BUILT FOR SPEED
Race to the W Times Square from May 8 to May 30 to view the Wachowski Brothers' latest visual stunner, as stills from the duo's new live action film Speed Racer light up the hotel's Living Room lounge. The photo exhibition will be unveiled at a private reception tonight hosted by Emile Hirsch, star of the Warner Bros. film, which hits theaters and IMAX on Friday, May 9. The film also stars Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, and Matthew Fox and is based on the original Japanese anime cartoon about a young racecar driver in his quest for glory in his thunderous Mach 5. The exhibition will be open 24 hours a day.
W New York - Times Square, The Living Room - 7th Floor, 1567 Broadway, New York

Posted 05/ 8/08

The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by The Los Angeles Times, will screen more than 250 features, documentaries, shorts, and music videos from June 19 to June 29 in the heart of Westwood Village. Receive 25 percent off passes if you order them now until May 20 at www.lafilmfest.com/promotions.php. During this pre-sale period, Film Independent Members can enter their member ID numbers and non-members can enter promo code 57521Ps to receive the discount.
Posted 05/ 8/08

FRESH FLICKS
It's been a whirlwind first week at the seventh-annual Tribeca Film Festival, and CITY's resident cinephiles already have a slew of recommendations. Some of these will continue on the film festival circuit, while others have already picked up national distribution deals--either way, if any of them come to a theater near you, definitely check them out.

The Wackness
Sir Ben Kingsley strays from his typically epic and serious roles to play a darkly comical pot-smoking psychiatrist, desperately longing for his youth in 1994 New York in The Wackness. Kingsley's character and his drug dealer, an 18-year-old loner (Josh Peck) with a crush on Kingley's stepdaughter, become the strangest of friends (photo above), combating the same feelings of loneliness and rebellion despite being at different points in their lives. With a killer soundtrack that touches on early hip hop and other '90s favorites, the film is one of inner turmoil, and reminds us that insecurities don't always recede with age. The film hits theaters August 28, 2008. --RENEE LUCAS

Man on Wire
In 1974, Philippe Petit achieved his great dream: to walk between the Twin Towers. The "tightrope dancer" (as one NYPD officer calls him) crossed that length on a wire, eight times, a quarter-mile above the city streets, without a safety net or harness. Man on Wire tells Petit's riveting and inspiring tale, presenting a man at once eccentric, blindly optimistic, headstrong, and positively captivating. (For a full review, go to www.city-magazine.com.) --ERIN BREMER

Chevolution
Do you know who this man is? Surely, you've seen this photo on posters, T-shirts, and even cigarette boxes, but many who don Che Guevara's likeness are unaware of the revolutionary's complete history (e.g. he fought violently alongside Fidel Castro for socialism in Cuba). In some countries his image is worshiped, some it is shunned, but this documentary, which tells the story of Guevara and the photographers who followed him throughout his revolution, explains how this portrait has become a misinterpreted pop symbol displayed by everyone from free-loving hippies to terrorists. Currently on the film festival circuit. --RL

Lou Reed's Berlin
With art direction by Julian Schnabel, Lou Reed performed Berlin for the first time ever in 2006 at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, resurrecting the critically acclaimed 1973 album from the ashes of commercial failure. When he begins to play, he is stone-faced, almost apprehensive, but by the second song, when he turns around and gives his bandmate a simple smirk, you realize he's really having just as much fun as everyone else. Interspersed with film footage directed by Schnabel's daughter Lola, this misunderstood pseudo-rock opera finally gets the showcase it deserves. --EB

Faubourg Tremé
Faubourg Tremé is an historic, albeit lesser known, neighborhood just outside of New Orleans' French Quarter. Recently riddled with crime and dilapidated homes, Tremé, in the 19th century, was a booming area, unique because many of its home and business owners were free black men and women, highly uncommon in pre-Civil War years. Decades after race wars and civil planning weakened the spirit of Tremé, its residents received another devastating blow when Hurricane Katrina destroyed the area, leaving many families homeless. This heartwarming yet heartbreaking documentary depicts one neighborhood's centuries-long fight to survive. (Check out the full review online at www.city-magazine.com.) --EB

Save the Date
Not to be outdone by its East Coast counterpart (or Sundance, Toronto, and Cannes for that matter) the Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by The Los Angeles Times, will screen more than 250 features, documentaries, shorts, and music videos from June 19 to June 29 in the heart of Westwood Village. Stay tuned to www.lafilmfest.com for upcoming schedules and ticket information.

The Wackness photo by JoJo Whilden, © 2008 Occupant Films, Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.The Wackness photo by JoJo Whilden, © 2008 Occupant Films, Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.
Man on Wire photo by James Ricketson, © Magnolia Pictures.
Composite with Elements from the film Chevolution, original photo by Alberto Korda, Guerrillero Herioco 1960, courtesy of Korda Estate.
Lou Reed's Berlin photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival and Filmmakers.
Faubourg Tremé photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival and Filmmakers.
Posted 05/ 1/08

Long before the red door at 151 Mercer Street became the entrance to CITY's New York office, it was the gateway to MercBar, the hot spot CITY publisher John McDonald opened back in 1993 when SoHo wasn't quite the chic neighborhood it is today. Fifteen years later, MercBar is still hopping and its signature red door, façade, and private Red Room remain as flushed as ever. So we were particularly proud to learn that at tonight's opening of Farrow & Ball's first retail store in Manhattan at 112 Mercer Street, the purveyor of traditional papers and paints will unveil a deep red-hued paint named after the cobble-stoned street that we call home. To bring a little piece of our corner of the city into your neck of the woods, pick up a can of Mercer Street Red; 20 percent of sales from the paint will be donated to the Cardiovascular Health Education Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. Then may we suggest taking a stroll up the block for a drink--the "MercBar" sign is small, but we're betting you spot the door.
Farrow & Ball, 112 Mercer St., New York. Go to www.farrow-ball.com
Posted 05/ 1/08

iSPY: CITY's 2008 DESIGN ISSUE
Dread spring cleaning? Look on the bright side: With all that extra space in your once-cluttered apartment, now you can freshen up the place with a few new items. Need a suggestion or two? In CITY's new Design Issue, which hits newsstands this week, we offer up design ideas for every room in the house: an iPod speaker that replicates the design of a classic phonograph, special mirrors that fade subtly to transparent glass, British design duo Barber Osgerby's gorgeous new Bottle table for Cappellini, even bathroom fixtures inspired by the state penitentiary. Elsewhere in the new issue, we head to Wolfsburg, Germany, where photographer Benedict Redgrove captures Volkswagen's giant auto factory. We then hop a flight to Japan, where curator Eric C. Shiner and photographer Kenji Aoki team up to present a portfolio of Tokyo's latest cutting-edge design masterpieces, and where writer Brian DeLeeuw spends an informative night at one of the city's famous capsule hotels. And who couldn't use a design upgrade in the closet? We round up the new wave of American menswear designers, consider the high-flying state of superhero couture, and showcase the season's brightest collections for both men and women. And you were afraid of a little spring cleaning.
Posted 05/ 1/08