Theater/Film Reviews
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35 Shots of Rum
Two relatives. Four friends. All neighbors in Paris in a charming, convoluted tale beautifully and mysteriously directed by Claire Denis, who shares the screenplay credit with Jean-Pol Fargeau. Agnes Godard's cinematography makes the strange tale more of a visual treat. Lionel (Alex Descas), an African-born driver of a commuter train (think Metro in St. Louis)
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Tyne Daly
She owns a Tony and six Emmys, and she's just 10 days ahead of her 64th birthday, but Tyne Daly is out among 'em, wearing bright red, high-heeled pumps and showing a splendid repertoire during her bright, tuneful and well-received cabaret show, a visit she explained by saying, that as a career reaches a certain
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Steel Magnolias
When barbed wit, well-wrapped in Southern charm, is the order of the day, as in the first act of "Steel Magnolias," the excellent cast rocks. In the second act, however, when it's time to bring forth some tears, predictability reigns and begins to take its toll. Overall, however, Robert Harling's play is worthy entertainment, even
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Police, Adjective
Combining a detective story with political philosophy and a dictionary makes "Police, Adjective," a delightful motion-picture experience. The fascinating, low-key film from Romanian writer-director Corneliu Porumboiu uses its slow pace and interesting camera work to examine the police world in Eastern Europe in clinical detail, with the dictionary as a vital prop. Like many European
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The Color Purple
For every complaint that the Fox stage is too big, here comes a show like "The Color Purple," which needs every inch it. The broad, tuneful, well-sung musical version of Alice Walker's novel opened last night and will run through Sunday. With queen-sized Felicia P. Fields, owner of a wicked right cross, reprising the Broadway
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The Double Bass
People can strike up intimate, and often strange, relationships with whatever is closest and usually warmest–a blanket, a pacifier, a puppy, a parent, a human being, a baseball glove, a musical instrument. Rarely a double bass, but it's possible. "The Double Bass," by German playwright Patrick Suskind, is a strange but entertaining play that examines
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Fires In The Mirror
When Anna Deveare Smith first put "Fires in the Mirror" on a stage in New York, only a few months after the Crown Heights riots of August, 1991, she portrayed 26 characters in a 90-minute play that was staggering in its impact. The riots began when a van driven by a Lubavitcher man (an ultra-conservative
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The Beaches of Agnes
Agnes Varda, 81 years old, is considered the Grandmother of the French New Wave film movement. Belgian-born and starting as a still photographer, she has been making films for more than a half-century, counseling other filmmakers and being a vital part of the seminal group that included Alan Resnais, Jean-Luc Godard and, of course, Jacques
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Crazy Heart
We've seen it, or its very close relatives, dozens of times through the years, with Bruce Beresford's "Tender Mercies," probably the best example, but "Crazy Heart" is an entertaining, well-made movie, as comfortable as an old shirt and as familiar as an old friend, and featuring Jeff Bridges in an Oscar-contending role. That doesn't make
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William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
William Kunstler, an activist attorney in the days that activists took to the streets, eventually seemed to believe that he was more important than the people he represented, an action that led him from defending those who were fighting for their rights to defending those who would help him into the headlines. "William Kunstler: Disturbing