Friday, Dec. 10

VES | Stephen Prina of The Red Krayola

The event honoring newly-appointed VES professor Stephen Prina will feature a special guest. The concert and film screening will be followed by a reception with the honorees. Free admission. 11 p.m. The Carpenter Center. (ECMV)

THEATER | The Pirates of Penzance

The Pirates of Penzance is one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular comic operettas. Frederick is a duty-bound young man mistakenly apprenticed to a dreaded band of pirates called the Pirates of Penzance. When he turns 21, Frederick decides to leave the band and devote his life to the extermination of the pirates, but dewey-eyed maidens, bungling policemen and soft-hearted pirates thwart his efforts in a hilarious, topsy-turvy plot. Tickets available through the Harvard Box Office, evening shows for $8 and matinees for $6. Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Agassiz Theatre. (NNH)

DANCE | Harvard Ballet Company’s Classic n’ Country

HBC, an entirely student run company with 52 members, will hold its first of two yearly performances starting this Friday. Shows will be held at the Rieman Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets available through the Harvard Box Office for $5 with a Harvard I.D. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Memorial Church. (NNH)

MUSIC | Behold That Star!

The Kuumba singers present their annual Christmas concert. The singers are a 90-member choir dedicated to the expression of black creativity and spirituality through song. They are currently under the direction of Sheldon K. X. Reid ’96. Tickets are free through the Harvard Box Office. Friday and Staurday at 8 p.m. Memorial Church. (NNH)

THEATER | Whose Wife is it Anyway?

From the team that brought Noises Off to Harvard last year, Whose Wife is it Anyway? is a clever political farce/sex comedy by a master of the genre. A protracted hit in the West End of London and on Broadway, the show combines elements of Yes, Minister and Fawlty Towers. It’s certain to leave you giddy. Tickets are $7 through the Harvard Box Office. Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Also Dec. 16, at 8 p.m., Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and Dec. 18 at 2 p.m. Winthrop JCR. (NNH)

MUSIC | The Music of Sir Harrison Birtwistle

Enjoy the music of Blodgett Distinguished Artist Birtwhistle, as performed by pianist Aleck Karis and soprano Tony Arnold. Pieces will include “26 Orpheus Elegies,” “Nenia: The Death of Orpheus,” “Harrison’s Clocks” and “Verses.” Free and open to the public. Friday at 8 p.m. John Knowles Paine Concert Hall. (ECMV)

Saturday, Dec. 11

FASHION | Haute

Hone your sense of style, see the inside of the Faculty Club, and help out a worthy cause while you’re at it. Women IN Color presents a fashion show highlighting Harvard styles. All proceeds go straight to the non-profit Dress for Success, which helps underprivileged women aquire job interviewing skills. General admission tickets $10 at the Harvard Box Office. 7 p.m. at the Faculty Club. (ECMV)

MUSIC | Christmas Holiday Concert

Take a break from your work to get in the Christmas spirit by enjoying some traditional music. Harvard’s oldest choral ensembles, the Radcliffe Choral Society and the Harvard Glee Club, will perform a mix of sacred and secular holiday music. Tickets at the Harvard Box Office, $7 for students and seniors, $14 regular. 8 p.m. First Congregation Church. (ECMV)

CONCERT CLASS | An Exploration of Improvisation with Harvard Jazz Bands and Guest Jane Ira Bloom (Kayden Visiting Artist)

Learning From Performers hosts an evening with soprano saxophonist and composer Jane Ira Bloom, known for her flexible and innovative approach to jazz. “Sometimes I throw sound around the band like paint and other times I play and feel as if I was carving silence like a sculptor,” says Bloom. Come find out just how good you have to be for the International Astronomical Union to name an asteroid after you. General admission tickets at the Harvard Box Office, $5 students and seniors, $8 regular. 8 p.m. Lowell Lecture Hall. (ECMV)

FESTIVAL | Feast: A Cultural Extravaganza

Celebrate Asian culture with the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association. The evening will include dancing and dulcimers, wushu and Filipino tinikling, not to mention all kinds of Asian food. General admission is $7; get your tickets at the Harvard Box Office. 8 p.m. Lowell House dining hall. (ECMV)

DANCE | The Adams House Swing

Show off your jitterbugging and jiving. The Adams House Committee hosts a general admission dance. Tickets at the Harvard Box Office. $15 regular; $25 for couples. 10 p.m. Adams House. (ECMV)

Sunday, Dec. 12

MUSIC | Cub Country, Great American, The Blind King, Iowa 80

Jets to Brazil and Handsome veteran Jeremy Chatelain in his newest venture, Cub Country, which he describes as a chance to feature his own songs. With Great American in one of their last shows, The Blind King, and Iowa 80. Tickets available through Ticketmaster or The Middle East Box Office, $9. 18+. 9 p.m. Upstairs at the Middle East. (MFK)

Monday, Dec. 13

FILM | Harvard Film Archive: Pirates of the Carribean and Love Me

All the sword-fighting, daughter-kidnapping, Johnny Depp-featuring fun of last year’s Pirates followed by the recent French film Love Me, director Laetitia Masson’s story about a young French girl who finds herself without memories or direction in an American airport. Call the Harvard Film Archive at (617) 495-4700 for admission details. Pirates at 6:30 p.m. and Love Me at 9:15 p.m. The Carpenter Center Main Auditorium. (MFK)

Tuesday, Dec. 14

FILM | Harvard Film Archive: Wings of Desire and A Lesson in Love

Wings of Desire, a predominantly German-language film about the angels who watch over Berlin and the one who eventually decides to become mortal after falling in love with a trapeze artist, was the original City of Angels. It’s screened here with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman’s clever comedy Love Me. Call the Harvard Film Archive at (617) 495-4700 for admission details. Wings of Desire at 7 p.m. and A Lesson in Love at 9:15 p.m. The Carpenter Center Main Auditorium. (MFK)

BOOKS | Susanna Clarke

“Magnificent and original” raves the Washington Post about Clarke’s debut novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which has been both critically acclaimed and publicly adored. See her read from it at this event at the Harvard Book Store. Free and open to the public. Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Harvard Book Store. (MFK)

Wednesday, Dec. 15

FILMS | Whale Rider

Niki Cairo’s inspirational story features Keisha Castle-Hughes in the role that made her a star. As Paikea, a young girl of the Maori tribe of New Zealand, Castle-Hughes confronts issues of tradition, family, race and gender in her struggle to prove herself to her grandfather. Free and open to the public. Wednesday at 7 p.m. Common Room, Center for the Study of World Religions, 42 Francis Ave. (MFK)

Thursday, Dec. 16

MUSIC | The Royal Pop Collective Christmas Tour 2004

The Royal Pop Collective’s first-ever Christmas Tour comes to the Middle East. With Aberdeen City, Faces on Film, Silent Service, MYTVS and Cyanide Valentine. Tickets $10. 18+. 9 p.m. The Middle East Upstairs. (MFK)

Ongoing

MUSIC | Christmas Revels

This year’s Revels, directed by Patrick Swanson and George Emlen, brings French/Canadian cheer with music, dance, and rituals in celebration of the winter solstice. There will be fancy fiddling, clog dancing, bone playing, and audience participation in singing both carols and rounds. Tickets available through the Harvard Box Office, for $42/32/20. Shows through Dec. 19 in Sanders; normally 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. and Thursday at 7:30pm. (NNH)

VISUALS | Feed: Artists + Digital Influence

Here digital technology and art converge as multi-disciplinary artists exhibit their work that is cutting-edge in more ways than one. Through Dec. 11. Call (617) 879-7333 for more information. Massachusetts College of Art, 621 Huntington Ave. (VMA)

FILM | Lions of the Kalahari

Escape to the deserts of Botswana and for a moment enter into the jungle world of the Kalahari lion. Brought to you very realistically thanks to the 180-degree dome film screen at the Museum of Science. Daily through Feb. 17. Science Park. (VMA)

VISUALS | Dependent Objects

The Busch-Reisinger Museum presents an exhibition of sculpture by artists who were ambivalent toward the media. “Dependent Objects” presents the works of German artists beginning in the 1960’s including works by Franz Erhard Walther, Hans Haacke, Charlotte Posenenske and Gerhard Richter. Through January 2. The Busch-Reisinger. The Fogg Museum, 32 Quincy Street. (JSG)

VISUALS | To Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty

The Winthrop collection has traveled around the world and is back at the Fogg in the exhibit “To Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop.” The exhibition features painting and sculpture by such artists as Blake, Degas, Gericault, Ingret, Monet, Pissaro and Renoir. Fogg Museum. (JSG)

THEATER | The Provok’d Wife

John Vanburgh’s play, currently directed by Mark Wing Davey, tells the story of Brutes, who, flanked by a squadron of drunken rakes, debauched aristocrats and lascivious French maids, turns English Restoration-era London into a battleground for love and fidelity. Tickets available through the Loeb Box Office. Tickets sell for $62-72 and $36-49 discounted. Day of show student rush tickets are $12. Through Dec. 26 at the Loeb. (NNH)

VISUALS | Huyghe and Corbusier: Harvard Project

This exhibit features a multidisciplinary project by Pierre Huyghe that explores Le Corbusier’s vision for the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts. Components include a puppet opera, a temporary architectural extension, and a video work based on the puppet opera, which will run continuously in the Sert Gallery. Sponsored by the Harvard University Art Museums, VES, and GSD. Free and open to the public through April 17 at the Carpenter Center Sert Gallery. (NNH)

Films

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Bridget (Renee Zellweger) is back and this time she’s counting carbs, not calories. There are some other surface changes in the life of the world’s favorite singleton: she’s shacked up with the dreamy Darcy (Colin Firth) and is no longer, well, single. But the script is furnished with the same jokes from the first movie, except the second time the “watch Bridget fall flat on her face in a very short skirt” routine is less vaudeville and more ritual humiliation. The movie seems to perpetuate, rather than poke fun at, the ridiculous conventions of the Hollywood romantic comedy. There are some glimpses of the old Bridget: smart, funny, wholly lacking in decorum. But these moments are outnumbered by the formulaic structure of the narrative, to the point where we’re not sure whether this is Notting Hill, Love Actually, or just some hideous amalgam of all the other resolutely WASPy, sickly-sweet Richard Curtis creations. (AEL)

Closer

Mike Nichol’s new film Closer is infused with this type of magical chemistry, and at times the potency of the alchemic mix threatens to make its world teeter off balance. With a screenplay by Patrick Marber, adapted from his play of the same name, the picture is a tone poem to both love and its darker side. Dan (Jude Law), an obituary writer and aspiring novelist, shares a moment of charged visual contact with a beautiful girl as he makes his way to work in London one day. Her name is Alice (Natalie Portman)—a hip, self-assured New Yorker who has just arrived in the city. An accident while crossing the street puts her in the hospital and Dan, although still a stranger to her, remains close by to offer help. Fast-forward to a few years later. Alice and Dan are together in the romance that seemed destined from their first gaze. Dan, at a photo shoot for the jacket of his soon-to-be-released novel, meets the stunning photographer Anna (Julia Roberts), and mutual attraction quickly turns into a brief moment of indiscretion. An internet sex joke gone awry ultimately has unintended effects as Anna meets and begins to fall in love with Larry (Clive Owen), a dermatologist possessing—being euphemistic here—an avaricious sexual appetite. The lovers occupy a universe where passion reigns over reason and disorder is inevitable; each greedily takes what he or she momentarily desires while delivering perfectly placed words intended to cause maximum hurt to another as they all struggle to understand what it means to love. The actors are also all indebted to Marber for his witty and overall intelligent script, which makes a terrific transition from the stage to the screen. Despite their clearly egregious ways, Nichols’ camera shoots his handsome couples with tremendous affection. His tight close-ups put you right in the moment so that you can almost feel the heat emanating from the skin of their passion-filled bodies. His trademark zoom shots, while they still precisely cut through space, now move with the grace of an aged master. Like a Cartier-Bresson photograph, they reveal “the decisive moment” during which the emotions that threaten to sweep away the characters instantaneously come together. (TAO)

Finding Neverland

In his newest film, director Marc Forster makes a drastic break from his previous work, Monster’s Ball. Johnny Depp plays James “J.M.” Barrie, in the process of writing his masterwork Peter Pan. Like most of Depp’s characters, Barrie is more than a little strange. His last play was a flop; his marriage has deteriorated to the point that he and his wife (played by Radha Mitchell) barely speak to one another; and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he prefers the company of his dog and his own imagination to most of his peers. This all changes, however, when he meets a family of muses in the park one afternoon. Barrie quickly befriends Sylvia Llewelyn Davies—played with daring and grace by Kate Winslet—and her four sons Michael, Jack, George and Peter to their mutual benefit; Barrie needs them for inspiration and to inject some warmth into what was rapidly becoming a hollow life and they need him to help them get over the recent death of Sylvia’s husband, the boys’ father. Occasionally, the tone can be a little too sweet and sentimental: this is not a movie for the hard of heart. However, like Peter Pan says, if you really believe, at times the movie feels like its flying. (SNJ)

I Heart Huckabees

Albert is unhappy and he isn’t sure why. Sadly, we never care. The root of Albert’s malaise, I think, is that he has sold out. He has entered into a partnership with Huckabees, a chain of K-Mart-like stores, to throw some muscle behind his coalition to save a local wetland. Russell’s sly appropriation of American corporate-speak provide the best moments in the Huckabees script: therapy would be unbecoming for a corporate executive, so Brad rationalizes his sessions with “existential therapists” by insisting they are “pro-active and action-oriented.” While all of the characters in Huckabees seem primed to arc from ironic distance to grand, tragic catharsis, Jude Law alone provides the emotional proximity the film coaxes you into longing for and then so cruelly denies. (DBR)

The Incredibles

Pixar, the ingenious powerhouses of animation that brought the world personified toys, monsters and phosphorescent fish, has taken on a PG-rated action adventure for its latest premise: the story of an average superhero family.In his glory days, Bob Parr (Craig T. Nelson) was known to the world as Mr. Incredible, a superhero capable of foiling a bank robbery, stopping a runaway locomotive and coaxing a kitten down from a tree all on the way to his wedding. Segue to fifteen years later and Mr. Incredible and his wife Helen, formerly known as Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), and their three children are attempting to live a normal suburban life under the Witness Protection Program. Bob juggles a potbelly and a mind-numbing job as an insurance claims specialist while longing for the old days; Helen is not willing to give up the peaceful life they have earned. Everything changes when Bob receives a communiqué calling for Mr. Incredible’s help in a top-secret mission on a mysterious island. The mission eventually pulls the entire Incredibles family into a battle to save the world from their nemesis, Syndrome (Jason Lee). Writer-director Brad Bird (Iron Giant, The Simpsons), who serves triple duty as the voice of the temperamental superhero fashion designer Edna Mode, has created a film that skillfully blends the excitement of a superhero movie with a carefully-measured dose of family film sensitivity. (JYZ)

The Motorcycle Diaries

The Guevara characterized in Walter Salles’ seductive new film The Motorcycle Diaries is a far cry from the iconic figure, sporting beard and beret, found in so many dorm rooms and poetry lounges. This is Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Gael García Bernal) in his mid-20s, before he was Che. The film picks up Guevara’s life in 1951 as he embarks with his compatriot, Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) on his travels—powered, initially, by the namesake motorcycle, of course—bound for the southern tip of South America. He is a far more accessible figure, and his journey radiates a certain lost-soul aura to which even a hardened capitalist could relate. (ZMS)

National Treasure

National Treasure is about a third-generation treasure hunter searching for the greatest treasure the world has ever known, ever. Nicholas Cage, who seems to have convinced himself that he’s a modern day Juan Ponce De Leon, runs around like an idiot, examining money like a McDonald’s cashier dubious about a customer paying for an item on the dollar menu with a $10 bill. At one point in the film, Cage’s sidekick, a first generation treasure hunter played by Justin Bartha—I know what you’re thinking: sooooo JV—cracks an ironic smile and asks his fellow treasure hunters, “Who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?” Unbeknownst to the trusty helper Bartha, his query actually captures the essence of the burden placed on the spectator in seeing this half-assed movie. Who in fact wants to go down this creepy tunnel of a movie? I don’t think you do. Personally, I wish I had not. The movie is lacking something. It definitely was not Jon Voight, the consummate professional, who came through with a performance that rivals the one he turned in for The Karate Dog as his personal best in 2004. Maybe what it lacked was a good script, decent plot, and solid acting. Step it up, Jerry. (TBB)

Overnight

This documentary follows the rise and fall of Troy Duffy, a Bostonian bartender who makes an astonishing, life-changing deal with Miramax Films. Miramax is so impressed with Troy’s screenplay, The Boondock Saints, that they offer Troy the chance to direct the film with a huge budget and create its soundtrack using music performed by his band. Sitting on top of the world, Troy manages to commit blunder after blunder, mishandling negotiations and alienating his supporters. He eventually loses his deal with Miramax and becomes a pariah in Hollywood. The movie’s biggest strength is Troy Duffy’s cinematic personality. He alternates between bouts of cruel anger and drunken happiness, while maintaining a deathless overconfident holier-than-thou attitude that catalyzes his downfall. Despite his irritating tendency to say the wrong thing to just about everyone, there are elements of appealing humanity in Troy. There is something gripping about his irate desperation and something frightening about the ease with which Troy evolves from confident and optimistic bartender to paranoid resentful tyrant. The filmmakers have been handed a fascinating fable and they make good use of their material. They choose scenes that effectively highlight the quicksilver personality of Troy; moreover, they use just the right dose of other characters’ appearances to temper Troy’s intensity and provide outside perspective. Other than minor editing gripes, this movie is a wonderfully raw portrayal of the dangers of success and self-delusion. (DHMP)

Ray

There is something like ashy molasses in Ray Charles’ voice: dripping syrupy sweet with southern charm yet charged with gritty, unhewn candor, it resonates with a sense of immediacy and emotional clarity that is nothing short of divine. And yet somehow, even after 17 tedious years of development, Ray, based on Charles’ life, does not muster any semblance of the splendor within his music. The film lacks emotional attachment on any level and fails in every way as a meaningful addition to his life and legacy. With a mix of deceitful, manipulative Hollywood story telling techniques masquerading as artistic strokes and tacky, unfocused, pop-filmmaking, director Taylor Hackford, manages to turn an amazing story of sheer will triumphing over adversity into a two-and-a-half hour mess that will damage Charles’ memory, even with Jamie Foxx’s almost perfect portrayal of Ray Charles. (BJ)

Sideways

Writer-director Alexander Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor seemed on a winning streak with Election and About Schmidt: both were inventive and quirky, two qualities their newest collaboration, Sideways, unfortunately lacks. The film follows Miles (Paul Giamatti), a burned-out teacher and struggling novelist, and his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church) on a road trip through California’s wine country organized to make the most of Jack’s last days of bachelorhood. The trip in Miles’ mind is about tasting great wines and in Jack’s is about getting laid as much as possible before marriage shuts him down. Despite their somewhat incredible friendship—they have completely opposing interests, outlooks and goals—the acting is exceptional and Giamatti and Church exude a chemistry that makes their friendship believable and oddly charming. But sadly, the movie is ultimately worthwhile only for its fine performances. Sideways’s structure is painfully episodic, never allowing audiences to become fully engrossed in its obnoxious characters. (GRD)

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

I didn’t really understand what everyone was talking about in terms of the subversive messages that the show supposedly projects to its mature audience, but I was certainly entertained. The film begins with SpongeBob dejected that his boss, Krusty Krab, did not promote him to manager of the local burger bodega. However, when Krusty Krab is framed, SpongeBob must exonerate his boss to get the promotion he seeks and prove to himself that he is a man. The film takes the audience on a fantasy underwater ride through the depths of a sponge’s soul, testing his courage and self-identity. At one point, SpongeBob and his starfish friend Patrick can’t stop laughing after someone uses the word “weed.” This was one subversive message I could pick up. Wink. The film reaches its climax on the back of David Hasselhoff, who turns himself into some sort of jet-ski to bring SpongeBob and Patrick back to their home so they can save the day and have a big party. If you’ve recently become a baby mama, step out to your local movie theater and see SpongeBob for some old-fashioned family fun. (TBB)

Team America: World Police

The new Trey Parker and Matt Stone production Team America: World Police is a delirious send-up of the international save-the-world action genre spoofing every movie from the Star Wars trilogy to Knightrider to The Matrix and unsympathetically mocks every public figure from Michael Moore to Kim Jong-Il to, curiously enough, Matt Damon. And they do it with puppets. Unlike most politically-motivated comedies these days, there’s no clear slant towards either the left or the right. Team America is a throwback to the kind of movie that casts the establishment as the good guy and everyone who goes against them are either evil or woefully misinformed. While, to many, such a theme may seem ironic, what makes this movie so pertinent and vital is the fact that this unthinking good-vs.-evil mentality may be more widespread than we’d like to believe. On the other hand, this movie also tells me that beating the hell out of puppets is funny. (SNJ)

Vera Drake

An intimate film about the lives of a small cast of characters, this simple masterpiece by director Mike Leigh manages to be at once philosophically expansive and physically claustrophobic. Personalities too large for their surroundings compound the effect of poverty on spaciousness—there is merely too little room to accommodate everyone, their needs for privacy and their individual desires. Imelda Staunton gives a tight performance as the title character, a mid-century London mother who tests light bulbs in a factory and keeps house for the wealthy to provide for her children and aged mother. Somehow, she still finds the time to invite neighbors over to her apartment for tea and a matchmaking session. In her “spare time”, she performs simple abortions to “help out young girls,” as she conceives of it, in a British cultural climate in which doing so is almost unthinkably wrong. The pendulous arm of justice, too, presses down on Vera Drake. By the end of the film, it is not just women as a social category who must live without freedom but Vera herself, forced to exchange liberty for captivity and the ultimate sort of crowdedness—that of a prison. (ABM)

—Happening was compiled by Vinita M. Alexander, Mary A. Brazelton, Theodore B. Bressman, Julie S. Greenberg, Steven N. Jacobs, Bryant Jones, Marianne F. Kaletzky, Amelia E. Lester, Kristina M. Moore, Alexandra B. Moss, Nathaniel Naddaff-Hafrey, Tony A. Onah, Deborah H.M. Pan, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, David B. Rochelson, Zachary M. Seward, Emer Craig Myrick Vaughn, Julie Y Zhou.