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Film and the Arts
Kevin’s Digital Week 32: Mostly Grim Dramas
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- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Saturday, 21 August 2010 05:00
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
Date Night
(Fox)
Even Steve Carell and Tina Fey's best efforts can't raise Date Night above intermittent laughter. As a married couple out for a night in Manhattan that goes spectacularly wrong, Carell and Fey get more comedy out of a formulaic script than most others would, with good, amusing moments from both, especially Fey, who can milk laughs out of a simple glance even more inspiredly than her co-star, whose everyman persona is getting old fast.
The movie's Manhattan locations are well-chosen, and the Blu-ray transfer, while not the gold standard, gets the job done. Extras include an extended version of the film with 14 minutes of mediocre material, director Shawn Levy's commentary, deleted, extended and alternate scenes, featurettes and the ubiquitous gag reel, which shows that Carell and Fey probably and more fun making Date Night than we do watching it.
The Ghost Writer
(Summit)
Based on Robert Harris's tense novel The Ghost, a thriller about a ghost writer, hired to pen a former British prime minister's autobiography, who finds himself in international intrigue and political assassination, Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer is diverting but minor stuff, an entertaining instance of a great director slumming—sometimes brilliantly, sometimes not. This story seems more exciting on the page than onscreen, maybe because Polanski treats it too cavalierly, assuming that twists and turns are enough.
There's much impressive technique on display from the director and his actors Pierce Brosnan as the Tony Blair-like disgraced politician, Ewan McGregor as the ghost, Olivia Williams as the PM's smart wife and Kim Cattrall as his faithful assistant. Expertly shot by Pavel Edelman in European locations believably standing in for Cape Cod, The Ghost Writer looks immaculate on Blu-ray: Polanski's naturalistic visuals keep us grounded in a real milieu. The meager extras include interviews with Polanski, Harris and the cast.
DVDs of the Week
Helen
(E1)
Thanks to many rote action dramas, Ashley Judd has gotten short shrift as a formidable actress. But films like Ruby in Paradise and Bug have shown that she can give nuanced, complex performances if the material warrants it. So too her riveting turn in Helen as an emotionally crippled mother who sinks so deeply into depression she begins a precarious friendship with Mathilda (Lauren Lee Smith), who suffers from bipolar disorder.
Sandra Nettelbeck has written and directed a sober character study that's flawed solely by melodramatic excess, especially in Mathilda's subplot. But with Judd in top form, and solid support by Goran Visnjic as her husband and Alexia Fast as her young daughter, Helen is a psychologically convincing portrait. The extras comprise short interviews with Judd, Visnjic, Smith and Fast.
Welcome
(Film Movement)
The French drama Welcome accomplishes a miraculous balancing act by dramatizing the plight of illegal immigrants without sentimentality or cheap dramatics: 17-year-old Kurdish refugee Bilal has crossed Europe in hopes of reuniting with his girlfriend living in England. But when he reaches northern France, authorities prevent him from going any further. His audacious idea is to swim to her, and Simon, a local swimming instructor whose personal life is a mess, reluctantly helps him.
Director Philippe Lioret avoids a didactic debate about illegal immigration, instead showing sympathy for those who have taken it upon themselves to make new lives in a new country. Vincent Lindon (Simon) gives a textbook lesson in understatement; newcomer Firat Ayverdi (Bilal) persuasively reveals what’s at stake for a young man whose only crime is that he was born in the wrong country. The lone extra is a British short, Berlin Wall.
CDs of the Week
Alondra de la Parra: Mi Alma Mexicana (My Mexican Soul)
(Sony Classical)
Young Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra has already shown her mettle with fiercely committed performances leading the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas in the past few years. She champions the music of her home country, and in a surprisingly daring move, Sony Classical has released a two-disc set of her conducting her own orchestra in two hours' worth of Mexican music spanning 125 years, Mi Alma Mexicana (My Mexican Soul), a decent overview of 13 mainly obscure composers.
Manuel M. Ponce's scintillating guitar concerto is performed with brio by Pablo Sainz Villegas, while Silvestre Revueltas' impressive Sensemaya and Federico Ibarra's compressed yet compelling Symphony No. 2, Las antesalas del sueno, are other highlights. Alex Brown's solo playing makes one wish we could hear the entire concerto for piano improvisation by Eugenio Toussaint, not only the Largo movement. De la Parra and her players' enthusiasm makes one anticipate this superb conductor's next project.
Erwin Schulhoff/Stefan Wolpe
(Ars Medici)
20th century classical music was forever changed by the Nazis, who not only murdered millions but also destroyed a rich musical legacy in the countries they overran. The composers heard on this wonderful recording by the Ensemble Aventure chamber group were Jews hounded by the Nazis: Erwin Schulhoff died in a concentration camp in 1942 and Stepan Wolpe emigrated to the United States, where he lived, taught and composed until his death in 1972.
Both Schulhoff and Wolpe's “dadaist” works—which have outlived that short radical artistic movement—are presented in their original context, with two Schulhoff pieces preceded by a “Dada prologue.” Schulhoff's expressive chamber works for unusual combinations—Bass Nightingale for double bassoon or the Divertissement for oboe clarinet and bassoon—and the two Wolpe works—the mini-opera To Anna Blume and the Sonata for Oboe and Piano—give fine introductions to two composers whose music should be more widely-heard. This disc (which, at 55 minutes, could easily include another work by each composer) is a promising start.
Theater Review: 'Secrets of the Trade'
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- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Tuesday, 17 August 2010 05:00
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Secrets of the Trade
Written by Jonathan Tolins
Directed by Matt Shakman
Starring Amy Aquino, Bill Brochtrup, John Glover, Mark Nelson, Noah Robbins
Without Glover, Tolins’ likable, honest but overfamiliar comic coming-of-age story would probably fade after it’s finished faster than it does. Secrets of the Trade introduces us to a precocious 16-year-old theater lover, Andy Lippman from Port Washington, Long Island, whose literate fan letter to his Broadway idol Kerner is finally answered two years later. After going to lunch with Kerner at Café des Artistes, Andy is taken under the great man‘s wing, where he learns, through trial and error (mostly error) what it takes for a career in show business.
Tolins, as he showed in Twilight of the Golds on Broadway nearly 20 years ago, is better with quips than characterizations, so the constant zingers among this smart set of people—which includes Andy’s parents and Kerner’s assistant Bradley—proliferate for an overlong 2-1/2 hours. The one-liners do hide Tolins’ predictable set of situations, like Andy’s coming out, his mother’s frustration over her failed dancing career and Kerner’s own skeletons in the closet.
In his smartly straightforward staging, director Matt Shakman allows his actors to do the heavy lifting, and they respond with a terrific show of support for Glover. Mark Nelson and especially Amy Aquino do wonders with Andy’s underwritten mom and dad, while Bill Brochtrup is so unerringly perfect as Kerner’s all-knowing assistant Bradley that you might forget he’s giving a masterly class in underacting. As Andy, Noah Robbins, who scored as Neil Simon’s teen alter ego in Brighton Beach Memoirs, gives more of the same here, which works for the jokes but not for the believability of a character who ages from teenager to mature adult by play’s end. But it’s Glover’s Kerner who is such an indelibly theatrical creation that Secrets of the Trade seems far more substantial than it really is.
Performances through September 4, 2010
Primary Stages
59 E 59 Theater, 59 East 59th Street
primarystages.org
Kevin's Digital Week 31: Of Kings, Queens and Sheep
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Thursday, 12 August 2010 05:00
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
Elvis on Tour
(Warners)
The movie gives us glimpses of Elvis backstage and offstage which are interspersed with the onstage songs and patter thanks to then-hip devices like split screens (obviously borrowed from Woodstock). The Blu-ray transfer brings it all into sharp focus, and the clean-sounding uncompressed audio may return those who remember to the final glory days of a legend who would be dead a mere five years later. There are no extras; the package is housed in an attractive 40-page digibook with photos from the era.
Mother
(Magnolia)
Bong Joon-Ho’s follow-up to his overrated monster movie The Host is an excellent way to rebound: with the right material, Bong can craft an intriguingly ambivalent character study far removed from the cartoonish foolishness of The Host. Hye-ja Kim gives a tremendously controlled performance as an overbearing, domineering mother who goes too far to protect her mentally challenged son wrongly accused of murder.
Bong’s visual mastery is much in evidence: there are many shots and sequences that initially seem merely beautiful or glibly clever but which reverberate after the film ends, particularly in the stunning Blu-ray transfer. If there’s a glitch, it’s Bong’s script: his visual ideas are much more credibly thought through than his philosophical or psychological ones. A multitude of extras include a 90-minute making-of documentary, deleted scenes and interviews with Bong and his cast.
DVDs of the Week
Sweetgrass
(Cinema Guild)
The simply amazing footage in this documentary of Montana sheep herders over a period of three years makes any quibbling about what might be considered a “mundane” subject moot. Directors Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor have artists’ keen eyes for both the details and the big picture as they follow the herders from the fields in this expanse of Big Sky country to the barns where their sheep are sheared. There are many astonishing moments recorded of sheep being born and fed milk, while the men who have done this work for generations are shown without condescension.
If you get a chance to see this on a big screen, by all means do so. Otherwise, the DVD of Sweetgrass will be a more than acceptable substitute, thanks to a superb digital transfer and enticing extras that include a directors’ commentary and 30 minutes of additional scenes.
Towards Zero
(KimStim)
Films from Agatha Christie whodunits are hit-or-miss, with director Pascal Thomas’ attempt more miss than hit. Moved from the British coast to Brittany, the essential murder mystery remains intact. Thomas’ brisk direction helps it move along effectively, but the lead-up to the killing is bungled by broad acting and unsurprising revelations.
The uneven acting includes glamorous Laura Smet chewing the scenery; an almost catatonic Chiara Mastroianni; the always delightful (and 90-ish) Danielle Darrieux, a true grand dame of French cinema; and Francois Morel as an ingratiating inspector. The lovely Brittany locations remain the best reason for moving Christie’s indestructible story south of the English Channel. There are no extras.
CDs of the Week
Philip Glass: Orphée
(Orange Mountain Music)
The 1993 opera Orphée was the first of three Philip Glass based on French writer-director Jean Cocteau films (Beauty and the Beast and Les Enfants Terribles followed). I was at its New York premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and was unimpressed by Glass’s setting Cocteau's screenplay to those ubiquitous stuttering arpeggios. The Portland Opera Company CD doesn't change my first impression, but at least we’re spared any redundant visuals (watching Cocteau's classic film is already a dreamlike experience by itself).
Anne Manson conducts persuasively and a stellar cast headlined by Philip Cutlip (Orphée), Georgia Jarman (Eurydice) and Lisa Saffer (La Princesse) does what it can with Glass's melodically and dramatically deficient score. Glass's setting of the French language pales in comparison with the great French song and opera composers—Berlioz, Faure, Chausson, Debussy, among others. There are two booklets (one for each act, with libretto in French and English) with cast and production photos.
Handel: Berenice
(Virgin)
Another long Handel opera about a fantastical ancient world—Alexandria in 80 BC is the setting for this drama about a queen who must choose between two men, one of whom loves her sister—Berenice also can test the patience of listeners who must sit through so many repetitious arias. (It might be my limitation, but I find such baroque conventions tedious.)
Still, with Handel vet Alan Curtis—who has already conducted six other Handel opera recordings on Virgin Classics—on the podium, and the magical voices of sopranos Klara Ek and Ingela Bohlin, mezzo Romina Basso and countertenor Franco Fagioli at the ready, even the most curmudgeonly listener will find himself transported back two millennia to a miraculously romantic Egypt.
Live Review: Chapin Sisters at the Living Room
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- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 04 August 2010 18:48
- Written by Bree Rubin
The Chapin Sisters
Monday, August 2, 2010
the Living Room
154 Ludlow St.
New York City
An LA-based duo (sometimes a trio), Lilly and Abigail Chapin have spent the spring and summer touring with pop group She and Him. The Chapin Sisters are about to go on tour again, so this recent one-hour performance/stop-off in their native New York at the Living Room was a nice treat for fans.
Abigail and Lilly took the stage at 7 pm dressed in beautiful long gowns. The set began with "Don't Love You", a song emblematic of their lyrical sense of humor somewhat hidden in sweet vintage, folksy melodies.
Both sisters are capable instrumentalists, but often appear with accompanying musicians, and play with their arrangements accordingly. After delivering a few songs by themselves, they were joined on stage by drummer Jesse Lee and Richard Giddens on bass to play some of their newer tunes. Having seen the sisters perform before, I enjoyed hearing them shake up some tempos with percussion and bass.
"Let Me Go" was performed with a bit of extra swing in tempo, but the was not missing any of its bluesy undertones or the feminine sweetness in the verse.
The sisters' voices are haunting (at times even eerie), especially if you are able to hear them live. Although their latest EP Oh Hear The Wind Blow is enjoyable, there is nothing comparable to seeing them in person. The performance was consistently transportational. The Living Room's air conditioning was broken and the room sweltering. Despite this, I actually got chills.
With no disrespect to their training, I am now convinced that harmony must be genetic, as the two Chapin sirens mold powerful soundscapes from floors to rafters as if born to sing together. Some of their singing was enough to make the heart jump.
One of the fan favorites from their usual repertoire is a sultry cover of Britney Spears's "Toxic." Dripping with sex, the girls own the song in ways that the original could not hope to achieve. They also did a lovely cover of the surprisingly depressing folk song "Your Long Journey" by Doc Watson.
Their vocal dichotomy was especially stirring in new songs such as "Palm Tree" and "Roses in Winter," where Abigail's soft, whisper-like singing hung gossamer over her sister Lilly's warmth and smokiness.
The set was enjoyable, but far too short. When things were over, it felt like I was suddenly re-deposited back in an overly warm room with ineffectual fans. For one hour, the audience had been treated to a unique, folk-inspired vintage sound. The sisters' chillingly beautiful voices delivered lyrics with lighthearted and relatable humor, drawing cheerful faces from the Living Room patrons.They are certainly worth checking out, especially if you can catch them live, where they really shine.
The Chapin sisters will continue to be busy for the forseeable future. In the first week of August, they will perform with their father and award-winning folk musician Tom Chapin in Nova Scotia (August 5th, 6th, and 7th).
Without taking much of a rest, the sisters begin their United States tour on August 25 in Salt Lake City, UT. In addition to their season packed full of tour dates, expect their second record, Two, to land September 14, 2010.
More information can be found at thechapinsisters.com or on myspace music site at: myspace.com/thechapinsisters
