[ThisWeek] Einstein's Miracle Year and Everything is Illuminated at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre

[thisweek at kenworthy.org]

This week at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre-

University of Idaho Department of Physics presents
Einstein¹s Miracle Year
Thursday, November 17
7:00 PM
Free :-)

Philip Deutchman, UI Emeritus Professor of Physics, will make a presentation
entitled ³How Einstein Rocked the World of Physics in 1905: A 100 Year
Celebration² at 7 PM Thursday evening, 17th Nov. at the Kenworthy Theater,
508 South Main St., Moscow. The event is free and open to the public.

In the year 1905 Einstein, then 26 years old, published 5 papers any one of
which would have assured his reputation as one of the great physicists of
all time. This presentation, aimed at general audiences, will be a
discussion of these five papers. There will be a gentle introduction, with
visual examples, to the basic ideas contained in each paper and the emphasis
will be on the impact which each paper had on the field of physics.  Phil¹s
hope is to convey the pleasure and excitement of these ideas to the audience
and to marvel at how Einstein could have produced work of such profusion,
profundity and prescience in such a short period of time.

Professor Deutchman taught physics at the undergraduate and graduate levels
and conducted research in Nuclear and Particle Theory at the University of
Idaho for 34 years.  He retired in 2002.  His interests are in understanding
the fundamental ideas, interpretations and phenomena described by Quantum
Theory and Relativity, and in conveying the pleasure and excitement
contained in these ideas to audiences curious about such notions.

This event is sponsored by the UI Department of Physics as part of the
internationally sanctioned ³World Year of Physics² , a celebration of the
100th anniversary of Einstein¹s ³miracle year² of 1905.  For further
information, contact the Department of Physics at (208)885-6099 or visit the
web site www.phys.uidaho.edu.
* * *
 
Also this week at the Kenworthy-

Kenworthy Film Society presents
Everything is Illuminated (PG-13)
Friday, November 18
7:00 PM
Saturday & Sunday, November 19 & 20
4:30 & 7:00 PM
$5/Adults, $2/Children under 13
KFS passes accepted for Sunday showings
(see Review below)
* * *

Next week at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre . . .

Wallace & Gromit
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (G)
Friday, Saturday & Sunday - November 25, 26 & 27
4:45 & 7:00 PM

Coming in December: 2046, Junebug

Check KPAC¹s web site for dates & times. http://www.kenworthy.org

Regular Movie prices:  $5 adult, $2 child under 13
KFS passes accepted year-round for Sunday movies!
* * *

This week¹s review-

Everything is Illuminated

Directed by Liev Schreiber; written by Mr. Schreiber, based on the novel by
Jonathan Safran Foer
Rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for some scenes of violence, though
more is implied than shown, and sexual content and language.
Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes


As reviewed by Roger Ebert writing for the Chicago Sun-Times

Liev Schreiber's "Everything is Illuminated" begins in goofiness and ends in
silence and memory. How it gets from one to the other is the subject of the
film, a journey undertaken by three men and a dog into the secrets of the
past. The movie is narrated by Alex (Eugene Hutz), a Ukranian whose family
specializes in "tours of dead Jews." Alex and his grandfather (also named
Alex) drive American Jews in search of their roots to the places where many
of their ancestors died.

The trip through a bewildering but beautiful Ukrainian countryside involves
a Soviet-era car that may not exactly have air bags. The grandfather is the
driver, although he claims to be blind and insists on going everywhere with
his "seeing eye bitch," whose name is Sammy Davis Junior Junior. Alex's
English seems learned from a thesaurus that was one word off. He tortures
words to force them into sentences from which they try to escape, and keeps
a journal with chapters like Overture to the Commencement of a Very Rigid
Search.

The movie's hero is Jonathan (Elijah Wood), a solemn, goggle-eyed American
known as "The Collector" because he accumulates bits and pieces of his life
and stores them in Ziploc bags, carefully labeled. He has come to the
Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather's life. To this woman is
due much gratitude, because Jonathan's grandmother passed along the belief
that the Ukraine treated Jews so badly that if the Nazis invaded, it might
be an improvement.

I described Jonathan as the hero of the film, but perhaps he is too passive
to be a hero. He regards. He collects. Alex is the active character,
cheerfully inventing English as he goes along, making the best of the
journey's hardships, humoring his grandfather, telling the rich American
what he wants to hear. Eugene Hutz, a singer in a punk gypsy band, brings
notes of early John Turturro to the performance. Elijah Wood's performance
is deliberately narrow and muted -- pitch-perfect, although there is a
distraction caused by his oversized eyeglasses so thick they make his eyes
huge. He visits, he witnesses, he puts things in Ziploc bags.

Then again, perhaps the real hero of the film is the grandfather, unless by
default it is the old lady, who is a Collector, too. For Grandfather, this
is as much a journey of discovery as it is for Jonathan, and the changes
that take place within him are all the more profound for never once being
referred to in his dialogue. He never discusses his feelings or his
memories, but in a way he is the purpose of the whole trip. The conclusion
he draws from it is illustrated in an image that, in context, speaks more
eloquently than words.


As reviewed by Anita Katz writing for the San Francisco Examiner

"Everything Is Illuminated" is an offbeat road tale, a culture-clash comedy
and a Holocaust drama ‹ a potentially problematic mix that Liev Schreiber
generally pulls off in his debut as a writer-director.

Streamlined from Jonathan Safran Foer's acclaimed novel, the film isn't as
penetrating or moving as it should be, given the historical elements that
shade its storyline. But as a Ukrainian- and Jewish-condition journey, it's
touchingly bittersweet and appealingly whimsical.

Displaying the same earnestness as a director that he's shown as an actor
(most recently in 2004's "The Manchurian Candidate"), Schreiber takes his
characters seriously and inspires us to do likewise. He also delivers the
eccentric humor winningly. (A running bit about Jonathan's vegetarianism in
a country where meat seems to rank with oxygen among life's essentials is
particularly amusing.)

And even at his weakest, Schreiber doesn't lose sight of Foer's themes. He's
made a thoughtful crowd-pleaser about how history shapes and mars the
psyches of families and cultures for generations, and how connecting with
one's familial and cultural history can enlighten and strengthen an
individual.


As reviewed by Steve Persall writing for the St. Petersburg (FL)Times

Everything Is Illuminated begins as an absurdist comedy and ends with darker
realism, a difficult path for any filmmaker to navigate, especially a
first-timer like Liev Schreiber. Nobody will accuse the actor of lacking
ambition, directing his adaptation of a novel previously considered
unfilmable.

It's an auspicious debut, full of wonderful little moments that only an
assured artist would discover. Some are verbal, lifted from Jonathan Safran
Foer's book, such as the mangled English translations of a Russian tour
guide named Alex. Others are visual; sunflowers in the midst of nowhere, and
a wall of sealed, otherwise insignificant artifacts from the life of Alex's
latest customer who shares the author's name.

Foer's novel reportedly included detailed histories of Ukrainian villages
and families preceding Jonathan's story by centuries. Schreiber's screenplay
ditches all that, opting for a few World War II flashbacks to focus
attention on the grandfathers and their descendents. Literary purists may
grumble, but it's a fine job of streamlining for cinematic needs.

Everything is Illuminated is flawed yet always interesting, lovely to behold
- Matthew Libatique's cinematography is award caliber - and eventually quite
moving. Above all, it has a genuinely dedicated creator in Schreiber, whose
instincts seem to come from another time and certainly a place other than
Hollywood. This may be regarded as the best foreign film created by an
American this year. That must count for something.


Film reviews researched and edited by Peter Haggart
* * *
  
Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre
508 S. Main Street, Moscow, Idaho
208-882-4127
Sign up for this weekly email on events and movies at the Kenworthy by
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAMELA PALMER, Volunteer
Mailto:ppalmer at moscow.com
Film and Events Committee
Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre

http://www.kenworthy.org
To speak with a KPAC staff member,
call (208) 882-4127
Mailto:kpac at moscow.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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