ICY: Clear Views 02

Last year MCP inaugurated this annual exhibition “exploring linked portfolios of work” by a few selected photographers. We’re not sure how that makes it different from a small group show—the four photographers in this year’s ICY show share an affinity for psychology—but it may have something to do with the presentation of the work, which … Read more

Printmaking from Soviet Estonia

When Estonia fell under Soviet rule in 1940, art became heavily censored. That was the case with “major” art forms like painting and writing, at least, but the apparatchiks largely ignored printmaking. In retrospect this seems ironic, given how the medium is suited to mass production and has a history as a tool of dissent. … Read more

tectonic industries: the desire to stay versus the inevitability of change

Typically, the word “tectonic” refers either to the construction or deformation of our planet’s foundational materials. For lars jerlach and helen stringfellow, it’s a little more specific: As tectonic industries, a collaborative partnership, their artistic goal is to build around collective mainstream memory—then tear down the modern desire for instant gratification. How does that translate … Read more

Also Noted

At the turn of the last century, Georges Méliès was literally a stage conjuror, and his eye for the magical led to the creation of some of the most startling silent films ever made. Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (DVD release, March 11) is a thirteen-hour collection of 173—count ’em, 173!—shorts … Watchmen (wide release, … Read more

Fly Me To The Moon: Animation for All Ages

Once again, the library’s very own cinema sprites, Deb Girdwood and Isabelle Harder, bring your lucky kids some of the finest animation in the world—and we’re not talking Saturday-morning corporate fare, either. Drag the offspring to the library for such inspired lunacy as “Petalocity,” a story of “a little girl who goes to extremes of … Read more

Funny Games

Word has it that controversial director Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher, Caché) simply remade his original 1997 shockfest shot by shot. But who cares? The original Funny Games is hands-down one of the most disturbing films ever made; and if this one has Naomi Watts in the lead we’re, well, game. With the story of … Read more

Arranged

Here’s an interesting show for you and the kids: Arranged, a tale of two Brooklyn teachers—Rochel, an Orthodox Jew, and Nasira, a Syrian Muslim—both of whom are in the process of being set up in arranged marriages. Somehow they manage to become close friends. By setting the film in a public grade school and forcing … Read more

The Counterfeiters

Told in flashback, The Counterfeiters is the exciting true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, who, in the years before World War II, was the world’s greatest counterfeiter. Arrested in Berlin, Sorowitsch is sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp—as both Jew and habitual criminal he’s considered doubly threatening. But the Germans find a use for Sorowitsch, putting … Read more

Also Noted

Traditionally, Minnesota Opera presents its big American premiere in March; this year, it’s a 297-year-old rediscovered treasure from Germany: Reinhard Keiser’s The Fortunes of King Croesus (March 1–9) … The Guthrie’s production of Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire (March 1–23), a one-woman play about nine Iraqi women’s lives during war, packs a considerable double-punch … Read more