teetotaling

Tonight, Deitch Gallery’s kicking off an interactive exhibition preceding the release of Michel Gondry’s comedy Be Kind Rewind. Similar to Gondry’s exhibition for Science of Sleep (also at Deitch) where he presented sets-as-sculpture, in this new installation you can enter Be Kind Rewind’s recreated video storefront, record your own sweded-film, take a copy home and leave copies for future rental by other gallery patrons. Be Kind Rewind continues at Deitch through March 22, so if your interest’s peaked, but you’re afraid of *NEWLY* open[to-the-public] gallery crowds, you can “swede yourself” online, while considering some other especially cinematic On-The-Town options.

From the 48 Hour Film Competition Archives (photo: courtesy Amy Atticks)

As part of MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight 2008 (an ecologically-geared series running through March 3), executive producer Robert Redford will introduce The Unforeseen (2007), a documentary tackling the conflict between personal property and land preservation. Discussion between Redford, director Laura Dunn and guest speakers Majora Carter (executive director and founder of Sustainable South Bronx) and Candida Paltiel (festival director of Planet in Focus) will follow the screening.

And, piggy-backing the Charles Burnett retrospective, the Anthology Film Archives is reviving a drama directed by Burnett’s cinematic partner Billy Woodberry, Bless Their Little Hearts (1984), a rarely seen American black independent film.

“Last year, Charles Burnett’s 1977 debut, Killer of Sheep, finally got the theatrical release and large audience denied it for 30 years. Depending on Hollywood’s timetable or yours, this marvelous 1984 slice-of-life drama… is either six years ahead of schedule for discovery or 24 long years overdue…” - Jim Ridley, Village Voice.

If you opt for Bless Their Little Hearts, afterwards you can try your hand at a pioneering review on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside Jim Ridley.

Officer Slater: My first wife, who is a whore, by the way, where do you think I met her? A bar. A bar.
Officer Michaels: It was this bar.
Officer Slater: It was this bar.
Superbad (Mottola, 2007)

Standard love story, especially in NYC.

But, even if you don’t have pre-fix dinner reservations with your BIG LOVE, you need not blast yourself off into single oblivion plastering the walls with your Xs’ relics, or meeting new Xs in bars.

Graveyard Wall ‘07: Oh dear (photo: courtesy Amy Atticks)

The New Museum’s hosting a free concert coupled with a light and video show, SCENEPR’s offering a night of romantic shorts by NYC filmmakers, and at MoMA Milos Forman’s introducing his film Lásky jedné plavovlásky (Loves of a Blonde), “a commentary on the perils of totalitarianism” focusing on the life of a teenage girl from a small Czech town who bangs a Prague musician.

Lásky jedné plavovlásky (Forman, 1965)

The Upright Citizen’s Brigade’s The Rejection Show looks promisingly-angsty, sixteen Chelsea galleries are open for receptions, and for plant-lovers, and there’s a Valentine’s-geared evening composting workshop at Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

And hey, V-day’s celebrating its BIG TENTH (and while you might not have the dough/desire to shell out for The Big Show, Valentine’s alternatives abound). If you’re feeling more community-minded than loverly: the Drum Circle’s gathering at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan (drums provided), the Fencing Meetup’s hosting a group lesson in swordsmanship followed by open bouting,

Fencing Mentors, The Princess Bride (Reiner, 1987)

The New School’s sponsoring a lecture on the future of capitalism, The New York Gnostic School’s teaching meditation, and the Brecht Forum’s screening John Henrik Clarke: A Great & Mighty Walk, (accompanied by discussion and jazz session) in celebration of Black History Month.