Friday, January 23, 2015

What's Virgin Mean?


Sometimes little questions need big answers.
A curious little girl unwittingly catches her Mommy off-guard.  Mommy is preoccupied with preparing dinner, and seems to be a harried sort.  The thing is, A little question does not need a big answer.  But if that little question happens to come across as a big question, then it prompts a big answer, doesn't it.  All of which writer and director and Michael Davies turns into a hilarious short film.  To me, his film speaks to the essence of who are, the imperfections of how we understand things, and the occasional irony in our lives.  By and large, thankfully, things work out, and the bottle of olive oil must've had a bit of a laugh at the expense of this Mommy. 

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Date Night


When three fidelity phobic misfits find themselves in the same cafe, their love and hate for all things romance related make them far more similar than they think.
I sometimes wonder if the person who writes the little blurb in the description box even saw the film or video.  These three characters seem like misfits, to be sure: The woman is drawn more by lust than love, and is easily seduced by hairless, muscular pectorals.  The Black gentleman wants a date who is as simple, conventional as a plate of beans on toast.  The White gentleman makes no bones about who is in charge, and his girth notwithstanding, it is his suit and confidence that win the night, or so he thinks.

Come to think of it, however, they're hardly misfits, I'd say, because they parody what must be pretty common characters in the dating scene.  They're not really fidelity phobics, either.  Indeed, it is the woman herself who may be too drawn in, and overly faithful, to her hunky but cavalier boyfriend.  Finally, they're actually not very similar to one another, as they symbolize rather different personalities: from co-dependent, to obsessive-compulsive, to narcissistic.  But the fact they've converged in this late night diner suggests that their lives and fates are more linked than they know.

A brilliant effort by writer and director Reggie Yates!

Monday, January 19, 2015

This Is It



The trials and triumphs of Two college kids. First apartment. Lots of responsibility. aren't new, but writer and director Alexander Engel fashions such an awesome refresh to a tired subject.  The whole script amounts to clever, rhetoric questions, that is, ones that are basically statements of knowledge and thus do not need replies.  Marla (blonde) and the sister (brunette) are a counterpoint to the two roommates, and complicate, and thus build, the comedy very nicely.  Even the incoming roommate has efficient, effective comedic purpose.  Well done!

Friday, January 9, 2015

Studying A Streetcar Named Desire (3)



Gillian Anderson, she of The X Files fame (1993 - 2002), follows in a royal lineage of leading ladies who took on Blanche Du Bois
Two trajectories determine Benedict Andrews’ in-the-round production of “A Streetcar Named Desire”: the tragic arc of Gillian Anderson’s remarkably vivid Blanche, and that of the near-permanently revolving set. The latter creates a striking metaphor for Blanche’s whirling state of mind, but as it slowly wheels around, you sense the two are somewhat at war. Although the movement’s centrifugal force spins Blanche’s thoughts outward, what’s missing is centripetal energy, the inward force that would focus audiences on dramatic details. A great production makes audiences feel complicit in Blanche’s story; here, we’re merely impressed voyeurs.
Reference: London Theater Review: Gillian Anderson, Ben Foster in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.

I would've loved to have watched this recent production at the Young Vic in London, the mixed review from critic David Benedict notwithstanding. I am thankful that theater fan Michaela Strnadová put together this video, so I (we) get fine glimpses of Anderson's performance.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Studying A Streetcar Named Desire (2)




My journal note on November 26th 2014 was inadequate, frankly, at capturing how the screen adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire struck me:

I watched the 1951 film over the weekend, and oh my what intense drama and superb film making.


It was so gripping, I felt my cheeks flush.  My chest shook and tightened at Stanley Kowalski's explosive nature, and my heart sank in the aftermath of yet another trauma for Blanche Du Bois.  She, of course, is a tragic American heroine, and he a complex profile of the working class.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Studying A Streetcar Named Desire (1)


As part of writing The Room, a play on housemaid abuse, I study iconic plays.  I had the pleasure and privilege of studying drama and comedy, along with poetry and Shakespeare, for a year each at Northwestern University.  So we read the likes of Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot), Jean-Paul Sartre (No Exit), and Joe Orton (What the Butler Saw).  I've watched film adaptations and stage productions of these plays over the past two years.

But what else?

Marlon Brando, as Stanley Kowalski (1948)
Enter: A Streetcar Named Desire.

Playwright Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this 1947 American classic, and one of my first encounters with it was about the original Broadway production:
The original Broadway production was produced by Irene Mayer Selznick.  It opened at the Shubert in New Haven shortly before moving to the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on December 3, 1947.  Selznick originally wanted to cast Margaret Sullavan and John Garfield, but settled on Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy, who were virtual unknowns at the time. Brando was given car fare to Tennessee Williams' home in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he not only gave a sensational reading, but did some house repairs as well.The problem with casting Brando as Stanley was that he was much younger than the character as written by Williams. However, after the meeting between Brando and Williams, the playwright eagerly agreed that Brando would make an ideal Stanley. Williams believed that by casting a younger actor, the Neanderthalish Kowalski would evolve from being a vicious older man to someone whose unintentional cruelty can be attributed to his youthful ignorance. Brando ultimately was dissatisfied with his performance, though, saying he never was able to bring out the humor of the character, which was ironic as his characterization often drew laughs from the audience at the expense of Jessica Tandy's Blanche Dubois. Tandy was cast after Williams saw her performance in a West Coast production of his one-act play Portrait of a Madonna. The opening night cast also included Kim Hunter as Stella and Karl Malden as Mitch.  Despite its shocking scenes and gritty dialogue, the audience applauded for half an hour after the debut performance ended.  Brooks Atkinson, reviewing the opening in The New York Times described Tandy's "superb performance" as "almost incredibly true," concluding that Williams "has spun a poignant and luminous story" ... Brando portrayed Stanley with an overt sexuality combined with a boyish vulnerability that made his portrait of Stanley, and especially the moment where he howls "Stella!" for his wife, into cultural touchstones. Brando's appearance as Stanley on stage and on screen revolutionized American acting by introducing "The Method" or "Method acting" into American consciousness and culture.
The production was before my time, but I have vague images and evocative moments from descriptions I read during my years at Northwestern University (1977 - 1981).  Brando's Stella was somehow one of those moments.