Elevator to the Gallows
Fri., Oct. 6 – Thu. Oct. 12
Oak St. Cinema
Kicking off the French New Wave of moden cinema and debuting the career of (then, only 24 years old!) Louis Malle, here’s a rare chance to see this 1957 classic. Unavailable on video or dvd, this 35mm new print is film noir with an existentialist twist. Two lovers, Julien (Maurice Ronet) and Florence (Jeanne Moreau) plan the “perfect murder” to do away with her husband. Of course, things don’t go as planned and there are unexpected complicaitons–like the juvenile delinquent and his wild girlfriend, who steal Julien’s cool convertible (with his gun in the glove box). Their joyride results in more mathem. This film launched Moreau into international stardom. But, it may be most known for its film score: Improvised by jazz giant Miles Davis and his group, it’s the most famous jazz film score ever made. Revel in the black-and-white atmosphere of images and bebop, light and shadow of celluloid and the reckeless human heart.
$8 gen;$6/seniors-students; $5, members Nightly 7:30 pm, Sat/Sun matinee 5:30 pm, Oak Street Cinema, 309 Oak St., off Washington Ave.SE, East Bank of U of M, MInneapolis (612)341-3134 www.mnfilmarts.org
The Hero
Sat., Oct. 7
Walker Art Center
Continuing to bring international cinema to the Twin Cities, Walker Art Center premiers this fictional debut from documentary film-maker ZeZe Gamboa.This understated film centers on two characters. Victorio, a solider, returning from the civil war that’s torn Angola for decades:with no idea where his family is, homeless, and without a leg, blown off by a landmine. A 12-year-old boy,Manu, longing for the father
that left for war years earlier. Their two stories parallel with a country struggling to renew itself. Gamboa builds on moments of experience that resonate with universal truths even as they also reveal the legacies of colonialism in African through African eyes. Vitorio is played by Sengalese actor Makena Diop, who turns in a subtle performance of vulnerability, loss, tenacity and hope. Milton Coelho’s Manu could be a young man in North Minneapolis: bright, adrift, longing for a future that it seems society doesn’t have for him. There’s politcs in The Hero, but, it’s in details: the bits of radio broadcasts in every home, a teacher’s strike that closes Manu’s school, a glimpse of ruling elites including an opportunistic poltician who sees Victorio as useful PR. Zeze Gamboa’s film has an understated power and its story of one war hero’s challenge to find a place in civillian society echoes in our own country. The Hero received the Grand Prize, World Dramatic Competition at Sundance.
$8 gen/$6 member, Walker Art Ctr. 1750 Hennepin,(next to Sculpture Garden), Minneapolis, (612)375-7600, www.walkerart.org
ANTI-Columbus Day: A Celebration of Indigenos People
Sun., Oct. 8
Fine Line
Music is the universal language and an ideal way to transform the anachronism of Columbus Day. Some of the riskiest TC musicans speak truth to power with 21st century spoken word/rap/hip hop fusions and drawing on music from soul to Native American. The bill includes: Wise Intelligent(Poor Righteous Teachers); I Self Devine, whose take-no-prisoners style draws on rock and R & B while holding to hip hop; Los Nativos lights a fire; Culture Shock Camp and Def Child Produx complete a night certain to shake you to the core.
$10adv/$12 door, Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Ave. North, downtown Minneapolis
Carpathian Folk Quartet
Sun., Oct. 8
Cedar Cultural Center
Eastern European music continues to be an influence on popular music like Deep Forest, Sarah McLaughlin and others–but should also to be appreciated in its own right. Hear this group from Hungary play the folk music that inspired 20th century classical composer, Bela Bartok. Various forms of the violin, bass and the Hungarian national instrument, the cimbalom, a 125-string instrument similar to the dulcimer, create the quintessential sound of the gypsies.
$15 adv/$18 door, Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis, (612) 338-2674
Ain’t Misbehavin’
Through Nov. 5
Penumbra Theatre
Enjoy the gorgeous spectacle of dance–the Lindy Hop and Charleston–the
glory of swing, and remeberance of a jazz legend Thomas ‘Fats’
Waller. Ain’t Misbehavin’ is set in the Harlem Renaissance. a time of
African American creative fervor in all the arts. Waller was one of the
stars of the time, a ‘stride” pianist and composer, the first jazz
soloist to perform at Carnegie Hall. His music embodied the swing beat
and the blues sensiblity of sorrow leavened by humor and the enjoyment
of life. The play show’s a time of ‘rent parties’, bootleggers, and the
heyday of the Cotton Club and the Savoy Ballroom. Penumbra is the oldest
ongoing African American Theatre company and brings a roster of talent to
this production, including: T.Michael Rambo, Jevetta Steel, Aimee Bryant, and Thomasina Petrus .Ain’t Misbehavin’ is a marvelous recreation of a time, place and cultural expression.
$15-$30, Wed. 10 am/7:30 pm; Thur. Fri. Sat., 8 pm; Sun. 2 pm/7:30 pm, Penumbra Theatre, 270 North Kent, St. Paul, (651)224-3180, www.penumbratheatre.com
David Daniels & Talkin’Roots Crew CD Release
Sun., Oct. 15
Arcadia Cafe
David Daniels began the Reggae Theatre Ensemble, creating a series of plays dealing with convergences of the political and the personal. Then, leaping off into one-man solo performance a la Spaulding Gray, he created Black Hippie Chronicles, a journey of self that encompasses a roadtrip to Alaska. On his debut CD, Talkin’ Roots joins his Rasta-American Everyman storyteller with TC musicians. Their second collaboration, “4:20 Report” has the band in fine form and Daniels’ even more ambitious in his anthemic tales like “Greenwich Village-San Francisco” and wailing cry in our time of greed and war, “Jah Forgive.” He remembers one of his personal heroes, Minnesota senator and the first “peace candidate” of 1968, Eugene McCarthy in “Ode to a Statesman Poet.” The CD will be availabe at the performance.
$10, Arcadia Cafe, on East Franklin Ave. at Nicollet, South MInneapolis, www.myspace.com/talkinroots
Between Earth & Heaven; Seamus Leonard
Through Oct. 28
Susan Hensel Design
Seamus Leonard unites visions of philosophy, politics and mystery on
handmade paper. His manuscript pages are reminiscent of the Middle Ages,
a mysterious incunabula. He worked in inked image and text with flashes
of color. He describes each manuscript page as an intuitive expression,
based on deep reading, meditation and research.
On Friday, Oct. 20 at 7 pm, enjoy an extension of this exhibit, The Gods Must
be Cranky,” an evening of readings with Michele Campbell, Haley Lasche, Jen March, Alison Morse and Ace Moore. The evening is free, with light refreshments available.A chapbook of these writings is in progress.
All events at Susan Hensel Design, 3441 Cedar Ave.S, Minneapolis, www.susanhenseldesign.com/The Gallery.html, (612) 722-2324
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