Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Fri, 16 May 2008 06:17:10 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Articles from the Arts and Letters Section of The New York Sun. http://www2.nysun.com/section/8 istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us BRUCE BENNETT http://www2.nysun.com/arts/song-of-jennifer/ Fri, 16 May 2008 02:17:38 EST In his memoir, "An Open Book," the late film director John Huston remembered the actress Jennifer Jones thusly: "Jennifer looked for direction in every move she made. She put herself completely in the hands of the director, more than any other actress I've ever worked with. And she was not an automaton. Jennifer took what you gave her and made it distinctly her own." Beginning Friday, the Film Society of Lincoln Center's weeklong, 13-film retrospective showcases the work of Ms. Jones, now 89... S. JAMES SNYDER http://www2.nysun.com/arts/indiana-jones-as-the-outsider/ Fri, 16 May 2008 02:17:38 EST It's possible that Indiana Jones cemented his legend 27 years ago in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," when he picked a fight with a bad guy twice his size. Having skipped among such exotic locales as Egypt and Nepal on the hunt for the ultimate treasure, the unfamiliar hero suddenly found himself engaged in hand-to-hand combat with an angry, shirtless Nazi. After getting pummeled repeatedly, Indiana grabbed a fistful of gravel and threw it in the guy's face, then waited for the Nazi to back himself... NICOLAS RAPOLD http://www2.nysun.com/arts/when-sudden-success-attacks/ Fri, 16 May 2008 02:17:38 EST Now let us import sad young literary men: "Reprise," the debut feature by the Norwegian director Joachim Trier, traces the divergent paths of two 20-something friends and writers in Oslo. Recasting the theme of camaraderie and performance anxiety from last spring's "Poison Friends" and its French university students, "Reprise" skitters with a heady, hit-the-ground-running style that cools off with the fading of its characters' illusions and energies. Mr. Trier shoots for a youthful touchstone... MEGHAN KEANE http://www2.nysun.com/arts/coming-to-america-to-stay/ Fri, 16 May 2008 02:17:38 EST "Sangre de Mi Sangre" is a film bent on desperation. As it follows the parallel journeys of two Mexican teenagers who smuggle themselves to New York, the film's relentless focus on the adversities faced by illegal immigrants eventually tips from heartbreak to preachy pulp. The film, the debut feature by Christopher Zalla, won a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance last year, a testament to the themes and performances at play. But the story itself tends too often toward cliché to sustain the drama set... JAYANTHI DANIEL http://www2.nysun.com/arts/on-the-les-a-classic-romantic-comedy-and-a-bite/ Fri, 16 May 2008 02:17:38 EST While we here at Summer in the City are inclined toward the warmest season, the forecast is not particularly on our side this weekend: The predicted high for Saturday is 68 degrees. Still, readers should not let this discourage them from spending an evening outdoors. One can simply throw on some layers and take the F train to the Lower East Side, where the neighborhood's Business Improvement District is sponsoring an outdoor movie screening about a couple who meet — where else? — on the L.E.S... MARTIN TSAI http://www2.nysun.com/arts/good-german/ Fri, 16 May 2008 02:17:38 EST "Yella," an award winner at this year's German Film Academy Awards, is a picture from the M. Night Shyamalan school of theatrics, hinging on a climactic final twist. But whether characters in the film might be seeing dead people is beside the point in this expertly created thriller. Christian Petzold's film takes the all-too-ordinary fear of being caught by one's past and makes it as creepily unsettling as the supernatural forces lurking in Mr. Shyamalan's work. Nina Hoss (who took best actress... BRUCE BENNETT http://www2.nysun.com/arts/back-to-narnia-where-the-gryphons-roam/ Fri, 16 May 2008 02:17:38 EST When "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" racked up a worldwide box-office gross of nearly $750 million in 2005, it seemed a safe bet that, with six books left in author C. S. Lewis's "The Chronicles of Narnia" series, the franchise was not going away anytime soon. The second entry in the series, "Prince Caspian," directed and co-written, like the first, by New Zealand-born "Shrek" helmer Andrew Adamson, opens today. If the new film is a reliable forecast of what to expect from the remaining... BRUCE BENNETT http://www2.nysun.com/arts/childhood-by-the-book/ Fri, 16 May 2008 02:17:38 EST Winner of the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature at last year's Tribeca Film Festival, "My Father My Lord" opens commercially today at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. Israeli writer-director David Volach's feature debut is set within Israel's ultra-Orthodox, highly insular Haredim community, a religious subculture within which Mr. Volach was raised. As a result "My Father My Lord," an anguished, mordant sigh of a fable, packs an enormous amount of feeling and detail into a mere 73 minutes... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www2.nysun.com/arts/three-traditions-one-american-week-of-jazz/ Fri, 16 May 2008 02:17:38 EST Lionel Loueke is every bit as amazing as everyone says. The Benin-born guitarist, who has been a presence on the international jazz scene for the last decade or so, is currently making the leap to headliner status with his first major-label album, "Karibu" (Blue Note), as well as his first starring engagement at a top-shelf New York club, the Blue Note. Mr. Loueke is a dazzling, inventive player who has crafted a fully functional fusion of African music and American jazz. The outer context...