FILM
California Dreamin’ (Endless)
As part of a
Romanian themed movie series showcasing the new wave in said country,
the Walker will screen the final film from late director Cristian
Nemescu, called California Dreamin’ (Endless).
It was completed in 2006, when the director and sound editor were
involved in a tragically fatal car crash. Chronicling the true story of
an American NATO train traveling to Kosovo it imbues an honest realism
and a potent political agenda. The film won Un Certain Regard at the
2007 Cannes festival and it’s of a piece with another Romanian movie
that is currently all the rage and soon to open in area theaters. But
California Dreamin’ is its equal in terms of the virtuosity and beauty
displayed by an incredibly talented director. —Christopher Hontos
Friday at 7:30 p.m., Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-375-7600; $8 (members $6).
Also today, Taxi to the Dark Side opens at the Lagoon Cinema.
THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Eleanor’s Cabinet
The finest puppeteer in Minneapolis,
Michael Sommers (he’s also a painter and comic artist) presents this
new, family-friendly work based on the children’s poems of Eleanor
Farjeon. It must be said, though, that childless theatergoers shouldn’t
not be repelled by this subject matter-in fact, there are more than a
few grown-up theatergoers (who fancy themselves especially
sophisticated) counting themselves among Sommers’s biggest fans. You
see, Sommers has a special talent for, again and again, conjuring up
miniature worlds of magic. And he does so whether he’s working with
hand-made puppets or engaging in object theater, for which he creates
characters and spectacles using nothing but, say, kitchenware. He’s
truly a Minneapolis treasure! —Christy DeSmith
Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 4 and 7:30 p.m.; Open Eye Theatre, 506 E. 24th St., Minneapolis; 612-874-6338; $15, kids $8.
ART
Paul Shambroom: Picturing Power
Shambroom,
our fellow Minneapolitan, is not a trendy name in contemporary photography, but
he’s revered by insiders: In one recent book surveying 121 heavy hitters in
this medium, more space is devoted to him than to any other. One reason for
that might be his dedication. Shambroom doesn’t just address a topic, be it
nuclear weaponry or municipal government-he becomes thoroughly immersed,
conducting mountains of research, traveling across the country, and taking
years to create a series of images. None of that effort is wasted: His
photographs are by turns majestic and menacing, eerie and absurd. This survey
brings together, for the first time, work from Shambroom’s most important
series: Factories, Offices, Nuclear Weapons, Meetings, and Security. Picturing
Power will travel to Columbus, Atlanta, and Long Beach. —Julia Caniglia
Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Weisman Art Museum, 333 East River Road, Minneapolis; 612-625-9494.
BOOKS
Laura Flynn — Swallow the Ocean: A Memoir
Flynn’s
debut about growing up in 1970s San Francisco with a paranoid
schizophrenic mother sounds like the sort of overwrought therapy
masquerading as literature we’ve been inundated with for years—but it’s
actually as convincing as it is harrowing, and is ultimately a
beautiful testament to the remarkable resilience of children and the
power of imagination and (it really does hurt to write this) love. As
her mother’s illness spirals out of control, and her father (presumably
worn out from accusations of Satanic proselytizing) leaves the family,
Flynn and her two sisters find solidarity and survival in books,
fantasy, and, most touchingly, in the sorts of imaginative flight
they’d originally learned from their mother. —Brad Zellar
Available in bookstores nationwide on Saturday.
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