Arts + Entertainment Blog

• Gregory Crewdson's '(untitled) Ophelia' features in a documentary on his work showing Sunday at the IMA.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (June 1, 9:30 p.m. @ Indianapolis Museum of Art; $10 public, $6 members)
Offering campy pleasures with a bit less sophistication than Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and a little more seriousness than, say, Mommie Dearest, Baby Jane? sees Joan Crawford and Bette Davis - the one playing a former child star, the other an invalid who enjoyed not fame - smashing scenery and slowing going insane in a cramped apartment. Baby Jane? kicks off the IMA's Summer Nights series, which runs through August 31.

Seven (June 1 and 2, midnight @ Landmark Keystone Art Cinema)
The movie that announced David Fincher - first known for his music videos - as a film director to be reckoned with. You likely know the story, but just in case: Morgan Freeman (a week from retirement, as is customary) and Brad Pitt (the newbie) are homicide detectives on the trail of a serial killer committing murders corresponding to each of the seven deadly sins. Of course, it's all about style and atmosphere, and the big screen should enhance the film's genuine shock value. Seven kicks off Landmark's Midnight Movie series, which runs through July 28.

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters (June 3, 2 p.m. @ The Toby, Indianapolis Museum of Art; free, with donations accepted for IMA's film programming)
★ ★ ★ The documentary does nothing distinctive - your enjoyment will depend on your level of appreciation of a unique art photographer and his methodology. Gregory Crewdson creates and photographs of "moments between moments," elaborate images featuring people in scenes from some larger drama, but you don't ever get to see the drama, just the image. The story behind the often dreamlike and/or melancholy images must be written in your own noggin. Filmmaker Ben Shapiro simply observes Crewdson at work. Fair enough, though his interest in the fine points of Crewdson's shoots may exceed yours. All of the shoots are part of Crewdson's Beneath the Roses series, which he shot over an eight-year period. 50 photos over eight years ... this guy could be the cinematographer for Terrence Malick's next movie. 77 minutes. - Ed Johnson-Ott

Rowdy Rathore and Adhinayakudu (opening June 1 at Georgetown 14 Cinemas)

And let us never forget Manoranjan Inc., our fair city's foremost (and sole) source for the latest from Bollywood. They have a couple choices this week: the Telugu political drama Adhinayakudu, presented without subtitles and starring the impressively hirsute Balakrishna in three, generation-spanning roles (grandfather, father and son); and Rowdy Rathore, which is our completely untutored pick, because it has English subtitles (the original language being Hindi) and a virile poster that would've made Charles Bronson proud (tagline: "Don't angry me"). And, hell, just watch Rowdy punch and kick below; that's Hulk-level strength right there. Manoranjan usually has the good stuff, fresh from the distributor - Rowdy Rathore's worldwide premiere is June 1.

Finally, cinephiles might be inclined to head south to the IU Cinema, where Marcel Carne's masterpiece, Children of Paradise (Les enfants du paradis) is screening at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in 2K DCP from a new 4K digital restoration.

Continuing this week, we have...

First Position (at Landmark Keystone Art Cinema)
★ ★ ★ 1/2 Captivating documentary about a sampling of young people determined to compete in the Youth American Grand Prix, a prestigious ballet competition that offers prizes and the opportunity to secure scholarships and contracts. Bess Kargman's film shows the pain the young competitors are subjected to as they contort their bodies in order to move beautifully onstage. I was appalled to watch the dancers subject themselves to such damaging practices with the approval of the adults around them - then I remembered what happens routinely to aspiring football players and decided to just watch the movie without getting in a huff.

Kargman selects her representative dancers well, like 11-year-old Aaron, who comes from a military family and is matter-of-fact and quietly good-humored about the rigors of dance. Especially engaging is 14-year-old Michaela Deprince, adopted by a Philadelphia family after losing her parents in her native Sierra Leone. Some in the field believe that people of her skin color are not constructed properly for ballet and she must deal with the prejudice along with all the usual challenges of dance. Another standout is a 16-year-old Columbian boy with great talent and skill and a loving stage mother living vicariously through her kids. The bottom line is that you do not need to be a ballet fan to appreciate this traditional, but effective documentary. 90 minutes. - Ed Johnson-Ott

Bernie (at Landmark Keystone Art Cinema and Rave Motion Pictures Metropolis 18)
★ ★ ★ Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey star in a fact-based film by Richard Linklater (Waking Life) about a pleasant, prissy funeral director (Jack Black) with an affinity for public service and platonic relationships with little old ladies. The people in the small Texas town where he resides grow to love him so much that even when he's arrested for murder after confessing to shooting a rich, hateful lady (MacLaine) four times in the back, they come to his defense, refusing to believe the confession ("probably coerced by the police") or urging the showboating D.A. (McConaughey) to drop the charges even if true ("she was so mean, he must have just snapped").

Black glides through a role that seems designed for him. Lower-key than usual, the actor avoids overt mugging and displays a delightful singing voice - he is as lovable as the town folks find him to be. MacLaine is effective in a one-note role, and McConaughey gets the job done as the preening, righteous prosecutor. Linklater structures the film like a docudrama, using interview footage with locals between the scenes with Black and company. The director uses a number of genuine locals, including some that know Bernie, but the interview segments are not real, just well-crafted. There are too many of them, however, and Bernie's scenes feature too much detail, resulting in some draggy spots. A flawed but amusing curiosity. 98 minutes. - Ed Johnson-Ott