Theater of War AMC Village VII 1 p.m.
Doesn’t it seem like just yesterday (or 2006) that Kevin Kline and Meryl Streep were rehearsing for the great summer outdoor production of Mother Courage and her Children? John Walter (How to Draw a Bunny) brings the behind-the-scenes drama of staging the bleak Bertolt Brecht play (try saying that three times fast!). Mr. Walter also examines Brecht’s life and career, and the includes moments with his Brecht’s daughter, his collaborator Carl Weber, and vintage footage of Brecht’s testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Tennessee, AMC 19th Street, 3 p.m.
‘Tis the season of Mariah! Fresh off her (awesome) appearance schooling those dummies over on American Idol, Ms. Carey tries to make us all forget Glitter (as if) with this film from director Aaron Woodley. Tennessee is about Carter Armstrong, who left his home state with his mother and brother over 15 years ago. But with his brother suffering from Leukemia, he’s forced to return to see if he can track down his estranged, abusive father who could be a marrow-match. Cheery! Ms. Carey plays Crystal, a diner waitress, who wants to be a singer. Yea.
Two Timid Souls, Pace University, 6 p.m.
Part of Tribeca’s restored/rediscovered section is 1929’s Two Timid Souls (Les Deux Timides). Directed by René Clair, this silent feature—based on a Eugene Labichè play—is considered among the more neglected of Clair’s comedies. (His best known is Under the Roofs of Paris.) The movie stars Pierre Batcheff, and today will be accompanied live by a new score provided by the NYU Chamber Orchestra.
The Secret of the Grain, AMC Village VII, 9:30 p.m.
This French film got picked up by IFC right before the festival started and quickly appeared to be a favorite among festival programmers and critics. The grain in question is couscous and the film takes place among first-and-second-generation Maghrebi immigrants in the south of France. When a 61-year-old man gets laid off from his job after 35 years, he decides to buy a boat to house a restaurant to serve his ex-wife’s "beloved fish couscous."
Mister Lonely, Village East Cinema, 11 p.m.
Everyone’s excited about The Wackness, which is set in a pot-hazed Washington Square Park circa 1994, yet tonight we have a new movie from the man who wrote Kids, a movie about downtown, drugs, and 1994 in 1994. Harmony Korine’s Mister Lonely sounds as wacky as you’d expect ("what happens when Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe meet while performing in a nursing home in Paris?") and has a fun cast that includes Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, and a cameo from Werner Herzog. Interesting tidbit: it was produced by designer agnès b.
