Wednesday Happenings

Movies

-- One of the best known samurai movies, Rashomon feels more staged than filmed. A story about a rape and apparent murder told from four viewpoints, Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece laid bare the self-serving nature of truth and gave psychology a new term of art ("the Rashomon effect"). Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy Street, 7:00pm. Free.

-- Wives, a series of short plays by M. Lynda Robinson, artistic director of the West End Theater of Gloucester, will start a run at the Boston Playwright's Theatre. The show runs through April 6. Check the WET website for ticket info and showtimes.

Books

-- Josh Ferris's novel of workplace entanglements Then We Came to The End has been longlisted for the UK 2007 Guardian First Book Award and the 2008 PEN/Hemingway award for fiction. He reads tonight. Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Cambridge, 7:00pm. Free.

-- If prose isn't your thing, poet (and Harvard prof.) Jorie Graham reads from her collection Sea Change. Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, 7:00pm. Free.

Brilliant But Canceled

-- There will be no Mike Birbiglia at the Comedy Connection. Alas.

Caroline Roberts contributed to this post.

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Bostonist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla.