Surviving Progress

Adapted from archeologist-historian Ronald Wright's best seller A Short History of Progress (2005), the documentary Surviving Progress tracks the effects of progress on ecology and survival by posing the question of whether technological advancements, economic development and population growth are signs of a thriving society.

Using vivid illustrations and onsite reporting from Canada, USA, China and Brazil co-directors and co-writers Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks explore the concept that technological and synthetic biology remediation lead to 'progress traps'.

Bringing forth this controversial theme are enlightening interviews that include leading thinkers, scientists and activists such as David Suzuki, Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking, Vaclav Smil, Daniel Povielli, Gary Marcus, and Marina Silva.

Punctuated by Mario Janelle stunning visuals, filmmakers Mathieu Roy, Harold Crooks, Martin Scorsese and Mark Achbar present the topic in a well-paced, thought provoking and engaging feature.

Children of the Plumed Serpent: The Legacy of Quetzalcoatl in Ancient Mexico

In this groundbreaking large-scale exhibition at LACMA are rare Postclassical (AD 900-1521) and early colonial period artworks of the southern Mexico ancient kingdoms of Nahua, Mixtec, and Zapotec. The communities are referred to as the children of their founding patron deity Quetzalcoatl, the human incarnation of the Plumed Serpent, and the ancient spirit force of wind and rain.

Tracing the evolution of an extensive trade network and foregrounding era of Mesoamerican cultural innovation are over two hundred objects including turquoise mosaics, gold, painted codices, and textiles from ancient Mexico, Central America, the American Southwest, and Europe.

LACMA's co-curators, the late Dr. Virginia Fields and Dr. Victoria Lyall, and the independent consulting curator and scholar Dr. John Pohl chronologically arranged the exhibit into five thematic sections.

The World of Tula and Chichen Itza, highlights the nascent exotic materials trade market such as gold, turquoise and ceramics in Mesoamerican's political landscape from AD 900-1200.

The New Tollan: The Emergence of Cholula and the Birth of the International Style displays international art from AD 1200 present in Cholula, the center of religious authority and commerce in the Americas. Art in the fourteenth century is characterized by the use of bold symbols, simple icons and vivid palette that transcend linguistic and ethnic differences.

Feasting, Divination and Heroic History explores the Children of the Plumed Serpent's ritual art including rare gifts exchange, finely painted  goblets from which revelers drank pulque made from fermented agave as well as painted codices of cultural heroes that inspired poetry.

Avenues of Trade and the Spread of the International Style illustrates the luxurious items sold in international trade corridors where fierce competition for luxury goods was lead by royal houses gift exchanges and wedding dowries. Exotic materials such as shell and turquoise were traded for elite commodities such as cacao and rare feathers.

The Aztec Conquest and the Spanish Incursion in the 1500s lead to reconstitution of southern Mexico's confederacies and trade networks. The Children of the Plumed Serpent become an integral part of the new economy and their descendants live in Southern Mexico up to today.


The exhibit runs from April 1, 2012 through July 1, 2012, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org

Following LACMA, the exhibit will then travel to the Dallas Museum of Art from July 29, 2012 through November 25, 2012.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Contemporary issues of a family in crisis is the subject of brother directors Mark and Jay Duplass' fourth feature.

In a different comedic role than in How I Met Your Mother and the Muppets, Jason Segal plays Jeff, an unemployed 30 years old who lives in his mother's basement, rarely venturing beyond his home, and waiting for a sign that will lead him to destiny.

The feature follows Jeff during an unforgettable single day. Jeff's exasperated working widowed mother Sharon (Susan Sarandon), tries to get Jeff off the couch and out of his comfort zone. She wishes Jeff could be more like his older brother Pat (Ed Helms), who is married and has a job. Pat's relationship with his wife Linda (Judy Greer) has been strained and worsened by the suspicion that she is having an affair. Meanwhile, Sharon is taken by a secret admirer at work.

In this enjoyable light comedy, the actors' cohesive chemistry is exalted by Susan Sarandon and Judy Greer's outstanding supporting performances and Duplass' well written script.

While delving into the complexities of human interactions, directors Duplass leave plenty of room for improvisation. Several closeup shots are captured through the use of a handheld camera tapping into the characters' divergent emotions and experiences that gradually strengthen and unify.

Footnote

In his second Academy Award® nomination for Best Foreign Language Film (Beaufort, 2007, Footnote, 2011) and the 2011 Cannes Film Festival Best Screenplay award winner, director screenwriter Joseph Cedar focuses on the tense father-son relationship of two Talmudic scholars whose academic achievements are disparately recognized by the professional community. Their relationship is tested when one of them is informed to be the winner of the coveted Israel Prize, the most prestigious national award for Science and Research.

Suspended between an intellectual thriller and tragicomedy, this original theme centers around the ambivalent portrayal of the professors' perspectives and the question of what is more important than the truth. This compelling feature is riddled with intertwined plots and ironies arising from the father-son academic and personal rivalry, artfully portrayed by veteran comic Shlomo Bar-Aba as the father Eliezer Shkolnik, and Lior Ashkenazi, as the son Uriel Shkolnik.

While skillfully interjecting dark humor, Footnote excels in its stylistic details. Starting with a short bullet-point narration, the feature gradually draws-in the viewer and, with Amit Poznansky soundtrack, increases the palpable suspense.

Big Miracle

Based on on real events and journalist Thomas Rose's book Freeing the Whales, director Ken Kwapis brings to the big screen this heartwarming rescue adventure. The events, involving three California gray whales trapped in the Arctic Circle ice off, near the coast of Barrow, Alaska, captured international interest in 1988, during the Cold War era.

United in their common mission to rescue the whales, an oil tycoon, environmentalists, Inuit Alaskan hunters, politicians and the media, set aside their differences to cover diverse aspects of the rescue.

Strong cast and convincing performances mark the feature including Drew Barrymore as the outspoken environmentalist Rachel Kramer, John Krasinski as journalist Adam Carlson, Ahmaogak Sweeney as Nathan the 11-year old native Alaskan boy Adam, Kristen Bell as Jill Jerard, an ambitious young journalist looking for her big break in network news, and Ted Danson, as oil tycoon J.W. McGraw.

With Cara Silverman's editing, Kwapis brings strength to the story by smoothly pacing the drama with humor and humanity while realistically blending in archival news footage of Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and Peter Jennings.

Emotionally engaging, this feel good movie, is enjoyable by the entire family.

In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States

A celebration of female surrealists from Mexico and the United States is Los Angeles County Museum of Art's (LACMA) landmark exhibition entitled after Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Diverging from their male and politically oriented French roots, the movement's female counterparts focused on personal identity and exploration such as the disruption of identity, the disorientation of reality, and the pursuit of the revelatory. On display are paintings, sculptures, works on paper, photographs and film that illustrate the female surrealist's transcending of gender and geographical barriers and eventual influence on the feminist movement.

This first large scale international exposition of its kind in the United States showcases 175 exceptional works of art, spanning over 40 years, from the 1930's to 1970's.

LACMA's American art curator and co-curator of the exhibit, Ilene Fort includes 47 iconic female surrealist artists such as Frida Kahlo, Lee Miller, Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Dorothea Tanning, and Louise Bourgeois.

Many of Frida Kahlo's (1907-1954) works were unobtainable for the exhibit. Nevertheless, one of her most compelling self-portraits representing Catholic and Mesoamerican symbolism, Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940), almost continuously on loan around the world since 1990, is on view at LACMA's exhibit.

One third of the art pieces come from Mexico, however, some will be on view only at LACMA due to loan agreements.

The exhibit runs through May 6, 2012, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org

The exhibit will then travel to the Musee National des Beaux-arts du Quebec City, Canada, from June 7 to September 3, 2012, and to the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, Mexico, from September 27, 2012 through January 13, 2013.

Organized by LACMA and the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, Mexico through a generous grant from the Terra foundations for American Art, a special collaboration of the National Council for Culture and the Arts (Conaculta, Mexico) and National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA), Mexico. The Los Angeles exhibition was in part made possible by Mr. and Mrs Raymond Horowitz Foundation for the Arts and is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Chris Burden: Metropolis II

Chris Burden's much anticipated Metropolis II has opened at Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA), an entire futuristic city featuring 1,100 driverless cars, buses, and trains roaming through a six-lane freeway passing by buildings at a speed of 240 scale miles per hour, without traffic lights.

Burden, the same artist who brought to LACMA the Urban Light installation, was inspired by the Los Angeles traffic congestion, but conceptualized Metropolis II to any modern twenty-first century city. The sculpture's eclectic flow and continuous noise generate the frenetic stress of flowing cars at ten times its current rate.

The approximately 100,000 colorful cars circulate every hour through the sculpture and are powered by three electrical conveyor belts attracted by magnets to miniature cars speeding without making physical contact with the belts or other speeding cars.

Captivating and engaging, this futuristic kinetic sculpture, is a work of art anyone can relate to. On a long-term loan by LACMA Trustee Nicolas Berggruen, Metropolis II is on view on the first floor of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), close to Chris Burden's Urban Light installation, and runs on weekends 90-minutes at a time.

Operating Schedule:

-Friday: 12:30-2 PM; 3-4:30 PM 5-6:30 PM; 7-8:30 PM

-Saturday and Sunday: 11:30-1 PM; 2-3:30; 4-5:30 PM

LACMA is located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org