City Guide
May Films
Everyone's a Critic: arborweb's culture blog
Ann Arbor District Library. FREE. 327-4555. AADL multipurpose room (lower level), 343 S. Fifth Ave. 7-8:30 p.m.
May 12: “Benjamin Franklin: Citizen of the World” (2006). Biography Channel documentary.
Ann Arbor Docu Fest. Screening of a different documentary film every Mon. FREE. 929-9979. Café Ambrosia, 326 Maynard, 7 p.m.
May 2: “Waste Land” (Lucy Walker, 2010). Documentary about the lives of garbage pickers at a landfill in Rio de Janeiro and an artist who creates his art out of recycled material.
May 9: “Psywar” (Metanoia Films, 2010). Documentary about the evolution of propaganda in the U.S. and the relationship between war, propaganda, and class.
May 16: “Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story” (Bill Kavanagh & Sylke Froechtenigt, 2007). Documentary about 3 families’ struggle for equal housing access in Yonkers (NY).
May 23: “Winnebago Man” (Ben Steinbauer, 2009). Funny, philosophical documentary about the filmmaker’s efforts to draw out a former broadcast journalist who’s living as a hermit atop a California mountain with his dog.
Interfaith Center for Spiritual Growth. $5 suggested donation. 327-0270. 704 Airport Blvd., 8 p.m.
May 21: “Spiritual Cinema.” Screening of a feature film or several shorts TBA with spiritual themes. Followed by discussion.
Jewel Heart Buddhist Center. FREE. 994-3387. Jewel Heart (1129 Oak Valley Dr. between Ann Arbor-Saline Rd. & Ellsworth), 7 p.m.
May 20: “Ghost World” (Terry Zwigoff, 2001). Comic drama about the unexpected repercussions on 2 teen girls, recently graduated from high school, when one of them plays a mean prank on a lonely middle-aged man. Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi.
Jewish Film Festival. Annual festival of documentary and feature films on Jewish themes. Tickets $10 (festival pass, $75). 971-0990. Michigan Theater, various times.
May 15: “Inside Hana’s Suitcase” (Larry Weinstein, 2009). Poignant documentary about 2 Jewish children growing up in pre-WWII Czechoslovakia, told from the perspective of a group of Japanese children prodded by a passionate, tenacious teacher to solve the mystery of a battered suitcase they received from Auschwitz. 2 p.m. “The Yankles” (David R. Brooks, 2010). An ex-con finds redemption by coaching an upstart, disorganized Orthodox Jewish baseball team. 8 p.m.
May 16: “Winston Churchill: Walking with Destiny” (Richard Trank, 2010). Documentary about Churchill’s years out of power and his early opposition to Hitler and Nazism. 1:30 p.m. “Howl” (Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman, 2010). Drama about the 1957 obscenity trial over Allen Ginsberg’s Beat epic “Howl.” James Franco, John Hamm. 5 p.m. “Ajami” (Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani, 2009). 5 stories about everyday life in a Christian/Muslim Palestinian neighborhood in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa metropolis. Arabic & Hebrew, subtitles. 8 p.m.
May 17: “Ingelore” (Frank Stiefel, 2009). Documentary about the filmmaker’s mother, a German Jew born deaf in 1924 who escaped the Nazis. Hebrew & Russian, subtitles. Followed by "Just Like Home" (Alexander Gentelev, 2009), a documentary about a couple who run an orphanage for Jewish children in Moscow. 1:30 p.m. “Seven Minutes in Heaven” (Omri Givon, 2008). Award-winning neo-noir thriller about a woman recovering from a terrorist bus bombing. Hebrew, subtitles. 5 p.m. “The Human Resources Manager” (Eran Rilkis, 2010). Seriocomic drama about a human resources manager at Israel’s largest bakery who escorts a suicide-bomb victim back to her homeland. 8 p.m.
May 18: “Anita” (Marcos Carnevale, 2009). Drama about a young Jewish Argentine woman with Down syndrome gets lost in Buenos Aires when a car bomb explodes outside the Jewish Community Center. Spanish, subtitles. “Saviors in the Night” (Ludi Boeken, 2009). Gritty drama about a Jewish family hiding out with a Catholic farm family in WWII Germany. Based on Marga Spiegel’s best-selling memoir. 5 p.m. “Holy Rollers” (Kevin Asch, 2010). A Brooklyn youth from an Orthodox Jewish community is lured into becoming an Ecstasy dealer by his pal who has ties to an Israel drug cartel. 8 p.m.
May 19: “Brothers” (Igaal Niddam, 2010). An American lawyer and religious scholar, who comes to Jerusalem to defend the rights of Torah students, stays with his brother, a secular Jew who has no patience for religious people. Hebrew, subtitles. Followed by a discussion led by MSU Jewish and Muslim studies professor Marc Bernstein. 1:30 p.m. “The Matchmaker” (Avi Nesher, 2010). Coming-of-age tale, set in 1968 Haifa, about a teenage boy who gets a summer job with a Holocaust survivor who makes ends meet by brokering marriages and smuggling goods. Hebrew, subtitles. 5 p.m. “Nora’s Will” (Mariana Chenillo, 2008). Comic drama about a man who discovers that the woman he divorced after 30 years of marriage has committed suicide. Spanish, subtitles. 8 p.m.
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.
Apr. 29-May 5: “Potiche” (Francois Ozon, 2010). Comedy set in 1977 about a trophy wife who takes over the family business when angry workers kidnap her husband. French, subtitles. Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu.
May 1-5: “Le Quattro Volte” (Michelangelo Frammartino, 2010). An old goatherd lives out his last days in a quiet mountain village. Italian, subtitles.
May 2: “Bag It” (Susan Beraza, 2010). Documentary about a man whose life is unexpectedly changed when he decides to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store. 7 p.m. “Lunch Line” (Michael Graziano & E. Joong-Eun Park, 2010). Documentary exploring the larger context of the current debate over school lunch reform. 9:15 p.m.
May 3: “Urban Roots” (Mark MacInnis, 2011). Documentary about the spontaneous emergence of urban farming in Detroit. 7 p.m. “Planeat” (Shelly Lee Davis, 2011). Documentary about the health and environmental costs of a diet based on meat and dairy products. 9:15 p.m.
May 4: “Vanishing of the Bees” (George Langworthy & Maryam Henein, 2009). Documentary about the sudden vanishing of honey bees around the world known as colony collapse disorder. 7 p.m. “On Coal River” (Francine Cavanaugh & Adams Wood, 2010). Documentary about a former coal miner who embarks on a quest to have his granddaughter’s school relocated to protect it from a toxic waste facility. 9:15 p.m.
May 6 & 8: “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” (Werner Herzog, 2010). 3-D documentary about the carefully preserved Chauvet Cave in southern France that contains the earliest known cave paintings. The general public is not allowed to enter because of toxic levels of radon and carbon dioxide.
May 10: “Hollywoodn’t” (Doyle Landamer, 2011). Premiere of this comic documentary about 2 young guys’ 16-year effort to make a film. $7 in advance at ticketweb.com and at the door. 7:30 p.m.
May 13-19: “Everything Must Go” (Dan Rush, 2010). A relapsed alcoholic, who loses his wife and job, holds a yard sale in an attempt to start over. Will Farrell.
May 15: “Sherlock, Jr.” (Buster Keaton, 1924). Keaton stars as a projectionist-turned-amateur-detective in this brilliant and hilarious silent classic. Kids 12 & under, free. 1:30 p.m.
May 20-26: “In a Better World” (Susanne Bier, 2010). Drama set in small-town Denmark and a refugee camp in Africa about the extraordinary but risky friendship between 2 Danish families.
May 27-31: “The Beaver” (Jodie Foster, 2011). Drama that stars Mel Gibson as a troubled husband and executive who starts using a beaver hand puppet has his only means of communication.
State Theater. For complete, updated schedule, see michtheater.org/state.php or call 761-8667. Tickets $9 (students, seniors, & kids, $7; matinees, $6; Michigan Theater members, $6.50). Times TBA unless otherwise noted.
Temple Beth Emeth “Movie Tuesday.” FREE. 665-4744. 2309 Packard, 1 p.m. Followed by discussion. Snacks. Child care available with advance notice.
May 17: “Walk on Water” (Eytan Fox, 2004). When a Mossad special agent assigned to track down a Nazi war criminal poses as a tour guide to the criminal’s grandchildren, a grudging friendship and a trip to Germany lead to self-examination. Hebrew, German, and Arabic, subtitles.
U-M Japanese Animation Film Society. U-M campus admission policy: No one under 18 admitted without an adult. FREE. umichanime.com. Michigan Union Pond Room, 4 p.m.-midnight.
May 28: “Animania.” Monthly anime-a-thon of feature films and episodes from Japanese TV series.
WCBN-FM. FREE admission. 763-3500. Arbor Brewing Company (114 E. Washington), 8:30 p.m.
May 11: “1991: The Year Punk Broke” (Dave Markey, 1992). Documentary about Sonic Youth’s 1991 European tour, with appearances by Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland, the Ramones, and other bands.
