Babel

Babel doesn't devolve into babble, but it comes perilously close. The third film from the writer-director team of Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel displays neither the ingenuity of Amores Perros nor the cohesiveness of 21 Grams. Like those earlier films, it focuses on a series of seemingly unrelated events - in this case, involving four families in four countries - that end up being connected to one another in ways that aren't immediately clear. Also like the two earlier films, it purposefully jumbles its narrative, unfolding its story in seemingly random fashion, without regard to chronology (although each story thread is told chronologically, the timelines don't match each other)

THE 79TH ACADEMY AWARDS / / Tonight at 8 p.m. on Channel 2 Speech excerpts Over the years, movie stars have surprised audiences with their acceptance speeches. Excerpts from some of the more notable (for better or for worse): "Wow, wow."-- Forest Whitaker, at the Broadcast Film Critics Association awards, 2007, for The Last King of Scotland "Members of the Academy, distinguished guests, viewers, ladies and gentlemen: Always a bridesmaid, never a bride -- my foot. I have my very own Oscar now to be with me till death do us part.

Soviet secret police shot writer Isaac Babel in Moscow's Lubyanka prison for no particular reason Jan. 27, 1941, at one of those pre-dawn hours when babies are born and old men die. Babel wasn't old, just 45. The indictment against him was a Stalinist fantasy. Fourteen years later, the same Soviet Military Collegium that condemned him declared the original charges baseless and "rehabilitated" him. Unfortunately, it was too late for him. In the years after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Babel had been acclaimed as the first great Soviet prose writer.

When the red carpet rolls out tonight for the 64th annual Golden Globe Awards, millions of star-gazers will be tuned in. But it's a fair guess that many of them won't be nearly as interested in whether Babel or Bobby takes the top honors as they will be in what's hugging Beyonce's curves. Or whether Meryl Streep will indeed wear Prada. On TV The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards will air live tonight on NBC (Channel 11) from 8 to 11.

Punch up: www.babelfish.alta vista.com Why it clicks: It's a global economy out there. But taking advantage of international opportunities can be tough if your foreign-language skills have been in cold storage since high school. The download: Babel Fish quickly translates 12 languages into English (and vice versa) and has a feature to translate entire Web pages. Traditional Romance languages are covered, as are Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, German and Russian. Want to decipher the home page of a Korean company?

The set for Babel: How It Was Done in Odessa features a large leather saddle suspended in front of a stunning modern tapestry of the sun. The saddle hangs there, unused and uncommented on, throughout the five short stories by Isaac Babel that make up the production. Possibly, the saddle is intended to suggest the omnipresent specter of the Cossacks, who plague the Russian Jews who are the protagonists of Babel's stories. But that's just a guess. Basically, the saddle remains a mystery -- like too much of this latest Theatre Project offering.

Governments and politicians spend too much time building walls that separate the world's people from one another, says director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. With his latest film, Babel, the 43-year-old Mexican-born director hopes to start tearing a few walls down. "I think the only thing that we can expect from a film," he says during a stop in Washington to promote the new film, which opens today, "is to maybe trigger some questions, maybe see some things differently from what we are used to. ... I don't think art can really change the world, but all the art together, little by little, can shape the world by transforming it. It's a long process."

It appears to be Pushkin season in Baltimore. Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin," based on Alexander Pushkin's verse novel, is being performed by the Baltimore Opera Company, and a block away, at the Theatre Project, Pushkin-philes can see the great Russian writer's "The Little Tragedies" performed by the Stanislavsky Theatre Studio.Based in Silver Spring, the troupe was founded in 1997 by theater artists who emigrated from the former Soviet Union. The company has a movement-oriented approach, which ties in nicely with the dream-or-nightmare quality of the four short pieces that make up "The Little Tragedies."

THE QUESTION Babel, Bobby, The Departed, Little Children and The Queen were nominated for the Golden Globe for best dramatic movie. Do you think these movies will be nominated for an Academy Award? Why? The nominations will be made public Jan. 23. Please send your thoughts in a brief note with your name, city and daytime phone number (and Such a Critic in the memo field) to arts@baltsun.com. We will publish the best answers we receive.

When the red carpet rolls out tonight for the 64th annual Golden Globe Awards, millions of star-gazers will be tuned in. But it's a fair guess that many of them won't be nearly as interested in whether Babel or Bobby takes the top honors as they will be in what's hugging Beyonce's curves. Or whether Meryl Streep will indeed wear Prada. On TV The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards will air live tonight on NBC (Channel 11) from 8 to 11.

THE QUESTION Babel, Bobby, The Departed, Little Children and The Queen were nominated for the Golden Globe for best dramatic movie. Do you think these movies will be nominated for an Academy Award? Why? The nominations will be made public Jan. 23. Please send your thoughts in a brief note with your name, city and daytime phone number (and Such a Critic in the memo field) to arts@baltsun.com. We will publish the best answers we receive.

Governments and politicians spend too much time building walls that separate the world's people from one another, says director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. With his latest film, Babel, the 43-year-old Mexican-born director hopes to start tearing a few walls down. "I think the only thing that we can expect from a film," he says during a stop in Washington to promote the new film, which opens today, "is to maybe trigger some questions, maybe see some things differently from what we are used to. ... I don't think art can really change the world, but all the art together, little by little, can shape the world by transforming it. It's a long process."

Babel doesn't devolve into babble, but it comes perilously close. The third film from the writer-director team of Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel displays neither the ingenuity of Amores Perros nor the cohesiveness of 21 Grams. Like those earlier films, it focuses on a series of seemingly unrelated events - in this case, involving four families in four countries - that end up being connected to one another in ways that aren't immediately clear. Also like the two earlier films, it purposefully jumbles its narrative, unfolding its story in seemingly random fashion, without regard to chronology (although each story thread is told chronologically, the timelines don't match each other)

The set for Babel: How It Was Done in Odessa features a large leather saddle suspended in front of a stunning modern tapestry of the sun. The saddle hangs there, unused and uncommented on, throughout the five short stories by Isaac Babel that make up the production. Possibly, the saddle is intended to suggest the omnipresent specter of the Cossacks, who plague the Russian Jews who are the protagonists of Babel's stories. But that's just a guess. Basically, the saddle remains a mystery -- like too much of this latest Theatre Project offering.

Soviet secret police shot writer Isaac Babel in Moscow's Lubyanka prison for no particular reason Jan. 27, 1941, at one of those pre-dawn hours when babies are born and old men die. Babel wasn't old, just 45. The indictment against him was a Stalinist fantasy. Fourteen years later, the same Soviet Military Collegium that condemned him declared the original charges baseless and "rehabilitated" him. Unfortunately, it was too late for him. In the years after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Babel had been acclaimed as the first great Soviet prose writer.

Punch up: www.babelfish.alta vista.com Why it clicks: It's a global economy out there. But taking advantage of international opportunities can be tough if your foreign-language skills have been in cold storage since high school. The download: Babel Fish quickly translates 12 languages into English (and vice versa) and has a feature to translate entire Web pages. Traditional Romance languages are covered, as are Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, German and Russian. Want to decipher the home page of a Korean company?

THE 79TH ACADEMY AWARDS / / Tonight at 8 p.m. on Channel 2 Speech excerpts Over the years, movie stars have surprised audiences with their acceptance speeches. Excerpts from some of the more notable (for better or for worse): "Wow, wow."-- Forest Whitaker, at the Broadcast Film Critics Association awards, 2007, for The Last King of Scotland "Members of the Academy, distinguished guests, viewers, ladies and gentlemen: Always a bridesmaid, never a bride -- my foot. I have my very own Oscar now to be with me till death do us part.

Help. I am trapped in the mixed zone, and I can't get out.I have just been shoved behind a riot barricade in a room beneath a gigantic speed skating oval so that I can shout questions at exhausted athletes who have just raced 40 mph for Olympic medals.And I am not alone. There are about 300 other reporters from around the world crammed into an area meant for 50. We are the United Nations of Sweat.The athletes move in front of us like sushi on a conveyor belt. Here a Dutch skater, there a Japanese and over there an American.

Eclecticism is the watchword of the Theatre Project, and in keeping with that, the 2004-2005 season will contain "everything from a one-man show of Russian literature, a very literary-minded piece, to a movement theater piece with no words," according to producing director Anne Cantler Fulwiler. Half of the six-show subscription season consists of returning companies. "Audiences have an interest in watching companies develop new work," Fulwiler explained. But even these more familiar troupes will offer unconventional productions.

WASHINGTON - Carolyn Parkhurst types on her silver laptop at a small table in her neighborhood Starbucks most afternoons. The 32-year-old writer, whose first novel has soared in popularity since its June release, is anonymous in this Washington coffee shop. Both the Book of the Month Club and NBC's Today Book Club picked Parkhurst's The Dogs of Babel as their June selection. Her novel also enjoyed five weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers List. She took a break from her writing one recent afternoon to sit outside the coffee shop and talk about her novel.