The great Frank Langella, who was named best actor of the year by the Boston Society of Film Critics for his performance in "Starting Out in the Evening," will be feted tonight in an event at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. The awards ceremony, which Langella will attend, is open to the public.
In the movie, Langella plays a literary novelist almost brought out of his shell by a seductive and ruthless grad student. In his review for the Globe, Wesley Morris wrote, "Leonard is an imposing, vaguely Germanic figure of guilt and disappointment. Walking the streets of New York speaking like the professorial gentleman he is, this tall, terribly proper man seems like a dinosaur. Langella actually makes you sense that the need to matter again as a writer is weighing on Leonard's soul."
One of Langella's best-known works was his portrayal of Count Dracula in an electric Broadway production 30 years ago. In contrast to his muted work in "Starting Out," he brought an erotic charge and seductive ripeness to that character.
"Starting Out" costars Lauren Ambrose ("Six Feet Under") as the smitten student and Lili Taylor as Leonard's daughter. It was directed by Andrew Wagner.
Tonight's program includes a reception from 5 to 6:30 (location to be announced; check the Brattle for details and ticket information) and, at the Brattle at 7, a presentation to Langella and a screening of "Starting Out." Also honored will be five locals who have been key to regional movie action over the past year, including Nick Paleologos of the Massachusetts Film Office and Kaj Wilson of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, which gave "Starting Out" its New England premiere in November.
The Boston Society of Film Critics has highlighted the best of the industry since its formation in 1981. Its first best actor award was given to Robert De Niro for "Raging Bull" and its first best American film award went to "Melvin and Howard." Tonight's celebration is the group's first-ever in-person ceremony.
Details about the society are online at thebsfc.org. Ticket information for tonight's event is available from the Brattle, at 617-876-6837 and brattlefilm.org.
SCIENCE ON SCREEN IN 2008: Since it began coupling movie screenings with commentary by science figures back in 2005 - first-year pairings included "Dial M For Murder" with Harvard psychologist and brain researcher Steven Pinker and "The Elephant Man" with geneticist Virginia Kimonis - the Coolidge Corner Theatre's "Science on Screen" program has become one of the most accessible local forums for exploring the realities of the scientific world and how they're depicted in mainstream pop culture.
The program's 2008 season kicks off tomorrow at 7 p.m. with another fascinating duo: Woody Allen's 1973 film "Sleeper," the futuristic comedy that touches on cryogenic preservation and cloning, and Brock Reeve, executive director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and half-brother of the late actor Christopher Reeve, who became an advocate for stem cell research in his later years. Reeve will introduce the film.
Upcoming "Science on Screen" programs will look at the science of attraction (paired with the sizzling Kathleen Turner and William Hurt in "Body Heat"), phobias ("Vertigo"), the globalization of the fishing business (the documentary "Darwin's Nightmare"), and sci-fi in general (1978's "Superman" with Christopher Reeve).
The series was created by Richard Anders and is co-presented by The Museum of Science and New Scientist magazine. Information is online at coolidge.org/science, and at the theater box office at 617-734-2500.
CALLING LOCAL FILMMAKERS: The Boston Cinema Census invites area filmmakers to submit their work for possible inclusion in this winter's one-night event.
"As an area where film resources and funding are limited, the New England region naturally encourages a climate of personally driven filmmaking," notes the census. The group presents an evening of film each winter at the Brattle with the goal of highlighting new voices.
Filmmakers can apply through the online site withoutabox.com or with an application available online at bostoncinemacensus.org. Deadline is Jan. 31.
KUDOS FOR GIANVITO: John Gianvito's impressionist chronicle of the progressive movement in America, "Profit motive and the whispering wind," has been named the best experimental film of the year by the National Society of Film Critics.
For three years, Gianvito, who teaches visual and media studies at Emerson College, filmed monuments to American radicals including Sojourner Truth, Medgar Evers, and Susan B. Anthony and movements including the Bread and Roses Strike in Lawrence.
"There are no interviews, no voice-over," wrote Mark Feeney in a Globe review last November. "Instead, we get the buzz of cicadas, the twitter of birds, the hum of distant traffic, the near-constant sound of wind in minute variations. That sighing breeze is as close as Gianvito comes to narration. Unrelenting as well as reassuring, the audibility of air provides a sense of both continuity and change."
The 57-minute movie is getting an encore screening today at 3:45 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts. Call 617-267-9300 or visit mfa.org/film for information.
SCREENINGS OF NOTE: The MFA has a pre-release screening of Korean director Lee Chang-dong's new "Secret Sunshine," about a widow who moves with her son to her late husband's hometown and tries to fit in, on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. . . . A restored print of the Chet Baker documentary "Let's Get Lost" plays the Brattle for two weeks, starting Friday.
Looking ahead: The husband and wife team of Christo and Jeanne-Claude will be at the MFA Feb. 8 for a screening of "The Gates," a new documentary about their public art installation that lit up New York's Central Park in February 2005. Free tickets will be available at the MFA box office and website at 10 a.m. that day.
Leslie Brokaw can be reached at lbrokaw@globe.com.
