Author: rakemag

In this Scottish film, sacked shipbuilder Frank Redmond pulls out of his doldrums when he decides to swim the English Channel. Training, planning, and sneaking around his wife in order to do so give him a new lease on life. As with many a classic British buddy movie, he’s supported by a posse of slouchy guys whose hands are permanently curled around pints, and much humor derives from the sight of an aging male body in saggy underpants. But the get-off-yer-butt message is undeniably inspirational and Redmond’s adventure is filmed with such chilly, dizzying clarity that one is reminded of how swimming the Channel is a marvelous and humbling (or ridiculous and incomprehensible) feat. 3911 50th St. W., Edina; 612-825-6006; www.landmarktheatres.com

French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet fashioned the now-classic Delicatessen as a black-humored farce that is a cautionary tale buried within an expansively freaky fairy tale. At a popular French eatery, a series of handymen become the special of the day, until a former clown takes the doomed job and woos the butcher’s daughter. She rallies a band of vegetarian activists to save her lover as he clambers his way to escape, encountering a hilarious series of (mostly) sweet local oddballs of the same breed that populate Jeunet’s more recent film, Amelie.

Blame the gentrification of bluegrass nation on O Brother, Where Art Thou?, NPR, or handsome young bands like Nickel Creek, whose ability to cross over to an open-minded rock audience must chafe home-pickin’ traditionalists to the calloused bottoms of their clogging toes. Of course, bluegrass has been through this all before, when college folkies discovered Bill Monroe and his brethren; since then, it’s never been a purely hick endeavor. And someone like Darol Anger makes us grateful for that. This fiddle and violin virtuoso approaches bluegrass with musicianship so precise, intelligent, and classically ground that the rustic vernacular gets lost in his own searching and all-inclusive approach to the music. The Turtle Island Quartet, Anger’s jazz-oriented acoustic band, gave him the opportunity to perfect complex playing styles of his own invention; indeed, no one plays quite like him, although folks like Stephane Grappelli, Mark O’Connor, and Bela Fleck line up to accompany him. On this tour, lucky young Nickel Creek singer Sara Watkins joins Anger for an evening of bluegrass that is really much bigger than a genre usually gets. 416 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-338-2674; www.thecedar.org

What does it mean that Amazon.com paired the Dixie Chicks’ new album with Al Franken’s new book for a special discount deal? It means some people can’t let go of the past. So the Chicks shocked some fans a few years back by making clear their opposition to the invasion of Iraq; they’ve had a good, long maternity leave to mull over their outspoken ways. And guess what–things haven’t changed. The album’s first single, “Not Ready to Make Nice,” conveys their current state of mind pretty clearly. Plus, they’ve inched ever closer to the black heart of rock -n- roll by working with producer Rick Rubin, who turned legions of country-music-haters into Johnny Cash fans, and by tapping local talents Gary Louris and Dan Wilson for songwriting contributions. Come to think of it, since Texas probably still hates the Chicks, we’re more than happy to consider them honorary Minnesotans.

What to make of this latest Springsteen recording? On the one hand, it means he’s so hugely successful that he can make whatever kind of music he pleases. On the other, it shows that he’s cemented his star so far in the past that his latest endeavors can slip by unremarked upon, even by many of his fans. Songs like “Froggie Went a-Courtin’” and “Buffalo Gals” won’t garner the Boss much radio play (much less undies thrown onstage during the upcoming tour), but this album is more than just a novelty set. It’s an homage to an American original, one to whom Springsteen feels he owes a debt of inspiration. Like Wilco’s Woody Guthrie sessions, it’s a fascinating exploration of songwriting history and an unusual gift to Springsteen’s most dedicated fans.

Another Texan songbird, Tish Hinojosa, retains the love of her home state by performing in both Spanish and English. She’s equally at home within the Latino music community, or with folkies like Lucinda Williams and Nancy Griffith, or touring internationally with her fellow “Global Divas,” Peru’s Susana Baca and Zimbabwe’s Stella Chiweshe. Her vision of Latina beauty and talent is fresh and simple (Jennifer Lopez and Shakira would look like drag queens beside her); she puts the focus on songwriting that draws on contemporary folk and roots rock, while honoring her Mexican heritage. And Hinojosa’s voice, crystalline and sweet as spring bluebonnets, can stop anyone in his tracks. 900 Mount Curve Ave., Minneapolis; 651-293-9021

Live! Onstage! Tonight at the synagogue! OK, this Minnetonka temple is an unusual venue, perhaps, forone of the world’s finest violinists, but lucky are the few who take advantage of a rare opportunity to see such spectacular musicianship in an elegant and intimate milieu. Israel-born Perlman plays “the Devil’s instrument” ferociously, as if he were indeed possessed, and his devotion to the bow has recently led not just to inspired collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and Jessye Norman, but to ventures into jazz and klezmer as well. Then there are the movie scores for John Williams and that gig conducting the Detroit Symphony. A couple months ago, we even spotted him wandering about the red carpet before the Academy Awards, looking a bit dazed amid all the silliness, but clearly having a well-deserved good time. 10500 Hillside La. W., Minnetonka; 952-545-2424; www.adathjeshurun.org

Theater companies, like most of us, are driven to find a permanent place to call home (see Ballet of the Dolls to the right). But the Skewed Visions performance troupe is at home as a nomadic concept; previous productions have been designed to suit such makeshift “stages” as a parked car and a private home. Now they bring their highly stylized aesthetic to an office building–a pretty good-looking one. The Grain Belt Office Building, housed in the nineteenth-century Grain Belt Brewery complex, hosts Skewed Visions’ Days and Nights, an evening-length, interactive, and labyrinthine event that mixes live performance with video feeds, puppetry, and doll actors. Three distinct pieces–A Quiet Ambition, The Hidden Room, and Time for Bed–take place in their own respective corridors and board rooms, linked together by the roaming audience. 1215 Marshall St. N.E., Minneapolis; 612-201-5727; www.skewedvisions.org

The most thought-provoking piece the Theatre in the Round has staged in some time, Bruce Graham’s play centers on two death-row inmates who strike up a friendship. As they reveal their circumstances, they raise the kind of questions that trouble a civilized society: What is an appropriate punishment for killing someone? What kind of crime is so heinous it merits no mercy? Do some murderers deserve more mercy than others? On one side of the wall is Bobby, a disarmingly charming white supremacist who says he did God’s bidding in burning alive a church full of black worshippers. On the other is John, an arrogant and educated newsman who deliberately murdered an evil man for the “larger good of society.” Audiences may step out into the night feeling their own convictions about capital punishment have been rattled. 245 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis; 612-333-3010, www.theatreintheround.org

Ever adept at adapting novels, the Hardcover Theater goes a bit off its own beaten path with A Princess of Mars. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ pulpy, eighties-era sci-fi book concerns a Civil War-era Southern gent who’s inadvertently transported to the red planet. There, he finds he has Herculean physical strength and, of course, falls in love with a beautiful Martian princess. The movie version of A Princess of Mars is reportedly in the works–no word yet on who gets to play the protagonist, John Carter, or alien hottie Dejah Helias–but one of our favorite local troupes will beat Hollywood to the punch in bringing this bizarro vision of Mars to life. What’s more, they’ll do it in their own humble-yet-industrious fashion, using puppets, masks, and colorful costumes. 2301 Franklin Ave. E., Minneapolis; 612-581-2229; www.hardcovertheater.org