The most beguiling thing about Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida is its look. Its cinematography, by Ryszard Lenczewksi and Lukasz Zal, is so beautiful that it’s easy to forget you’re watching a challenging drama about faith, love, loss, and the ravages of war on identity. Each shot is so artfully composed, in fact, that the photographic artistry […]
The flat screen is unassuming—a 60″ monitor mounted to the wall in UVA’s Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library. Surrounded by chairs and headphones, The Niche currently plays a loop of video from the stop-motion animation program “Stop & Go: Made from Scratch.” Sounds benign, but associate professor of new media Lydia Moyer sees it as […]
The simple, yet soulful sound of Shakey Graves proves that less is more. Sticking to a minimalist philosophy, the group removes all white noise to allow beautiful melodies and cutting lyrics to resonate throughout its music, following in the storytelling footsteps of the folk genre. The group pairs well with Austin’s latest homegrown rock sensation, […]
A friend of mine once fell asleep at an Iron and Wine show. By the time the opener had finished and Sam Beam started in with his lullaby-like tunes, my buddy found himself a comfy spot on a pool table and succumbed to a serenaded sleep. I always think of that story as a bit of […]
It’s going to be an exciting summer at Light House Studio. The local youth filmmaking nonprofit’s website redesign is up and running, and they have a new location for their summer workshops while the City Center for Contemporary Arts—also home to Live Arts and Second Street Gallery—undergoes renovations. Inside the studio, a group of Light […]
You know you have a calling when the son of a legendary American humorist hand-selects you to play his famous father. Such is the case for Frank Ferrante, who’s crafted a 30-year career around Arthur Marx’s play Groucho: A Life in Revue. Ferrante has rekindled the defining role in An Evening with Groucho, a new […]
Wetwood Smokes Earth Tones & Red/Self-released This Southern California-based rock trio has released a gem of a debut. Mixing rock and pop together with the precision and skill of a veteran act, Wetwood Smokes makes quite a statement with this release. The swelling piano pop of “I Am the One” is college radio perfect, while […]
Call out a suggestion and watch epic comedy unfold when Big Blue Door’s improv comedy team The Lady Pills tackle the Harold. Developed by actors Del Close and Charna Halpern in the ’80s, this longform improv game forces comedians to create and weave narratives on the fly, rapid-firing scenes and new story lines before tying […]
It’s that time of year again when dazzling photographs of exotic wildlife hang from the willow oaks running along the Downtown Mall. Dubbed “TREES,” the exhibition of large, double-sided images is the most visible and popular aspect of LOOK3, the nonprofit organization that celebrates the vision of extraordinary photographers, ignites critical conversations about the subjects […]
It’s not unreasonable to imagine that Tom Cruise, perhaps the last of the old school movie stars, had lost it. He hasn’t had a bona fide hit since 2011 with Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, and as good as some of that movie is, it certainly coasts on the strength of being part of a big franchise. […]