I recently rewatched Gray’s Anatomy, Steven Soderbergh’s film adaptation of Spalding Gray’s extraordinary monologue about his experiences with an obscure ocular condition. Released in a delicious Blu-ray transfer from Criterion, the film looks better than ever, with Soderbergh’s colorful aural and visual additions enhancing Gray’s already gripping narrative. As I watched … [Read more...]
The View From Home 35: New releases and notable screenings, Feb. 7-29
There are many, many people who would disagree with me (I’m marrying one of them), but I can think of no better way to spend 195 minutes than watching a documentary on Woody Allen. I’m what you might call a Woody Allen fanboy – an apologist, even. I will go on record appreciating his bombs as well as his critical successes (well, most of them, anyway – Cassandra’s Dream and … [Read more...]
‘Love, Loss’ minor, but it’s Shakespeare compared to ‘Divorce Party’
Don’t men go to the theater anymore? Scan the current audiences at the Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse, or the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, and you would swear the answer is a resounding “No.” Not only are there almost no men in attendance, but the shows on view -- Divorce Party The Musical and Love, Loss and What I Wore -- are so female-centric, so calculated for … [Read more...]
Bruegel film beautiful, but too bloodless at the core
Film adaptations of plays, books and even video games are as common as rain in Seattle, but a movie adaptation of a painting? That’s an undertaking so ambitious – and probably presumptuous – that it’s hard to fathom it. Polish director Lech Majewski is up to the task in The Mill and the Cross, attempting to delve beyond the canvas of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s famous The Way to … [Read more...]
Rockers come and go, but The Dillengers stay on rootsy road
If history dictates one fact of musical life, it's that most bands are too big not to fail. That's because they're formed through relationships between three or more people, which makes them even more complex than romances. Most will therefore crumble within a year, and even successful ones are lucky to last for five. But 20 years? It's a mark only a few South Florida groups … [Read more...]
‘Lombardi’ entertains, but wears thin when it comes to message
Originally produced on Broadway by the National Football League, you can rest assured that the biodrama of the Green Bay Packers’ legendary coach, titled simply Lombardi, is an unwavering tribute to the man. Sure, it shows he had a short-fused temper, barking orders to his players and his wife, as if they all worked for him. But as playwright Eric Simonson sees it, that … [Read more...]
Dying author faced the end by insisting on happiness
As medical director of Dean Ornish’s Preventive Medicine Research Institute in California, Lee Lipsenthal regularly helped patients overcome their fear of pain and death. But just short of his 52nd birthday in 2009, Lipsenthal was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and told he had at most only a few years to live. Enjoy Every Sandwich is the author’s upbeat account of how he … [Read more...]
Schubert recital admirable, but needed more drama
It takes some kind of pluck and courage to play a serious chamber music recital with the kind of piano that was available Saturday afternoon to violinist Tomas Cotik and pianist Tao Lin: a much-used brown Baldwin upright. But the two musicians soldiered on regardless, though the sound quality would have been much different with a concert instrument, and managed to make a large … [Read more...]
McKeever’s ‘Stuff,’ at Caldwell, brings empathy to hoarders’ tale
Prolific and eclectic. You’re never quite sure what you’re going to get with a Michael McKeever play. But if you don’t like one, don’t worry, there will be another along in six months. As it happens, the Davie-based playwright-performer is serving up a winner currently with his new dark comedy, Stuff, now receiving its world premiere at the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: From Afghanistan war to Victorian sex
Whether or not the pen is truly mightier than the sword, playwright Carter W. Lewis is out to prove in his enigmatically titled The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider that slam poetry can trump a mercenary private army. If that sounds like an unlikely match-up, then you are grasping the surreal quality of this darkly comic tale, which seems headed towards a rant against the Blackwaters … [Read more...]