(photo credit: © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
(Downtown Records)
I recently reviewed the outstanding 1986 film Betty Blue by Jean-Jacques Beineix (known best for his post-French New Wave bellewether Diva). More epic than that work, Betty Blue (which I reviewed in its 3-hour director's cut) is both a curious product of the 80s and a fairly timeless love epic with all manner of classical tragic theme and Quixotic digressions. Beautifully composed, packed full of striking colors and elegant compositions, Beineix never loses our attention and interest during frequent asides about French essentialism and unexpected slapstick. Click here to read the whole review.
In his new film about the untrained post-impressionist painter Séraphine de Senlis (Yolande Moreau), director Martin Provost crafted a beautiful, fair and beautifully restrained portrait of the poor, troubled woman. Though she worked most of her life as a maid, Séraphine's work is now in the collections of some of the most important museum collections in the world. Séraphine balances the familiar biopic inclination towards excessive drama and embellished heroism with terrific restrained and a very honest portrayal of the painter's problematic actions. Throughout, Moreau invests the awkward but determined spinster with such organic warmth that even in her worst moments we can't help but feel for her. Click here to read my whole review.
In a recent edition of our weekly film discussion Blockbluster, Henry Stewart and I looked at Sam Raimi's recent return to the horror genre, Drag Me To Hell. Though we both enjoyed the film, its fairly offensive gender and racial politics were problematic. Meanwhile, it was an interesting, entertaining and supremely genre-literate exercise in class identity and anxiety, and seemed appropriate for a culture that seems paralized by the prospect of downward socio-economic mobility. Click here to read our whole discussion.
Last week the collective Arts in Bushwick threw a massive party, open studios and weekend-long festival, and I took the opportunity to interview two of the organizers about the event and the Bushwick arts scene. The Bushwick Open Studios & Arts Festival showcased the work of what is considered the latest of New York City's artist communities, and I was curious to understand how this new area would differ from similar places like Soho, the Lower East Side, Chelsea and Williamsburg. Click here to read the whole feature.
Last month I reviewed a production of Tennessee Williams' rarely-produced Vieux Carré at the Pearl Theatre. The production was adequate if a little uninspired, and did more to shed light on a terrific play that ought to be performed more frequently than it held succeeded in its own right. Still, the stage and lighting design were terrifically unusual, and a couple of actors kept the proceedings interesting. Mostly, the production seemed to be creating a tableau of Williams's work rather than turning the text into something new. Click here to read the whole review.
In an art review last month I took a critical eye to three artists with shows in Chelsea who seemed to be using the language, lingo and mode of address of pop culture to mount more or less successful critique of visual and mainstream art. And though I enjoyed Jonathan Monk's critique of Jeff Koons' inflated animals at Casey Kaplan (pictured) and Gosha Ostretsov's comic book-inspired installation at Claire Oliver, I felt that Phil Collins' participatory photography exhibition and pitch-perfect Mexican soap opera at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery was the most successful. Click here to read the whole review.
