Weekend Event Planner

Festivals of a different stripe top best weekend events in Dallas

Getting out and about in Dallas this weekend all depends on the flexibility of your schedule. Several events starting Thursday allow you to pick and choose what day is best for you to attend, while the ones taking place Friday through Sunday require a commitment for a one-time-only experience.

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, November 12

2015 Stars & Stripes Film Festival
Timed for just after Veterans Day, this film festival is special in that it shows war-based movies and brings in veterans of those wars to speak about their experiences. Among the films being shown during the four-day fest, taking place at Angelika Film Center Dallas, will be Zero Dark Thirty, Last Days in Vietnam, The Windtalkers, and In Defense of Freedom: The Korean War.

2015 Elm Street Music & Tattoo Festival
Unlike last year's edition, which was spread over multiple venues, the 2015 Elm Street Music & Tattoo Festival will be centrally located at the Bomb Factory. Taking place every night through Sunday, it will feature 40 tattooers doing what they do best and more than 30 bands, including The Reverend Horton Heat, Leftover Crack, Agnostic Front, The Bronx, Mariachi El Bronx, and The Briefs.

Peter Pan 360
Fly to Neverland in a whole new way with this innovative live stage production of Peter Pan in the Threesixty Theatre, a state-of-the-art, 100-foot high, climate-controlled tent that's been erected in the Dallas Arts District. The production combines intimate theater-in-the-round, overhead surround CGI projection, and actors in flying sequences 40 feet in the air for a unique experience. It will run through December 6.

Friday, November 13

An Evening with Giada De Laurentiis
Giada De Laurentiis is as ubiquitous a food celebrity as there is these days, thanks to her multiple TV shows, eponymous online magazine, and seven — count 'em, seven — books. De Laurentiis comes to the Majestic Theatre to talk about her latest cookbook, Happy Cooking, and take questions from the audience.

Chance the Rapper in concert
If you don't know Chance the Rapper yet, chances are you soon will. Although he has yet to release his own full album, he's put out several acclaimed EPs in recent years and was heavily involved in Surf, the debut album from The Social Experiment. He's also doing a secret project with late night host Stephen Colbert, which intrigues on multiple levels. He'll perform at South Side Ballroom alongside D.R.A.M., Towkio, and Metro Boomin.

Saturday, November 14

Art Con 11
The annual Art Con is way to indulge in the local arts scene while also actively helping it out. More than 150 local artists have been challenged to stretch their talents to create a piece of collectible art within 24 hours on a piece of signature Art Con 18 x 18 board. Those works will be auctioned off during the evening, with proceeds going to support Make Art with Purpose.

Leon Bridges in concert with Wesley Geiger & The Texas Gentlemen
Another up-and-coming musician with whom you should be acquainted is Leon Bridges, a Fort Worth native who's hit the big time in a matter of months. A mere five months ago, Bridges was playing small local joints like the Scat Jazz Lounge; now he's headlining at the Majestic Theatre thanks to his breakout debut album, Coming Home. He'll be joined by Wesley Geiger & The Texas Gentlemen.

Eisemann Center presents An Evening with Molly Ringwald
The name Molly Ringwald brings up a lot of images, mostly from her string of hit movies in the 1980s (one of which, The Breakfast Club, will be screened at the Alamo Drafthouse in Richardson with her in attendance on Friday). But this evening at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts will be a concert showcasing Ringwald's skills as a jazz vocalist, something she's pursued in earnest since 2013.

Sunday, November 15

Evanescence in concert
The band Evanescence rose to fame in the early 2000s thanks to songs like "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal." Unlike other bands who have jettisoned their lead singers and continued onward, vocalist Amy Lee is all that remains from the original lineup. The mostly new band will perform at South Side Ballroom as part of their first tour in three years.

Zero Dark Thirty will be among the films shown at the 2015 Stars & Stripes Film Festival, playing through November 15 at Angelika Film Center Dallas.

Zero Dark Thirty/Facebook

Zero Dark Thirty will be among the films shown at the 2015 Stars & Stripes Film Festival, playing through November 15 at Angelika Film Center Dallas.

event-planner galleries chefs fundraisers theater movies festivals concerts

Movie Review

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

Photo by Georges Lechaptois

undefined

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.

---

A Private Life is now playing in select theaters.

film