Friday Happenings

Movies

Few movies from the politically turbulent end of the 1960s succeed as both a serious political commentary and as a genuine entertainment as well as Costa Gavras's Z (1969), the darkly comic thriller that tells the story of a real-life political assassination in Greece and the efforts of the right-wing government to cover it up. Its fast pace and jarring cinematography alternately belie and betray the film's shoestring budget. Remis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, 7:30 p.m. $10/$8.

Gamelan

Gamelan Si Betty is an American gamelan designed by composer Lou Harrison and his partner Bill Colvig that has lived at Harvard for the past three years, in the care of its inheritor, Jody Diamond. It gets a workout tonight as Harvard student composers mount an electro-acoustic program for gamelan and live electronics that includes their own original pieces alongside work by Stockhausen and Tutschku. John Knowles Paine Hall, Harvard University, 8 p.m. Free.

Holograms

They may not be able to make Arnold Rimmer yet, but holographers have made amazing fine art in the past few decades, and Massachusetts has been at the epicenter of the medium. Luminous Windows 2010 presents a guided tour through four decades of holography, and a talk by Dr. Michael Bove will put the lie to the Hollywood holograms. MIT Museum, 265 Mass. Ave., 5 p.m., talk begins at 5:30 p.m., exhibit runs through March 14, 2010. Free.