Happening

This group exhibition centers on four photographers whose work exploits environmental light in scenes of darkness, using long exposures and photosensitive paper, among other strategies. Featured artists include Nicolas Bernier, Lance Kemig, Eva Hidvegi Demjem and Paul Weiner. Their intimate knowledge of light and the way it paints pictures over time is central to photography, and the collected works showcase a side to the medium that is often overlooked. Runs through October 5. Free. Zeitgeist Gallery, 1535 Cambridge St., Inman Square. (RJK)

VISUALS | Splat Boom Pow!

Subtitled The Influence of Cartoons in Contempary Art, this exhibit at the Boston Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) examines three generations of popular contemporary artists who have used the images and techniques of cartoons to explore challenging contemporary issues. 2003 ICA Artist Prize winner Douglas R. Weathersby creates site-specific installations that use dust and detritus to meditate on the creative potential of waste and cleanliness, order and disorder. Runs through January 4. $5 students, free after 5 p.m. on Thursday. Boston ICA, 955 Boylston Street. (TR)

MUSIC | Dresden Dolls

This local duo (Amanda Palmer, piano and voice; Brian Viglione, drums), sometimes described for its theatric, piano-driven songs as “punk cabaret,” celebrates the release of its new record. Some may also recognize Palmer from her stint as the whitewashed statue/street performer in the Square, which helped earn her the title “Best Indie Art Ringleader” from the Boston Pheonix in 2002. 8 p.m. $12; 18+. Paradise Rock Club, 967-969 Commonwealth Ave. (TR)

MUSIC | Nada Surf

The NYC alt-rock trio is best known for its 1996 single “Popular,” whose video played on MTV. Weezer-influenced Ozma also appear. 8 p.m. $10 advance, $12 door; 18+. The Middle East Downstairs, 472 Massachusetts Ave. (SLS)

MUSIC | Musical Madder

Andrew Wang (violin) and Jessica Kinloch (piano) of the Isengard Duo, along with Sarah Carter (cello), present diverse and soulful chamber music, including works by Beethoven, Arensky, and Part. All three musicians are winners of major music competitions, and the formal evening concert should be enthralling. 7 p.m. $7 students, $12 general. Lowell Lecture Hall. (TR)

THEATRE | Antony and Cleoparta

A play full of classic Shakespeare elements, passionate love triangles, jealous women and tragic endings spell out a night on the town. The story of Cleopatra, one of history’s most alluring and powerful women, and Marc Anthony, who is forced to step into the shoes of Caesar, are played by local stars Anne Gottlieb and Robert Pemberton. Runs through October 12. Thursdays at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. $20 students. The Tremont Theatre, 276 Tremont St. (MAM)

THEATRE | Lady With A Lapdog

At Yalta, a man has an affair with a young, married woman (the “lady with a lapdog”). After the two return to their homes, the man becomes unable to forget his mistress. The play—based on a story by Anton Chekov—centers on the life-changing trip he takes to see her again. Writer/director Kama Ginkas makes his American debut. Through October 11. 8 p.m. $47-69, $12 for students on day of show. American Repertory Theater, 64 Brattle St. (TR)

sun, sept 28

MUSIC | Boston Conservatory Orchestra

Recognized worldwide for its musicianship, this student ensemble visits Cambridge with a full orchestra. With visiting conductor Federico Cortese, who recently conducted both the Scottish Symphony and the Slovenian Philharmonic, the program of Mozart should be nothing short of extraordinary. 8 p.m. $5 students, $12 adults. Sanders Theatre. (MAM)

MUSIC | Ravi Shankar

The multiple Grammy Award winner and Woodstock performer, dubbed “the godfather of world music” by George Harrison and knighted by the Queen of England, continues to spread the gospel about classical Indian music through his legendary sitar playing. Shankar is now joined by his daughter Anoushka. 7:30 p.m. $23-75. Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave. (TR)

mon, sept 29

MUSIC | ACLU College Freedom Tour

The much-hyped tour features interactive political forums led by infamous spoken-word artist Saul Williams and the even more infamous Larry Flynt, former publisher of Hustler. Concerts will be given by radical hip-hop activists Dead Prez, who have been under the radar ever since dropping their debut album Let’s Get Free, and DJ Kuttin Kandi of the 5th Platoon turntablist crew. 7 p.m. Free. Sanders Theatre. (RJK)

MUSIC | Howie Day

Maine-native folk-rocker Howie Day visits the Avalon Ballroom on tour in support of his second full-length album Stop All The World Now (Epic) and single “Perfect Time of Day.” Day for the first time replaces his on-the-fly loops and effects pedals with a full backing band on this tour. Expect an energetic audience, as Boston is Day’s second home and a major fanbase — the packaging of his Boston Music Award-winning debut album Australia even features a photo of his pre-major label days performing outside Harvard Square’s Gap. Jump Little Children and Charlotte Martin split the opening bill. Stop drops October 7. 7 p.m. $18.75 advance, all ages. Avalon, Landsdowne St. (BJD)

MUSIC | Black Dice

Experimental hardcore rock group Black Dice perform. Expect ear-splitting chaos and good times all around. Blood on the Wall and local electronic maverick Hrvatski also appear. 9 p.m. $10; 18+. T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline Street. (SLS)

MUSIC | Polysics

These Japanese art-punks perform their weird brand of spastic rock in support of their critically acclaimed album Neu. Go early to catch synth-pop band Freezepop. 8 p.m. $9 advance, $12 door, must be 18+. The Middle East Downstairs, 472 Massachussetts Ave. (SLS)

weds, oct 1

MUSIC | Aesop Rock

Rapper Aesop Rock squeezes every last drop of expressive juice from the English language by riddling his rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness flow with taught one-liners and idioms turned on their heads. He manufactures his songs from scratch, complimenting his urgent vocals with his own production. On his recently released Bazooka Tooth, he speaks on such topics as 9-11, violence in popular culture and mankind’s struggle against the machines of its creation. Ace takes the stage with Boston hip-hop legend Mr. Lif, and Def Jux collegue and collaborator El-P. $17.50 advance, $20 day of show; 18+. The Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. (MSH)

MUSIC | The Damn Personals

Boston indie band the Damn Personals headline. Attend for catchy, hummable tunes of the emo persuasion. Runner and the Thermodynamics, the Space Shots and American Car also perform. 9 p.m. $10; 18+. T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline Street. (SLS)

READINGS | The Best American Essays 2003

Each year The Best American Essays series collects some of the year’s most provocative writing under the supervision of such illustrious editors as Cynthia Ozick and Susan Sontag. This year, Anne Fadiman, editor of Phi Beta Kappa’s literary and intellectual quarterly The American Scholar, has put together a diverse selection of works on such subjects as driving lessons and animal rights. The Harvard Bookstore sponsors an event featuring Fadiman and a selection of the authors discussing the series and their respective works. 6 p.m. Free. First Parish Church, 3 Church Street. (MSH)

READINGS | Dershowitz and Chelser

Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan Dershowitz and Emerita Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies Phyllis Chesler discuss their recent books. Dershowitz’s much-discussed The Case for Israel responds to the arguments leveled by the many opponents of the Jewish state and its policies. In The New Anti-Semitism: The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It Chesler warns readers of what she perceives to be a recent rise in the popular acceptance of old-fashioned anti-Semitism. 7 p.m. Free. The Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St. (MSH)

thurs, oct 2

FILM | Chicago

Instead of painting the town this Thursday night, sit back and watch Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger on the big scene dancing the night away. Whether you love the dramatic story, have a secret (or not-so-secret) crush on one of the lovely stars or simply want to know what made this movie Oscar-worthy, don’t miss this Undergraduate Council sponsored event. 9:30 p.m. $1 students $3 adults. Science Center B. (MAM)

films

11’9’01

Eleven directors explore the terrorist attacks of two years ago for this feature-length anthology, made up of eleven short films lasting exactly eleven minutes, nine seconds and one frame each. The chapters jump freely along any number of tangents to the events of Sept. 11, 2001‚ from sharp political observations to moments of simple human loss. The film appears in American theaters at last, following a lengthy struggle to find a distributor here after being branded un-American. Though it was conceived of and assembled by a French television producer, September 11 has an international spirit: each renowned director hails from a different country. America is represented by Sean Penn, while Ken Loach, the acclaimed observer of social ills, comes out for Britain; Mira Nair, who won a Harvard Arts Medal this spring‚ represents India. (SWVL)

American Splendor

One of the most refreshing films of the year, American Splendor skillfully manipulates the medium of film in the same way last year’s Adaptation toyed with the basic structures of the screenplay. Splendor’s foundation is the life of chronically cantankerous graphic artist Harvey Pekar, whose series of autobiographic comic books in the ’70s and ’80s captured the innate complexities of a simple existence and ultimately revolutionized the comic book industry. These books had a number of different illustrators, and the varying styles are translated by directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini into various visual presentations of Pekar. For the majority of the film, he is portrayed by Paul Giamatti, who pulls no punches in presenting the artist in all his ill-tempered glory. At other times, the actual Pekar appears in the form of footage from David Letterman appearances or to comment on the film’s production. At other times, he is shown as no more than a pencil sketch. These interpretations intermingle to give a fully realized portrayal of this oddly compelling figure. By maximizing the potential of the motion picture art form, Splendor manages at once to revel in its constructions and transcend them. (BYC)

Camp

Todd Graff leaps offstage with his cinematic directorial debut, Camp. Hailed as the Fame for a new generation, it lives up to its promise as a feel-good, energetic flick about misfit kids who sing and dance their way to a sense of community at a stereotypical theater camp. The requisite gay boys bunk together, with Robin de Jesus’ Michael, a self-doubting Latino, the stand-out performance of the film. Joanna Chilcoat plays Ellen, a love-lorn teenage girl devoted to her gay male campmates, with grace and humor, and falls for the seemingly sole straight camper, Vlad (Daniel Letterle), the less-than-captivating Romeo of her romance. The theme is somewhat tired—we all know what it’s like to not fit in at high school—but the music and choreography are great. Besides, what could beat a cameo performance by Stephen Sondheim, replete with stretch limo? Only the uproarious reaction of these Broadway babies to his arrival at summer camp. (ABM)

Lost in Translation

Fulfilling the boundless promise exhibited in her debut effort, The Virgin Suicides, director Sofia Coppola crafts a sublime love letter to both Tokyo and transitory friendship with her newest film, Lost in Translation. Hollywood star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) has been shipped off to Japan to hawk Suntory whiskey to the natives. There he encounters Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), the beautiful wife of a photographer who spends much of her day staring out her window in hopes of somehow finding herself within the city’s skyline. The pair are soon discovering Tokyo culture and a profundity in their friendship that is lacking in their respective marriages. Johansson perfects the prolonged sulk, while Murray delivers his best performance yet, donning the hats of weary voyager, droll companion and cynical mentor with equal comfort. There are plenty of belly laughs to be had along the way, but what remains with the viewer is the significance of the fleeting connection that these two people share. Coppola dreamily lingers on every scene, adorning each of them with the sensation of the aftermath of a first kiss. (BYC)

The Magdalene Sisters

Set in an unconventioal nunnery in 1960s Ireland, The Magdalene Sisters is a film about hypocrisy, dogma and the horrible deeds committed as a result of religious hysteria. This fact-based story focuses on the lives of three women who, in one sense or another, are judged by the Catholic Church as having been “sinful” and, as a result, are essentially sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor and abuse at the hands of the Sisters of Mercy in what was known as a Magdalene Laundry. The sins of these women extend from the merely unthinkable—flirting with boys—to the purely satanic bearing a child out of wedlock or being raped by one’s cousin. In reprisal for these transgressions, the nuns of the Laundry subject the women to humiliation, threats of eternal damnation, and pure outright sadism, all of which all but force the women—many of whom had been entirely sexually innocent prior to their arrival—to sell themselves for the slightest opportunity of escape. Not so much an attack on Catholicism as all religion, this film depicts the needless abuses inflicted upon women in the name of faith. (SNJ)

The Secret Lives of Dentists

Alan Rudolph’s adaptation of Jane Smiley’s novella “The Age of Grief,” features projectile vomiting on the scale of Spirited Away but manages to make it charming. Three young girls, sickeningly cute even with the flu, steal the show from their parents, dentists and partners-in-practice David (Campbell Scott) and Dana Hurst (Hope Davis). The blond babes are also the only thing rooting David to the roost—he thinks he has witnessed his wife stealing a kiss backstage at her debut singing Verdi as an amateur soprano—and his visions of her infidelity envelop him as the movie progresses. These fantasies are spurred by David’s ethereal companion, Slater (Denis Leary), his most difficult patient, who follows him home in spirit to tap his repressed emotions. Through accomplished acting and exacting direction, the cast manages to achieve wonders with a somewhat limited script, presenting a look as if through a keyhole at the crossroads of a contemporary relationship. (ABM)

Swimming Pool

François Ozon’s Swimming Pool is a sexy, mysterious thriller that seamlessly weaves fantasy and reality into a single plotline which will leave viewers either completely confused or entirely satisfied. Sarah Morton, as played by English actress Charlotte Rampling, is an accomplished mystery author whose career has descended from critical acclaim to popularity among bored housewives and her peers’ mothers. Insecure and unable to write, she travels from London to her publisher’s house in southern France. Looking for peace and solitude, she instead encounters her publisher’s French daughter, Julie, whose reckless and promiscuous lifestyle is exactly what Sarah is trying to escape. Thrown together, the reluctant housemates enter an odd relationship in which both simultaneously disapprove of and are fascinated by the other. The result is a complex and subtle mystery that transcends standard thriller and mystery cliches. Swimming Pool will be rewarding for more cerebral viewers; for others, it may be hopelessly confusing. (SNJ)

Thirteen

Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) and Evie (Nikki Reed) have just become teenagers in Thirteen, the story of a nice dorky girl who befriends the most popular girl in junior high and is led into the seedy underbelly of teenage life: drugs, sex and petty crime. Co-written by Reed and based on her own experiences, Thirteen has a refreshingly true perspective: it doesn’t blame anyone for Reed’s interest in the cool clique, it just shows her desire to be a part of it. As Wood follows Reed deeper and deeper into the hole they create for themselves, the movie becomes more and more over the top, but the strong acting keeps it from becoming a cheap, cautionary after-school special. But the key is Holly Hunter, playing Wood’s divorced mother. She embodies a mother who is both easy to hate and rebel against and then, finally, to come back to in an ending that lets the audience forgive all her maternal mistakes in the aura of the true love she shares with her daughter. (Alex S. Wasserstein)

Under the Tuscan Sun

A bit of late-summer escapism unfolds on the other side of the pond, as a recent divorcee (Diane Lane) flees to Italy, purchases a villa and finds a mysterious foreign love interest. Adapted for the screen by Audrey Wells‚ who also produced and directed‚ from author Frances Mayes’ bestselling memoir, with a number of departures from the book. In the past, Wells has been responsible for such mixed fare as George of the Jungle, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, and The Kid; here she strives to transcend the cliches of the typical romantic romp. An array of complications and subplots flesh out the simple story of one woman falling in love with a countryside estate, a beautiful landscape and a new life. (SWVL)

Happening was edited by Ryan J. Kuo ’04 and compiled by Tina Rivers ’05, Sarah L. Solorzano ’05, Brian J. Distelberg ’05, Michael S. Hoffman ’06, Simon W. Vozick-Levinson ’06, Ben Y. Chung ’06, Alexandra B. Moss ’05, Steven N. Jacobs ’05, and Alex S. Wasserstein ’07.