Francois Truffaut
I’m looking forward to The Bride Wore Black this weekend at the Cinematheque, not because I’ve seen it before but because I haven’t. I consider myself a fan of the director Francois Truffaut, but this 1968 thriller represents a gap in my viewing repertoire. It stars Jeanne Moreau and features music by Bernard Herrmann, so you can hardly go wrong. Screens tonight, Thursday, at 9:00 pm, and Friday at 7:30.
John is pushing “Tabu,” a 2012 top-ten choice of  many critics. It takes off from F. W. Murnau’s 1931 silent film Tabu. The New York Film Festival touted it as a “gloriously cinephilic fever dream.” Take that as encouragement or warning.
The Cleveland Museum pf Art offers a bunch of appealing music documentaries this weekend. The Zen of Bennett shows twice on Friday, at 5:30 and 7:15. I’ve always loved Tony Bennett. This film shows him recording a few of his famous duets, with Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, and others. Then on Sunday comes Orchestra of Exiles, which chronicles the origins of the Israeli Philharmonic. Violinist Branislaw Huberman helped rescue Jewish musicians from Europe to found the orchestra.
Finally, the Museum film program recognizes Martin Luther King, Jr., on Monday at 1:00 pm by showing Louder Than a Bomb, in which Chicago high-school kids compete in a poetry slam. It won Best Film at the Cleveland International Film Festival in 2010. It sounds exciting and inspiring.
So many movies (books, lectures, tv shows, etc.). So little time.