POP
DILATED PEOPLES -- Wednesday. Doors open at 7 p.m. Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place. $16 in advance; $18 at door. ramsheadlive.com or 410-244-1131
In the tradition of Jurassic 5, Dilated Peoples recharged West Coast rap underground with a few smart releases. The duo of Evidence and Rakaa gelled more than a decade ago. The like minds soon formed Dilated Peoples, whose quirky, left-of-center rhymes have yet to break into the mainstream. But that certainly isn't a knock against the music of Dilated Peoples.
[RASHOD D. OLLISON]
DVD
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS -- Available Tuesday. Genius. $24.95. No film excited more heated discussion and critical championship in art house circles this year than Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, the engrossing story of a thoughtless college girl's illegal abortion in 1987 Romania. When delicate-looking Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) finally faces up to her pregnancy after months of denial, her strapping roommate Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) assumes responsibility for Gabita's plight. Over the course of a single super-stress-filled day, Otilia alone feels the moral weight of their choices. She puts herself at risk, body and soul, for the good of her friend. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days dramatizes how the warping nature of a repressive society can simultaneously corrupt and empower victims like Gabita, who, in her halting, passive-aggressive way, uses her weakness to take advantage of Otilia. And even when Otilia registers as a heroine, we see her as a wounded soul.
[MICHAEL SRAGOW]
TV
WEEDS -- 10 p.m. tomorrow. Showtime.
Mary-Louise Parker returns for a fourth season as Nancy, the marijuana-dealing suburban mom.
This is one series that has definitely benefited from a worsening economy. The harder times have become in Middle America, the easier it is for viewers to suspend moral disapproval of the choice Nancy has made to keep her family afloat. And the less guilty one feels about rooting for a drug dealer, the easier it is to enjoy the humor.
As always, Parker is a delight. And this season, she gets a bit of extra supporting help from Albert (Lost in America) Brooks. Seeing this gifted comedian and filmmaker back on weekly TV is, in its own right, worth a tune-in.
[DAVID ZURAWIK]
ART
CINEMA EFFECT II -- 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Independence Avenue and Seventh Street Southwest, Washington. Opens Wednesday. Free. 202-633-1618 or hirshhorn.si.edu.
