s inane center. Winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Talk to Her screens at 4:20 and 6:55 p.m. (NKB)

—Happening was edited by Michelle Chun ’05 and compiled by Tiffany I. Hsieh ’04, Ryan J. Kuo ’04, Benjamin J. Soskin ’04, Jayme J. Herschkopf ’06, Nathan K. Burstein ’04, Clint J. Froehlich ’05, Ashley Aull ’06, Christopher W. Platts ’06, Samuel H. Perwin ’04, Ben B. Chung ’06, Emily Caplan ’06, Gary Ho ’06, Josiah P. Child ’05, Julia E. Twarog ’05, Thomas J. Clarke ’04, Anthony S.A. Freinberg ’04 and Alexandra B. Moss ’05.