Arts & Entertainment

The Tribeca Film Festival may be Robert DeNiro’s love letter to Lower Manhattan, but that’s not the only role the city plays in this year’s cinema circus. New York stars in 21 of the festival’s films, but with tickets hard to come by here’s a sneak peak at which films are worth your $18 ticket.—Heather Corcoran

Lately it seems that everywhere I go someone wants to whisper the “secret” in my ear. The book and movie phenomenon (and recently released on DVD) that is “The Secret” has caught on like wild fire, perfectly positioned in a media sandstorm. It seems that the path to eternal happiness has been discovered, or apparently just uncovered, as all the wise ones through time have known it but were keeping it from us regular folks. The “secret” that the movie preaches is the law of attraction. Good things move towards other good things, which if used successfully will bring us all the good things we need to be happy. “The Secret” is, like all secrets, a dangerous thing. At first blush it looks like a healthy message, putting out positive energy so that the law of attraction can work for us. But buried in this “secret” are the very problems that have created our culture of misery and thus the need for a secret to save us from that misery.

Ron Rash’s latest novel, “The World Made Straight”, tells the story of small-time drug dealing in Western North Carolina. It’s a rural setting that seems worlds away from New York City. But when a reading at KGB bar brought Rash to Manhattan, one of the New South’s most celebrated writers and poets was pleased that the city lived up to his expectations, right down to the rude waiter. Next month a collection of his short stories, “Chemistry,” arrives in bookstores.

Will Anderson came to the United States as a young man to become a graphic designer, but ended up becoming a male model. Over the period of six years, he moved from one agency-sponsored apartment to the next, living with hundreds of aspiring models. The whole time, he kept taking pictures and interviewing his roommates, and his new book “Apt. 301” (Yew Tree Press) is a sneak peak into the lives of these young men with big dreams.

ART
Painter Dana Schutz’s apocalyptic paintings are filled with humor and sly references to the history of art. Her new exhibition, “Stand by Earth Man” is at Zach Feuer Gallery through May 19. lflgallery.com

ART & ARCHITECTURE
Two shows at the Guggenheim celebrate the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2009. “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum: Restoring a Masterpiece” runs through July 8, and the accompanying “The Shapes of Space” will be on display through Sept. 5. The second exhibition explores how artists – including Pipolotti Rist, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Piotr Uklanski – have dealt with the representation, creation and division of space over the last 100 years. guggenheim.org

Choreographer Tami Stronach Uses Noah’s Ark

By Kimberly Greene

Set against the backdrop of the story of Noah’s Ark, “Pinchas, the Fish-people, and the Great Flood,” downtown choreographer Tami Stronach’s new work, premieres April 12-15 at Dance New Amsterdam.

With all the political posturing in the Persian Gulf these days, it’s easy to forget Iran’s long cultural history. That legacy was very much in evidence last week at an extraordinary performance at Carnegie Hall by Hossein Alizadeh, one of Iran’s best-known musicians.

By Elizabeth Valerio

When I first saw the commercials for “Meet the Robinsons” I laughed so hard that tears streamed down my cheeks. A dark haired cartoon character, clad in a lab coat, speaks in rushed high-pitched tones about the caffeine patch, her own scientific development, that will help wearers stay awake for hours. She’s fidgety and manic and screams when nothing is scary. I know you’ve seen it - it’s hilarious. So it’s clear that I would be disappointed to discover that this character is only featured in the film for less than five minutes and that Disney’s newest Pixar animated feature has failed yet again to join the ranks of the esteemed “Toy Story” and “Finding Nemo.”

How America Came To Identify With A Dysfunctional Gangster Family
By Heather Corcoran

In addition to garnering legions of fans, “The Sopranos” has brought a new, cinematic style to television. But with the final season about to air, will any shows be able to fill Tony Soprano’s big shoes?