Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
It’s your first weekend back and you don’t have much work yet. Right? Even if you do, you can spare an evening or two for something fun. On campus, head for “The Elixir of Love,” the music department opera, but after that try heading out beyond the rolling yellowish-brown fields of Swarthmore.
Of course, it’s Oscar season at the movies. Catch some of the top contenders at the Ritz in Philadelphia. This weekend, cult favorite auteur Terence Malick’s new film, “The New World,” opens in Philly, in a slightly shorter cut than was seen a few weeks ago in New York and LA. Malick is known for his slow pace, and this movie, a take on the Pocahontas story starring Colin Farrell, is still two and a half hours long.
Also opening is Woody Allen’s 140th “comeback movie,” “Match Point.” But it’s really a comeback this time, or so some critics say (but don’t at least a few critics say that every time?). The swan song of the Merchant-Ivory collaboration, “The White Countess,” about a blind American diplomat and an impoverished Russian countess in 1930s Shanghai, also opens (with a screenplay by no less than Kazuo Ishiguro).
If you don’t feel like a movie, anyone with eclectic musical tastes may enjoy the Philadelphia Orchestra’s concert this weekend, featuring saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The program ranges from the “crossover” (Duke Ellington) to the classic (Bach) to the unusual (the early 20th century French composer Jacques Ibert). It’s tonight and tomorrow night at the Kimmel Center.
