Movie of the Week
Touch the Sound
“There's sound everywhere—we just have to listen,” Evelyn Glennie says in Touch the Sound, Thomas Riedelsheimer's portrait of the classical percussionist, who happens to be deaf. It's rare that a documentary conveys an artist's world view so compellingly, but then Glennie is no ordinary musician. Having lost most of her hearing by age 11, the Scottish farm girl compensated by feeling the sound of the snare drum with her body. Years later, she's a performer of seemingly limitless invention. Forgoing the concert hall, Riedelsheimer films the petite, tattooed Glennie improvising to the rhythms of a tap dancer on a New York street corner, playing barnacles on the moors of her native Aberdeenshire, and jamming with an avant-garde composer in an abandoned German factory. Glennie's art, Riedelsheimer suggests, is more than mere show—it's a way of life.
The Pacific Symphony League, with the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) and Newport Beach Film Festival, present this film by the director of Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time. The screening precedes Glennie's April 6 and 7 performance with Pacific Symphony of a world-premiere piece by young composer Kevin Puts at Orange County Performing Arts Center, as well as “An Afternoon with Evelyn Glennie” reception at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach on April 7.
Touch the Sound screens at OCMA, 850 San Clemente Dr., Newport Beach, (714) 755-5788, ext. 180; sy******@ps*.org. Sun., 5:30 p.m. Free, but reservations required due to limited seating.
Also Showing
And Then There Were None. Barry Fitzgerald and Walter Huston star in this classic Agatha Christie mystery about a group of people gathered together and bumped off one by one by a mysterious stranger . . . although, unfortunately, it's pretty hard to take it seriously after you've seen Murder By Death. Long Beach School for Adults Auditorium, 3701 E. Willow St., Long Beach, (562) 997-8000, ext. 7198. Fri., 7 p.m. $1 fee.
The Best From the 30th Banff Mountain Film Fest. Like movies about mountains? Well, you're in luck! Lots and lots and lots of luck, as Orange Coast College presents a three-hour program (!) of the “best of the best” from the film fest held last November in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Whatever you can do on a mountain, it's here. Climbing! Skiing! Uh . . . trudging through the snow! Other mountain stuff! Three hours of it! Is your excitement mountin'? (Get it?) Orange Coast College, Robert B. Moore Theatre, 2701 Fairview Rd., Costa Mesa, (714) 432-5880. Tues., 7 p.m. $10.
Bon Voyage. Santiago College's Free International Film festival presents this 2003 French picture about France's elite gathering at a swank Bordeaux hotel to escape the Nazis. If you went to this show last Friday thanks to its listing in these pages, you were a week early. We screwed up. Sorry, man. Still buds? Santiago Canyon College, D-101, 8045 E. Chapman Ave., Orange, (714) 480-7500. Fri., 6 p.m. Free.
The Dead. For the final film of his long career, legendary director John Huston brought us this adaptation of James Joyce's short story about melancholy memories stirred up at an Irish family reunion. The film's screenwriter (and Huston's son) Tony Huston appears an hour before the screening as part of Orange Coast College's Visiting Scholars Series. Orange Coast College, Science Building Auditorium, 2701 Fairview Rd., Costa Mesa, (714) 432-5725. Thurs., March 16, 7:30 p.m. Free.
Double Indemnity. The film that made Barbara Stanwyck's ankle a star. Fred Macmurray, worlds away from the genial hokum of My Three Sons, is an itchy insurance agent who gets mixed up with a dame who's nothing but trouble with a capital T. Local film authority Dr. Arthur Taussig hosts the screening and discussion afterward. Orange Coast College, Fine Arts Building, Room116, 2701 Fairview Rd., Costa Mesa, (714) 432-5599. Fri., 6:30 p.m. $5-6.
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing N Charm School. A cast of reliable B-listers (Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Sean Astin and Danny DeVito) assembles for this tale of a widower (Robert Carlyle) who gets his groove back by entering the world of ballroom dancing. This is an advance screening for the Orange County Film Society. Regency Lido Theatre, 345 Via Lido, Newport Beach, (949) 253-2880. Tues., 7 p.m. Free to society members; $175 to join.
Natural Wonders/Northeast Seaboard. GeoCinema Festival 2006 presents professional cinematographers and world travelers appearing in person to present their new digital films. This time: John Holod and Jodie Ginter. Regency Lido, 3459 Via Lido, Newport Beach, (760) 617-1448. Sat., 10:30 a.m. $8.
Network. After taking a break, the folks at the Bay Theatre make a welcome return to Special Screenings Land with a new program of classic films, kicked off by this Oscar-winning satirical drama starring Faye Dunaway as a network exec with ice water in her veins and Peter Finch as the broadcaster who wigs out on the air and decides he's mad as hell and he's not gonna take it anymore. Bay Theatre, 340 Main St., Seal Beach, (562) 431-9988. Sun., 6 p.m.; Mon., 8 p.m. $6-$8.
Mail your press releases (and a videotape, if available) to Special Screenings,OC Weekly, 1666 N. Main St., Ste. 500, Santa Ana, CA 92701-7417. Or send e-mail to gr*******@ea*******.net. All materials must be received at least two weeks before the screening.
