What would the July 4 holiday weekend be without fireworks? Somehow the ones emerging from the faucets of ordinary citizens who happen to live where fracking chemicals have infiltrated the water system are not what the patriotic have in mind. The onscreen vision of pipes aflame, along with director Josh Fox’s banjo playing, were part of the spectacle of a special evening at Guild Hall, the second of the Hamptons International Film Festival’s Summerdocs series. When Josh Fox made his Oscar nominated documentary Gasland in 2010, the thorough expose had many thinking, what more could he have to say? The answer is plenty, to judge from the two-hour sequel to air on HBO Monday night. This story is an ongoing investigation of the practice of hydraulic drilling, meant to end our dependency on foreign oil and keep our energy sources here at home. Which sounds like a good plan, but as the documentary demonstrates, we need to pay attention to a hidden agenda that benefits the fossil fuel industry, while raping the environment. Fracking for the Fatherland? Think again.
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As emcee at the Nantucket Film Festival’s Tribute ceremony, at a former casino in Siasconset, on the island’s far end, mild mannered Brian Williams brought down the house riffing on an unfortunate white Buick Enclave rental, local produce like urine cheese, and pervasive V necked cashmere. Such was the truth-telling, even preppie WASPs lost control of their reticence on family secrets. Maybe Nantucket’s signature fog and rain contributed to the mood swings: count the suicides. Williams went dark, confessing he had an Irish uncle who died of drink. Who knew?And so crazy got even crazier at last week’s film fest where a restored theater called Dreamland is the main venue, rife for celluloid induced mental states. There, Barbara Kopple, honored for best non-fiction storytelling screened her new documentary, Running from Crazy, tells the Hemingway family story through a focus on Mariel Hemingway’s activism on a family problem that affected her grandfather Ernest, sister Margaux, and several other family members, suicide.
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The masculinity of his myth and prose style made Ernest Hemingway the writer to topple for a generation of novelists in the last century. But beyond the Hemingway Code of virile heroics: man against nature, as traveler, or in war, as illustrated in such iconic works as The Sun Also Rises, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Old Man and the Sea, even A Moveable Feast, the Hemingway family inherited an untoward legacy of suicide. As told in Barbara Kopple’s new documentary film, Running from Crazy, to be featured this week at The Nantucket Film Festival where the two time academy award winning documentarian will be awarded for Special Achievement in Documentary Storytelling, there were 7 suicides, including Hemingway’s father and granddaughter, the model and actress Margaux. As a mom, fearful of this legacy, her sister and main focus of this film, Mariel Hemingway reveals a family history that is to a large degree a cautionary tale for her own daughters, and a story of hope. -
The night was not exactly like the baudy The Aristocrats, a film featuring comedians telling roughly the same story, each one raunchier than the one before. At the Waldorf Astoria on Monday night, a Who’s Who of comedy, a lineup that included John Stamos, Bob Newhart, Joan Rivers, Tony Danza, Kathy Griffin, Lewis Black (“Rickles rickles you exquisitely”), Louis CK (“Rickles meets the missile before it hits”), Regis Philbin, Bob Costas, and Robert DeNiro, “the serious actor,” got up to insult the master of insult comedy, Mr. Don Rickles in awarding him for The Friars Lifetime Achievement in Comedy. Clips from others: David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld, Howard Stern, Jon Stewart, all had the same conceit: pretending they wished to be there (NOT)! Perhaps Rickles wanted to prove a point, but especially Bob Saget, the dirtiest of the dirty Aristocrat storytellers was asked to keep it clean. Without the four-letter words, the cussing, it’s amazing how funny he can be, quipping, “I’m Jewish, circumsized 9 times. Enjoy the calamari.” -
It’s not likely you’ll want to take your kids to SeaWorld after seeing Blackfish, a riveting documentary expose starring former trainers of orca whales, taken from the wild. It is hard to get warm and fuzzy over fish that weigh a few thousand pounds each, no matter how many times they leap to the ball or roll over on command, but once you see the pups separated from their mothers, or hear the sound they make when they grieve, this movie has you by the heartstrings. -
Central Park offers a natural bucolic setting for Shakespeare’s lighter fare, but with this year’s Comedy of Errors, its lush greens frame an urban stage for Ephesus, a fictive town in upstate New York that harbors mob types among its citizenry. At center, three buildings rotate in the foreground representing by turns a train station (Adirondack Transit Lines), brothel, hotel, jewelry shop, a private home, Saint Bridget’s abbey with an homage to Edward Hopper’s as the back street. This smalltown, USA designed by John Lee Beatty ideally serves the shenanigans involving a set of twins, attended by another set of twins, just the fodder for Shakespearean mistaken identities. Three couples jitterbug as a preamble, signaling a jazz age time shift for the Chaplin meets Gumby of Dromio (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and the dapper man he serves Antipholus (Hamish Linklater). A Duke (Skipp Sudduth) whose voice is more Guys & Dolls—or a nod to James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano—metes justice. -
This season’s extravaganza 3D epic, WWZ based on Max Brooks’ 2006 novel and directed by Mark Forster opens with a traffic jam in Philadelphia: a family– Dad is Brad Pitt, his wife Karen (The Killing’s Mireille Enos), and their two daughters, trapped in a car. Soon you learn the cause: a Zombie takeover. On Monday, Times Square mimicked art, with pedestrians clogging a narrowed Broadway for the movie’s red carpet premiere, proving people will do anything to catch a glimpse of Brad Pitt. It’s hard to say which, art or life, was more fearsome. -
She may not be as famous as her sister in soul, Aretha Franklin, but that does not make Merry Clayton any less of a diva. Her story may be famous in music history: as told in the documentary Twenty Feet from Stardom, pregnant and in curlers, she got a call in the middle of the night to sing with The Rolling Stones. That haunting riff at center in Gimme Shelter, the one you think of, almost a howl, “rape, murder, just a shot away,” that’s Clayton. Even Mick Jagger seems amazed at how the sound was made. Filmmaker Morgan Neville had to admit, after making this documentary about backup singers, he can never listen to music the same way again. Audiences are likely to feel the same. -
Among many resonant moments in Liz Garbus’s documentary Love, Marilyn, a pouf-lipped Lindsay Lohan reads from Marilyn Monroe’s diary, one in an ensemble of A-list blond stars –and a few brunettes– including Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, Jennifer Ehle, Elizabeth Banks, Viola Davis, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Lily Taylor. When a cache of diaries, poems and letters by the doomed star left to Lee Strasberg surfaced in 2010, producer Stanley Buchthal edited the published book, Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2012) and initiated this film project, to air on HBO on June 17. -
New plays by the eminent American playwrights Neil LaBute and John Guare are an event. In Reasons to be Happy at the Lucille Lortel Theater, LaBute, who also directs, rekindles the relationship of Greg and Steph from his 2008 Reasons to be Pretty, retooling these characters with the fine actors Josh Hamilton and Jenna Fischer. As it opens in a torrent of invectives, Steph is pissed that Greg is making it with her close friend Carly (a terrific Leslie Bibb), and Greg, still passively aggressive, unable to commit, or if able, to commit so broadly as to cancel himself out, represents a form of modern man in a condition of unmanly moral and ethical vacillation, a legacy more of Prufrock than Hemingway’s adventurers. Greg hides behind books, or words, as Steph accuses. You want to scream at him too: Step up to the plate! -
Running up to the Tony Awards, Cyndi Lauper was busy with events celebrating the CD release of the Kinky Boots original cast recording, and a tour that would start the day after the Tony’s. On Wednesday evening, just after a photo shoot for Vogue, Lauper signed her caricature at Sardi’s. It was hard to say what she, in a short black dress that showed deep cleavage, and flame tufted hair, thought of the drawing that made her look more blond and eh, wholesome. If Lauper wins a Tony for her music and lyrics—as well she should– she will be the first woman to do so solo (not teamed up with a male partner). -
In his time, the late ‘80’s, Morton Downy, Jr. was the hottest voice on television, loud and abrasive. For nearly two years, he brow beat and brawled his way to top ratings, ultimately alienating top tier guests, until his talk show devolved into something of a circus act, showcasing strippers and carnies, a precursor to Jerry Springer, and the in your face television of today. At the Paley Center on Wednesday night, television and media personalities: Donny Deutsch, Rosanna Scotto, Dick Cavett, Joe Conason, Dan Abrams, Peggy Siegal and others gathered for a screening of documentary Evocateur: Morton Downey Jr. As much as everyone knew about this chain smoking loud mouth, the documentary still held many surprises, including his anxiety of influence over his famous dad. -
Courtney P. Vance couldn’t get over it. He was presenting a Theatre World Award to Tom Hanks, not only a two-time Oscar winner and beloved star of many movies, making an award-worthy debut on Broadway in Lucky Guy. Every night, he said, West 44 Street looks like Mardi Gras; people from other shows wanting to catch a glimpse of this star. The annual award, now in its 69th year, is meant for first timers on Broadway, or a very special standout performance, and Hanks graciously accepted, emphasizing that he is a “lucky guy,” speaking the late Nora Ephron’s words 8 times a week. She came to New York knowing she wanted to write for newspapers, but what she really wanted was to write for theater. This award is second best to her being here, he said, his voice cracking.
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For those of us who remember the thrilling violence enacted by James Chance & the Contortions, the muted manifestations of “punk” at the Metropolitan Museum are outrage mediated, excitement without menace, and a study of how revolution passes into history. The crafted looks of Vivienne Westwood, Helmut Lang, Dolce & Gabbana, and others, including Guido Palau’s bubbled fur head pieces are amusing, and unlike Costume Institute events of the past, such as the exceptional 2011 Alexander McQueen show, where art transcended function, these are not looks I recognize from that era. Maybe that’s the point: a head trip, the Met “Punk” show offers many fascinations beyond the displayed facsimile of CBGB’s latrine, but punk vibe isn’t one of them.
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Our environment is as much on the minds of those who remember the pioneering efforts of Lady Bird Johnson in making the natural resources of America a priority during her tenure as First Lady, as the young filmmakers—Brit Marling and director Zal Batmanglu — who created the thriller The East, which opened in theaters this week. At the annual National Audubon Society Women in Conservation luncheon on Wednesday, Johnson’s efforts were celebrated at The Plaza Hotel, with awards created by Tiffany’s, and a fine meal worthy of the occasion: beet Nicoise salad, hand made pappardelle with wild mushroom ragout, and Meyer lemon meringue torte, vegetarian, to reduce the carbon and methane emissions released into the environment by high volume meat consumption. While far from the dumpster foraging featured in the movie, the menu underscored the philosophy of the Rachel Carson Awards, to protect all forms of life on Earth. -
Rama Burshtein’s glimpse into Tel Aviv’s Hasidic community, Fill the Void is a stunning film taking the viewer into the marriage practices of a hermetic society, offering an intimate, if fictional view, of how matches are made. Ultimately a love story, Fill the Void is most surprising in revealing unexpected emotional connection and subdued passion in places where love is most often a last consideration. Shira (Hadas Yaron), an 18 year old woman drinks tea with suitors at dates arranged by matchmaker; they interview one another as to how they want to live their lives; suddenly after a family tragedy Shira has to consider marrying Yochay (Yiftach Klein) her older sister’s husband, twice her age.
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The East, a thriller co-written by Brit Marling, who stars, and Zal Batmanglu, who directs, features a Svengali type character played to mesmerizing perfection by Alexander Skarsgard. At the film's New York premiere party at Hotel Chantelle’s Rooftop on Monday, the actor who has no doubt honed his skills at fixing you in his gaze in the HBO series True Blood, seemed far from the low key cool he exuded so well in the recent What Maisie Knew, and had more of his Disconnect intensity. As Benji, leader of an anarchist group called The East, determined to make corporations pay for the damage they do to the environment, and to anyone in their path to profits, Skarsgard knows how to charm. To get back at an oil company known to have polluted waters endangering and killing wildlife, the group that also includes Ellen Page as “Isabella Duncan,” pumps oil into its CEO’s country mansion, coating it with slime. An eye for an eye. You may have had these revenge fantasies yourself. -
For those of us of a certain age, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella is a nostalgia trip. The memory of this musical, a television landmark in the ‘50’s lingers as a singular pleasure. My fear in bringing young people, Noah (8) and Hannah (6), to a recent matinee was my losing composure and singing loudly along to “Impossible,” “In My Own Little Corner,” “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?” Another concern: would it be as good for them as it was for me? To date, critics and awarders seem in thrall. Even though this is a Broadway debut, the musical has 9 Tony nominations as well as nods for other major awards, as a musical revival. -
If this were Dutch Masters instead of American Masters, I’d have a box of cigars, gripes Mel Brooks about the enterprise of including a documentary about him in the prestigious PBS series. On Wednesday night, an audience at the 92 Street Y got a sneak preview of the show, Mel Brooks: Make a Noise, that will air Monday night. The evening also included a conversation with director Robert Trachtenberg, The View co-host and comedian Joy Behar, and director Susan Stroman. The image of Mel Brooks hovered above them, a huge presence on Skype, echoing a moment in the film when Gene Wilder is asked whether it registered as important when he met Mel Brooks: Does Moses think it’s important when God speaks to him? -
It’s always Howdy Doody time in music producer Hal Willner’s workspace at the Film Center building in Manhattan. Best known for producing music for Saturday Night Live, Willner shares his lair with many antique puppets, Jackie Gleason memorabilia including a Ralph Cramden bus driver’s suit, as well as DVD’s of Shoah and other Holocaust films. He jokes, “My work sounds like a Warner Brothers cartoon or the soundtrack to a movie about Dachau.” -
The sight of two men in giant clown shoes and oversized pants shuffling on a commuter platform lingers in the mind. From the Signature Theater’s production of Old Hats, winner of this year’s “Outstanding Alternative Theatrical Experience” Award at last week’s Lucille Lortel Awards, the skit, featuring Bill Irwin and David Shiner evokes Chaplin’s little tramp and a history of slapstick. Unlike the Tony Awards, which are presented interspersed with acts from Broadway shows too, the Lucille Lortel Awards, a night of honors and entertainment from over 100 plays off-Broadway, takes much of its fun from the fact that the show would not be televised. -
Noah Baumbach’s new film Frances Ha is cut from the same cloth as Lena Dunham’s Girls. Written with Greta Gerwig, who stars as Frances, shot in black and white, Frances Ha evokes Woody Allen’s Manhattan and Francois Truffaut’s Paris, key locations for the twenty-something Frances to live her dreams. A moveable feast of guys, apartments, and jobs, Frances Ha freshens up the old tropes: cell phones and the internet play comfortably with the actors’ slapstick physicality and sight gags, a throwback to, and nostalgia for early filmmaking. A dancer, Frances runs awkwardly on the street to find a cash machine, falling on her face. Frances Ha’s world is almost entirely populated by a humorous and poignant variation of Generation Me characters, including Frances’ best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner) and young men played by Adam Driver and Michael Zegen. -
A lot has happened since 2008 when a Sunday night premiere screening and dinner co-hosted by Gloria Steinem honored Leymah Gbowee, a charismatic social worker turned activist who, in the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, tells her compelling story about how women banded together to protest violence in Liberia, set their hideous dictator Charles Taylor on a journey of exile, to be put on trial for war crimes, and enabled a democratically elected woman to govern their country. Self-assured and instinctively political, Gbowee came off as a modern day Lysistrata, as in the ancient Greek satirist Aristophanes’ play, a character who organized women in a sex strike to protest the Peloponnesian War. Now a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Leymah Gbowee was honored on Thursday morning at the New York Women’s Foundation breakfast, along with Tina Brown, founder of Women of the World Foundation among her many media accomplishments, and Rachel Lloyd, founder of GEMS, Girls Educational & Mentoring Services, to help victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. -
A few years ago, the excesses of the new movie version of The Great Gatsby might have inspired cathartic revulsion. The scene outside Avery Fisher Hall for this week’s Gatsby premiere befit the mega wattage of the movie’s stars, particularly Leonardo DiCaprio as he made his way through a screaming crowd. Carey Mulligan, resplendent in red Lanvin, her blond hair swept up, walked the red carpet. In the grand chaos of this opening of a state-of-the-art Baz Luhrmann movie—think Moulin Rouge set in 3D fairy tale America—Baz Luhrmann failed to introduce his stars, but did manage to say in his introduction, as the story takes place in New York, there was no other place for its world premiere, even though this American epic will open the Festival de Cannes next week. -
The news that The Testament of Mary would close on Sunday hung in the air for Friday evening’s performance, more prominently than any of the play’s props, including a dead tree. At the prologue, the audience comes to the stage circling Mary as blessed icon, robed in blue. How she became that exalted figure is what this play’s about. To be sure, sharing the stage with a vulture may be genius, but not a good sign for a long life.
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