The Boston Globe - 17.10.2019

B12 The Boston Globe THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019

‘THESPONGEBOBMUSICAL’
Absorbent, yellow, buoyant, and...
Tony Award-winning? All of these ad-
jectives can be used to describe
SpongeBob Squarepants, the irrever-
ent children’s cartoon character who
also serves as the protagonist of“The
SpongeBobMusical,”which
earned a dozen Tony nomi-
nations in 2018 and be-
gan a two-week en-
gagement in Boston
earlier this week. You
can bring the whole
family to see Sponge-
Bob, Patrick, Squid-
ward, and the rest of
the Bikini Bottom gang
at Boch Center Wang
Theatre through Oct. 27.
(Now through Sunday, Oct. 27 at
various times; Boch Center Wang The-
atre, Boston; $25 and up; all ages)

BOSTONBOOKFESTIVAL
Now in its 11th year,theBostonBook
Festivalwill bring together close to
300 readings and events in Roxbury
and Back Bay this weekend. Most of
the events take place on Saturday
and Sunday, but the fun kicks off on
Friday with a talk from Harvard Kenne-
dy School and Harvard Law School
professor Samantha Power, who dis-
cusses her life as a former war corre-
spondent and US ambassador to the
United Nations in her new memoir,
“The Education of an Idealist.” Other
highlights include UMass Lowell pro-
fessor Andre Dubus III (“House of
Sand of Fog”) discussing his new
memoir, “Townie,” and former New
York Times executive editor and cur-
rent Harvard lecturer Jill Abramson,
whose new book, “Merchants of
Truth,” examines changes in media
technology and journalistic standards.
(Saturday, Oct. 19 in Copley Square
and Sunday, Oct. 20 in Dudley Square,
Boston, from 10:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.;
free; all ages)

CABINOFHORRORINTHE
ROCKYWOODSII
A few weeks after holding screenings
in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Coolidge
Corner Theatre is once again bringing
movies to the great outdoors, this

time partnering with the Trustees to

pair camping and cinema. The theater

will host two thematically appropriate

screenings in Rocky Woods this Friday,

starting with 1983 slasher film

“SleepawayCamp”at 8 p.m., fol-

lowed by 1999’s found-footage hor-

ror hit,“TheBlairWitchProject.”If

you want to get the full experi-

ence and rent a campsite for

the weekend, visit the

Coolidge website to learn

how to make reservations.

(Saturday, Oct. 19 from

8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.;

Rocky Woods, Medfield;

$25; rated R)

VIVIANGIRLS

Brooklyn dream pop trioVivian

Girlswere leaders of a burgeoning DIY

scene in NYC in the late aughts. After

three records, the band parted ways in

2014, but reformed earlier this year

and released a new album, “Memory,”

in September. The group is currently

on tour in support of the new release,

and will play ONCE Ballroom this Sun-

day, along with Philly noise band Em-

path and indie-pop artist Young Guv.

(Sunday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m.; ONCE

Ballroom, Somerville; $20; all ages)

TANKANDTHEBANGAS

New Orleans funk, soul, and hip-hop

collectiveTankandtheBangasfirst

rose to prominence upon winning the

NPR Tiny Desk Contest in 2017. More

recently, the band wowedaudiences

at the 2019 edition of Boston Calling,

playing a number of tracks off of their

most recent album, “Green Balloon.”

On Sunday, Tank and the Bangas will

be back in town for a night, stopping

by Royale. (Sunday, Oct. 20 at 8 p.m.;

Royale, Boston; $25; 18+)

KEVIN SLANE, Boston.com

Wantmorewaystogetoutofyour

homeandnotbeboredinthecitythis

weekend?Checkoutfiveadditional

thingstodofromnowthroughSunday

atboston.com/BosTen.

Names

BIG PLANS

THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND

Focus on awards

Oscars front-runner to screen at IFFBoston mini-fest

“Marriage Story,”NoahBaumbach’s aching

comedy-drama of love and divorce, will open In-

dependent Film Festival Boston’s Fall Focus

mini-fest next month; the already-acclaimed ti-

tle, starringAdamDriverandScarlettJohans-

son, has emerged from the festival circuit as a

front-runner in next year’s Oscars race.

Always a reliable harbinger of awards-season

success, the three-day program (Nov. 1-3, at the

Brattle in Cambridge) will also screenShia

LaBeouf’s autobiographical “Honey Boy,”Antho-

nyHopkins-JonathanPrycestarrer “The Two

Popes,” and A24 drama “Waves,” from “Krisha”

directorTreyEdwardShults. On Sunday, the

event will conclude with the exquisite “Portrait of

a Lady on Fire,” a lesbian romance from French

directorCélineSciamma.

Other titles screening include family drama

“TheTruth,”starringEthanHawke,Juliette

Binoche, andCatherineDeneuve, from “Shop-

lifters” directorHirokazuKore-eda;Chinonye

Chukwu’s Sundance prize-winner “Clemency,” in

whichAlfreWoodardstars as a death-row prison

warden grappling with the psychological fallout

of her work; “The Kingmaker,” in which “Genera-

tion Wealth” documentarianLaurenGreenfield

trains her camera on Filipino politicianImelda

Marcos; and Chinese crime noir “The Wild

Goose Lake,” from directorDiaoYinan(“Black

Coal, Thin Ice”).

“Honey Boy” starsLucasHedges(the “Man-

chester by the Sea” actor who’s also in “Waves”)

andNoahJupe(“A Quiet Place”) as versions of a

young LaBeouf, with the actor himself playing a

character based on his own father; the experi-

mental drama, directed byAlmaHar’el, counts

Wellesley-bredChristopherLeggettamong its

producers.DanLin, who produced “The Two

Popes,” studied business at Harvard, an alma

mater shared by “Marriage Story” producerDa-

vidHeyman, while “Clemency” star Woodard

graduated from Boston University. But the stron-

gest Boston ties rest with “Kingmaker” director

Greenfield, who was born in Roxbury and honed

her filmmaking skills at Harvard.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on

Friday, with IFFBoston members getting access

before that. A full schedule is available at iffbos-

ton.org/fall-focus-2019/.

ISAAC FELDBERG

By James Sullivan
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
Before Bon Iver took their futuristic
stage at TD Garden Tuesday, the
screens overhead rolled footage of a
guy shooting free throws at dusk.
Shoot, retrieve the ball, return to the
line, shoot again. A superimposed
counter kept a running tally, noting
his percentage — in the 70s. Pretty
good for a pickup player.
Reportedly, the shooter was Sean
Carey, longtime sideman to Justin Ver-
non, the songwriter who created Bon
Iver in solitude about a dozen years
ago. Over the course of four albums
and numerous side projects, Vernon
has grown the operation from one
man’s cabin fever into a kind of conta-
gion. On Tuesday, Vernon and Carey
led four more musicians — drums,
guitars, saxophone, various keyboards
and synthesizers — through an ambi-
tious set that combined sound collage
and Vernon’s trademark falsetto vocals
with an elaborate state-of-the-art light
show.
Vernon, who is 38, was hailed as
a prodigy upon the release of Bon Iv-
er’s debut, “For Emma, Forever Ago”
(2007). Though the band’s latest al-
bum, “i,i,” clocks in at less than 40
minutes, it’s kind of like Vernon’s tri-
ple album, marking the moment
when he fully bought into his own
myth. Judging by the nearly full house
at TD Garden, the band’s fans are

thoroughly onboard.

On this tour, Bon Iver is using an

innovative sound system known as L-

ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound, and

it was a revelation at the Garden, the

kind of arena where amplified music

can sound like the Times Square sub-

way station. The stage design, too, is a

wonder, with an overhead array of

metal panels digitally maneuvered to

reflect shafts of colored light.

After a lovely set by opening act

Feist and her six-piece band, Bon Iver

opened with the first four tracks from

“i,i.” Like Radiohead’s, Vernon’s lyrics

are fragments that come across like

cryptic proverbs. “If forgiveness is a

chore, what you waiting for?” he sang

on “iMi.” (Increasingly, his song titles

are hyper-stylized, from the superflu-

ous comma of “Holyfields,” to “715-

CREEKS,” one of many songs in which

he seems to be exploring the search for

higher consciousness.)

Vernon’s melodies are casually gor-

geous, and the band added plenty of

intrigue. “Faith” built from a low skit-

ter into quasi-gospel. “Blood Bank,”

from the 2009 EP of the same name,

was a crowd-pleaser, with a rousing fi-

nale that bordered on big-show con-

vention. Vernon kicked off a segment

devoted to the band’s earlier material

by noting that “Flume,” the first track

from the debut, was the song that

“started this whole thing.” That flowed

naturally into “Lump Sum,” which

thrummed to the kind of mechanized

rhythm the Germans call “motorik.”

A few songs later, Vernon stood be-

neath a single beam to perform “Skin-

ny Love,” the real breakthrough from

the first album, strumming his acous-

tic guitar in open C tuning. It’s been a

long haul from that spare, auspicious

beginning to “Sh’Diah,” from the new

album, which ended in a free-jazz

thunderstorm, or “RABi,” the band’s fi-

nal encore, a sparkling if somewhat

aimless ballad that muses about the

fear of dying.

“I don’t have a leaving plan,” he

sang.

James Sullivan can be reached at

[email protected]. Follow

him on Twitter @sullivanjames.

Bon Iver melds the past, present, and futuristic

MUSIC REVIEW

BON IVER

WithFeist.AtTDGarden,Tuesday

GRAHAM TOLBERT FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Bon Iver at the TD Garden Tuesday night.

WILSONWEBB

LILIES FILMS

“Marriage Story” (top, with Scarlett Johans-

son and Adam Driver) and “Portrait of a Lady

on Fire” (above, with Adèle Haenel and Noé-

mie Merlant) are among the films screening

during IFFBoston’s Fall Focus mini-fest.

KenBurnsis inaugurating an an-
nual prize for makers of historical
films with a $200,000 grant to the
people behind an upcoming movie
about the late Georgia writerFlannery
O’Connor.
The movie ‘‘Flannery’’
shows the influence behind
the novelist and short sto-
ry writer’s work, as she
lived in a rural Southern
town and struggled with
lupus. The author of ‘‘A
Good Man Is Hard to Find’’
died in 1964 at age 39.
Burns, the noted documen-
tarian, said he knows from experi-
ence the expense involved in getting
projects like these done.
The film byElizabethCoffmanand
MarkBosco‘‘made me go out and buy

her books,’’ he said.

Burns’ nonprofit Better Angels So-

ciety is collaborating with Boston phi-

lanthropistsJeannieandJonathan

Lavineand the Library of Congress on

the award. The Lavines donated

$15 million earlier this year to

create The Library of Con-

gress Lavine/Ken Burns

Prize for Film. Judges sift-

ed through some 80 en-

trants, he said.

‘‘We were stunned not

only by the volume of sub-

missions but by the quality

of them,’’ Burns said.

A $50,000 grant is being given to

the makers of ‘‘MaeWest:Dirty

Blonde,’’ the awards’ runner-up, with

four $25,000 grants given to other fi-

nalists. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ken Burns is behind new $200k grant

to make film on Flannery O’Connor

Above: Lorenzo Pugliese as

SpongeBob SquarePants and Daria

Pilar Redus as Sandy Cheeks in

“The SpongeBob Musical.”