As expected, Stephen Hopkins’ biopic of Jesse Owens is full of suspenseful action on tracks and fields, Olympic and otherwise. The refreshing surprise of Race is that it’s a more important film than it needed to be regarding ethics, morality, identity, politics, history and, yes, race. Even while somewhat conforming to a crowd-pleasing triumphalist formula, Race lives up to … [Read more...]
‘The Gift’ uncovers suburban heart of darkness
In its first half, The Gift is a fine movie for our panicked, over-surveilled, mentally unstable age, and the second half is even more powerful. Like Rosemary’s Baby, it opens on an average, happy, industrious couple visiting its new home, in this case a palatial California spread overlooking miles of lush greenery. But things get creepy real quick. In the next scene, Simon … [Read more...]
In 17th year, ArtPalmBeach builds broader buzz
With 85 galleries and a full five days of exhibitions and events, this year’s 17th annual ArtPalmBeach is intended to make an even bigger mark on the South Florida cultural landscape than it has done in the past. Opening tonight at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, the festival also includes six satellite art fairs: ART al’FRESCO at the Boynton Beach … [Read more...]
At Dramaworks, an Ionesco of thought more than laughter
Just as the rich and famous have to put on their pants one leg at a time, just like the rest of us, even kings have to face mortality, just as we all do. So it goes for King Berenger I, the title character of Eugène Ionesco’s absurdist tragicomedy, Exit the King, on view currently at Palm Beach Dramaworks. Berenger, a character who also shows up in Rhinoceros, is the alter ego … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 21-22
Theater: Eighteen years ago, a wordless theatrical event involving a gang of street urchins banging on garbage can lids and oil drums, making unlikely percussive music with brooms, sticks and other found objects opened off-Broadway, where it continues to this day. The show is called Stomp and the touring edition plays West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center this weekend only. Even … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 18-21
Theater: In 2002, Chicago director Mary Zimmermann won a Tony Award for her adaptation of Ovid’s Greek myths, Metamorphoses, set in a swimming pool. Dreyfoos School of the Arts theater instructor Bruce Linser now wades into the play -- sorry, without the pool -- with an expanded cast size, which becomes a movement ensemble, albeit on dry land. Linser is putting his emphasis on … [Read more...]
‘Martha Marcy’ grounded in harrowing, tactile reality of cult life
Back in January, Ramin Setoodeh wrote a memorable article for Newsweek titled “Crazy Chick Flicks,” which pointed to the tendency for actresses to go psycho to win Oscars. Natalie Portman, who scored an undeserved statuette for Black Swan, was the most prominent example at the time. Her character was also typical in that she expressed a sexual mania along with her … [Read more...]
Art review: Steichen show offers too much of a pretty thing
The faces of both the famed and the forgotten share equal stature in the more than 200 celebrity and couture-focused photographs on display at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale. The collection unwinds across all of the museum’s first-floor galleries, yet the images found in Edward Steichen: In High Fashion – the Condé Nast Years, 1923-1937, which runs through April 11, … [Read more...]