Happenings

MUSIC | Blodgett Chamber Music Series - Ying Quartet

Since 2001, the Ying siblings have been the Blodgett Artists in Residence at Harvard. The quartet will be performing this Friday as part of a year-long series of performances. The program includes Janacek’s Quartet No. 1 “Kreutzer Sonata;” a selection of music by Zhou Long, Chen Yi and Ge Ganru; Tchaikovsky’s Quartet No. 1 in D, Op.11. Tickets free, limit two per person. 8 p.m. Paine Hall. (LFL)

MUSIC | Carl Cox and John Debo at Avaland.

This club night was “Voted America’s #1 Club Night, Most Popular U.S. Club at the 2003 Las Vegas Club Show Awards,” according to their website, which must mean something good. Carl Cox is an English DJ and entrepreneur who has recently been named the “greatest DJ in the world,” possibly by himself. He is also the founder of Worldwide Ultimatum Records and Ultimate Music Management, mastermind of the F.A.C.T. dance compilations, and architect of the upcoming “Phuture 2000,” continually attempting to push the traditional DJ boundaries. John Debo is the co-founder of Avaland, whose mix CD Chrome 01, was released at the end of 2000 on Bliss Productions. His current musical magic focuses most strongly on deep, dark, moody, heavy, progressive tunes. Tickets $20. 19+. 10 p.m. The Avalon Night Club, 15 Lansdowne Street, Boston. (SAW)

FILM | Wet Hot American Summer

Every Friday in March at midnight, the Coolidge Corner Theatre will be playing this pants-wettingly hilarious parody of ’80s summer camp movies. And every Friday in March, the Crimson Arts section will feature this film in its Happening section. One of the funniest movies ever. Tickets $9. Midnight. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St., Brookline. (BBC)

MUSIC | The Get Up Kids

Kansas City emo outfit the Get Up Kids perform their intermittently mellow and driving Vagrant pop for maudlin girls and boys. Label-mates with the more famous and even more sentimental Dashboard Confessional, the Kids just released Gulit Show, their follow-up to 2002’s subdued On a Wire. Joining them are Recover and singer-songwriter Rocky Votolato. The title of Votolato’s most recent album, Suicide Medicine, should give you a good idea of what to expect from him. Tickets $16. All ages. 6 p.m. Axis, 13 Lansdowne St., Boston. (SLS)

Saturday, March 13

MUSIC | Winter Concert

The Mozart Society Orchestra, conducted by Chris Kim, presents its annual Winter Concert. The program includes David T. Little’s “Immolation;” W.A. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 “Elvira Madigan” performed by Wei-Hsun Yuan, winner of the MSO Freshman Concerto Competition; and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9. Tickets $9 regular, $7 students (2 per ID). 8 p.m. Paine Hall. (LFL)

MUSIC | The European Masters

The Harvard University Wind Ensemble presents a beautiful collection of European wind classics. Performing six times this year, the Ensemble features a group of 55 musicians dedicated to the performance and examination of wind literature. Directed by Thomas G. Everett, the combination of percussion and wind instruments makes for a refined yet powerful performance. 8 p.m. Tickets $10 regular, $10 student (2 per ID). Lowell Lecture Hall. (HRM)

Sunday, March 14

MUSIC | Schubert/Crumb/Chausson

The Boston Chamber Music Society performs classics in an expressive, exciting, and lively concert performance. Founded in 1983, the BCMS takes pride in their combination of individual and collective talent. They will play: Schubert’s “Quartet for Flute, Viola, Cello and Guitar, D.96,” Crumb’s “Eleven Echoes of Autumn” and Chausson’s “Piano Quartet in A major, Op.30.” Tickets $16-$42 regular, $8 Student in the $25 or $16 sections, student rush $5 starting at 6:30 on concert day. 7:30 p.m. Sanders Theatre. (HRM)

MUSIC | Azure Ray

Made up of former Bright Eyes members Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor, this Southern girl duo offer pretty voices and dreamy indie-pop. Los Angeles’ earnest quartet The Elected also perform. As do Neva Dinova and Consafos. Tickets $10 advance, $12 day of show. 18+. 9 p.m. T.T. the Bear’s Place. (SLS)

Monday, March 15

FILM | Persona

One night, stage actress Elisabeth Volger (Liv Ullmann) suddenly stops in the middle of her performance and ceases entirely to speak thereafter. She is sent away to a country cottage, where she is tended to by a garrulous nurse named Alma (Bibi Andersson). Alma quickly develops a monologue with her mute patient and slowly the two women seem to fuse into a single, indistinguishable entity. But a plot summary hardly does justice to Persona, director Ingmar Bergman’s masterwork and one of the most important films of 1960s cinema. Bergman explores the nature of communication, while tangling with threads of psychological reverie and sapphic yearning to weave an uncommon, unforgettable tapestry. Tickets $6. 7 p.m. Harvard Film Archive. (BBC)

FILM | Easy Listening

Local director Pamela Corker presents her debut feature film, a light-hearted exploration of the musical genre known, often with little fondness, as Muzak. The story centers on Burt, a trumpeter whose work is only appreciated tangentially in elevators and barbershops. He has aspirations of playing professional jazz, but is unable to come to grips with natural flair for nerdiness. A miracle arrives in the form of Linda, who admires his playing and eventually allows him to embrace his EZ listening roots. Tickets $9. 7:30 p.m. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St., Brookline. (BBC)

MUSIC | Julian Marley

Julian Marley, son of reggae impresario Bob, tours with his Uprising Band. He is one of the many Marley’s—including Ziggy, Stephen and Damian—attempting to use his talent and family name to get some recognition in the notoriously cutthroat reggae community. In order to show “dread cred” as it’s known in reggae circles, Julian has spent years learning under Aston “Family Man” Barrett, Earl “Wire” Lindo, Tyrone Downie and Earl “Chinna” Smith. Fully formed as a talent, Julian is bringing his band to Boston. Tickets $15 advance, $17 day of show. 18+. 8p.m. The Paradise Rock Club, 969 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. (SAW)

Tuesday, March 16

MUSIC | A Conversation (and a Bit of Music) with Randy Newman

Randy Newman, gifted singer and composer, will speak and perform about his life and work. Sixteen-time Academy Award nominee, and 2003 Academy Award winner for Best Original Song, Newman is known for his diverse music compositions ranging from New Orleans jazz and ragtime to movie soundtracks to R&B pop. His stylistic pieces often play and reflect upon American Society and will be hard to forget. Performance is presented by Learning From Performers, dedicated to giving students an opportunity to converse with professional artists. The show will be hosted by Jack Megan. 8 p.m. Tickets $10 General Admission, free for students (2 per I.D) until 7:45 p.m. on concert day. Sanders Theater. (HRM)

Wednesday, March 17

MUSIC | Ninja Tune Presents: ZENtertainment

Ninja Tune presents a killer line-up of electronic/hip-hop acts belonging to the label. Canadian turntablist Kid Koala, whose 2003 album Some of My Best Friends Are DJs offered witty and ambitious fun, headlines with British, by way of Brazil, Amon Tobin. Bonobo, Blockhead and Sixtoo round out a roster that is sure to impress. Tickets $20. 18+. 8 p.m. The Paradise Rock Club, 969 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. (SLS)

MUSIC | The Saw Doctors

Hailing from Galway in Western Ireland, The Saw Doctors are a top-selling super group at home, but they have yet to connect with American audiences. Their lackluster American fan base is surprising considering their sound, which seem to have all the qualifications for American cross-over success: their formula was recently described by Rolling Stone magazine as “one part Creedence, one part Hootie, and one part Irish Historical Society,” a soothing mix. Their show is a G-rated celebration of, according to Rolling Stone, “first kisses, Gaelic football and best friends.” Every time they play in America, they find new rabid fans, but their soft feel makes them invisible to critics only looking for the next big innovation in musical sound. Tickets $28.50. 18+. 8 p.m. at The Roxy, 270 Tremont Street, Boston. (SAW)

Thursday, March 18

MUSIC | Aviv Geffen

One of Israel’s most famous pop-stars, Aviv Geffen, comes to the Middle East to play a collection of songs, which have affected an entire generation. Questioning societal values, Geffen’s songs speak to youth about challenges such as relationships, drugs, alcohol and violence. Geffen is on a rare tour of America, so his powerful music and lyrics should not be missed. He will play with the accompaniment of keyboardist Daniel Soloman. Presented by Harvard Students for Israel. 10p.m. Tickets $25 regular, $20 for Harvard Students. The Middle East Downstairs. (HRM)

FILM | Mulholland Drive

A perfect follow-up to the HFA’s Persona screening, Mulholland Drive furthers the exploration of human identity, blurring the boundaries of various characters and personalities throughout the film. The movie starts off with a blissfully nostalgic swing dance, intercut with Kodak-moment flashes of a blond woman with two elderly people at her side. Then, a swift cut to a black-haired woman, who emerges amnesia-addled from a car crash and begins scampering through the streets of Los Angeles. These two women eventually cross paths and seek out answers to the mysteries that riddle their lives. David Lynch should have won the Oscar for his evocative vision of a treacherously seductive Hollywood, where amidst the magazine-gloss sheen, two people who seek moral truths are engulfed in the process. Lynch concocts an enveloping sense of foreboding, lingering his camera even as the characters have moved well beyond the scope of the frame. The film’s emotional weight seems almost secondary to unraveling its Mobius strip plot, but repeated viewings uncover a tremendous gravitas in Naomi Watt’s alternately enchanting and harrowing performance. Tickets $7.50. 7 p.m. Brattle Theatre. (BBC)

Ongoing

THEATER | Frogs

Performing from an original translation, the Harvard Classical Club will bring The Frogs back to life in a riveting, action filled play, complete with Gods, playwrights and, yes, frogs. Written by Aristophanes, one of the most astonishing comic playwrights of ancient times, the performance tells the story of God Dionysus’ march to Hell in an attempt to bring a great tragedian back from the dead to end the string of mediocre playwrights. Directed by Christopher A. Kukstis ’05, and produced by David H. Camden ’05. Thursday March 18 thru Saturday March 20 at 7:30, with 2:30 matinee on Saturday. Tickets $5. General Admission. Agassiz Theatre. (HRM)

THEATER | L’Historie et L’Enfant

This year, Lowell House Opera presents a pair of French works: Starvinsky’s L’Historie de Soldat and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortileges. L’Historie is a “musical play” centered around a solider who gives his soul to the devil. L’Enfant is a one-act opera that tells the story of a young boy whose imagination gets the better of him. Directed by Sarah Meyers ’02 and Sean Ryan ’03. March 13, 17, 19 and 20. Tickets $16 regular, $8 students and seniors. 8:30 p.m. Lowell House Dining Hall. (LFL)

MUSIC | Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses Festival

This five-concert series is part of the 2004 IMC National Seminar and Festival of Male Choruses. Men’s choruses from across the U.S. and Canada will assemble for the three-day event hosted by the Harvard Glee Club and the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses; high school, college and adult choruses will all be performing. Special guest appearances by such groups as professional chamber ensemble Cantus will also be on hand. Friday, 5 p.m. and 8:30 pm. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Tickets $15 regular, $7 students and seniors. Any 3 concerts for $39. Sanders Theater. (LFL)

VISUALS | Gauguin Tahiti

The paintings that Paul Gauguin produced between his departure for Tahiti in 1891 and his death in the Marquesa Islands in 1903 are currently on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The canvasses are among Gauguin’s most mysterious, colorful and exotic. The exhibition’s Boston stop will be its only showing in the U.S., so be sure to see it while you can. “Gauguin Tahiti” runs through June 20. (SLS)

THEATER | Trojan Women

From the Athena Theatre Company, who brought you the Valentine’s Day edition of the Vagina Monologues, comes one of Euripides’ lesser known plays. Trojan Women, first staged and produced in 415 B.C., is a portrayal of a tragic situation whereby Euripides dramatizes the postwar conditions of the women of Troy and describes the spoils of war. Runs March 11-13. Tickets $6. 8 p.m. Agassiz Theatre. (GCS)

THEATER | The Birthday Party

The American Repertory Theater presents The Birthday Party, one of the great black comedies of the twentieth century, returning to the stage under visionary director JoAnne Akalaitis. First premiered in 1958, Harold Pinter’s story is one of peril and intrigue in a rundown English boarding house. Runs through March 6-27. Tickets $35 – $69, $12 student tickets available day of show. 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. weekdays. Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. (LFL)

VISUALS | Life as Art

This ongoing exhibit presents a close look back at the careers of painters Gregory and Frances Cohen Gilespie. The exhibition consists of 25 paintings in all, and is a representative look at the influential styles of both artists. The two artists catch the interest of many because of the way in which they influenced each other through their portrayals of realism in early Italian and Flemish painting. Runs through March 28. Sackler Museum. (GCS)

FILM | Robot Stories

By popular demand, the Coolidge Corner Theatre is bringing back Greg Pak’s award-winning Robot Stories for this week only. A collection of four short films that explore the potential impact of future artificial technology on human relationships, Robot Stories earns the Crimson Arts stamp of approval for combining its conversation-sparking material with a remarkably profound understanding of human emotion. Particularly strong is Pak’s sympathy towards the challenges of motherhood, expressed in the film’s most effective segment, “My Robot Baby,” wherein a mother adopts a mechanical baby to prove herself adept at adoption. When the baby starts to break down, the mother faces a frightening and poignant dilemma. Runs through March 18. Tickets $9. 5:45 pm and 9:30 pm. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St., Brookline. (BBC)

Films

50 FIRST DATES

Adam Sandler plays Henry Roth, a veterinarian in Hawaii who is well-known for loving then leaving tourists, fearing any long-term commitment that could put a damper on his individuality.  One day, however, he sees comely Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore) in a waffle house and is mesmerized by something about her, presumably her resemblance to that girl from E.T. After Roth flirts with her, they agree to meet for breakfast the next day. When he arrives however, she doesn’t remember him; soon, he discovers that she has complete short-term memory loss. Obviously, he must woo her anew every day, often with the help of his animal coterie or his wacky friends like gay Polynesian Ula (Rob Schneider) and Lucy’s oddly lisping muscleman brother Doug (Sean Astin).  The film comes equipped with the usual Sandlerian antics, but a special surprise ending partially redeems the general boorishness. (SAW)

CITY OF GOD

Brazilian Fernando Meirelles’ high-energy depiction of gang warfare in the titular Rio de Janeiro slum has been met with critical raves, four Oscar nominations, and comparisons to the mob pictures of Martin Scorsese. The protagonist, a young photographer named Rocket, succeeds in evading the gang lifestyle; his childhood friend fails to follow suit, instead succumbing to the temptations of crime and power. Dynamic, darkly funny and spitting electricity, City of God presents a strife-ridden world lurching towards destruction. (BJS)

THE DREAMERS

An NC-17 movie focusing on sexy teenagers in 1968 Paris who are obsessed with movies, sex and politics, in that order, from the director of Last Tango In Paris. The plot begins with Matthew (Leonardo DiCaprio look-alike Michael Pitt) encountering Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garrel) at the protest of the closing of the French cinemathéque, the classic movie theater where these three cinephiles have spent many an afternoon. Soon, Matthew is invited to stay at Isabelle and Theo’s house while their parents are away. Movie-inspired sexual games ensue. One of the more interesting devices Bertolucci uses is intercutting scenes of the three main characters with the movies that inspired the scene, references obviously geared to movie dorks. But what about the more obvious pleasure of copious nudity? Bertolucci sadly pares it down to its base elements, with the net effect of turning off the audience. Theo and Isabelle, who are revealed to be twins, bathe and sleep naked together. Although they seem to never explicitly engage in intercourse, their relationship seems quasi, if not fully, incestuous. The Dreamers is adventurous in a way that few modern films are allowed to be, but its content doesn’t measure up to its ambition and leaves us with disappointing thoughts of what the movie could have been. (SAW)

THE FOG OF WAR

Robert S. McNamara is widely regarded as one of the most reviled figures in the last century of American politics. His tenure as Secretary of Defense led him to make some of the crucial decisions in the major crises of the twentieth century. This documentary shows the making of war through his eyes, from the Cuban Missile Crisis through the Vietnam War. The documentary, directed by genre master Errol Morris (Fast, Cheap and Out of Control) utilizes frank White House tapes, startlingly surreal images, and an extraordinary Philip Glass score to engross an audience that may otherwise have little interest in the subject matter. Morris never compromises his vision of McNamara as a man whose regret has opened floodgates of wisdom (upon hearing one of the admonitions apparently directed at the current administration, an audience member actually began clapping), but who remains unable to justify a war that he prolonged. (JSG)

GOODBYE LENIN!

Pro-democracy riots and cheering mobs of happy Germans are the images most often associated with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Director Wolfgang Becker aims to capture a unique aspect of the event in his critically acclaimed film Goodbye, Lenin!, by depicting the effects of German reunification on everyday people. The most commercially successful German film in history, it centers on the experience of young East Berliner Alex Kerner, played by wide-eyed 24-year-old Daniel Brühl. After fainting during the Berlin riots, Alex’s mother (Katrin Sass) enters a deep coma for several months. Upon his mother’s release, the doctor cautions Alex that he must insulate her from any shocks, because a stressful event could kill her. Since his mother was fiercely loyal to the idealism of the DDR, Alex makes it his goal to keep her from finding out about the dramatic political changes through which she slept. This deception provides the comic meat of the film, with Alex employing a series of ever more ridiculous ruses to convince his mother that nothing’s changed. However, Brecker does not use his ample talent solely for humor’s sake. Goodbye, Lenin! is dotted with distilled illustrations of the many facets of the reunification, some of which shine much brighter than others. He does not fall into the trap of romanticizing the past at the expense of historical fact; his characters cherish their new conveniences and freedom of expression, and don’t miss the panoptic party structure of socialism. The movie does, however, shed light on the complex (and sudden) transformation of German life that resulted from the fall of the Wall. (WBP)

HIDALGO

There is little substance in Hidalgo. Ostensibly, the film is based on the true story of Frank Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen), a long-distance horse-racer who is invited to partake in “the Ocean of Fire,” a 3,000-mile horse race across the Arabian Peninsula. Hopkins’ horse, Hidalgo, is a mustang, a wild mixed-breed horse that was introduced to the Americas with the arrival of the Spaniards to the New World. In the world of horse racing these mixed-breeds are considered, according to the movie, unworthy to share the road with purebred horses, exemplified here by the sleek Arabians. The movie’s twist is that Hopkins was born to a white father and a Sioux mother—he is a half-breed himself. As expected, Hidalgo quickly devolves into yet another story about the power of the human will to overcome adversity and have pride in what you are and where you came from. Given that Disney produced the film, the outcome of the race, and the film, is a foregone conclusion. The bad guys have deep growly voices that prove their deceitfulness, the faithful sidekick/servant dies while saving important lives in the process, and there is just enough racial profiling to make their point while avoiding controversy. (DGM)

MIRACLE

Walt Disney Pictures has apparently created an entire department solely devoted to the production of assembly-line stories wherein sports serve as analogies for actual conflicts that demand clean resolution. Having tackled football and baseball with a fair degree of success in Remember the Titans and The Rookie, Disney moves down its list to hockey, in particular the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s triumphant victory over the world champion Soviet team in the 1980 Games. But Miracle makes a valiant attempt to transcend the trappings of its saccharine genre, and largely succeeds with the prescient casting of Kurt Russell as team coach Herb Brooks. Russell, whose dusty film resume has been given a sudden shock, walks, talks and grunts the part of the bull-headed Brooks with confidence; if the film had been released two months earlier, he could very well be garnering award attention. The film’s only crutch is its presentation of the hockey games, splattered onto the screen with so many close-ups and jump cuts as to make the games unintelligible. (BBC)

MONSTER

Director Patty Jenkins’s debut feature, Monster chronicles the sanguinous final chapter of infamous serial killer Aileen Wuornos and the personal trials that may have led to her murder of seven men. The film has garnered as much attention for star Charlize Theron’s monstrous makeover into the less-than-comely prostitute murderess as it did for the actual performance. Nevertheless, the Academy will likely see beyond the cosmetic alterations to reward Theron’s breakthrough work, which painstakingly recreates the intense discomfort of a woman desperate to find a reason not to shoot herself at any given moment. At the film’s core is Wuornos’ tumultuous relationship with flippant lover Selby Wall (Christina Ricci). Though Jenkins fails to offer a believable relationship between these two individuals and Ricci sits through an unnaturally amateurish performance, Monster is ultimately redeemed by Theron’s resonant performance. (MC)

MY ARCHITECT

If we viewed architects as celebrities, Louis I. Kahn’s life would have been made into an “E! True Hollywood Story” a long time ago. Kahn battled early obstacles–a fire that permanently disfigured his face, his family’s immigration from Estonia to America—to become a celebrated designer of famous buildings all over the world. Then he lost it all, falling deep into debt and finally dying of a heart attack in a train station restroom. Thirty years after his death, Kahn’s son has created a tribute to him on film, glorying in his architectural triumphs, but supplementing the laurels with an honest assessment of his personal failings. Farrah Fawcett wasn’t one-tenth as interesting as this guy. (BJS)

MYSTIC RIVER

If Clint Eastwood proved anything in Unforgiven, it was that actors don’t have to be showy to be effective. Too bad that nobody told Sean Penn, who brings his full actor-y powers to bear in Mystic River, Eastwood’s latest effort. Too often, the film feels less like the well-crafted whodunit at its center and more like a freshman acting class: Penn thrashes and grimaces, Tim Robbins acts numb, and Marcia Gay Harden wobbles her voice so much that you wonder if she’s standing on the San Andreas Fault. On the other hand, Kevin Bacon does some of the best work of his career as a reasonable cop beset by marriage problems. He strikes a note of casual verisimilitude and, in an Eastwood film, that’s about the only note that’ll work. (BJS)

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

Director Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ represents the teachings of Jesus through a gore-drenched recreation of the final twelve hours before his death. Here, the son of God is a wholly human figure, and Gibson constantly reminds his audience of this with an unceasing depiction of shredded flesh and spattered blood. The effect is alternately piercing and numbing. Nevertheless, Gibson eventually succeeds in overwhelming his audience with the kind of potent visual poignancy unseen in his previous directorial work. The telling of the story is equally effective, as screenwriters Gibson and Benedict Fitzgerald (Wise Blood) find most of their narrative might in the passion plays’ minor characters. Though violence is the film’s major theme, what resonates from The Passion of the Christ is not necessarily its brutality, but rather the significance of his sacrifice. There are only glimpses of Christ’s words in the movie, and his resurrection is given minimal screen time, but these are provided in such well-timed respites that their resounding impact is ultimately The Passion’s greatest, most awe-inspiring achievement. (BBC)

There are three fatal flaws that damage Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ for nonbelievers: almost no characterization or narrative, a spectacularly large amount of violence and almost all of the Jews are evil Christ-killers. In Gibson’s mania to present the extent of Jesus’ suffering, character is lost, and by the end of the film, Jesus begins to resemble a piñata more than a man. The effect is that it is hard to understand quite what the point of all this is. It is never clear why he is so dangerous. It is never clear why he doesn’t take his numerous opportunities to speak up and prevent his death. It is never clear why everyone is so passionate about this presence, who, in the film, shows as much depth as Tyrese in 2 Fast 2 Furious. Oddly enough, the only deeply felt character is Pontius Pilate (Hristo Naumov Shopov), who comes off as nuanced but ultimately unwilling to risk a rebellion to save one madman. The film’s violence is physically exhausting and, ultimately, numbing; ultimately, these shots begin to resemble pornography, complete with a money shot. (SAW)

TOUCHING THE VOID

This story of a 1985 Andes mountain-climbing disaster comes courtesy of director Kevin MacDonald, whose film One Day in September won the Oscar for Best Documentary a few years ago. But in the vein of his last work, Touching the Void is not a clear-cut documentary; the events it examines are real, but MacDonald uses re-enactments of the story’s events to supplement a narrated account from the disaster’s survivors. The nut of their crisis: halfway through a climb, one of the two team members falls and breaks several leg bones. The other climber decides to lower his injured partner to safety, 300 feet of rope at a time, until he accidentally lowers him over a precipice. Knowing that soon both of them would tumble to their deaths, he makes a critical decision and cuts the cord. (BJS)

THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE

This film bears absolutely no resemblance to Japanime or any Disney movie, and is undoubtedly the best animated feature released in 2003. Sylvain Chomet’s film aims for a multinational texture and is largely devoid of dialogue, but nevertheless retains a distinctly French sensibility with a penchant for shrewd cultural allusions. A clubfooted widow, Madame Souza, trains her chubby grandson Champion to become a stick-thin cyclist with the help of bulky canine Bruno and her restless whistle. One day, Champion is mysteriously kidnapped, along with two of his fellow Tour de France riders, by amusingly ominous members of the French mafia. In hot pursuit, Madame Souza travels to the Dionysian metropolis Belleville, where she enlists the help of the eponymous triplets—former scat singers turned household-item instrumentalists—in liberating Champion from the clutches of a diminutive wine magnate. A marvelous fusion of color, music, and caricature, each splendid offbeat frame restores faith in traditional hand-drawn animation, and we have Chomet’s superbly macabre imagination to thank. (TIH)

TWISTED

Although a formulaic thriller at heart, director Philip Kaufman’s Twisted still manages to entertain, effectively playing on its setting in the San Francisco Harbor area to create a dark and seedy atmosphere. Combined with dank sexual undertones, the ambience gives Twisted the key components of a suspense film to hold the attention of a thrill-seeking audience. The mystery begins when homicide inspector Jessica Shepard (Ashley Judd) finds herself deeply intertwined in the new series of murders she is investigating. It turns out the victims are all past lovers, and soon Jessica is the primary suspect in the case. The police commissioner (Samuel Jackson) and Jessica’s partner (Andy Garcia) work hard to keep her on the case, but it becomes increasingly difficult with each new murder. Soon, Jessica’s own life becomes endangered. (HRM)

WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT

Like his hit CBS sitcom, Ray Romano’s first foray into the world of live action movies is straight out of the 1950s, in ways both amiably amusing and jarringly old-fashioned. Welcome to Mooseport finds Romano in the role of Handy Harrison, a small-town plumber whose most ambitious plans involve buying a new pick-up. As Handy’s long-suffering girlfriend of six years, Sally, Maura Tierney does a great impression of Patricia Heaton, Romano’s similarly impatient TV wife. Mooseport and Handy’s relationship are shaken up by the tumultuous arrival of the recently retired U.S. President, a Clinton-hating, Yale-loving jerk named Monroe “Eagle” Cole (Gene Hackman). Through a series of mind-numbing mix-ups (the less said, the better), Handy and the ex-president end up running against each other in the town’s mayoral race. Soon they’re playing a round of golf to decide not only their respective political futures, but who gets to date Sally. In one significant way, Mooseport diverges from its Leave It to Beaver sensibilities, ultimately telling its audience that government is best left to cheats and liars. It’s a message that dovetails nicely with the film’s in-your-face easygoingness, but one that seems distastefully simpleminded near the start of an election year that is likely to be one of America’s most ugliest and most bitter. (NKB)

—Happening was compiled by Nathan K. Burstein, Michelle Chun, Ben B. Chung, Julie S. Greenberg, Tiffany I. Hsieh, Lucy F. Lindsey, Halsey R. Meyer, Douglas G. Mulliken, Will B. Payne, Gina C. Schwartz, Sarah L. Solorzano, Benjamin J. Soskin, and Scoop A. Wasserstein.