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entertainment | Weekend Pass W W W. T H E H O W A R D T H E AT R E . C O M
What did the change allow you to do?
I was intrigued by the questions I had about love and relationships, and if you tell one story you only have one outcome. It’s sometimes just too simplistic. There were a lot of questions I wanted answered, so I needed a lot of characters. Michael (Liam Neeson), your main character, is a writer. Is he kind of a stand-in for you?
In a way. It’s really an exploration of what it’s like to be a writer and what we kill to create, how selfish we are in our pursuits.
MARIA MARIN
You think all writers are selfish?
So if Michael is a stand-in for you, what’s your relationship with the other characters?
Here, writer-director Paul Haggis has a chance encounter with another person.
Paul Haggis
DIRECTOR (‘THIRD PERSON,’ ‘CRASH’), SELFISH WRITER
In “Third Person,” out Friday, writer-director Paul Haggis — who won two Oscars for his 2005 film “Crash” — weaves three stories together. Though the film’s characters live disparate lives, an undercurrent of mistrust, dysfunction and grief runs through all three storylines. It might sound similar to “Crash,” but Haggis is clear that he’s up to something very different this time around. What made you come back to this idea of using multiple storylines?
“Crash” was a ver y different structure. There were nine or 10 storylines, and the conceit was you’d follow someone around
INDIES & ARTIES
until they bumped into someone else and then you’d follow them. With this I wanted to tell three stories in three different locations where the characters couldn’t possibly meet.
Through Sun.
I think by definition that’s what we are. My kids paid the price for my career. We can say it’s for our family, but it almost never is. It’s about us. It’s just some of us can pretend better than others.
When I wrote this, early on I decided to allow the characters to lead me where they wanted to go, and they took me to places where I wasn’t comfortable and showed me things that I didn’t want to look at. I like exploring my own justifications, my rationalizations for why I am the way I am. The themes in each story are things I tried to work through in my own life. Is that why all the characters are pretty messed up?
I am really drawn to damaged characters and I have a lot of sympathy for them. Making those complicated characters empathetic is something to strive for. It’s too easy to create a good guy, or a good girl. KRISTEN PAGE-KIRBY (E XPRESS)
‘Driving Miss Daisy’:
One of the best things movie theaters have started doing is showing broadcasts of ballets, operas and plays that typically can’t be seen without a ticket to New York (or London or Milan). This weekend, AFI Silver is showing a filmed 2013 performance of “Driving Miss Daisy,” which was presented on a nearly bare stage with stars Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones. It’s a chance to see two living legends (who have seven Tonys between them) while eating popcorn. KRISTEN PAGE-KIBRY (E XPRESS) AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; through Sun., times vary, $20; 301-495-6700, afi.com/silver. (Silver Spring)
FILM RIFFS
620 T ST. NW WASHINGTON DC
2 0 2 - 8 0 3 - 2 8 9 9
THURSDAY, JUNE 26TH
LATYRX: LYRICS BORN AND LATEEF W/FORT KNOX FIVE
FRIDAY JUNE 27TH
GINGER BAKER
GOLDCREST FILMS
ON THE SPOT
FEAT. PEE WEE ELLIS/ ALEC DANKWORTH ABASS DODOO
FRIDAY JUNE 27TH -LATE SHOW
The Mighty Docs
“Korengal,” a documentary about soldiers on the front lines in Afghanistan (like, WAY in the front), opens Friday at E Street Cinema. It’s director Sebastian Junger’s follow-up to 2010’s “Restrepo,” which you also should watch. In fact, Netflix all these top docs. KRISTEN PAGE-KIRBY (EXPRESS)
1 ‘Restrepo’ Junger and co-director Tim Hetherington spent a year with a platoon serving in one of Afghanistan’s most dangerous valleys. The intense, immersive film shows the reality of war like nothing before.
2 ‘Undefeated’ This 2011 Oscar winner is about an underfunded underdog of a Memphis high school football team. They’re just looking for a winning season — and some way out of the crushing poverty that surrounds them.
3 ‘The Queen of Versailles’ In short, this 2012 doc is about a couple billionaires building a house. Really, it’s about how the recession affected the top 1 percent of the 1 percent, and how money may not buy happiness but it can buy a crap-ton of stuff.
4 ‘Blackfish’ This 2013 film has popped up on CNN (and probably your Facebook feed after your friends saw it). Yes, it’s depressing. You need to see it anyway. You probably won’t feel like going to Sea World much after you do.
5 ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’ The world’s best sushi restaurant is in a Tokyo subway station, with Jiro Ono behind the counter. He’s a workaholic and not a great dad, and everything he makes in this 2012 doc will get you hungry enough to chew your arm off.
NEG-NORTHEAST-GROOVERS
FANTASIA
A DIAMONDS & WHITE AFFAIR SATURDAY JUNE 28TH IN FULL CONCERT-SOLD OUT SUNDAY JUNE 29TH
PERFORMING ALONGSIDE VERY SPECIAL GUESTS
AFTERPARTY WITH DJ ANALYZE
SATURDAY JUNE 28TH -LATE SHOW DC CARNIVAL EXPERIENCE PRESENTS:
XEN FT.FARMER NAPPY
TUESDAY JULY 1ST-AARP & HTR PRESENT
“LEONARD COLEMAN & BLUNT” FORMERLY OF THE TEMPTATIONS, THE PLATTERS & THE DRIFTERS PLUS THE JOHNNY ARTIS BAND
THURSDAY JULY 3RD STARS-STRIPES , A RED & WHITE NIGHT FEAT.
BACKYARD BAND
FRIDAY JULY 4TH WKYS INDEPENDENCE DAY WHITE OUT
YO GOTTI SATURDAY JULY 5TH WHUR PRESENTS:
KENNY LATTIMORE WEDNESDAY JULY 9TH REGGAE AT THE HOWARD:
CHRONIXX & THE ZINCFENCE REDEMPTION THURSDAY JULY 10TH MAJIC 102.3 PRESENTS:
CARL THOMAS/SUZY Q
7/12 COMEDY AT THE HOWARD:SANDRA BERNHARD 7/13 REGGAE AT THE HOWARD: THE ORIGINAL WAILERS 7/15 REGGAE AT THE HOWARD: LOS PERICOS 7/16 PATRIZIO BUANNE 7/17 DC LOVES DILLA 7/18 MAJIC 102.3 PRESENTS LYFE JENNINGS 7/18 LATE: AFTERPARTY W/ FAMILIAR FACES 7/19 DE LA SOUL W/DILLON COOPER 7/20 THE MUSICAL BOX (RECREATING GENESIS’ FOXTROT) 7/23 CURREN$Y 7/24 THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS CHEERLEADERS 7/25 ALEXANDER O’NEIL 7/25 LATE- YESHI DEMELASH 7/27 COMEDY AT THE HOWARD: FUNNY-N-STILETTOS 7/29 AARP & HTR PRESENT: DC’S FINEST: MARCUS JOHNSON & SYLVER LOGAN SHARP 7/30 CAROLYN WONDERLAND 7/31 TWEET & PJ MORTON 8/1 ASHANTI 8/2 REGGAE AT THE HOWARD: MORGAN HERITAGE 8/3 REGGAE AT THE HOWARD: CULTURA PROFETICA 8/5 OMAR SOULEYMAN 8/6 & 7 REGGAE AT THE HOWARD: BERES HAMMOND 8/8 KENNY “BABYFACE” EDMONDS 8/10 ED MOTTA
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