Weekend Event Planner

Erykah Badu’s Dallas birthday party tops this weekend’s best events

This weekend in Dallas, there are events of all flavors to enjoy. Among the happenings are local celebs competing for charity, a theater festival showcasing multiple local companies and artists, a birthday party for one of Dallas' best singers, and an early glimpse of spring.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, February 25

Reading Partners presents 4th annual Celebrity Spelling Bee
Many people fancy themselves as good spellers, but some local celebrities put their money where their mouths are at this event, all in the name of charity. People like former Texas Ranger Michael Young, former Dallas Star Marty Turco, Cafe Momentum's Chad Houser, and others square off at Dallas City Performance Hall. Proceeds support Reading Partners’ proven literacy intervention program.

2016 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival
The annual Out of the Loop Fringe Festival is an 11-day celebration of theater, dance, music, and art. Running through March 6 at Addison Conference Centre, the festival features performances by Rite of Passage Theatre Company, Dallas Neo-Classical Ballet, Diana Sheehan, Ebony Stewart, and many more.

Friday, February 26

Rachel Platten in concert with Eric Hutchinson and Christina Grimmie
Like many singers, Rachel Platten took the long road to success, grinding away for years in the music business before finally hitting it big in 2015 thanks to her hit, "Fight Song." She comes to the Granada Theater as part of her first headlining tour in support of her album, Wildfire, with Eric Hutchinson and Christina Grimmie as opening acts.

Improv Addison presents Deon Cole
Like Platten, comedian Deon Cole is finally getting his moment in the sun after many years on the stand-up circuit. He gained a bit of notoriety as a staff writer for Conan O'Brien, where he was regularly featured on-air, and he now co-stars on the TBS sitcom Angie Tribeca. He keeps his stand-up skills sharp with five performances over three days at Improv Addison.

Erykah Badu presents Still Booming: The Annual Birthday Bash
Every time Erykah Badu performs, it's an event, but you can double or triple your expectations when it's her birthday. Badu takes over the Bomb Factory to celebrate her 45th birthday, bringing in a few friends as special guests, including comedian Dave Chappelle as host. We have no idea what to expect, but we know it'll be memorable.

Saturday, February 27

Dallas Arboretum presents Dallas Blooms: The Artistry in Nature
The largest floral festival in the Southwest, Dallas Blooms, returns with the theme Artistry in Nature, showcasing an explosion of color with more than 100 kinds of spring bulbs totaling 500,000 blooms and dazzling layers of landscape at every turn. The festival, running through April 10 at the Dallas Arboretum, also features renowned sculptor Gary Lee Price's Great Contributors Bronze Statues exhibit.

PDNB Gallery presents the Next Chapter: 154 Glass Street
After 20 years in business, Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery is starting a new chapter by moving to a new location at 154 Glass St. in the Design District. To celebrate that move, a new exhibit with an appropriate title features a variety of the gallery's artists. The exhibit is on display through April 23.

Arts & Letters Live: Selected Shorts - Art & Artists
The annual Selected Shorts is a star-studded affair, as it features three Tony Award winners reading stories reflecting on the powerful role of art and artists. Denis O’Hare, Blythe Danner, and John Benjamin Hickey present an evening of artful storytelling, reflection, and laughter at the Dallas Museum of Art, featuring stories by Aimee Bender, Lorrie Moore, and J. Robert Lennon.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Million Dollar Quartet
Million Dollar Quartet is set on December 4, 1956, when an auspicious twist of fate brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley together. The resulting evening became known as one of the greatest rock-and-roll jam sessions in history. The production, playing at Music Hall at Fair Park three times on Saturday and Sunday, brings that piece of history back to vivid life.

Sunday, February 28

Ace Frehley in concert
For people of a certain age, Ace Frehley will always and forever be Spaceman from the rock band Kiss. But the majority of his career has been as a solo artist, even though he released many more albums as a member of Kiss. Frehley plays at the Bomb Factory in support of his forthcoming sixth solo album, Origins, Vol. 1, a covers album that includes several songs Frehley wrote for Kiss but did not originally perform.

Erykah Badu celebrates her 45th birthday with a bash at the Bomb Factory on February 26.

Erykah Badu at Bomb Factory in Deep Ellum

Photo by Enrico Casino

Erykah Badu celebrates her 45th birthday with a bash at the Bomb Factory on February 26.

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Movie Review

Jodie Foster brings depth and wit to French thriller A Private Life

Photo by Georges Lechaptois

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Jodie Foster has been a member of the Hollywood community for almost 60 years, first as a child actor on TV, and then branching out into movies. She earned an Oscar nomination at the tender age of 14 for her role in Taxi Driver, and she’s gone on to be nominated five times, winning twice. Now, at age 63, she’s showing she’s still capable of surprises by fluently speaking another language in the French film, A Private Life.

Foster plays Lilian Steiner, a psychiatrist who sees patients out of her Parisian apartment. When she learns of the death of one of her patients, Paula (Virginie Efira), she’s sad but otherwise unaffected until a few suspicious things start happening. This includes the robbery of her apartment, in which a recording of Paula’s last session with Lilian goes missing.

With the help of her ex-husband, Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), Lilian becomes an amateur private detective, tracking the movements of Paula’s husband, Simon (Mathieu Amalric), whom she increasingly suspects of murder. At the same time, Lilian must navigate a tense relationship with her son, Julien (Vincent Lacoste), along with an unexpected rekindling of romance with Gabriel.

Written and directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, and co-written by Anne Berest, it is a psychological thriller that at times feels like an Inspector Clouseau movie. With little to go on but her own perhaps misguided suspicions, Lilian digs herself deeper into a situation of her own making. And she further clouds her mind by indulging in a tryst with Gabriel, who’s all too eager to help Lilian pursue her criminal theories. While the film is not a comedy, there are elements of humor that pop in to keep the story light.

Zlotowski plays with the competing tones of the story well, keeping viewers on Lilian’s side even as she indulges in things that might not be the healthiest for her. Lilian’s various eccentricities - an adherence to recording on old-fashioned mini discs instead of fully digital, keeping an emotional distance from her son and grandson - make her a fascinating character whose vacillating motivations keep viewers guessing as to what she’ll do next.

In a lot of ways, the film is a study of how Lilian needs to try to find ways to heal herself. The possibility of Paula being murdered wakes Lilian up to the idea that she has not been as attentive a doctor as she should be. The sessions with different patients that Zlotowski shows give the impression that there’s a general level of dissatisfaction with her, with one patient outright breaking up with her.

Foster is no less compelling speaking mostly in French than she is in English language movies. Her fluency is never in doubt, and she fits in seamlessly with the actual French actors in the film. Auteuil is a fun counterpart for Foster, showing an unexpected chemistry with her that keeps their scenes crackling with energy. Amalric, a Wes Anderson favorite, has a relatively small role but still stands out when he gets a chance.

A Private Life is not the type of thriller that American audiences might be used to, but its slow, methodical storytelling and subtle humor make it an interesting watch from beginning to end. The film is not up for any awards, but Foster’s performance shows she remains a top-tier actor.

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A Private Life is now playing in select theaters.

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