The emotional, even healing, power of music is only one of the themes that interests acclaimed Chinese director Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine, Temptress Moon) in his beautiful new film, Together. Other, equally important concerns include father-son relationships and the way China, in its headlong pursuit of modernization, is abandoning…
Talk about your insanely ambitious projects: Filmmaker Jacques Perrin got it in his head to record, on film, the many varieties of annual migration to be found in the avian world. Animal actors in general are tough enough, but birds in particular are recalcitrant and skittish subjects, particularly when they’re…
French putz Xavier (Romain Duris) is depressed. The poor guy lives in Paris, has Amélie’s Audrey Tautou as a girlfriend, eats gourmet vegan dinners prepared for him by his free-spirited mother, and is being set up for a graduate degree in economics by a friend of his father’s. “I don’t…
Like a contact improvisation piece that stretches over two decades, the Florida Dance Festival has morphed and sprung into new dimensions over its 25-year life span. With Sunday’s opening of Giovanni Luquini’s Slices, the festival kicks off its silver anniversary season — one that attests to its relevance and commitment…
The history of film in America is incomplete if it omits African Americans. Not playing servants or clowns. But actors in every role, directors, writers, and producers, for blacks had a cinema of their own that developed concurrently with the rise of Hollywood. “Close-Up in Black: African-American Film Posters,” a…
Sunday June 15 She may look happy when she body-slams her tonnage onto a pool of water, but deep inside, Lolita, the hardest-working killer whale in Miami, is suffering. At least that’s what the growing throng of activists who line the entrance to the Miami Seaquarium believe. Ever since she…
Saturday June 14 In a watery world off Key Biscayne, with its multimillion-dollar homes and condos, sits Stiltsville, one of the last vestiges of Miami untouched by the hand of “progress.” Yet, anyway. The seven remaining structures hovering above Biscayne Bay have survived hurricanes, but politics is another matter. Which…
Saturday June 14 Since 1989 El Redondel (The Circle) has thrilled thousands of children in Buenos Aires and around the world with its unique blend of comedy, dance, and outdoor theater. This year the Argentine troupe makes its debut at the International Hispanic Theater Festival with a performance for kids…
Friday June 13 Nightlife maven/fashion designer Gerry Kelly has good reason to make a spectacle out of his birthday. If criminal-turned-witness-protection-program-member Chris Paciello would have had his way, Kelly would have grandly celebrated his own birth for the last time in 1999. That fall Paciello ruminated on government wiretaps about…
Saturday June 14 The name says it all — sort of. The second annual C.R.A.P. Fest is not an ode to all things turd or a swipe at the performers. It’s just an acronym covering the sounds tonight at Tobacco Road: country, roots, alternative, and pop. Don’t be misled by…
Thursday June 12 Day chaos dies as koto sings harmonious release, tortured soul The ancient sounds of the Japanese koto take center stage tonight as the Toho Koto Society of Miami presents Yoshiko Carlton, a virtuoso master of the multistringed instrument. Carlton performs and teaches about the history of this…
What does it take to succeed on Broadway these days? Nobody has the exact answer to that question, but many think they do. One long-standing strategy is to import London hits. Another is to stuff the show with movie stars. A third, and perhaps the most widely used ploy, is…
One of the finer moments I have had looking at contemporary art was sitting on the floor between Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt in front of their House of Cards at the Miami Art Museum. The piece consists of a twelve-foot building made of giant playing cards, supported by wooden…
For the seventh year in a row, Miami gets to be the first to view the latest crop of homegrown films from Latin America’s biggest nation during the Brazilian Film Festival. Starting on June 4, a coupling of shorts and features will take over the Lincoln Theatre (541 Lincoln Rd.,…
Although radio man David Gilmore likes to refer to himself as the “purveyor of fascinating stories of the gay community,” his technical title for the past five years is that of executive producer for Outright Radio, an independent syndicated radio show that tells odd, wacky, and amazingly heartfelt stories of…
Just think: the country’s largest Hispanic theater festival existing in a state that cuts major funding for the arts in one fell swoop. Seven countries, four continents, and multiple languages converging on South Florida for two weeks despite orange-level terror alerts, heightened airport security, and indecipherable visa applications. Indeed it…
Thursday, June 5 Gimme Strength Surely over the years the venerable, High Renaissance-style Central Baptist Church (500 NE First Ave.) — which predates the City of Miami’s birth by two days in 1896 — has seen more than its share of powerful moments. But nothing like John Jacobs and the…
Saturday June 7 The Redland Farm and Garden Show is a perfect excuse to visit enticing Fruit and Spice Park (24801 SW 187th Ave., Homestead), home to historic structures and 32 acres of fertile farmland that produce more than 500 varieties of plants. The show will revolve around antique tractors,…
Thursday, June 5 Postpartum anxiety never felt so good. Now new mommies and daddies can alleviate their nerves about keeping their little bundle alive while shopping for cute outfits, as Bloomingdale’s in the Falls (8778 SW 136th St.) and Aventura (19555 Biscayne Blvd.) offer emergency tips in their seminars Lifesaving…
Thursday, June 5 Getting Religion Author talks of Judaism Temple Israel (137 NE 19th St.) welcomes the Provocateur of Judaism for a talk tonight. Don’t get all freaked. We’re not referring to Ariel Sharon or Yasser Arafat but to cultural critic Douglas Rushkoff, whom a newspaper recently graced with that…
Thursday June 5 City Theatre’s Summer Shorts festival has definitely grown in prominence and size since its first outing in 1996, but this year’s bill proves it hasn’t gotten too successful to ignore homegrown talent. The annual event solicits, develops, and produces a diverse group of short (one-act) comedies, dramas,…
Thursday, June 5 Who says all top-quality cultural events evaporate come summer in Miami? The moment hurricane season rolls around, temperatures linger in the upper nineties, and the humidity starts to wreak havoc with our hair, we thank the Lord that there’s still something to look forward to: the Coral…
