Year: 2006

Temple Grandin’s unlikely route to celebrity followed the path of cows to the slaughterhouse. Grandin has an exceptionally visual form of autism; her mind allows her to review memories and observations in a detailed, cinematic mode. She also believes that she thinks the way animals do. Grandin used both these skills to design a chute system, widely adopted by slaughterhouses, by which cows are more humanely delivered to their doom. Literary neuroscientist Oliver Sacks wrote about Grandin in his book of case studies, An Anthropologist on Mars, and Grandin followed this burst of attention with two books of her own: Thinking in Pictures and Animals in Translation. If she’s right about the way animals think, these books will give you new insight into the life of your dog. 3022 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; www.magersandquinn.com

A couple of years ago, a man at the airport asked us if it would be possible to see the Frank Gehry-designed Weisman Museum during his ninety-minute layover. We cringed in shame; given the sorry state of our mass transit system, ninety minutes would never get him there and back, much less offer time to explore the museum. But he just wanted to see the building, he said; he’d heard it was wonderful. And it is. Lest we locals stop seeing this marvel, here’s a film to remind us how lucky we are to have it here. Director Sydney Pollack chases his good friend Gehry around several of the architect’s shining creations, and explores the mind that gave shape to so many weird yet marvelous buildings.

What do you get when you pair director Richard Linklater with the work of writer Philip K. Dick? A paranoid sci-fi vehicle that could have been called Dazed and Confused 2. Using the much-heralded “interpolated rotoscoping” (which involves doing animation over live-action footage), A Scanner Darkly is the strange story of Fred, a drug dealer in an America that has decisively lost the war on drugs, and his alter ego Bob Arctor, a cop. Bob, who is ordered to begin spying on his friends, ingests “substance D” in an attempt to keep undercover, develops a split personality, and spies on Fred. Conspiracies abound in this film, which takes place “seven years into the future.” Keanu Reeves, whose career is incredible if only for its unexplainable longevity, stars; two of Hollywood’s best crackpots—Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr.—add levity by spacing out in diners and shooting guns, when they’re not loafing in trees, trying to decode the secret messages in the Beatles’ Abbey Road.

This film proves what many of us have long heard as apocryphal rumor: The “automobile of the future”—the one that could slow the destruction of the ozone layer and temper the tensions between oil-producing and -consuming nations—actually did exist, right in the U.S. In the 90s, General Motors created the EV-1, a fast, efficient electric vehicle that produced no emissions; the praise heaped on today’s hybrids is nothing compared with the rhapsodic passion the EV-1 inspired in the few hundred Californians who leased it. So why was the entire fleet recalled and destroyed in the Arizona desert? This fascinating documentary explores that question and raises others about the motives of the forces that are running our country.

In a dizzying five-year spell in the 1940s, Preston Sturges created seven classic madcap comedies, leaving his indelible mark on the history of American cinema. Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board bring two of his best to the big, temporary screen in Loring Park as part of their popular Summer Music and Movies series. After a globe-trotting childhood, Sturges went on to invent kiss-proof lipstick and write several plays; luckily for us, the Depression forced him into screenwriting to pay his exorbitant bills. He whipped together breakneck comedies that are not just hilarious, but beautiful and touching, as well. Sullivan’s Travels (pictured) does a crazy send-up of Hollywood’s never-ending hubris, while The Lady Eve is the ribald tale of a gold-digger trying to land a beer baron. Watch for the title of the film-within-a-film in Travels: The Coen brothers made it into a real movie, the folk-music showcase O Brother, Where Art Thou? Loring Park, 1382 Willow St., Minneapolis; www.walkerart.org

If New Orleans is a state of mind, this double bill should transport you straight to the land of beads and gumbo … or, if you want to be literal and up-to-date about things, bulldozers and grandstanding. Cajun and zydeco represent two distinctly different moods and sounds of the south, but share a common gift for putting the dance in your pants. Nathan Williams plays a furiously fast accordion, and his band’s R&B-flavored numbers are sexy, classy, and steamy hot. BeauSoleil, meanwhile, explores the folk roots of French-Cajun music in robustly tuneful songs that range from romantic to contemplative to absolutely ebullient. Together, the joyous noise these bands make helps explain why people feel so fiercely about living out their days in what is now a disaster area. 13000 Zoo Blvd., Apple Valley; 952-431-9200

Last month we encountered a piece of paper stabbed with sticks into the sand at a popular local tot lot. On it was the message “Please, no defecating at the playground.” We’ve come to enjoy found-art moments like these, which make every trip to the playground a little different—the funky barrette affixed to a swing, the sticker-covered love letter fallen from a backpack, the graffiti carved into the slide. Playgrounds are one of the few examples of public art that demand to be used, changed, and interacted with, and lately every new one seems to boast of winning some design challenge. Friedl’s collection of six-hundred-plus photos of playgrounds, taken around the world since 1955, makes it clear that these sliver-and-bruise-generating artworks reflect their time and place as profoundly as any other medium. Come to think of it, that’s probably what the artist means by the ever-so-serious reference to a “distribution of sensibility.” 527 2nd Ave. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-605-4504; www.midwayart.org

Nothing can spice up a kabob quite like a belly dancer. Naar Grille serves a mixed menu of Mediterranean and American favorites, punctuated by the occasional swishing hips of some very talented ladies (but these are family shows, of course). If you’re not too mesmerized to eat, try the traditional fatoosh salad with sumac and pomegranate molasses or a generous order of kabobs with a side of sweet pistachio apricot sauce. The menu includes some standard American dishes like steak and grilled chicken, but the best bets are from the old countries. Make an excuse to take in the scenery a little bit longer by lingering over a slice of the delicious honey cake. 11528 Leona Rd., Eden Prairie; 952-946-6227; www.naargrille.com

Here’s one more sign that Hopkins’ historic Mainstreet has become one hip stretch of sidewalk. Run by Chuck Venables, whose résumé boasts such flashy venues as Manny’s and Cosmos, Gusto’s grilled chicken panini with fontina, mussels with white wine and tomatoes, and gnocchi with brown butter and sage echo the standard of elegance he established in the big city earlier in his career. With satisfying food, a fine wine list, and a stylish dining room set in warm, earthy tones, Gusto adds a welcome dash of class to a street that boasts more (and better) entertainment than you’ll find at Block E. 922 Mainstreet, Hopkins; 952-945-9463

If the very thought of a quilt show triggers memories of touring the dusty state fair crafts exhibits with your grandma, take a few steps back to the world of women’s crafts before the advent of Michael’s and the Hobby Lobby. In Gee’s Bend, Alabama, a black community pretty much cut off from the outside world, six generations of women developed an astonishing quilting style that utilizes eye-popping color juxtapositions and carefully erratic compositions. In fact, some of them have an uncanny resonance with the abstract paintings that (mostly male) artists were creating in New York and other big cities. The Quilts of Gee’s Bend exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art a few years back became an unexpected—and unexpectedly moving—blockbuster, one that ended up traveling to a half-dozen cities. In other words, don’t miss the opportunity to see some of these works right here at home. 2123 21st St. W., Minneapolis; 612-377-4669; www.bockleygallery.com