Things to do in Montreal: November 7-13

Fall tastes sweet this week with the last strech of MTL à TABLE, not to mention film festivals, the Montreal Biennale and more live music than you can shake a drumstick at…

(munchables) Get a few meals in before the end of another tasty edition of MTL à TABLE on November 9. With three affordable price points – $19, $29 or $39 for a gourmet meal – you can treat your squeeze to a memorable tête à tête at award-winning restaurants like La Fabrique or Van Horne, or go out with your buds for a feast at Méchant Boeuf or Smoking Vallée… there’s no better way to get a taste of the city.

(flicks galore) Cinemania continues this week with some amazing French-language films with English subtitles, like Benoît Jacquot’s 3 coeurs this weekend, featuring the inimitable Charlotte Gainsbourg in a love triangle. Or how about Benjamin Guedj’s Libre et Assoupi on Monday November 10 (or again next Friday), featuring French funnyman Baptiste Lecaplain and the gorgeous Montreal-born Charlotte Le Bon. November 12 marks the opening of the Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal, which unites over 140 docs over 11 days in various venues downtown. Sniff out the opening film, Le Nez, by acclaimed Montreal filmmaker Kim Nguyen, all about the sense of smell.

(all about art) The Montreal Biennale is getting great reviews, and for good reason: it offers a cornucopia of forward-thinking art works, with some of contemporary art’s most exciting creators putting their minds to the theme L’Avenir (Looking Forward). It’s headquartered at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal but extends out to all sorts of galleries, including VOX, SBC, Parisian Laundry, L’Arsenal and the beautiful Darling Foundry, where you’ll find works by conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner, and Li Ran, straight from Beijing. Meanwhile at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the great masters share the walls of Van Gogh to Kandinsky, an exhibition that tracks the development of art movements in Europe in the early 20^th century from Impressionism to Expressionism. At DHC/ART Foundation, don’t miss the jaw-dropping photography of Richard Moss, who illustrates the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo by photographing it with Kodak Aerochrome infrared film. The result turns everything that would be green into a brilliant fuchsia, making the images confusingly beautiful: such a harsh reality shouldn’t look so good.

 (massive music) The last weekend of the 15^th edition of the Festival du Monde Arabe reserves a treat for all at Théâtre Maisonneuve: a musical extravaganza featuring Farida Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Gomar, Mohannad Mchallah, Amir El Saffar and Ensemble OktoEcho, all on the same stage. Ali and Mchallah are among the most famous vocalists in the Arab world, and they are here united here for the first time EVER. The Coup de Coeur Francophone festival continues its 10 days of kick-ass French music until November 16. We’re talking Daniel Boucher (November 12 at Club Soda), Vincent Vallières (November 13 at Lion d’Or), Salomé Leclerc (November 13 at Club Soda), Stéphanie Lapointe (November 11 at Cabaret du Mile End) and a special Quebec rap night on November 8 at Club Soda, not to be missed. Still want more music? Caribou comes to Metropolis on November 10 and Mother Mother are at Le National on November 13.

Photo credits: Susan Moss, Richard Moss.

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