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  • gball1. Governor’s Ball
    June 5-7, 2015
    Randall’s Island Park

    The sunburn of Warped Tour meets the popular appeal of Coachella at this NYC concert series. The Governors Ball Music Festival began in 2011 as a one-day affair on Governor’s Island featuring among others Girl Talk, Reptar, Big Boi and a DJ set by Passion Pit. After a healthily-attended inaugural year, Gov Ball has grown to be the concert series to wear your snapback to each summer.

    This year the festival will bring dozens of bands to Randall’s Island for the weekend, but there are definite stand out that you should make a point of seeing each day:
    Friday: My Morning Jacket, Ratatat, The Decemberists, St. Vincent, Twin Shadow will take the stage along with Drake, Florence + the Machine
    Saturday: Future Islands, Marina and the Diamonds, Conor Oberst, Ryan Adams, Deadmau5, Bjork
    Sunday: Lana Del Rey, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The War on Drugs, The Black Keys, Hot Chip, Echosmith,”Weird Al” Yankovic.

    Be sure to arrive early to secure a good spot. Buses and ferries beginning shuttling concert-goers to the island at 11:00AM. Gates open at 11:45 and the music starts at 12:15 (and doesn’t stop until 11:00PM!)

    Don’t forget/lose/damage your wristband. Gov Ball, like many of the bigger music events, distributes wristbands to ticket holders via the mail (or via the box office for late purchases.) They are your ticket in and are what allow you to re-enter the festival each day. Mind you can only re-enter once a day, so keep that mind when scheduling your day.

    Also, DRINK WATER. You don’t want to be the rookie taking a breather in the med tent. Free water stations will be located throughout the ground. Take advantage of those. Stay hydrated, rested and fed. Food options at the festival will include vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options for those of us with any dietary restrictions. Amongst the vendors will be Aranchini Bros, Bareburger, Mighty Quinn’s, Ramen Burger, Luke’s Lobster, CoolHaus, Mayhem & Stout, and Davey’s Ice Cream.

    Celebrate Brooklyn!

    2. Celebrate Brooklyn!
    June 3-August 12
    Prospect Park

    Long before the borough was the cool place to live and hipsters took over of Williamsburg, Celebrate Brooklyn! launched in 1979. The outdoor festival was meant to draw people back to then revitalized Prospect Park, which had been up until that point somewhat neglected. The celebration was a huge success and has returned year after year with bigger bands and grander attractions, but the same purpose: to celebrate Brooklyn.

    As a part of its concert series, Celebrate Brooklyn! brings bands, musicians and musical acts of all forms to the Prospect Park Bandshell. Apart from a handful of benefit concerts (which ask for a donation), all the Celebrate Brooklyn concerts are FREE. Out of all the acts, here are some must-sees:
    Free Shows: Chaka Khan (6/3), The New Pornographers (7/11) and tUnE-yArDs (8/8)
    Benefit Concerts: Damien Rice (6/17), Interpol (7/21), Modest Mouse (7/22), and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (8/4)

    Remember, free shows are usually popular and fairly crowded. There’s sure to be a horde of people at each show, especially with the more popular acts. Arrive early and stake out a good spot. Gates open an hour before the show, so plan accordingly. There are 2,000 or so chairs near the Bandshell, plus plenty of lawn space to camp out on with a blanket and some friends.

    Celebrate Brooklyn! encourages picnicking, but cans/bottles aren’t allowed. Also, note that while beer and wine is sold on-site, it may not be removed from the grounds. Additional food and drink can be purchased from the vendors, The Farm on Adderley and The Good Batch. Etsy New York will also be in attendance if you’re looking for merch.

    The shows happen rain or shine  so pack extra clothes, sunscreen, ponchos, whatever you need plus a open mind and good attitude.

    -Zoe Marquedant

  • This week: two very different movies from female directors, who are (sadly) still an extreme minority, even in independent film. I Believe in Unicorns and Gemma Bovery both open on Friday, May 29th.

    Courtesy of Gravitas Ventures

    Courtesy of Gravitas Ventures

    Leah Meyerhoff’s first feature, which she both wrote and directed, is the semi-autobiographical I Believe in Unicorns, a simple yet visually inventive film about a sensitive teen’s first love (and sex) affair. Davina (played by the wonderfully soulful Natalia Dyer) lives with and cares for her disabled mom (played by Meyerhoff’s actual mother, Toni), whose husband abandoned her many years before. We all know — or were — girls like Davina: creative, whimsical, deep-thinking types who live largely in their imaginations. Davina collects unicorn toys, dresses inventively and takes searching self-portraits with a Polaroid camera. One day she spots Sterling (Peter Vack) skateboarding with his pals and becomes smitten with the sexy, slightly older teen, who is clearly a Bad Boy. (Though the moody, kinetic Sterling might seem a bit goofy to us, he is devastating bait to a 16-year-old.)

    He becomes equally charmed by her and they soon become a couple, but not without some glitches; after their first sexual encounter backstage at a punk club, he becomes distant much to her distress, but she pursues him almost aggressively.  It’s unusual and somewhat refreshing to see a teenage girl’s desires portrayed so matter of factly and Dyer is great at showing how the inexperienced Davina is overwhelmed, even frightened, even as she’s completely caught up in their physical relationship.

    Young love blooms amid self-consciously jokey banter, story-telling and play-fighting; Sterling is like an intelligent, overgrown child, albeit one haunted by emotional demons. Davina needs clarification of his feelings and their relationship, and he gives her the right answers at first.  The two decide to escape, she from the drudgery of her home life, he from boredom; they take off in his car and have the kind of giddy road adventure (which includes mild shoplifting and stealing keys to a motel room) that only the very young can pull off.

    Courtesy of Gravitas Ventures

    Courtesy of Gravitas Ventures

    Meyerhoff alternates their story with vivid fantasy sequences representing Davina’s imagination, using slow motion, time-lapse photography, unusual lighting and other effects. A parallel animated narrative stars a stuffed unicorn that becomes imperiled as the couple’s relationship shifts into something darker. The movie’s tone – not light to begin with – becomes ominous as the sex turns violent and Sterling more volatile. We fear for Davina, but she is a strong character who values herself and her own needs.

    With its two solid leads, believable emotions and dialogue, and fantasy elements that aptly define her heroine, Meyerhoff has created a compelling, unusual portrait of teen love and self-discovery.

    Courtesy of Music Box Films

    Courtesy of Music Box Films

    Anne Fontaine’s Gemma Bovery (based on the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds), which she co-wrote with Pascal Bonitzer, is a droll, engaging comedy with a slightly dark streak. It’s both funny – thanks mainly to the deadpan Fabrice Luchini — and sensual, buoyed by beautifully shot scenes of Normandy. The film which is both a sort of homage to Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and a mild rejection of the classic male fantasy of the tragically unfulfilled woman, is delivered with a light touch by Fontaine, who finds a nice balance amid its various elements.

    The film is told in flashback, narrated by Martin (Luchini), a Flaubert-obsessed Parisian who lives with his wife and teenaged son in Normandy, where he has become an artisanal bread baker. When a British couple, Gemma and Charlie Bovery, move in next door, he is delighted and amazed by the similarity in name to the couple in his favorite novel. Martin becomes friendly with them and soon becomes smitten with the luscious Gemma (sensitively played by the perfectly cast Gemma Arterton), who seems somewhat bored and distracted. Indeed, she is not particularly thrilled with the leaky, mouse-infested house nor with her cheerfully decent husband (Jason Flemyng). Martin offers to teach her how to make bread, which leads to one of the movie’s sexiest scenes, as her slow kneading drives Martin out of his mind with desire, though he doesn’t act on his feelings.

    Soon he’s tracking her every move, frantically and hilariously drawing parallels between real life and Flaubert’s novel, becomingly almost hysterical (Madame Bovary spoiler alert!) over her use of rat poison for the mouse problem. When aristocratic young Hervé de Bressigny (Niels Schneider) shows up and is instantly attracted to Gemma and vice versa, Martin thinks he knows exactly what is happening. He becomes increasingly more involved, confronting Gemma at one point in an attempt to warn her about her choices. She assures him that she is, unlike Emma Bovary, completely in control of her life. And unlike Martin’s romanticized ideal, Gemma is a very real person, struggling with French verb conjugations and working out to lose weight, at the nudging of a neighbor (the very funny Elsa Zylberstein, playing a sort of French version of an Orange County Housewife).

    Courtesy of Music Box Films

    Courtesy of Music Box Films

    Though Gemma is portrayed as gorgeously seductive, it seems authentic rather than forced, thanks to both Fontaine and Arterton, who — to be honest — would ignite fantasies in most breathing human beings. Martin comes off as funny rather than creepy, given his hangdog expression, near-hysteria and courtly manners. The movie’s resolution is both somewhat expected and quite clever, involving a huge misunderstanding among the various men in Gemma’s life.

    Viewers who have read Flaubert will anticipate and appreciate the film’s parallels, but it’s not necessary to enjoy this amusing take on the often tired genre of classic novel adaptations.

    Marina Zogbi

  • “Juggling a full-time job with parenting and writing is no joke. It’s exhausting,” shares writer and attorney Stephanie Laterza. “Some mornings, it’s heartbreaking to try to explain to my toddler son why my husband and I have to go to work and why he has to go to daycare, and why we can’t all just stay home, or go to the park like we do on the weekends.” Laterza’s son was the inspiration behind her short story, The Clown Nose, published through Akashic Books’ Terrible Twosdays series last year, which she feels captures an aspect of this hectic lifestyle. Other works like short stories In Triage and Niagara, and her recently released first novel, The Boulevard Trial, draw from moments in her life and career, serving as a huge influence in her storytelling.

    And as challenging as the balance between lawyering, parenting and writing tends to be, Laterza credits her husband and mother for their unwavering support: “As I say in my blog, I send much peace and inspiration to all families making it work one way or the other.“

    Find out what three favorite personal possessions Stephanie can’t live without! Then to learn more about this gifted author, visit StephanieLaterzaAuthor.wordpress.com

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  • young Noble

    Destiny Films

    Right from the start, it’s clear that Stephen Bradley’s Noble is not a small nor subtle depiction of Christina Noble, the Irishwoman who has devoted her life to helping orphaned and abandoned children in Southeast Asia. The score’s swelling strings and the characters’ obvious intentions create an old-fashioned TV-movie vibe. Yet, this film version of Noble’s (literally) incredible story packs a significant punch anyway, due to strong acting, beautiful cinematography and the palpable spirit of its indomitable subject.

    Early in the film, we see Christina as a child (played by the wonderfully sharp Gloria Cramer Curtis) singing in a pub in 1955 Dublin; her Dickensian childhood is marked by a charming but drunkenly abusive father and gravely sick mother, along with a brood of equally destitute siblings. Christina prays fervently in church for things to get better, to no avail; a theme that will recur many times throughout the movie.

    Next we see grownup Christina (Deirdre O’Kane) arriving in Ho Chi Minh City in 1989, walking around and taking in the sights, which include many impoverished street children whose plight she relates to and resolves to alleviate. She has an easy way with people, singing for government officials and joking around with a sourpuss hotel receptionist who we know will become an ally by the end of the film. Soon she begins caring for local street urchins, obtains a temporary work visa, and struggles to raise money for a social and medical center for these kids and their families.

    Noble and boy

    Destiny Films

    The movie juxtaposes Christina’s difficult youth and young adulthood in Ireland and England with her later years in Vietnam. We learn that she grew up rebellious in a Catholic orphanage; later, she finds work and friendship in a laundry, and briefly reunites with her father. The excellent Sarah Greene plays teenage/young adult Christina, who suffers a series of horrendous setbacks – including a stay at an awful nun-run home for wayward teenage girls — that would have crushed most mortals. Somehow she remains optimistic, even as she repeatedly challenges God about his intentions. In Ho Chi Minh City, nothing aside from her obvious affinity for children comes easy, but Christina refuses to give up on her goals and eventually, of course, gets what she needs.

    Toward the end of the movie, we find out what brought her to Southeast Asia: a dream she had during the Vietnam War, when images of napalm-burned children and destroyed villages were all over newspapers and television. In a movie filled with clearly explained motives, we don’t understand exactly how the dream leads to her journey, but we do see a woman almost defeated by her own life recognizing the suffering of others in the world.

    If Noble isn’t the most artfully crafted film, it still ably tells the story of a most remarkable woman whose organization, the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, has given aid to over 700,000 children and families in Vietnam and Mongolia. For that alone, it’s an admirable achievement.

    Noble opens today in NYC at Regal Union Square and AMC Empire 25.

    Local Film Fests

    In case anyone still hasn’t realized that Kings County is the center of the universe, there’s the Fifth Annual Art of Brooklyn Film Fest, running May 13 through 17. Billed as “The only festival in the world that’s all about Brooklyn-born, Brooklyn-based and Brooklyn-centric independent film,” the event is admirable for its inclusiveness; films and filmmakers aren’t necessarily coming out of typical “creative” neighborhoods. This year, AoBFF will screen 53 films across all genres, including 15 world premieres, in Brooklyn Heights, Sunset Park and Bay Ridge.

    Another local festival of note is New Jersey’s Montclair Film Festival, which is running through May 10. The four-year old fest has grown this year from a week to 10 days and includes more than 100 films and events. It boasts an impressively diverse lineup including Sundance and SXSW hits, documentaries by local filmmakers, and high profile guests such as actor Richard Gere and director Jonathan Demme.

    Marina Zogbi