BENEFIT
Ain’t No Party Like a Film Trade Association Party
One can never have enough holiday parties, right? Especially if they benefit causes such as Shoot in Minnesota and The MN Film and TV Board. Not only will your donation of $25 or more benefit local filmmakers, but you can also enjoy food, drinks and “big rockin’” performances by local favorites. You can even get in on the action as part of the open mic portion of the night. So dust off that guitar or warm up that singing voice, ’cause nobody parties like those film industry trade associations! —Kate McDonald
5 p.m., CINEQUIPT, 2601 49th Ave. .N, Suite 500, Minneapolis;
612-627-9080; minimum suggested donation of $25.
DANCE
A Wild Goose Chase in Cloggs to Hip-Hop
Who doesn’t love a good banjo- and fiddle-driven clogging number once in a while? Combine that with some impressively intricate percussive stepping, and you have one hell of a high energy performance. The Wild Goose Chase Cloggers have put together a performance — as part of the Stepping Out series at the Southern Theatre — that combines traditional Appalachian-style clogging with African American-inspired stepping by none other than the DeLaSouljah Steppers and the Xi Chapter of
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Hop Team. In addition to banjo and fiddles, the music will feature hip-hop artist RDM. This is a unique wild goose chase combination not to be missed. —Kate McDonald
8 p.m., Southern Theater, 420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-340-1725; $20.
FILM
All Talk and No Action Makes You a Dull Critic
Well, if you read at all — which, clearly, you do — and you’re at least minimally up to date with what’s going on in town (and beyond), then surely you’ve had your fill of Juno talk. Enough is enough; forget what everyone else is saying, and just go see it for yourself. Certainly it merits that. I mean, biting as it was, even our November 2007 review by Rob Nelson made me want to see it. "Juno, which placed second among a hundred-odd movies in
competition for the Toronto Film Festival’s audience award in September, isn’t just a fully formed creation," writes Nelson, "but
practically the blueprint for a commercial comedy in the
post-post-feminist aughts. Well-rounded enough to reel in multiple demographics, the title
character is a sassy adolescent from suburban Minnesota (the movie was
shot near Vancouver, alas) who digs Suspiria
and the Stooges (raw power, grrrl), discovers she has a bun in the oven
(that geeky track star was too sweet to resist!), and calls Women Now
for abortion info (choice!). But by the time she meets the hopeful
adoptive yuppies from St. Cloud, a.k.a. ‘East Jesus Nowhere,’ young
Juno has agreed ‘this is one doodle that can’t be undid.’ (Bring the
whole family!)" Don’t wait any longer; catch a final sneak preview tonight. And meet the fabulous Brook Busey (no-longer-Hunt), a.k.a Diable Cody, a.k.a. Whatever Lewd Names You Want to Call Her She’s Now a Lauded Scriptwriter.
7:30 p.m., Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-375-7600; $12 (members $10).
Fearless Listening Project
Sometimes listening is a more difficult undertaking then speaking.
It’s not just the act of devoting all our attention to someone else
that is difficult, it’s confronting whatever opinions come our way.
Local filmmakers Dominic Howes and Joel Weber haven’t set out to make
our lives easier with their new documentary. The Listening Project
forces us, however uncomfortable it may make us, to listen to outside
views on a topic that hits close to home — in fact, it is home. The
film follows four Americans — a middle school history teacher, a
probation officer, a poet/spoken word artist, and a human rights
activist — as they travel across fourteen different countries asking
people one question: What do you think of America? Beautifully
shot, The Listening Project gives us a stimulating visual buffet of images of the
people and countries the Americans visit — from Russia to Brazil to
Afghanistan to Japan. While the visual aspects of the scenes are
incredibly moving, however, the interviews that go along with them seem
to fall a bit short of thought provoking. Aside from two interviews
that seem to give a slightly deeper and more honest opinion about
America, most of the interviews are too brief, barely scratching the
surface of the issues by broadly stating general and already familiar
global opinions. The
film’s more valuable and interesting perspective is that of the
American listeners themselves — their reactions to their new, global
experiences and the opinions of others from differing cultures. We get
to know more about these listeners (as they are called) than we do
about the people interviewed; we get to know their backstories, the
reasons why they decided to travel and talk to people, and what they
got out of the experience. This is the final film in the Fearless Filmmakers series for the year, and a two-year anniversary party — complete with birthday cake and guitar hero — will follow. —Kate McDonald
7:30 p.m., The Oak Street Cinema, 309 Oak St. S.E., Minneapolis, 612-331-3134, $9.
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