MOVIE NIGHT WITH GONDRY

It’s Michel Gondry week at the IFC Center: Tonight the director of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” hosts a special movie night before the opening of his newest film “The We and the I,” on March 8. Like the movie-obsessed video clerks in his film “Be Kind Rewind,”Gondry will talk about how one of his favorite flicks, the 1963 British comedy “Billy Liar,”influenced his own work, including “The Science of Sleep.”Similar to Gondry, Schlesinger’s movie centers around a young man with an all-too-vivid imagination who blurs the lines between fantasy and reality in his daily life.

Movie Night with Michel Gondry: Billy Liar

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SUBZERO VILLAGE

Could the release of German director Werner Herzog’s documentary about living in a remote Siberian village be more appropriately timed? Opening tonight at the IFC Center, “Happy People: A Year in the Taiga” explores a culture virtually untouched by modern society deep in Siberia’s extreme landscape. While a week of arctic temps might leave many New Yorkers feeling incredibly grumpy, these locals live without telephones, running water, or medical aid. This snowy flick provides some thought-provoking insight—and, well, at least it’s indoors.

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

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IF CHILDREN DON’T GROW UP

Every now and again someone unearths some ridiculous grade-school class picture or a long-forgotten yearbook photo and tags it on FB. For a second you’re forced to think about how much you’ve changed. Starting in 1964, in a time before reality-TV confession booths and social networks, one forward-thinking British filmmaker had the idea to interview a group of seven-year-olds from different social backgrounds and then return every seven years to check in on them. The result is one of the most fascinating portraits of growing up and growing older. The latest installment, “56 Up,” is now playing at the IFC Center.

56 Up at IFC Center

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PAPER OR PLASTIC

Gear up for Black Friday/Cyber Monday with Parker Posey’s new consumer-culture comedy “Price Check” now playing at the IFC Center. Indie darling Posey plays an ultra-cut-throat, type A executive set on turning around a failing supermarket. (Think: “Office Space” meets “Glengarry Glen Ross” at the local A&P.) Enlisting Pete, a good-natured family guy content with the simple life of the suburbs, as her sidekick, she overhauls the department and puts them on the fast track to corporate success. However, as Pete works more closely with his high-powered boss, he starts to wonder how far he’s willing to go to succeed.

Price Check

 LONELIEST PLANET

After shutting down due to Superstorm Sandy, the IFC Center is back open and they celebrated by handing out popcorn to weekend moviegoers. Check out “The Loneliest Planet,” starring the super-dreamy Gael García Bernal and Hani Furstenburg as a couple backpackers who are all lovey-dovey until one misstep threatens to tear them apart. An official selection at the New York Film Fest, director Julia Loktev’s follow-up to “Day Night Day Night” is a tense and riveting account of how the smallest decisions can have the most explosive impact.

The Loneliest Planet - IFC

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STARS IN SHORTS

These days it’s all about keeping it brief—whether it’s making a statement in 140 characters or less or directing a 60-second YouTube video that goes viral—so perhaps “the short” might finally have its long-overdue golden era. Screening at the IFC Center now, Stars in Shorts culls cinematic gems featuring some of the world’s biggest actors in their smallest roles yet. See Dame Judi Dench as a newbie Internet dater in “Friend Request Pending,” catch Colin Firth playing an overly needy neighbor in “Steve,” and watch Lily Tomlin get lost on her way to a funeral in “Procession,” among other mini-blockbusters. 

Stars in Shorts

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PESCATARIAN APPROVED
Sushi is addictive because it provides such an eloquent balance of
carbs and protein that it just feels healthy. Even binging at your
local half-price sushi joint is hard to feel guilty about…unless, of
course, you need to bow out of a major Broadway production as a result
(kudos for a 2008 pop culture reference). Last Friday, filmmaker
David Gelb premiered his love letter to sashimi, “Jiro Dreams of
Sushi,” at the IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, putting one of
the world’s best sushi chefs in the spotlight. With the same
mindboggling mix of humility and accomplishment as fellow octogenarian
Bill Cunningham, the 85-year-old Jiro Ono oversees a three Michelin
star restaurant located in a Tokyo subway station. Is anyone else
wondering why these guys aren’t BFF?
David Gelb’s Jiro Dreams of Sushi at IFC Center

Photo via tribecafilm.com