The first major exhibition to bring together a full range of photographer Gary Schneider’s work. Schneider’s fascination with science, work with found objects, and use of biography and autobiography are all part of the new exhibit, and display his roots in the post-minimal conceptual art of the 1970s. Runs through June 13. Tickets $5, free admission for Harvard I.D. holders and visitors on Saturdays until noon. Sackler Museum, 32 Quincy St. (LFL)

VISUALS | Gauguin Tahiti

This exhibition features the paintings that Paul Gauguin produced between his departure for Tahiti in 1891 and his death in the Marquesa Islands in 1903 are currently on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The canvasses are among Gauguin’s most mysterious, colorful and exotic. The exhibition’s Boston stop will be its only showing in the U.S., so be sure to see it while you can. “Gauguin Tahiti” runs through June 20 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. (SLS)

VISUALS | In the Mountains: Photographs by Bradford Washburn

Featuring 35 photographic images selected by this acclaimed photographer, mapmaker, mountaineer, and native New Englander. The exhibition presents work from 50 years of his storied career, with some of his earliest shots in the French Alps at the age of 19 years old, and dramatic photographs taken in Alaska as a septuagenarian. Free. Harvard Museum of Natural History. (BBC)

Films

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

In director Michel Gondry’s latest effort, a company named Lacuna Incorporated has acquired the technology to erase the foul taste of a past partner. Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) discovers this after tracing a note to ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet), asking mutual friends not to raise his name in conversation with her. Since the ex is not supposed to see these notes, Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson), the inventor of the treatment and the founder of Lacuna, agrees to perform the operation on Joel as well. The centerpiece of the movie begins as Joel slowly realizes that, though his final memories of the relationship are tough to handle, he wants to remember at least some of the more pleasant aspects. Jim Carrey is actually quiet for significant pieces of the role: he underplays, giving Joel a quiet dignity that makes the eventual disgrace in losing control over his own mind that much sadder. Exiting Sunshine is looking at the world with new eyes, possibly the highest tribute that can be paid to art. (SAW)

GOOD BYE, LENIN!

Good Bye, Lenin! centers on the experience of East Berliner Alex Kerner, played by wide-eyed 24-year-old Daniel Brühl, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. After fainting during the Berlin riots, Alex’s mother (Katrin Sass) enters a deep coma for several months. Upon his mother’s release, the doctor cautions Alex that he must insulate her from any shocks, because a stressful event could kill her. Since his mother was fiercely loyal to the idealism of the DDR, Alex makes it his goal to keep her from finding out about the dramatic political changes through which she slept. Good Bye, Lenin! is dotted with distilled illustrations of the many facets of the reunification, some of which shine much brighter than others. He does not fall into the trap of romanticizing the past at the expense of historical fact; his characters cherish their new conveniences and freedom of expression, and don’t miss the panoptic party structure of socialism. (WBP)

INTERMISSION

Irish native John Crowley handles the 11 interlinked stories and 54 characters so deftly in his directorial debut that the movie successfully delivers an almost unrelenting barrage of comedy, romance and excitement and earns comparisons to Robert Altman’s best work. John (Cillian Murphy) is inarticulate, unsure of what he wants and desperately insecure. As a result, he decides to “test” his girlfriend Deirdre (Kelly Macdonald) by breaking up with her, an action that has consequences for everyone in their small Dublin suburb. Simultaneous to the romantic drama, another local suburbanite, Lehiff (Colin Farrell) has his thoughts on a big robbery that, as always, will enable him to settle down for life. Although the language is often colorful, it symbolizes the working-class ethos that sustains the interweaving narratives of this dense story. Crowley deepens the glimpse of the working class by opening an eye to the often overlooked quirky and ridiculous things of daily routine. (EBOR)

MY ARCHITECT

If we viewed architects as celebrities, Louis I. Kahn’s life would have been made into an “E! True Hollywood Story” a long time ago. Kahn battled early obstacles–a fire that permanently disfigured his face, his family’s immigration from Estonia to America—to become a celebrated designer of famous buildings all over the world. Then he lost it all, falling deep into debt and finally dying of a heart attack in a train station restroom. Thirty years after his death, Kahn’s son has created a tribute to him on film, glorying in his architectural triumphs, but supplementing the laurels with an honest assessment of his personal failings. Farrah Fawcett wasn’t one-tenth as interesting as this guy. (BJS)

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST