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Kathleen Turner In “Finding My Voice” Gives Voice To Strong Views and Lengthy Career

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Thursday, 03 February 2022 15:19; Written by Brad Balfour

Kathleen Turner
“Finding My Voice”
Director: Andy Gale
Producer: Ken Davenport
Musical direction/arrangements/accompaniment: Mark Janas

Town Hall
123 W. 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
Thursday, December 16th

Recently when I got invited to see Kathleen Turner’s one-woman show Finding My Voice. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Certainly she was never seen as a mellifluous singer. But with her husky-smoky tonality, she applies her voice to offer commentary on a life of fame and money but one graced with a sense of social responsibility, too.

She filled out her solo stage performance with songs from the great American songbook, crooning hits such as It’s Only a Paper Moon, I’d Rather Be Sailing, On the Street Where You Live and Every Time We Say Goodbye. Showcasing not only her trademark voice, “Finding My Voice” proves to audiences that she can project a sense of intimacy cabaret-style even in a concert venue such as Town Hall.

She took the sizable audience on a quip-laden behind-the-scenes look at her extensive and well-documented career. She’s a talented performer, a stage and screen star, a notable name who has struggled with the travails of age in a world where women get the shit end of the stick as they grow older and seem less bankable.

As the 67-year-old actress has said: “When they know me, they love me.” People have been telling Turner about her career since she broke out in 1981’s Body Heat — a steamy thriller co-starring William Hurt. That film and “War of the Roses” both earned her Golden Globe nominations. Turner’s other movies include “Romancing the Stone” and “Prizzi’s Honor,” each of which also earned her a Golden Globe; Peggy Sue Got Married, which brought both Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations to her. Turner supplied the voice of temptress Jessica Rabbit in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

kath For her stage work, she was nominated for Tonys in 1990 for playing Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and in 2005 for her performance as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opposite Bill Irwin. She also toured as Texas-based political columnist Molly Ivins in Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins. And she starred in Joan Didion’s solo drama, The Year of Magical Thinking, at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.

Whether it was producers intimidated by her power at a young age or studio executives’ insistence that men sold more tickets than women, Turner has never walked away from a challenge. She maintains that those she’s worked closely with over the years regard her with respect — despite her reputation as a crusty diva. But her survival in this cut-throat business is testimony to her power of personality and an ability to earn continuing recognition.

For all those reasons, seeing her live on stage was a rare experience. That coupled with her strong progressive political views, self-deprecating humor and lighthearted takes on various standards made the night all the more worthwhile.

Directed by Andy Gale, Finding My Voice featured musical direction, arrangements and accompaniment from pianist Mark Janas. Though the show never took any really adventurous turns, this rarely seen, bluntly honest performance made the evening a memorable event. Packed with humor, classic music, and pointed insights spanning her lengthy career, it was a rare opportunity to see another aspect of her life.

February '22 Digital Week I

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Thursday, 03 February 2022 00:10; Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater/Streaming Release of the Week

A Taste of Hunger

(Magnolia Pictures)

Danish actress Katrine Greis-Rosenthal is one of the subtlest performers around today, with a remarkable ability to find the truth in her characters with a minimum of seeming effort, like her presence in Bille August’s masterly A Fortunate Man and here as Maggie, a brilliant foodie but unfulfilled wife in Cristoffer Boe’s smart, sassy anti-romcom about a top chef gunning for a Michelin star and the woman who was his muse and now is an anchor.

Greis-Rosenthal works superbly with the equally fine Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who makes the chef, Carsten, a captivating if bemusing mixture of talent, charisma and narcissism—but Boe shrewdly keeps the shifting dynamics of their relationship front and center rather than grounding the food, however tempting that may have been. The resulting fun, fulfilling fare is worth at least a few Michelin stars.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

The Capture

(Film Detective)

John Sturges, a director of sturdy if unexceptional westerns like Bad Day at Black Rock and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, helmed this ordinary but diverting 1950 genre piece that throws together a widow, Ellen, with a young son and Lin, the man who accidentally killed her husband.

The storyline is certainly intriguing, but once Lin convinces Ellen he didn’t murder her husband in cold blood, she falls into arms even quicker than Lady Anne does with Shakespeare’s Richard III. Still, this is tidy, respectable filmmaking with an only semi-happy ending for purists. Too bad the film doesn’t look that spiffy in hi-def; extras are short featurettes on Sturges and actress Teresa Wright, who plays Ellen.

Little Girl

(Music Box)

Sébastien Lifshitz’s astonishing documentary follows a French family for a year to chart their lives as the youngest daughter Sasha deals with the fallout of her gender dysphoria, which includes stonewalling school administrators—who refuse to accept her “new” gender—and sympathetic doctors.

At the heart of the film, though, is a remarkably loving family whose acceptance gives Sasha what she needs at a very difficult time. The film looks terrific on Blu; extras include deleted scenes and three different interviews with Lifshitz.

Stage Fright

(Warner Archive)

This minor but entertaining 1950 Hitchcock mystery is the very definition of old-fashioned: Eve, an American drama student in London, hoping to clear Jonathan, an actor friend, of being framed for a murder, starts working as a maid for Charlotte, the legendary actress whose husband was suspiciously killed.

Hitchcock’s lean, economical direction makes this straightforward, unsurprising story workable, with fine performances from Jane Wyman (Eve), Marlene Dietrich (Charlotte) and even Alastair Sim (Eve’s father). There’s an excellent hi-def transfer; lone extra is a retrospective featurette.

DVD/Streaming Release of the Week

The Great Postal Heist

(Cinema Libre)

Jay Galione—whose father retired from a 30-year career at the US Post Office that was marred by accusations of wrongdoing he fought against—has made a polemical documentary that does exactly when it sets out to do: outrage viewers over how the USPS treats longtime employees (leading to some “going postal,” committing murder or suicide at work) and show how Congress—led by Republicans, of course—has been undermining the post office’s mandate and try and privatize it despite the Constitution’s specifically saying otherwise.

Through emotional interviews with current and former postal employees, family members, experts, executives and politicians, Galione paints an urgent portrait of another American institution that needs saving, not scrapping.

CD Release of the Week

Simone Dinnerstein—Undersong

(Orange Mountain)

For her third pandemic recording, adventurous pianist Simone Dinnerstein zeroes in on works that have a refrain, or a hook, that’s reiterated to the point of repetition, but as she notes in her always astute liner notes, that very act of repeating allows one to hear subtle changes in the music, which can provide a hypnotizing quality.

Indeed, in Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No. 3, for example, the spaces between the notes have never seemed so edge-of-the-seat, so tantalizing. And even Philip Glass’ Mad Rush, which can sound maddening in lesser hands, moves inexorably forward to its conclusion sounding almost imperceptibly different. Works by Robert Schumann—whose Kreisleriana is a masterpiece of piano writing—and François Couperin are also heard, with the latter’s Les Barricades Mystérieueses bookending the recording, and sounding ever so slightly—but emotionally—transformed when heard at the end of this rewarding journey.

75 Years of The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 02 February 2022 10:00; Written by Jack Angstreich

Vasily Petrenko conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Photo by Richard Termine

At Carnegie Hall, on the evening of Monday, January 31st, I had the privilege to attend a memorable concert featuring the fine Royal Philharmonic Orchestra—in its first appearance at this venue in twenty years—under the effective direction of Vasily Petrenko. The conductor addressed the audience at the outset, noting that this is the 75th anniversary of this ensemble and that it was the first international orchestra since March 2020 to tour the United States.

The program opened splendidly with an excellent version of the extraordinary Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten. The evocative “Dawn” was succeeded by the ebullient, impressionistic “Sunday Morning,” followed by the mystical “Moonlight,” concluding glitteringly with the tumultuous and thrilling “Storm” movement.

The accomplished Kian Soltani then took the stage as soloist in a credible account of Edward Elgar’s enduring Cello Concerto. After a mournful introduction, the body of the first movement was by turns elegiac, lyrical, inward and even sprightly—a complex journeying through variegated moods that drew unexpected applause. The ensuing Lento was even more melancholy but with a playful scherzo section. The third movement was soulful, preceding a rousing finale. As an exquisite encore, Soltani presented his delightful arrangement for cello ensemble of the marvelous Introduction from Dmitri Shostakovich’s score for the 1955 Soviet film, The Gadfly—notable for an adapted screenplay by the eminent Formalist critic and theorist, Viktor Shklovsky.

The second half of the concert was devoted to an absorbing realization of the acclaimed and wonderful The Planets by Gustav Holst, which received applause after several of the individual movements. It began with the riveting “Mars, Bringer of War” and the luminous “Venus, the Bringer of Peace.” There was a fanciful reading of “Mercury, the Winged Messenger” before a celebratory “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” and a somber “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age.” “Uranus, the Magician” was humorous and ultimately triumphant while, at long last, “Neptune, the Mystic” proved enigmatic and enchanted, a signal influence of the famous film scores of Bernard Herrmann. An enthusiastic ovation elicited another terrific encore: the exhilarating "Dance of the Tumblers" from Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1873 incidental music for the first production of the play, The Snow Maiden, by Aleksander Ostrovsky. I look forward to a less prolonged reappearance of these impressive musicians to a New York house.

January '22 Digital Week IV

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Thursday, 27 January 2022 03:09; Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater/Streaming Releases of the Week

Rifkin’s Festival

(MPI)

One of Woody Allen’s lesser works, this halfbaked comedy is set at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, where cranky critic Mort Rifkin (Wallace Shawn) accompanies his wife Sue (Gina Gershon)—press agent for the hot young French director Philippe (Louis Garrel)—and, as he worries they’re having an affair, himself falls for a beautiful local doctor, Jo (Elena Ayana).

As always, there are one-liners galore (some funny, others recycled) as well as affectionate but tepid takeoffs on classics like Citizen Kane, 8-1/2, Jules and Jim, Breathless, The Exterminating Angel and The Seventh Seal. But the material feels stale and not very urgent, while Shawn’s stiff appearance doesn’t help matters as Woody’s alter ego. Still, San Sebastian looks lovely and both Gershon and Ayana are beguiling as the women in Rifkin’s life.

American Night

(Saban Films)

Director/writer Alessio Della Valle’s harsh chronicle of organized crime and art forgery revels in loopy twists and turns alongside excessive, cartoonish bursts of violence, but there’s no denying it’s a hfast-paced and always watchable wild ride.

I haven’t seen Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in years, but he’s quite good as the shady art forger, Paz Vega is sensational as his art expert lover, and Lee Levi and Annabelle Belmondo are excellent as young women in his orbit; Della Valle conjures an authentic atmosphere of the intersecting art world and criminal underworld.

Brighton 4th

(Kino Lorber)

In a succinct, minor-key drama that unfolds like a short story, director Levan Koguashvili and writer Boris Frumin follow an elderly man who leaves his home in the former Soviet nation of Georgia to visit his son in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where an enclave of emigres lives.

Although the plot goes exactly where one expects—especially when there’s discussion of dad being a former wrestler, along with the small-time mob boss to whom the son owes a lot of money—Koguashvili and Frumin adorn it with sharp-eyed characterizations, giving enough variety to the relationships that the movie never approaches melodrama as it subtly gets under the skin.

4K/UHD Release of the Week

The Lover

(Capelight)

French director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s 1992 adaptation of Marguerite Duras’ memoir about her affair with a Chinese man in Indochina in 1929 at age 15 nearly got an X rating for its steamy sex scenes, which are the most memorable moments in a mainly aloof and distant film.

Jane March makes a spectacular debut as the young heroine, while Tony Leung is less interesting as the title character; Jeanne Moreau narrates in French, English or German (depending on which version you decide to watch). Robert Fraisse’s sumptuous cinematography looks especially enticing in 4K; extras include archival interviews with Duras and Annaud, a making-of featurette and deleted scenes.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

Brian Wilson—Long Promised Road

(Screen Media)

In Brent Wilson’s touching documentary, journalist Jason Fine—who’s had a close relationship with the main Beach Boy for a quarter-century—discusses Brian Wilson’s long career with the man himself as they visit places that resonate in Wilson’s life and art over the past 60 years.

This intimate glimpse at an artist who has persevered even in the throes of a serious mental illness features numerous paeans from the likes of Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Hawkins, which speaks to his influence on generations of rock stars. There’s a first-rate hi-def transfer; extras are additional interviews and deleted scenes.

Dancing with Crime/The Green Cockatoo

(Cohen Film Collection)

This pair of crackerjack crime dramas has been all but forgotten, mainly because there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done better in countless other movies—still, both are good for a watch if there’s nothing else to do.

1947’s Dancing with Crime boasts nice chemistry between Richard Attenborough and Sheila Sim (a married couple offscreen at the time) as a couple of snoops tracking a killer, while 1937’s The Green Cockatoo features the charming René Ray as an innocent woman pursued by both police and criminals. Both films have decent if not exceptional hi-def transfers.

Song of the Thin Man

(Warner Archive)

The last and certainly least of the Thin Man series, this 1947 entry finds Nick and Nora Charles—and their beloved dog Asta—tracking down another murderer, this time with ties to the colorful jazz world.

William Powell and Myrna Loy are their usual sharp-witted selves and the supporting cast includes ingénues like Jayne Meadows and Gloria Graeme, but the by-the-numbers plotting (and lame Poughkeepsie jokes) make this the least memorable Thin Man flick of all. The B&W movie looks terrific on Blu; extras include a vintage short, A Real Important Person, and classic cartoon, Slap Happy Lion.

CD Release of the Week

Haydn—The Creation

(Alia Vox)

Austrian master Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) composed several operas that were not as popular with audiences as his contemporary Mozart, but this monumental oratorio (written in 1797-98 and premiered in 1799) is more successful dramatically, and may be the summit achievement of his large-scale vocal output.

And this superb recording, led by Spanish conductor Jordi Savall, perfectly marries Haydn’s magnificent orchestral colors (the ensemble is La Concert des Nations) with his majestic voice writing for both a trio of soloists (here, soprano Yeree Suh, tenor Tilman Lichdi and baritone Matthias Winckhler) and chorus (La Capella Reial de Catalunya).

Reviews

Kathleen Turner In “Finding My Voice” Gives Voice To Strong Views and Lengthy Career

February '22 Digital Week I

75 Years of The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

January '22 Digital Week IV

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