City Guide
February 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.
Feb. 21: “Broken on All Sides: Race, Mass Incarceration, and New Visions for Criminal Justice in the U.S.” (Matthew Pillischer, 2012). Acclaimed documentary. Followed by a discussion led by Pillischer. 6-8:30 p.m.
Ann Arbor Docu Fest. Screening of a different documentary film every Mon. FREE. 929-9979. Café Ambrosia, 326 Maynard, 7 p.m.
Feb. 6: “The Greenest Building” (Jane Turville, 2011). Documentary exploring whether demolition of energy-inefficient buildings to replace them with green structures in the name of sustainability makes the best sense.
Feb. 13: “When the Drum Is Beating” (Whitney Dow, 2011). Documentary about the history of Haiti from independence from France to the 2010 earthquake, set to the music of Haiti’s most celebrated big band, Septentrional.
Feb. 20: “Urban Roots” (Mark MacInnis, 2011). Documentary about the spontaneous emergence of urban farming in Detroit.
Feb. 27: “The Great Culling: Our Water” (Paul >Wittenberger, 2010). Documentary about heavy metal toxicity and its relationship to the current rise in neurological disorders.
Ann Arbor Senior Center. FREE. 794-6250. 1320 Baldwin.
Every Mon.: “Movie Matinee,” with films TBA. 12:30-3 p.m.
Interfaith Center for Spiritual Growth. $5 suggested donation. 327-0270. 704 Airport Blvd., 8 p.m.
Feb. 16: “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.
Feb. 15: “Finding Joe” (Patrick Takaya Solomon, 2011). Documentary exploring mythologist Joseph Campbell’s study of the Hero’s archetypal journey, and its relevance to real lives. Followed by discussion.
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): $10 (children under 12, students with ID, seniors age 55 & older, & U.S. veterans, $8; MTF members, $7.50; films before 6 p.m., $7). Michigan Theater (unless otherwise noted), times TBA unless otherwise noted.
Opens Feb. 1: “Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013: Animated” and “Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013: Live Action.”
Feb. 1: “Sea of Love: A Night of Jean Painlevé’s Films and the Sounds of Yo La Tengo.” Ann Arbor Art Center program director Lauren Fretz shows and discusses several short films by experimental filmmaker Painlevé, whose films about the underwater lives of sea creative inspired the popular postpunk band Yo La Tengo to create a soundtrack for the films. Yo La Tengo performs at the Michigan Theater Feb. 8 (see Events listing). Pay what you can, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Feb. 1: “Sundance Shorts.” A collection of the best short films from the 2012 Sundance competition. Preceded by activities celebrating the 85th anniversary of the Michigan Theater and 30th anniversary of Russ Collins' tenure as executive director. $15 in advance at all Ticketmaster outlets and at the door. (800) 745-3000. 7 p.m.
Feb. 1-3: “Cinetopia: Best of the Fest.” Screening of 3 award-winning films from the Michigan Theater’s debut Cinetopia Film Festival last spring. Feb. 1 (4:30 p.m.): Hipsters (Valeriy Todorovskiy, 2008), a musical set in the 1950s about Russian teens who buck the tide of the drab Soviet Union in favor of poodle skirts and saxophones. Russian, subtitles. Feb. 2 (4:30 p.m.) & Feb. 3 (6 p.m.): I Am Not a Hipster (Destin Cretton, 2012), a drama about a singer-songwriter who’s uncomfortable with the indie scene he’s a part of in San Diego. Feb. 3 (3:30 p.m.): Missed Connections (Eric Kissack, 2012), a rom com about a guy who gets over a traumatic breakup by setting up blind dates with women on Craigslist and then “rescuing” the women when their date doesn’t show.
Feb. 4: “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (Wes Craven, 1984). Slasher horror classic. 7 p.m.
Feb. 6: “Songcatcher” (Maggie Greenwald, 2000). Drama about a musicologist researching and collecting Appalachian folk music in the mountains of western North Carolina. Followed by a talk by U-M musicology professor Mark Clague on the technological advancements in music recording. 7 p.m.
Feb. 9: “Helpless” (Byun Young-joo, 2012). When a woman disappears just before her wedding, her hapless fiancé and his detective cousin discover some unsettling truths about the corrupt economic system while looking for her. Korean, subtitles. FREE, 2 p.m.
Feb. 10-13: “Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013: Documentary.”
Feb. 11: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (Steve Barron, 1990). Live action adaptation of the adventure comics about 4 teenage anthropomorphic turtles who battle criminals and alien invaders from their home in the NYC sewers. 7 p.m.
Feb. 14: “An American in Paris” (Vincente Minnelli, 1951). Oscar-winning Gershwin musical about a GI in postwar Paris. Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron. 8 p.m.
Opens Feb. 15: “Amour” (Michael Haneke, 2012). Drama set in Paris about 2 retired music teachers whose marriage is tested when the woman has an attack. French, subtitles.
Feb. 16: “Sunny” (Kang Hyeong-cheol, 2011). Korea’s biggest box-office hit in 2011, this comedy follows high school classmates who meet after 25 years and relive memories of the 1980s. Korean, subtitles. FREE, 2 p.m.
Feb. 17: “Inside Job” (Charles Ferguson, 2010). Oscar-winning documentary about the corruption in the financial services industry that led to the international financial crisis that began in 2007. Followed by a Q&A with congressman John Dingell and University Bank CEO Stephen Lange Ranzini. Tickets free in advance via email to ranzini@universitybank, $10 (students, $8) at the door. 5 p.m.
Feb. 17 & 18: “Kung Fu Panda” (Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, 2008). Charming animated martial arts action comedy. Kids under 12, free. 1:30 p.m.
Feb. 18: “Pump Up the Volume” (Allan Moyle, 1990). Comic drama about an alienated high school student who starts an FM pirate radio station from his bedroom transmitter in the basement of his parents’ house. Christian Slater. 7 p.m.
Feb. 19 & 20: “Any Day Now” (Travis Fine, 2012). Drama set in the 1970s about a gay couple who fight to keep custody of an abandoned mentally handicapped teenager who comes to live with them.
Feb. 22: “Fly Fishing Film Tour” An anthology of cutting-edge films aimed at both entertaining and educating outdoor enthusiasts. $15 in advance at flyfilmtour.com, price TBA at the door. 7 p.m.
Feb. 25: “Friday” (F. Gary Gray, 1995). Ice Cube cowrote and stars in this comic stoner buddy film set in South Central L.A.
Feb. 26 & 27: “Sister” (Ursula Meier, 2012). Drama, set at a Swiss ski resort, about a boy who supports his sister by stealing from wealthy guests. French & English, subtitles.
Feb. 28: “Child 31” (Charles Kinnane, 2012). Short documentary about Mary’s Meals, the international charity that feeds 700,000 children every day. Followed by a Q&A with Mary’s Meals founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow. $5 (students with ID, $3) in advance at eventbrite.com and at the door. 7 p.m.
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.
Feb. 23: “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” (Alison Klayman, 2012). Portrait of China’s most famous international artist and its most outspoken domestic critic. Mandarin & English, subtitles.
U-M Center for Japanese Studies. FREE. 763-4301. U-M Natural Sciences Auditorium (830 North University, use entrance nearest the Diag), 7 p.m.
Feb. 23: “Jirokichi the Rat” (Ito Daisuke, 1931). Benshi (Japanese silent film narrator) Kataoka Ichiro narrates this samurai film as well as some silent short films TBA. With music spun by celebrated DJ arwulf arwulf.
UMMA. FREE. 764-0395. UMMA Auditorium (525 S. State), 7 p.m.
Feb. 19: “Fold Crumple Crush: The Art of El Anatsui” (Susan Vogel, 2011). Documentary, filmed over 3 years in Venice, Nsukka, and the U.S., about internationally renowned Nigerian artist El Anatsui, whose work is currently on display at UMMA. Also, a screening of Anatsui at Work: Eight Short Films, Vogel’s 2011 collection of short, instructive documentaries that depict Anatsui demonstrating his artistic process and discussing his theories on specific media as he creates one of his most ambitious works in Nsukka and installs it on the façade of the Palazzo Fortuny Museum in Venice. Anatsui gives a lecture at the Michigan Theater Feb. 7 (see Penny Stamps Lecture Series listing in the calendar).
U-M Romance Languages & Literatures. FREE. 764-5344. 2435 North Quad, 105 S. State, 7 p.m. Feb. 6: “I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You” (Marcelo Gomes & Karim Aïnouz, 2009). Hauntingly melancholy drama about a geologist who travels to an isolated region in northeastern Brazil to determine the route for a canal that will bring a lifeline to some of the region’s inhabitants while taking homes from others. Portuguese, subtitles.
Feb. 13: “Undertow” (Javier Fuentes León, 2009). A ghost story set on the Peruvian seaside about a married fisherman who struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male love, an outcast painter who has drowned at sea, and his town’s rigid conservatism. Spanish, subtitles.
Feb. 19: “Southern District” (Juan Carlos Valdivia, 2009). A self-absorbed and self-indulgent upper-class Bolivian family is threatened by social changes. Spanish, subtitles.
Feb. 27: “From the Land to Your Table” (Alejo Hoijman, Marcos Loayza, Josué Méndez, Carolina Navas, Paola Vieira, Alejandra Szeplaki, and Jorge Coira, 2009). Documentary in which directors from 7 different Latin American countries depict the diverse conditions of popular produce markets in their individual countries. Spanish, subtitles.
WCBN-FM. FREE admission. 763-3500. Arbor Brewing Company (114 E. Washington), 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 12: “Barbarella” (Roger Vadim, 1968). Futuristic sci-fi satire about a highly sexualized space adventurer. Jane Fonda.
