What’s Playing

On the eve of the new year, there’s plenty to see in the arts around town. At your local cineplex there’s David Mamet’s “State and Main,” a Hollywood satire of what happens when a movie company invades small-town Vermont (hint: there’s matzah in every room). If you’re under the impression that Jews don’t do cinematography, trot out and see Billy Bob Thornton’s “All the Pretty Horses,” lensed by Barry Markowitz, who has a degree in Jewish history from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It’s Markowitz’s third consecutive film with Billy Bob, and yes, the $60-million Western (dispossessed Texas teen goes to Mexico) is a far cry from the d.p.’s start as an associate producer on a documentary about Jewish immigrants. As Markowitz told Variety: “I know it almost sounds ridiculous, but [there] I was, a child of Holocaust survivors, plotting out shots with Matt Damon riding a horse across the open range.”

On PBS, “The Living Century,” hosted by Jack Lemmon, profiles people who are just that – aged 100 years or older. One segment (Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m. on KOCE, and Jan. 19, 10:30 p.m. on KCET) features Rose Freedman, the last remaining survivor of the infamous 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and a past Jewish Journal interviewee. At 107, she still lives on her own in Beverly Hills, where she paints, shops and cooks for herself and dresses in high heels every day. Says series creator Steven Latham, “Because longevity is common in the Jewish community, nominate anyone you know who is 100 or older to become a subject of the TV show or to receive a recognition award from ‘The Living Century.'” Just log onto the Web site atwww.thelivingcentury.com.

Meanwhile, at the Ruby Theater at the Complex this Thursday, there’s the world premiere of Eydie Faye’s “The Pages of My Diary I’d Rather Not Read,” which follows the adventures of three disparate career women hoping to find success in the Big Apple (the Jewish one is a wannabe actress from L.A.) For tickets, call (323) 993-8587.

Jan. 4-14 may be your last chance to see Ronald Harwood’s searing play at the Odyssey, “Taking Sides,” which centers on the post-World War II interrogation of German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler. Call (310) 477-2055 for ticket information.

Also: Don’t miss perhaps the only artist to have exhibitions simultaneously at the Skirball (call (310) 440-4500) and the Museum of Latin American Art (in Long Beach: (562) 437-1689): Jose Gurvich (1927-1974), a Lithuanian shtetl emigre who helped bring modernism to Uruguay and who later lived in Israel. You have exactly three more days to see Gurvich’s watercolors and drawings at the Skirball (through Dec. 31), while the retrospective “Jose Gurvich: A Song to Life” will remain through Jan. 14 at the Latin American museum. Bottom line: Bring in the New Year with a bit of cul-tcha.