The Story of Adèle H: This haunting biopic from 1975 easily ranks as one of Francois Truffaut’s best films of the ’70s, and Twilight Time’s uber-limited, 3,000-copy Blu-ray transfer is a treasure to behold ($29.95). A 20-year-old Isabelle Adjani became the youngest actress at the time to earn an Academy Award nomination for her role as the title character, the damaged daughter … [Read more...]
Comic Griffin to bring edgy outlook to Kravis
March was a month in which comedian Kathy Griffin generated a lot of headlines. “I say things I regret constantly, and I just can’t help it,” she says. This time, it was over her departure from the E! Network series Fashion Police, where she had been brought in to replace the late Joan Rivers: “Kathy Griffin Describes Her ‘Fashion Police’ Experience as a ‘Dog Pile,’” “Kathy … [Read more...]
Youthful Parker Quartet dazzles in Flagler opener
Running out of superlatives to describe the Parker Quartet is a hazard music critics must face after hearing their excellent performances. Tuesday saw them at The Flagler Museum at Whitehall in its music series season opener, which was sold out. Is it any wonder the public takes a liking to them after experiencing the ho-hum attitude presented by some of the older established … [Read more...]
Ramsey Lewis: Ahead of his time, and with it, too
The term “crossover artist” wasn’t used much in jazz until after the fusion era (the jazz/rock explosion from the late ’60s to mid-’70s), and was coined when some jazz singers and musicians added pop and R&B elements to keep or increase their popularity. But 79-year-old pianist Ramsey Lewis has always proven ahead of his time. He even pre-dated fusion with his trio's … [Read more...]
Sundays: Ghost ship
By Myles Ludwig I have to tread lightly here. I do not want to add to the anguish. Or the hysteria. But I feel as though I have been assaulted by TV news this week, CNN in particular. On the one hand, the geopolitical issue of Crimea has been positioned as a scary game of brinkmanship reminiscent of the post-WWII confrontation between the U.S. and Russia in Berlin which led … [Read more...]
Music, science link arms for Max Planck lecture series in Jupiter
If you were to list the names of prominent scientists who also were interested in music, you’d be at it for some time. Along with the more or less well-known examples of chemist-composer Alexander Borodin, physician-organist Albert Schweitzer and physicist-violinist Albert Einstein, you could find any number of physicians, chemists, botanists, surgeons, astronomers and the … [Read more...]
Sundays: Time to take stock
By Myles Ludwig Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are? I was having a G&T with a colleague at the old Long Bar in the Royal Selangor Club in the twilight of Kuala Lumpur when he posed that question to me. Founded in the late 1800s as a social club for the best of British colonial society when they ruled Malaya, it has survived flood and fire and is very pukka. … [Read more...]
A disquieting story of a man, and a time, of excess
Taken most literally, Cosmopolis is about a rich guy going to get a haircut. That’s the story. But you can’t take this anti-capitalist, Kafkaesque satire literally … can you? The narrative consists of an asset manager, Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson), driving around Manhattan in a stretch limousine shielded from the sounds of the unwashed masses rioting outside. He sees his … [Read more...]
First-time filmmaker Hyde-White takes on ‘Hamlet’ – and father’s legacy
Which is a more foolhardy mission? Rehearsing Shakespeare’s greatest play, Hamlet, in only three days or making your directing debut by filming those rehearsals on a ramen-noodle budget? Judge for yourself by checking out Three Days (of Hamlet), screening Friday evening, April 13, at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. As Alex Hyde-White, who directed the production as … [Read more...]
Time with the ‘Angels’ is well worth spending
Any art exhibit containing “Old Master” in its title takes the gambling out of the museum visit. There is no question that the art is going to be good. And so it is with Offering of the Angels: Old Master Paintings and Tapestries from the Uffizi Gallery, in which the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale has given us an easy one, with plenty of drama and musculature. More than 40 … [Read more...]