Just spend 15 minutes on movie review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes and you'll notice everyone fancies themselves a film critic. There were, however, those that paved the way, and Manny Farber (who taught at UCSD) was certainly one of them. A new collection of his writing has just come out called "Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber" and I'm loving it. His wife and collaborator Patricia Patterson, along with editor Robert Polito, will discuss Farber's writing and impact on Friday at 7 P.M. at D.G.Wills Books in La Jolla.
Rodrigo y Gabriela, the guitarist duo from Mexico City, will tear it up at 4th and B on Saturday.
If the Bard's your thing, you'll want to go see local celebrities recite and perform Shakespeare's sonnets on Monday.
"The Savannah Disputation" is currently playing at the Old Globe. It's about a theological smackdown between two Catholic spinsters and a door-to-door Pentecostal missionary.
Therapy dramas continue to be popular. First "The Sopranos," then the short-lived "Tell Me You Love Me," then the plodding "In Treatment." To a local stage comes "Frozen," a play about a murder, the mother of one of his victims, and a therapist who is attempting to determine humankind's capacity for forgiveness. It's presented by ion Theatre at Sushi Performing Arts in the East Village.
I'll be seeing this play from Pulitzer-Prize winner Tracy Letts on Saturday night. '"Man from Nebraska" is at Cynget's Old Town Theatre. It's the story of Ken Carpenter, who cycles through the daily routines of middle-age without much thought until he awakens one night and decides to rekindle his faith. His search takes him to London where he experiences the British counterculture. Francis Gercke is directing - he and actors Mike Sears and Monique Gaffney will be on "These Days" next Thursday.
Local artist Roman de Salvo is showing new work at the Quint Contemporary Gallery through October 17th. I'm doing a gallery crawl on Saturday and this is on my list. This is his fifth solo show at Quint.
I'll also get a sneak preview of Animal Art, the new exhibit at the New Children's Museum, which opens to the public on Sunday. "Childsplay" was so much fun (tire/mattress room, anyone? Or porta-party???), I'm anxious to see what's done with the animal world.
The Media Arts Center, which produces the San Diego Latino Film Festival, will feature screenings of the Argentinean film "Leonera" and the Chilean film Tony Manero from October 9-15 at UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas at Hazard Center. "Leonera," Argentina's submission for the Cannes Film Festival, is about a 25-year-old woman who awakens one morning lying between the bloody corpses of her two lovers. She is then forced to decide between raising her son in prison or allowing him to grow up away from her in freedom. "Tony Manero" is a black comedy about a man obsessed with John Travolta's character in "Saturday Night Fever."
Here's the trailer for Leonera:
