Friday April 9

MUSIC | Leo Kottke

HepTunes presents this annual solo performance by Leo Kottke, singer and acoustic guitar player who has released over twenty albums and has toured all over the world. Tickets $27-29. 8 p.m. Sanders Theatre. (SLS)

MUSIC | The Wrens

After releasing one of the brightest gems from last year, The Meadowlands, their first album in seven years, New Jersey’s the Wrens have been getting a lot of much deserved attention, making this a show not to be missed. Ester Drang, the Douglas Fir and Lincoln Conspiracy will open for the thoughtful indie popsters. Tickets $10 advance, $12 day of show. 18+. 9:15 p.m. T.T. the Bear’s Place. (SLS)

MUSIC | Blonde Redhead

Expect brooding dissonant guitars and stilted lyrics from indie-rockers Blonde Redhead, the New York trio who just released their seventh album, and 4AD debut, titled Misery Is a Butterfly. Texan alt rock band Secret Machines open. Tickets $16. 18+. 9 p.m. The Paradise Rock Club, 969 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. (SLS)

FILM | Walk Cheerfully

In this 1930 gangster pic, the Yasujiro Ozu festival at Harvard Film Archive brings the Japanese version of a very familiar archetype: a criminal with a taste for movies, jazz, flappers and snappy suits. But then love walks in the door for “Ken the Knife,” convincing him to go straight, eventually leading him to a steady job as a window washer. They don’t end up together, though; he continues to stay with a girlfriend who is into dangerous men. She is bored with his new conformity and attempts to “pull him back in.” Catch quality Goddard 30 years before he began making films and marvel at the legendary “tatami shot,” in which the camera is placed at the level of a person sitting on a tatami mat. Tickets $6. 7 p.m. Harvard Film Archive. (SAW)

Saturday

April 10

MUSIC | Runner and the Thermodynamics

Boston’s retro rock band Runner and the Thermodynamics are all set to release their self-titled debut on this night of explosive guitars and no frills rock n’ roll. If the buzz they have generated around the local scene is any indication, it’ll be show overflowing with excitement and fun. Like-minded bands the Mittens, Unbusted and the December Sound also take the stage. Tickets $8. 18+. 9:15 p.m. T.T. the Bear’s Place. (SLS)

MUSIC | Ben Kweller

Whimsical Texan singer/songwriter Ben Kweller teams up with indie darlings Death Cab for Cutie for a pop-filled night that is sure to leave you feeling all gooey inside. Kweller just released On My Way, his follow-up to the irresistibly charming Sha Sha. Death Cab are touring off their Seth Cohen of the OC approved 2003 album Transatlanticism. Tickets $18. All ages. 6 p.m. Avalon Night Club, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. (SLS)

Monday April 12

MUSIC | Air

The French electronic duo Air bring tantalizing tunes and sex appeal to Boston. Their latest album Talkie Walkie has received praise by mainstream bigwigs and indie snobs alike, so expect a quality show. Mosquitos also perform. Tickets $20.25 advance, $22.25 day of show. 18+. 8 p.m. Avalon Night Club, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. (SLS)

FILM | Ceddo

Ousmane Sembene’s 1977 film was banned in his home country on a wacky technicality, but the history only adds to the allure of Senegal’s most famous auteur’s most ambitious flick. Seemingly, the kidnapping of a beautiful princess is the centerpiece, but that is just the lens through which he address some of Senegal’s most pressing issues: Muslim expansion, Christianity and the slave trade. The title comes from the name for the common lower class, and the sweeping scope of this study envelops their desperate desire for the possibility of keeping their religious and cultural customs in the face of the 19th century’s far ranging changes. By the end of this intriguing film, the audience has been taken on a journey through philosophy, history, sci-fi and, in total, the whole of African history. 7 p.m. Harvard Film Archive. (SAW)

FILM | The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family

The Yasujiro Ozu festival at the HFA continues with this 1941 classic look at a once-powerful families’ decline, in the mold of The Magnificent Ambersons. After the Toda’s father suddenly dies, the children are left with no option but to sell their once opulent villa in order to support their mother. However, as money is, the proceeds are quickly spent by the children’s own families. Soon, the mother is passed around like a morbid game of hot potato from child’s house to child’s house, carrying her bird and plants and leaving behind her dignity like Hansel and Gretel’s crumbs. Shouldn’t it be enough that her kids chant forcefully of their dedication to filial responsibility? Not when it destroys their mother. Tickets $6. 9:15 p.m., also playing Tuesday, April 13 at 9 p.m. Harvard Film Archive. (SAW)

Tuesday April 13

FILM | In the Mood for Love

Shimmering with vibrant, romantic color, Wong Kar-wai’s newest film sprinkles solidarity into the vast and anonymous world of 1960s Hong Kong. In stumbling upon love when they expected it the least and needed it the most, two young professionals find each other living in the same apartment building and struggling with the same doubts about their spouses. The inspiration for Lost in Translation, this symphony of detail moves slowly and beautifully through the foundations of longing. Tickets $6. 7 p.m. Harvard Film Archive. (MAM)

MUSIC | N.E.R.D.

N.E.R.D., which stands for “No One Ever Really Dies,” may be the pet project of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo—who are responsible for many a rap and teen-pop hit as the Neptunes—but, their genre bending records have made them favorites of even the most jaded music fan. The socially conscious hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas also perform. Tickets $22.25. 18+. 8 p.m. Avalon Night Club, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. (SLS)

Wednesday

April 14

MUSIC | Twista

Chicago rapper Twista offers smart rhymes, stylish beats and new material off this year’s album Kamikaze, which he teamed up with Ludacris and Jay-Z to record. Twista’s recent number one hit single “Slow Jamz” is sure to be a crowd favorite. Tickets $20.25. 18+. 7 p.m. Avalon Night Club, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. (SLS)

Ongoing

COMEDY | My Hometown

The Immediate Gratification Players offer fun and laughs through improvisational comedy. Free, tickets required. Friday and Saturday 8 p.m. Adams Pool House Theatre. (SLS)

THEATER | Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

The Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club presents a production of this drama by Tom Stoppard (author of Travesties, The Real Thing and Shakespeare in Love. The play, an imaginative retelling of Hamlet, won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Play. Tickets: regular $12; students (2 per ID) $8; seniors: $8; groups of 10 or more $7. Through Saturday, April 17. Loeb Mainstage. (SLS)

THEATER | Iolanthe

The Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players are putting on Iolanthe, this season’s offering of Gilbert and Sullivan zany operatic musing. The operetta follows the story of a band of fairies, residents of Fairyland, who attempt to reunite the half-fairy, half-mortal son of Iolanthe with his true love. Tickets: Evenings $12/$10 regular, $8/$6 students and seniors; Matinees $10/$8 regular, $6/$4 students and seniors. Through Saturday, April 17. Agassiz Theater. (SLS)

FILM | On The Run

This is the first part of Lucas Belvaux’s The Trilogy, a cinematic experiment unfolding at the Brattle over the next three weeks. The experimental aspect is that each part in this loosely intertwined series (main characters in one film are reduced to supporting characters in the next) is done in a different genre and features a different central couple. On The Run, the thriller of the series stars Belvaux, the director, as Bruno, who has just broken out of jail. Bruno desperately desires revenge and an opportunity to spread his political gospel, but has to avoid Gilbert Melki, who has a Javert like obsession with tracking down Bruno. The Trilogy makes for interesting viewing, particularly for those who have wondered what main characters would look like from another point of view. Through Thursday, April 15. 5:30, 7:30 and 9:50 p.m., with addl. 2:40 showing on Saturday and Sunday. Brattle Theatre. (SAW)

Films

Au Hasard Balthazar

French director Robert Bresson’s 1966 classic is re-released to a public desperately in need of cinema that one imdb commentator terms “Intolerably Beautiful.” The film follows the journey of Balthazar, a donkey, from his happy early life, through his sojurn as a downtrodden beast of burden to his happy end-of-life working for a miller who thinks he is a reincarnated Saint. His journey parallels that of the lovely young girl who originally named Balthazar as she grows out of her beautific childhood into a terrible relationship where she is beaten by her sadistic lover. This film packs more soul per square inch than anything from the past two decades. (SAW)

The United States of Leland

Seemingly intelligent high school student Leland P. Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling) has just killed an autistic boy for no clear reason. In Juvenile Hall, he has to come to terms with what he has done. Outside, his alcoholic father (Kevin Spacey), his girlfriend (Jena Malone) and others in the community grapple with the repercussions of this terrible act of violence. What does it mean for their community? Although many critics have mocked it as a now predictable execration of the darkness behind modern suburbia, in this time of school shootings and anti-depressants, this is certain to be interesting and intentionally boundary pushing. (SAW)

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

Although this is not a title you’d normally associate with humor, Lone Scherfig’s Swedish film is a dryly sweet comedy. Harbour and Wilbur have inherited their father’s used book store and Harbour has inherited the task of taking care of his suicidally depressed younger brother. One day, Alice and her young daughter Mary walk into the book shop and sparks fly. Soon, a romantic quadrangle develops and this man who has never liked life learns to love it. (SAW)

—Happening was compiled by Mickey A. Muldoon ’07 Sarah L. Solorzano ’05 and Scoop A. Wasserstein ’07.