City Guide
February Films
Everyone's a Critic: arborweb's culture blog
Interfaith Center for Spiritual Growth. $5 suggested donation. 327-0270. 704 Airport Blvd., 8 p.m.
Feb. 13: “Spiritual Cinema.” Screening of a feature film or several shorts TBA with spiritual themes. Followed by discussion.
Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice “Muslim Movie Series.” FREE. 663-1870. St. Clare’s Episcopal Church/Temple Beth Emeth, 2309 Packard, 7 p.m.
Feb. 11: “Journey into America” (Craig Considine, 2009). Documentary about Muslim scholar Akbar Ahmed and his trip with students across the U.S. to explore the ways American identities have changed since 9/11.
Michigan Theater Foundation. Unless there is a live show in the main theater, 2 or 3 different films are shown, usually twice, almost every night. For complete, updated schedules, see michtheater.org or call 668-TIME. Tickets (unless otherwise noted): $9 (children, students, seniors, & veterans, $7; MTF members, $6.50; Wed., $6). Michigan Theater, times TBA unless otherwise noted.
Feb. 1: “8 1/2” (Federico Fellini, 1963). Unique, semiautobiographical film about a director’s struggles while trying to make a movie. Marcello Mastroianni. Italian, subtitles.
Feb. 1 & 2: “Skin” (Anthony Fabian, 2008). Biopic about Sandra Laing, a South African woman whose race was classified by the government as white and then later reclassified as black. “The Damned United” (Tom Hooper, 2009). Biopic about the contentious 44-day reign of the abrasive Leeds United football coach Brian Clough.
Feb. 1-4: “Crazy Heart” (Scott Cooper, 2009). Drama about an alcoholic country singer who forms a relationship with a sympathetic young journalist. Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Feb. 5-11: “A Single Man” (Tom Ford, 2009). Drama that stars Colin Firth as an L.A. English professor who tries to go about his typical day after the sudden death of his partner.
Feb. 8: “Z” (Costa-Gavras, 1969). Celebrated Oscar-winning political thriller inspired by the assassination of the Greek left-wing politician Gregoris Lambrakis. Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant. French, subtitles.
Feb. 12: “Chops” (Bruce Broder, 2009). U-M alum Broder’s award-winning documentary about a group of extraordinarily talented Jacksonville (FL) high school jazz musicians who make it to the Essentially Ellington competition at Lincoln Center in New York City. Director Broder introduces the films and hosts a Q&A after the screening. 7 p.m.
Feb. 12 & 16: “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” (Rebecca Miller, 2009). Drama that stars Robin Wright Penn as a middle-age woman who suffers a nervous breakdown when her much older husband tries to force her into a retirement home.
Feb. 13: “A State of Mind” (Daniel Gordon, 2004). See review, p. 000. Documentary about 2 North Korean girls who train for the privilege of performing in front of Kim Jong Il at the spectacular Mass Games. Sponsored by the U-M Center for Korean Studies. FREE, 2 p.m.
Feb. 14: “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial” (Steven Spielberg, 1982). Sci-fi classic about a young boy who befriends a creature from outer space. Kids age 12 & under, FREE. 1:30 p.m. “Pillow Talk” (Michael Gordon, 1959). Kitschtastic rom com about a prim interior decorator who doesn’t like sharing her telephone party line with a bad-boy songwriter neighbor whose calls to his many lady friends tie up the phone and offend her refined sensibilities. Doris Day, Rock Hudson. 6 p.m.
Feb. 14 & 18: “La Danse” (Frederick Wiseman, 2009). Behind-the-scenes documentary about the Paris Opera Ballet. French, subtitles.
Feb. 15: “The Seven Samurai” (Akira Kurosawa, 1954). Classic story of a 16th-century village that hires professional tough guys to stave off marauding bandits. Japanese, subtitles.
Feb. 19-24: “Oscar Nominated Short Films 2010.”
Feb. 22: “Black Orpheus” (Marcel Camus, 1959). Oscar-winning retelling, set in Rio during Carnival, of the ancient Greek myth about a musician who pursues his love into the underworld.
Feb. 24: “William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe” (Emily & Sarah Kunstler, 2009). Documentary about the directors’ father, the controversial civil rights lawyer whose clients included Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Feb. 26 & other dates TBA: “The Last Station” (Michael Hoffman, 2009). Biopic about Tolstoy’s final year and his troubled marriage. Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren.
Feb. 28: “My Fair Lady” (George Cukor, 1964). Multi-Oscar-winning film version of Lerner & Loewe’s musical adaptation of Shaw’s Pygmalion. An arrogant professor sets out to transform a coarse street vendor into a refined lady. This is a sing-along screening with lyrics on screen. Also, a costume parade, goodie bags, and more. Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway. 1:30 p.m.
Projectorhead/U-M Screen Arts & Cultures. FREE. 615-0445. U-M Museum of Art Helmut Stern Auditorium, 525 S. State, 7 p.m.
Feb. 4: “Secret Museums” (Peter Woditsch, 2009). Documentary about erotic art that is often hidden away in museum cellars, warehouses, bank safes, and private homes.
Feb. 11: “The Hermitage Dwellers” (Aliona van der Horst, 2003). Documentary about people who work in Russia’s renowned Hermitage Museum.
Feb. 18: “Russian Ark” (Aleksandr Sokurov, 2002). Documentary shot in a single 90-minute take that winds its way through the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
Temple Beth Emeth. FREE. 665-4744. 2309 Packard, 1 p.m.
Feb. 9: “A Price above Rubies” (Boaz Yakin, 1998). An Orthodox Jewish wife rebels against the constraints of her life. Renee Zellweger.
U-M Center for Chinese Studies. Chinese Documentary Film Series. FREE. 764-6308. Angell Hall Auditorium A (entrance at the Fishbowl on the east side of the bldg.), 7 p.m. Mandarin, subtitles.
Feb. 6: “Daughters of Wisdom” (Bari Pearlman, 2007). Documentary about life in rural Tibet seen through the eyes of some 300 monastic nuns.
Feb. 20: “At Home in the World” (Wu Wenguang, 1995). Documentary about 5 Beijing artists featured in Wenguang’s acclaimed Bumming in Beijing who are now scattered around the world.
U-M Center for Russian & East European Studies. FREE. 764-0351. UMMA Helmut Stern Auditorium, 525 S. State. 6-7:30 p.m.
Feb. 7: “Dekalog po Dekaloga” (2008). Screening of 4 of a series of 10 documentary films inspired by Krysztof Kieslowski’s Decalogue series of films about sin in the lives of ordinary Warsaw citizens. Polish, subtitles.
U-M Japanese Animation Film Society. U-M campus admission policy: No one under 18 admitted without an adult. FREE. umichanime.com. MLB, 812 E. Washington at Thayer, 10 a.m.-midnight.
Feb. date TBA: “Animania.” Monthly anime-a-thon of feature films and episodes from TV series.
U-M Museum of Art. FREE. 764-0395. UMMA Helmut Stern Auditorium, 525 S. State, different times.
Feb. 5, 7, 12, 14, 19, 23, 26, & 28: “Herb and Dorothy.” Documentary about postal clerk Herb Vogel and librarian Dorothy Vogel, who built a huge contemporary art collection with their modest income. In conjunction with the current exhibit The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States. 3 p.m. (Sun.) & 9:30 p.m. (Fri. & Tues.).
WCBN-FM. FREE admission. 763-3500. Arbor Brewing Company (114 E. Washington), 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 10: “Ladies & Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains” (Lou Adler, 1982). Comic drama about a very inexperienced all-female punk trio that becomes an overnight sensation. Diane Lane, Marin Kanter, Laura Dern.
