14 metrolife Friday, January 22, 2010 D About Town THE HOTTEST TICKETS IN TOWN We have a family pass to see THE GIRL WHO FORGOT TO SING BADLY The Ark, Jan 30, 2pm For a chance to win, e-mail your answer to the question below to life@metroireland. ie by noon today with Hot Tickets in the subject line. With the answer include your name, address and a number where you can be contacted between 1pm and 3pm. Strictly one entry per person; entrants must be age 18 or over. Q. Noahs Ark features in which biblical book? A Genesis B Leviticus The winner of yesterdays tickets to see LCD Soundsystem is: Cian McGarrigle Geoff Boyz The Scottish observationalist comic headlines, while finalist of Edinburghs So You Think Youre Funny? festival, James Marsh, and Conan OBrien Shows Shane Mauss set the tone Until tomorrow, The Laughter Lounge, Eden Quay D1, 7pm, 25. Tel: 1800 266 339. www.laughterlounge.com Garbage, City & Death Glen Hansard Panto season may be almost over but theres plenty for children and parents to enjoy with The Arks forthcoming production aimed at ages seven and over. Written by Finegan Kruckemeyer and performed by seasoned actor Louis Lovett (pictured) as part of the cultural centres new Theatre Maker Residency, the play revolves around a young girl called Peggy, a blizzard, a boat and foxes in boxes. Curiouser and curiouser? That 2008s Irish Times Theatre Special Tribute Award winner Lynne Parker directed the piece only adds to the intrigue Jan 30 to Mar 7, The Ark, 11a Eustace Street, Temple Bar D2, various times & prices. Tel: (01) 670 7788. www.ark.ie Book Now The Girl Who Forgot To Sing Badly metrometro lifeStaying In & Going Out GIG Kerrang! Restless Energy Tour A reading of Rainer Werner Fassbinders controversial 1975 play which was effectively banned in his native Germany until 1985 for depicting the cruelty of commerce, racism and fascism Tomorrow, The New Theatre, 43 Essex Street East D2, 3pm, free. Tel: (01) 670 3361. www.thenewtheatre.com The Swell Season and Frames frontman performs solo for this Haiti benefit gig, with all proceeds going towards the Concern appeal. Dig deep, people, when the donation buckets start circulating Sun, Whelans, 25 Wexford Street D2, 8pm, 15. Tel: 1890 200 078. www.myspace.com/theswellseason Going Out Films The jailhouse thatA Prophet (16) Running time: 155min This French gangster hit is a far cry from the romanticised glamour of Hollywood mafia movies. Instead, steeped in a chilling sense of social realism and the grim cynicism of everyday life, this epic tour-de-force is a quietly enthralling study of one mans rise to power. Malik (acclaimed newcomer Tahar Rahim) is a French Arab criminal imprisoned for an unnamed crime. Behind bars, he is reluctantly drawn into mob life after being forced to kill a fellow prisoner. From then on he becomes the unwilling lapdog to a brutal Corsican leader (Niels Arestrup). Its essentially a story of survival. Starting out jail life as a somewhat nave, conflicted and confused young man, Malik first observes from the sidelines, then learns the ropes and starts up his own business empire behind bars. Rahim is a revelation as the illiterate thug who learns to read and write in prison, discovering along the way that he must also learn to fight dirty whatever it takes. Despite clocking in at two-and-a-half hours, director Jacques Audiard (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) has crafted a masterful psychological thriller. Not one minute feels wasted, as the taut narrative intelligently winds itself around issues of race, politics and prison life. There are drug deals, prostitutes, corruption and bribery nothing weve not seen before. But what elevates A Prophet above other gangster/prison dramas is the grubby moral ambiguity and poetic existential angst that simmer within its gritty examination of the underbelly of French society. Its violent, shocking and, most of all, gripping. Already cleaning up the international awards, the real crime would be if this didnt at least get an Oscar nod for Best Foreign Film. Ann Lee Brothers (15A) Running time: 105min Tobey Spider-Man Maguire flexes his proper acting muscles here to Golden Globe-nominated effect. Hes Sam, a decorated marine, devoted husband and dedicated father of two small daughters, who goes missing, presumed dead, on duty in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, his black sheep brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) swoops in on Sams ridiculously beautiful widow (Natalie Portman) and starts to play happy families, when, uh-oh, a Taliban- traumatised Sam reappears to spoil the fun. Maguire may have got the awards glory so far but this is definitely a three-hander. Despite permanently looking like shes just waltzed out of a salon, even when supposedly bed-bound by grief, Portmans performance is utterly convincing. Gyllenhaal is equally muscular as the moody, bearded family disappointment. Its their rock-solid acting that locks you in to each scene. Dublin director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot) encourages them to dive into each conflict, banging some serious emotional heads together. Such is the impact you barely notice the stock characterisation and increasing predictability of this uninspired US remake of Susanne Biers edgier Danish original. A powerful watch that then tellingly melts away to nothing as the credits roll. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh The Boys Are Back (12A) Running time: 104min Clive Owen tends to be good in good films and bad in bad ones. Luckily, this is one of the gooduns. Based on Simon Carrs autobiographical novel, it casts Owen as Joe, a British sports writer happily living in Australia with his second wife Katy (Laura Fraser) and their six-year-old son Artie (Nicholas McAnulty). However, when cancer claims her it leaves father and son bereaved and totally unprepared for life without a female influence; the domestic chaos intensifies when Joes older son from his first marriage (the excellent George MacKay) comes to stay. This may sound like a true-story-made-for-TV weepie but a strong cast and accomplished direction from Shines Scott Hicks make it big-screen worthy, and its saved from mawkishness by a lively irreverent streak. Joe is a flawed, blokeish character who decides the best way to parent is to let his boys misbehave much to the horror of local mothers. Possibly too sentimental for some. But if youre interested in the psychology of parenting, or just fancy a good old blub, its well worth a watch. Anna Smith Ninja Assassin (18) Running time: 99min Clearly one doesnt expect Oscar-worthy drama from a film entitled Ninja Assassin, yet somehow this cack-handed disaster still manages to disappoint. Raizo (played by charisma-repellent Korean pop star, Rain) is one of the worlds deadliest Heavy rock has a long-running obsession with all things bleak and apocalyptic so its ironic that, whilst the rest of the music industry stares oblivion in the face, things are looking distinctly sunny for practitioners of the dark arts of gratuitous guitar abuse. Commanding a super loyal fan-base and with a lucrative sideline in merchandise metal and emo outfits have always made as much out of T-shirt sales as records the scene continues to prosper even as the mainstream hurtles towards commercial meltdown. Certainly, the future appears bright for the young gunslingers who lead the Kerrang! showcase on its annual excursion to Dublin. At the head of the posse are All Time Low, a Maryland band who started out channelling punk groups like Green Day and Blink 181 but have lately shed their sulky adolescent skin and moved towards something darker and more eloquent. Also on the bill are The Blackout, a Welsh post-hardcore crew whose music deals in headache- inducing screamo pop if you are a misunderstood teenager it probably sounds like musical manna. Less stereotypically metaaaal! are opener My Passion (pictured), whose beat-soaked songbook suggests a youth immersed in the music of LCD Soundsystem as much as, say, Megadeath. Still, they cut a moody dash in their black leather jackets, which can only help as they try to bend Ireland to their will. Eamon de Paor Tonight & tomorrow, The Academy, 57 Middle Abbey Street D1, 6pm, 24.65 (tonight returns only). Tel: 0818 719 300. www.www2.kerrang.com index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html