the traveler's resource guide to festivals & films
a FestivalTravelNetwork.com site
part of Insider Media llc.
Connect with us:
Reviews
NYC Theater Reviews—‘Antigone' at BAM; ‘Spring Awakening’ on Broadway
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Monday, 05 October 2015 21:38
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Antigone
Written by Sophocles; translated by Anne Carson
Directed by Ivo van Hove
Performances through October 4, 2015
Spring Awakening
Music by Duncan Sheik; book and lyrics by Steven Sater
Choreographed by Spencer Liff; directed by Michael Arden
Performances through January 24, 2016
 |
| Juliette Binoche as Antigone at BAM (photo: Stephanie Berger) |
Sophocles' classic tragedy Antigone, about the conflict between the individual and the state— is it ethical or right for a grieving sister to bury her brother even though it's expressly forbidden by the king's law?—has been given a workable new translation by Anne Carson, despite the ill-advised decision to allow the characters themselves to speak the words of the omitted chorus: what might be thought anachronistic is vital to a drama still relevant 2500 years after it was written.
Still, Carson's adaptation is certainly playable, so it's disappointing that director Ivo van Hove has created such a ponderous staging. One yearns for the director's infamous idiosyncrasies, which he has used in the past to do (or undo) works by Ingmar Bergman, Lillian Hellman and others. However, his Antigone, on a monochrome set of modern furniture in front, a large wall showing mainly irrelevant video imagery at the back and a circular opening in said wall that becomes alternately a blazing or eclipsed sun, passes by with nary a flicker of originality or illumination.
Even the ominous soundscape—which Daniel Freitag sculpted from musical fragments by Arvo Part, Henryk Gorecki, Morton Feldman and even Lou Reed, whose "Heroin" ends the proceedings in van Hove's usual way, as a pseudo-hip pop-song cue—comes off half-baked, not even witty. And most disheartening is the lackluster acting: even a luminous movie star like Juliette Binoche inhabits the title role in a curiously inert fashion.
 |
| Sandra Mae Frank and Austin P. McKenzie in Spring Awakening (photo: Joan Marcus) |
I doubt that Broadway was breathlessly awaiting a revival of Spring Awakening—Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's mediocre musical based on Frank Wedekind's classic 1891 play about sexual confusion among teenagers—but that hasn't stopped director Michael Arden. His gimmick? Populating his cast and musicians with both hearing and deaf performers who use American sign language (ASL) throughout the show.
For example, the tragic heroine Wendla is enacted by charming deaf actress Sandra Mae Frank while her dialogue and songs are voiced by the equally talented (and hearing) actress Katie Boeck. Other teenagers, parents and teachers are played by a combination of signing deaf and hearing performers; if the fatal disconnect in the world of the original play is underlined too insistently in Arden's production, he and choreographer Spencer Liff have provided an inventive and continuous flow of onstage activity—the show begins with an almost too clever evocation of what's to come, with actresses Frank and Boeck on either side of a mirror—to help make credible Arden's original notion.
But a little of this goes a long way, since there are times when it's unclear who exactly is speaking or singing: such (deliberate?) confusion doesn't exactly parallel Wedekind's artfully rendered perturbation. Neither do Sheik's colorless tunes and Sater's flavorless lyrics get at the nuances of Wedekind's insightful exploration of adolescent psychology: in fact, whenever the dialogue ends and the songs begin, Spring Awakening screeches to a complete halt.
The large cast is energetic and mostly accomplished, with Patrick Page and Camryn Manheim performing various adults with gusto. If Frank's Wendla is less memorably innocent and sexually curious than Lea Michele in the original production, that's only because she's not Lea Michele (who also had—has—a killer voice). Likewise, Austin P. McKenzie and Daniel N. Durant as male protagonists Melichor and Moritz aren't a patch on Jonathan Groff and John Gallagher Jr. from the original, both of whom—like Michele—went on to bigger and better things.
Here's hoping that, with all the attention the return of Spring Awakening is getting, someone will bring back Wedekind's original play, which desperately needs a revival, since it's still contemporary and relevant without the musical trappings.
Antigone
BAM Harvey Theatre, 651 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY
bam.org
Spring Awakening
Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 West 47th Street, New York, NY
springawakeningthemusical.com
September '15 Digital Week IV
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Thursday, 01 October 2015 01:40
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
The American Dreamer
(Etiquette)
Lawrence Schiller and L.M. Kit Carson's rambling 1971 on-set portrait of Dennis Hopper follows the unlikely auteur, fresh off his Easy Rider triumph, making his follow-up, The Last Movie. Alternately intelligent and clueless, Hopper believes his then-new movie will be more successful than his debut, but it ended up a disaster.
This slight fly-on-the-wall documentary's ramshackle quality makes it a frustratingly uneven look at a filmmaker at work. Still, its time-capsule quality has its appeal. The film's hi-def transfer is naturally grainy; extras are making-of and restoration featurettes.
Breaker Morant
Mister Johnson
(Criterion)
Before becoming a reliable gun-for-hire on a string of commercial movies, Bruce Bersesford had an estimable career, first in his native Australia, then in indepdent international productions, and even in Hollywood, where 1989's Driving Miss Daisy famously won the Best Picture Oscar without him receiving a Best Director nomination. 1980's Breaker Morant, one of his very best films, is a riveting and enraging chronicle of the sacrifice of scapegoated soldiers in the little-known Boer War; Beresford's brilliance at adapting difficult material (a play about the real life Morant), adeptness with actors—Edward Woodward, Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson, for starters—and camaraderie with top collaborators like cinematographer Donald McAlpine are on display.
1990's equally memorable Mister Johnson is a fiercely moral tale of colonialism and racism set in Nigeria. As usual, Beresford's associates (actors Pierce Brosnan and Maynard Eziashi, cinematographer Peter James, composer Georges Delerue) help the director create a fully-realized adaptation of Joyce Cary's remarkable novel. Both films have first-rate transfers; extras include interviews with Beresford, Brosnan, Brown, McAlpine and Eziashi, while Morant also has Beresford's commentary, a 1973 documentary The Breaker and a Boer War video piece.
(Warner Brothers)
I never watched the HBO series which this movie is based on, so I'm probably the wrong audience for such a static, inside-joking, insubstantial feature about a bunch of self-important blowhards in the most self-important town around (Los Angeles) and how they deal with people even more vapid than they.
There's a boatload of cameos, but even in a movie dominated by testosterone and male pattern baldness, two infinitely appealing actresses, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Emily Ratajkowski, steal the show. The movie looks good on Blu; extras include featurettes, deleted scenes and a gag reel.
Murder, My Sweet
(Warner Archive)
In Edward Dmytryk's 1945 adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's novel, Dick Powell plays detective Philip Marlowe in a film noir that includes two femme fatales—blonde siren Claire Trevor and brunette beauty Anne Shirley—and a shady criminal underworld through which Marlowe moves.
Exceptional acting distinguishes one of the best Marlowe adaptations: although, admittedly, there's not much competition. The restored black and white film looks splendid on Blu-ray; lone extra is an audio commentary by film noir expert Alain Silver.
(Alchemy)
Kris Swanberg's sweet-natured comedy-drama, which follows a young inner-city teacher whose own surprise pregnancy is mirrored by that of one of her best students, lasts only 86 minutes and says little that's insightful or penetrating.
Despite the essential shallowness, there are nice, low-key portrayals by Colby Smoulders as teacher and Gail Bean as student, their time together (and apart) keying an enjoyable and painless entertainment. The Blu-ray transfer is solid.
DVDs of the Week
The Great Museum
(Kino)
In Johannes Holzhausen's intimate documentary, the inner workings of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum vividly come to life, as curators, administrators, restorers, workmen and visitors ply their trades at one of the world's great art institutions, whose holdings comprise paintings and sculptures by masters such as Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Rubens, Brueghel and many others.
In the style of Frederick Wiseman, Holzhausen's unobtrusive direction is thoroughly encompassing, picking out details large and small to give a sense of what keeps a world-class museum flourishing. Extras include deleted scenes and a director interview.
(Warner Brothers)
When I began watching Jane last fall, I gave up after a few episodes because its plot (an innocent young woman is accidentally inseminated at her doctor's office) seemed a classic one-note premise that wore thin quickly.
But rewatching it, I rediscovered the absolute freshness of Gina Rodriguez, whose irresistible portrayal of Jane turns what could have been a caricature into a funny, intelligent, charming character. The rest of the cast is also excellent, but it's Rodriguez who ultimately triumphs over her show's sitcom silliness. Extras comprise two featurettes, deleted scenes and a gag reel.
Lipstick
(Warner Archive)
Although this exploitative 1976 thriller by Lamont Johnson about a model who must deal with her own rape but also that of her teenage sister amounts to little more than a simplistic revenge picture, there's one very good reason to watch: Mariel Hemingway.
In her film debut, the then-15-year-old provides class and realism in her portrayal of the model's younger sister (the model is played stolidly by Mariel's own older sister, Margaux Hemingway), partly but not entirely obscuring the fact that the movie revels in its predictable melodramatics about rape.
(Sundance Selects)
This exploration of a 1982 Chicago double murder case—which became messy 17 years later when a journalism teacher and his students were able to spring the convicted killer from jail after getting another man to confess to the crimes—shows how the arrogance of an elite academic can infect other people's very lives.
Shawn Rech and Brandon Kimber's film presents what first seems to be a case of injustice for an a convicted murderer on death row, then turns into a compelling look at injustice against someone else.
Soul Boys of the Western World
(Sundance Selects)
I never would have thought that Spandau Ballet, one of many post-punk new-wave bands to emerge from Britain in the late '70s, was worthy of a full-length documentary, and director George Hencken's 111-minute look at the group is far more interesting when it deals with how Margaret Thatcher's conservative England led to so many young people having their say against their era through music.
True, Spandau Ballet did create one of the era's great songs, "True," but that's not enough to make this anything other than a diverting but forgettable group portrait.
September '15 Digital Week III
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Thursday, 24 September 2015 01:41
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
American Heist
(Lionsgate)
This gritty but routine crime drama follows two brothers—one just out of prison, the other trying to go legit—who join local crooks to a rob a bank, with a big problem: the legit brother's new girl happens to work as a 911 operator for the local precinct.
Despite flavorful New Orleans locations, authentic performances by Adrien Brody and Hayden Christensen as the brothers and sweet Jordana Brewster as the girl, director Sarik Andreasyan never pulls his film out of its stupor: its lame "twist" would work better if the story continued for a few more minutes. The hi-def transfer looks good; lone extra is a making-of featurette.
(Disney)
In Kenneth Branagh's colorful take on the most beloved of all fairy tales, Lily James makes for an adorable heroine, and Branagh gets over the top but not quite campy portrayals from Helena Bonham Carter (fairy godmother), Cate Blanchett (evil stepmother), Richard Madden (prince), Derek Jacobi (king) and Sophie McShera and Holliday Grainger (evil stepsisters), all helping this adaptation to not become annoying.
There's far too much CGI for my taste, but that's just me. The Blu-ray transfer is excellent; extras include featurettes and a new Frozen short.
Dog Day Afternoon—40th Anniversary
(Warner Brothers)
Sidney Lumet's botched bank robbery classic—with Al Pacino's best, most completely in-character performance—retains its tension, comedy and tragedy after 40 years, and the magnificence of Frank Pierson's script, Dede Allen's editing, Victor J. Kemper's cinematography and Chris Sarandon's, John Cazale's and Charles Durning's acting is beyond reproach.
This quintessential New York movie was released on Blu-ray in 2007; this new Blu is identical, but with a bonus disc containing I Knew It Was You—Rediscovering John Cazale, a touching 40-minute tribute to the beloved actor, with paeans from Pacino, Cazale’s girlfriend Meryl Streep and fans Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi. Dog extras are a Lumet commentary, making-of documentary and Lumet featurette; Cazale extras are a commentary, extended interviews and two Cazale short films.
(e one)
Sleepy Hollow—Complete 2nd Season
(Fox)
The supernatural is hard at work in these series, starting with Haven, based on a Stephen King story, now far afield from the original, but sputtering as of late, seemingly content with running out the clock instead of pushing the envelope as it did in its first few seasons.
Sleepy Hollow, on the other hand, is an unapologetically bonkers update of the Ichabod Crane legend: witches, warlocks, 18th century denizens befuddled by cell phones and—best of all—the decapitation of a famous Founding Father. Both series look super on Blu; Havenextras are featurettes and a commentary, and Sleepy extras are commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes and a gag reel.
In the Name of My Daughter
(Cohen Media)
French director Andre Techine teams again with muse Catherine Deneuve for an engrossing true story that shocked France in the '70s: the disappearance of the lone daughter and heir of the head of a casino empire (Deneuve), with suspicion falling on the mother’s closest associate, whom the daughter fell for.
Denueve’s despairing portrait of a mother who's lost her only child and Adele Haenel’s perfect portrayal of the young woman are damagingly offset by the uncharismatic Guillaume Canet as the lover boy-villain: Techine's sharp and tautly told tale suffers because of him. The film looks great on Blu; lone extra is a Canet interview.
(Universal)
In this slight but enjoyable sequel, novice director Elizabeth Banks plays to the original's strengths (the gals’ camaraderie and blistering put-downs) and weaknesses (overlong musical numbers of—mostly—bad songs) to make a diverting comedy that goes on 15-20 minutes too long.
Director Banks smartly has actress Banks return as one of the wisecracking announcers, and her cast—Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld—is accomplished and appealing. The film looks sharp on Blu; extras include a gag reel, featurettes, extended and deleted scenes and additional musical performances.
DVDs of the Week
Closer to the Moon
(Sundance Selects)
Telling the bizarre true story of five Communist Jews in late ‘50s Romania whose brazen robbery was followed by, as part of their punishment, them being forced to reenact the heist for movie cameras before being put to death, writer-director Nae Caranfil has made it even stranger by casting British and American actors, whose dueling accents are jarring.
It works well in Vera Farmiga's splendid scenery-chewing as the gang’s lone woman, but an uncertain tone and forced air of whimsy permeate throughout: we never get a sense of how their act bumped up against a brutally totalitarian regime.
The Other Man
(First Run)
Mary McDonagh Murphy's 2011 documentary about the famously reclusive To Kill a Mockingbird author has been updated, ns Harper Lee, to incorporate her "new" novel, Go Set a Watchman, the controversial prequel to her classic book. This is an engaging overview of the life and art of a woman who has remained out of the public eye for 50 years, with encomiums from family members, friends, colleagues and admirers, including authors Scott Turow and Anna Quindlen and celebrity fans Oprah Winfrey and Tom Brokaw.
South African apartheid met its demise during F.W. de Klerk’s presidency, and The Other Man utilizes recent interview footage with him and other talking heads to examine his role as Nelson Mandela's partner in ending a cruelly racist regime. Neither does it skimp on de Klerk's own racist ties against Mandela’s African National Congress; it’s still a fair and balanced portrait of a vital cog in true historical change. The lone Harper extra is a visit with Lee this past June;Other extras are additional interviews.
Jeff Lynne's ELO—Live in Hyde Park
(Eagle Rock)
ELO's presiding genius Jeff Lynne finally gave in and performed his band's biggest hits for the first time in decades for thousands of sated fans in London last September: the concert—comprising 16 songs, 15 by ELO and a single (inexplicable) one by the best forgotten Travelling Wilburys—provides 70 minutes of high-energy progressive rock courtesy of Lynne, his band mates (including original ELO member Richard Tandy), and a full string orchestra.
Highlights are note-for-note perfect recreations of "Turn to Stone," "Don't Bring Me Down" and encores "Telephone Line" and Lynne's most Beatlesque magnum opus, "Mr. Blue Sky." The hi-def video and stereo audio are excellent; extras include a Lynne interview and an ELO history documentary.
September '15 Digital Week II
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Tuesday, 15 September 2015 23:46
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
Aquarius—Complete 1st Season
(Anchor Bay)
(Anchor Bay)
Set in Los Angeles during the summer of love, 1967, this 13-episode procedural follows Sam Hodiak, a veteran homicide detective whose own investigations lead him to run-ins with a new, bizarre cult led by a charismatic failed singer-songwriter named Charles Manson.
This is one of those high-concept series whose ideas often outpace what's actually accomplished, but knowing about the grisly murders still to come allows viewers to stamp these mysterious goings-on with a greater importance. The era is nicely evoked, even if David Duchovny's Hodiak is more X Files than Helter Skelter. The hi-def transfer is first-rate; extras are webisodes and a brief featurette.
(PBS)
When author Arthur Conan Doyle—the mastermind behind Sherlock Holmes—starts digging into an actual unsolved crime instead of conjuring fictional exploits for his own sleuthing hero, he teams with his own Dr. Watson—his private secretary Alfred Wood—for assistance as he utilizes what he knows from his creation to discover the elusive truth.
This three-part British mini-series, although it stretches its plot a bit thin to for 2-1/2 hours, is good fun; Martin Clunes, as a credible Doyle, leads us through an entertaining thriller. The Blu-ray image looks excellent.
The Beast
Immoral Tales
(Arrow)
(Arrow)
For a brief period in the '70s, Polish director Walerian Borowczyk's pseudo-pornographic meanderings enjoyed a certain cultish vogue on the festival and art house circuit, but Arrow's (admittedly splendid) new Blu-ray releases of his oeuvre shows him to be a pretentious poseur whose work leave a lot to be desired visually, dramatically, erotically and artistically.
1974's Immoral Tales and 1975's The Beast (the latter based on one of the five shorts making up the former) might titillate unfinicky viewers, but despite the many defenses of Borowczyk's filmmaking in the extras—including reminiscences from colleagues and explanations from critics—neither of these films is remotely memorable, not even their most “controversial” aspects. Both films have gotten beautiful hi-def restorations.
(Film Movement Classics)
For her 1989 biographical drama about St. Francis of Assisi, director Liliana Cavani shot on the actual locations where the 13th century saint lived, preached and died, but all of that goes by the wayside because of two fatal errors: Mickey Rourke and Vangelis.
Rourke, although he looks the part, ruins the saint’s humble bearing and teachings whenever he opens his mouth to blurt out wise and familiar sayings in his unmistakably late 20th century voice, while Vangelis' anachronistic synthesized sounds are smeared over much of this slow film's 133 minutes. Helena Bonham Carter's nicely understated portrayal of Francis’s disciple Chiara and a supporting cast of authentic-looking unknowns can’t help Francesco from dying a slow death, with or without stigmata. The film looks good and grainy on Blu; lone extra is Cannes Film Festival press conference.
Homeland—Complete 4th Season
(Showtime/Fox)
In the fourth season of this impressively single-minded terrorist drama series, the new world disorder created by Sept. 11 now finds Carrie as the new CIA station chief, who is preoccupied with hunting down one of the worst of the world's many bad guys.
The high-powered cast, led by Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin and Laila Robins, combined with shrewdly-paced moments of nail-biting tension, makes this the series' best season yet. The series looks awesome on Blu; extras are deleted scenes, character profiles and "From Script to Screen" featurettes.
Love & Mercy
(Lionsgate)
(Lionsgate)
In Bill Pohlad's absorbing biopic about Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson, Paul Dano and John Cusack alternate playing the musician during his 60s heyday (Dano) and his 80s period of isolation and mental illness (Cusack): the gimmick works perfectly because they are, in essence, two different men dealing with specific problems at specific times.
Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner's incisive script provides the narrative backbone for this honest exploration of art, love, loneliness and healing, with a fabulous Elizabeth Banks providing the emotional center as the woman who rescued Wilson from the diabolical psychiatrist who inserted himself into his life, Dr. Landy (played with a touch of caricature by Paul Giamatti). The film looks wonderful on Blu; extras comprise deleted scenes, Pohlad and Moverman's commentary and featurettes.
DVDs of the Week
The Breach
(Kino Lorber)
(Kino Lorber)
Alaska's Bristol Bay was the last of the big runs for billions of salmon, so when their population began plummeting, fisherman and filmmaker Mark Titus wanted to find out why: the answer isn't simple, and his absorbing documentary lays out the reasons why humans have done so much—sometimes inadvertently, more often deliberately—to destroy the salmon's natural environment.
Although there are annoying bits where the fish “speak” for themselves, such pretentious narration is a minor fault in a film this immediate and important. Extras include time-lapse and aerial footage.
(Strand Releasing)
In Thomas Cailley's engaging romantic comedy, Madeleine and Arnaud meet cute in an army boot camp, then cement their relationship as they realize that the camp is far more punishing than they could have imagined.
What could have been cloying and one-note is instead a richly detailed character study, as Cailley shows a real empathy for his characters, who are embodied by the exceptionally appealing lead performers, Kevin Azais and Adele Haenel.
The Returned
(Lionsgate)
This Americanization of the eerie French TV series Les Revenauts about several people—long thought dead—who return to a small town and its confused denizens is long on style and atmosphere but short on substantive characterization and compelling drama.
With its lack of plausible interaction among characters—even those memorably etched by Sandrine Holt, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and the gifted but grievously little-seen Agnes Bruckner—the series seems like a weak Twilight Zone riff that doesn't justify 10 episodes' worth of supernatural melodrama. Extras are episode summaries and a brief featurette.
(IFC)
In the crime- and drug-ridden East New York section of Brooklyn in the 1980s, a gallery of rogue cops led by Michael Dowd skimmed so much drug money off the top that they became that infamous era's most notorious gangsters; Tiller Russell's documentary pointedly explores how they were lured by the promise of easy money to supplement a meager weekly paycheck.
An unrepentant Dowd (who served 12 years) talks unashamedly, even eagerly, about his exploits, and the men who served with him—both those who joined in and those who didn’t—discuss their part in the case, which still amazes with its unsettling details and brazen illicit activities by those supposedly on the right side of the law.
Soaked in Bleach
(MVD)
When Kurt Cobain died in 1994, there were suspicions that it wasn't a suicide, and a veritable cottage industry sprang up of those who believe that his wife Courtney Love was somehow involved. That was the premise of Nick Broomfield's supremely skeptical 1997 documentary Kurt and Courtney, and that's also where Benjamin Statler, director of this speculative hybrid of docudrama and documentary, stands.
Interviews with Seattle cops, forensics experts, Cobain's friends and private eye Tom Grant—whom Love hired to find her husband days before his death—are interspersed with reenacted sequences featuring an incredible Love lookalike Sarah Scott (we also hear Grant's actual recordings of Love's voice), providing a tantalizing "what-if" about one of rock history's seminal demises.
More Articles...
Newsletter Sign Up
Upcoming Events
No Calendar Events Found or Calendar not set to Public.