Theater Reviews: "Rent" Returns, and a "Talls" Tale

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 16 August 2011 01:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Rent
Book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson
Directed by Michael Greif
Starring Annaleigh Ashford, Adam Chanler-Berat, Nicholas Christopher, Arianda Fernandez, Corbin Reid, MJ Rodriguez, Matthew Shingledecker, Ephraim Sykes, Margot Bingham, Marcus Paul James, Tamika Sonja Lawrence, Ben Thompson, Michael Wartella, Morgan Weed

The Talls
Written by Anna Kerrigan; directed by Carolyn Cantor
Starring Gerard Canonico, Timothee Chalamet, Shannon Esper, Lauren Holmes, Michael Oberholtzer, Peter Rini, Christa Scott-Reed

For a musical that's been celebrated as an uplifting theatrical event, Rent has been haunted by death, starting with the show's creator, Jonathan Larson, on the eve of its original off-Broadway opening in January 1996. After Larson died, Rent has gone on to rave reviews, a Broadway transfer (where it ran for 12 years), Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize.

The musical itself, a self-consciously hip updating of Puccini's opera La Boheme to the East Village of the early '90s, is filled with characters dealing with the fatal specter of AIDS. The narrator (and Larson stand-in) Mark, a budding filmmaker from Scarsdale, is our guide to the various relationships among these people, like his ex, Maureen, a performance artist now seeing Joanne, a lawyer; his roommate, Roger, a budding songwriter who is in love with Mimi, local Latina spitfire and careless drug user; and Angel, the local drag queen, who has just met the love of his/her life, Collins.

Larson shrewdly covers all of the sexual bases--gay, lesbian, hetero and bi--but his score, which comprises mostly forgettably generic pop-rock with power ballads thrown in like the show's big number "Seasons of Love," only perks up musically during the wittily atypical "Tango Maureen."

So why has Rent been revived a mere three years after ending its initial and hugely successful run? At the performance I attended, the primarily youthful audience--which probably hasn't seen the show while it was on Broadway--whooped it up and cheered lustily after every number, which means they'd probably seen the lackluster movie version several times and memorized it. Whether these fans will be enough to keep the second coming of Rent going for awhile, let alone for a dozen years, remains to be seen.

But Larson's book has aged better than his music and lyrics: although the characters are caricatures, they are vividly brought to life by Larson's obvious affection for them and their travails, and that affection is transferred to the audience in this new staging by the director of the original, Michael Greif. The energy of the enthusiastic young performers is certainly infectious, and the smaller stage area helps maximize the show's intimacy, which was missing in the cavernous Nederlander Theater on Broadway.

If Rent isn't the classic rock musical it's been described as, in its new incarnation it's an effective, even affecting slice of life during a specific time and place in a New York City that seems more distant every year.

Another slice of life from a distant time and place, Anna Kerrigan's comedy The Talls centers on the upper middle-class Clarke family in Oakland in 1970. Its title comes from the fact that children--Isabelle, 17; Christian, 16; Catherine, 15; and Nicholas, 12--have sprouted early for their ages.

But happily, Kerrigan doesn't try and make too much comedic hay out of their height, and instead creates a funny, pungent glimpse at Isabelle, the oldest and the one with the most baggage. A senior planning to leave for Brown University in the fall, she desperately feels the weight of unwanted expectations from her parents, younger brothers and sister.

One evening, her family runs out unexpectedly when a close friend of Mom's is rushed to the hospital, and Isabelle is home alone when the college-age Russell (her father's campaign manager in his current run for city comptroller) arrives to give the family its marching orders for the upcoming political campaign. In no time, Isabelle is drinking, toking up and having sex, which doesn't seem to faze her increasingly clueless family at all (with the exception of Nicholas).

At 80 intermission less minutes, The Talls is almost too slight, but despite its small scale, there's much to enjoy. Kerrigan's tart dialogue has the ring of truth to it, especially in the early interactions of her family, which sets the stage for what follows. The play's plausibility is underlined by Dane Laffery's brilliantly detailed set, which down to its tiniest features gets the Clarkes' Catholic lives exactly right (check out the funeral mass card stuck into the mirror!).

Carolyn Cantor's spot-on directing does miracles with seven performers on a cramped set who are milling around the living room sofa or dining room table. Although each member of the splendid cast is terrifically good, special kudos go to Shannon Esper, whose Isabelle is one of the most believable teenagers I've ever seen onstage. Esper uses her lanky body and mature face to suggest how uncomfortable Isabelle is in her own skin, showing the budding maturity of the eldest Clarke daughter and the crushing weight of responsibility she feels.

The Talls, an appealing family portrait of a family, is made indispensible by Esper's beautifully nuanced portrayal.

Rent
New World Stages
340 West 50th Street; New York, NY
siteforrent.com

Previews began July 14, 2011; opened August 11, 2011

The Talls
Second Stage Uptown
2162 Broadway; New York, NY
2st.com

Previews began August 1, 2011; opened August 15, closes August 27

For more by Kevin Filipski, visit The Flip Side blog at http://flipsidereviews.blogspot.com

Kevin's August '11 Digital Week II

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 15 August 2011 11:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week

The Battle of Algiers (Criterion)

Gillo Pontecorvo's masterly recreation of the Algerian war--where rebels' terrorist tactics finally convinced the stubborn French to grant independence--is as timely now as upon its 1966 release. This influential cinematic textbook of a failed counterinsurgency (which the U.S. aped in Iraq) is, despite its polemics, a superbly delineated exploration of impossibly different sides in a raging conflict.

On Blu-ray, Pontecorvo's striking black and white imagery is grainier and more documentary-like than ever; hours of extras include documentaries on its making, legacy, use as a case study, and historical worth. Too bad Bertrand Tavernier's extraordinary four-hour The Undeclared War (1992) is missing from the supplements, since it's as valuable a document as Pontecorvo's classic.

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (Strand)

This account of the career of cinematographer Jack Cardiff is a blissful time machine back to the golden age of cinema, when visuals were faked by artists, not computers. Cardiff spent his entire life in movies, acting at age four and directing and photographing until he died in 2009 at age 95.

There's a lengthy interview with Cardiff and footage from countless movies he was involved in (Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, even Rambo: First Blood Part II) and admiring mentions by colleagues Kirk Douglas, Martin Scorsese, Charlton Heston, Lauren Bacall and cinematographer Freddie Francis. The most pleasurable film at last year's New York Film Festival looks gorgeous on Blu-ray, with some enticing extras: Cardiff featurettes and an interview with director Craig McCall.

David Holzman's Diary (Kino)

Jim McBride's groundbreaking 1967 pseudo cinema-verite chronicle of a narcissistic young filmmaker who documents his own exploits is more of a curio today, but it's a snapshot of New York City in a specific time and place, with a good-natured humor about itself that keeps it palatable.

Recently preserved, the scratchy B&W film looks spotlessly new on Blu-ray; the extras are additional McBride films: 1969's My Girlfriend's Wedding (62 minutes); 1971's Pictures from Life's Other Side (45 minutes); and 2008's My Son's Wedding to My Sister-in-Law (8 minutes).

Donnie Darko (Fox)

Richard Kelly's bizarre 2001 psychological thriller about a disturbed teenager who sees an oversized rabbit warning him of a dire future has risible dialogue and pathetic attempts at depth and insight that are humanized by actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Katharine Ross, Jena Malone and Mary McDowell.

Kelly's later Southland Tales and The Box show him as unhinged and superficial as ever, so--especially in the longer director's cut--Donnie Darko only began what became an eye-rolling career. The moody photography comes across interestingly on Blu-ray; the four-disc set includes the original and director's cuts and extras including a commentary by Kelly and Kevin Smith.

The Fox and the Hound/Fox and the Hound II (Disney)

The 30th anniversary edition of the original The Fox and the Hound also includes its inferior 2006 sequel on Blu-ray: the difference between the two films is very obvious, not only in their worth (the original is far more memorable, even if it's not up to the best of Disney's similar animated features like The Lady and the Tramp) but in their "look."

The original has a richness to its color palette, while the sequel is bright but shallow, which is particularly noticeable while watching it on Blu-ray. Extras include a few featurettes.

The Perfect Game (Image)

This family-friendly crowd pleaser is based on the true story of a ragtag team from south of the border that achieved the impossible dream of playing in the 1957 Little League World Series.

Director William Dear gets small details right along with larger emotions, and with a solid cast of familiar faces like Lou Gossett and Cheech Marin, The Perfect Game is a clean single for anyone who played ball as a child or still enjoys watching them play. Extras include Dear's commentary, interviews and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Super (IFC)

James Gunn's wrongheaded satire about a loser in a superhero suit who apprehends criminals to win back his estranged wife never finds a proper tone, while his script is strictly amateur hour. At least Rainn Wilson (hero), Kevin Bacon (gangster), Liv Tyler (wife) and Ellen Page (comic book expert turned superhero sidekick) provide gravitas, with Page hilariously on the money in a role that, as written, is mere window dressing.

Too bad the misfiring Gunn can't carve biting comedy out of material that has potential. The hi-def transfer is excellent; extras include Gunn and Wilson's commentary, a making-of featurette and deleted scene.

Tekken (Anchor Bay)

The popular fighting video game has become a movie, and if the scenes outside the ring that, which tell a semblance of a futuristic story, are so dull they can't even be called routine, the fight sequences are good enough, especially when gorgeous Kelly Overton is in action.

The hero, barely portrayed by John Foo, doesn't even register as a video-game character, but the visuals (rendered well on Blu-ray) and the fighting showdowns, which is what we're all here for, deliver in spades. The lone extra: a substantial 50-minute behind-the-scenes look at the dangerous stuntwork.

DVDs of the Week

Masquerades and Shirley Adams (Global Film Initiative)

First in theaters, then on DVD, Global Film Initiative releases films from around the world that would otherwise stay unseen. This month, there's Lyes Salem's Masquerades, a rollicking Algerian comedy about a man who wants to marry off his beautiful but narcoleptic (Sara Reguieg) to the right man, not their next door neighbor whom she loves. Terrific acting and a light touch mark Salem's funny portrait.

Conversely, Shirley Adams is debut director Oliver Hermanus' intense but humane look at a South African mother whose paraplegic son hopes his suicide will ease her burden. Led by Denise Newman's stunning lead performance, Shirley Adams grabs viewers by the throat and doesn't let go.

Queen to Play (Zeitgeist)

Caroline Bottaro's perceptive comedic character study stars the always-revelatory Sondrine Bonnaire as a middle-aged maid whose unexpected obsession with learning chess is at odds with her working-class husband's idea of what his wife should be doing.

Kevin Kline expertly plays the crusty expatriate American who encourages her, and Jennifer Beals has a delightful cameo as an American who prompts her obsession with playing the game. Despite its slightness, this flavorful movie becomes compelling in its quiet way. The lone extra is a featurette of Bonnaire, Kline and Bottaro interviews.

CDs of the Week

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle (Channel Classics)

Bela Bartok only composed one opera, but it's a doozy, a compact, 55-minute one-act thriller that sends shivers up the spines of even the most reluctant listeners with music alternately bludgeoning, mystifying and even, most improbably, ultra-romantic.

This recording, made by Bartok's compatriots, Hungarian conductor Ivan Fischer, the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra and two estimable Hungarian singers, the late bass Laszlo Polgár (Bluebeard) and mezzo-soprano Ildikó Komlósi (Judith), acquit themselves admirably, while the excellent surround-sound gives Bartok's masterwork more immediacy and fresh life.

Orff: Ein Sommernachtstraum/A Midsummer Night's Dream (CPO)

Carl Orff is best known for Carmina Burana, heard in movies and TV commercials for decades. This work, composed in 1964, comprises Orff's complete music for a production of Shakespeare's classic play, and so is frustrating to listen to.

The CPO disc alternates the play's dialogue in German with Orff's occasional musical underlining; there are also instances of Orff's pleasant music taking over, but those are few and far between for such a long work. As well performed as it is by the actors, singers and musicians, this work needs to be seen as well as heard, so a DVD would have been preferable to a CD.

Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Final Destination 5

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 15 August 2011 01:37

Written by Daniel Persons

Okay, so they called the previous installment THE Final Destination, as if that was going to be the last chapter of the franchise. So what? Like you never said, "This one's the last French fry," and then went on shoveling the spuds down your gullet like there was no tomorrow.

Given the success of that 2009 entry, no one really should be surprised that we're now looking at Final Destination 5 -- which may or may not be the actual, final encore/curtain call for the series -- or that at this point the producers have honed to a fine... art, let's say... the formula of twenty-somethings escaping an horrendous fate only to be subsequently stalked and dispatched by death in various, Rube Goldbergian ways. One plus: Even at this late date, a franchise that's essentially a more morbid envisioning of Road Runner cartoons (and is once again rendered in appropriately poke-your-eye-out 3D) is still pretty amusing. Come join our special guest, Cashiers du Cinemart's Mike White, as he joins Cinefantastique Online's Dan Persons in examining the delights and the demerits of one of the most formulaic, yet oddly entertaining, of film franchises.

Also in this episode: A discussion of director Rupert Wyatt's plans for the sequel to his hit film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, plus what's coming in theatrical releases and home video.