Gossip Central

Wit’s Wit

A conceit, an ironic barb, wit can be searing and funny. In the case of Margaret Edson’s Wit, the Tony winning play now in a Manhattan Theatre Club revival at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre under the fine direction of Lynne Meadow, Wit follows the journey of Vivian Bearing, a name that loosely translates to “enduring life,” a college professor specializing in 17^th century metaphysical poetry, in the verse of John Donne to be specific, author of “Death Be Not Proud.” As performed by Sex & the City’s Cynthia Nixon, she is a brainy Everyman/woman, precious in what she knows and does, vital in knowledge, commitment, and contribution to life, devastating to lose. And lose her we do. Sorry for the spoiler: she dies at Wit’s end.

Oscar Nominations: The Artist for Ten

“Fame is fleeting,” said Harvey Weinstein introducing Coriolanus last week at the film’s Paris Theater premiere. Juxtaposing the all night Golden Globe parties with his turn on television with Uggie, the canine star of his movie The Artist, Weinstein noted, one minute I’m accepting awards (The Artist, My Week with Marilyn, The Iron Lady, were among Weinstein films honored with top prizes), the next I’m on the Today show with a dog. But what a dog!

Anticipating the Best Picture Oscar nod, Uggie’s P.R. people called for a photo op at the Empire State Building, on the 86^th floor deck. With his trainer and owner Omar von Muller, the Jack Russell terrier played dead and eh, manned a skateboard. Ever since Cannes, this “rescued” dog has been a secret darling of the film: at the New York Film Festival opening, The Artist director Michel Hazanavicius was asked how he worked with the dog. Sausages. The reply seems to have gone viral.

Remembering 9/11: Portraits of Resilience

You could feel the weight of the occasion at the Milk Gallery in the Meatpacking on Thursday night, the site of a portrait exhibition and screening of a documentary marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Not that NYC was lacking in remembrance, but these photographs of key players in the event and after by Marco Grob for Time Magazine's tribute volume, Portraits of Resilience embody ennobling gravitas, the kind of historic moment captured in oils by the great masters.

Alec Baldwin, Naughty and Nice, Museum of the Moving Image Honoree

Co-host with Anne Hathaway at the Academy Awards show in Los Angeles, James Franco picks up his cell phone, a prop for peering into the dreams of the show's prior beloved M.C., Alec Baldwin. The Inception parody is played for laughs, but those in the know were poised to honor Baldwin's career the next night, in New York, at the annual tribute gala for the Museum of the Moving Image. Could this versatile actor be in two places at once?

Ubiquitous in the Hamptons, for example, and loveably so, Baldwin lends his name and talent to many arts projects on Long Island's east end. Starring in last summer's production of Equus at Guild Hall, Baldwin was the engine for mounting the critically acclaimed production, said Tony Walton. The director, along with Richard Gere, Gay Talese, Michael Lynne, Bob Balaban, and jazz documentarian Bruce Ricker, joined the eclectic crowd at Cipriani 42nd Street for good food, clips and speakers. 

Mercedes Ruehl, Michael Keaton, Tim Curry, Ben Stiller, Jimmy Fallon, Edie Falco, and Tina Fey spoke about working with Alec, commenting on his professionalism and comic timing. Ruehl who worked with him in Married to the Mob (1988), emphasized his political commitment, cautioning on conflicts in campaign financing. He turned out to be right, she said of her fellow activist. Fey revealed, the role of Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock was written for him: “Alec is a writer's dream,” she noted. “He speaks fast.” 
The night-which was also a farewell dinner for Rochelle Slovin, the Museum's director for 30 years-- would not have been complete without a clip of that unforgettable moment from It's Complicated, with Alec's leap, naked, onto the bed, his privates covered by a laptop, and Steve Martin's reaction shot as he sees his rival for Meryl Streep on Skype. Noticeably absent though was the SNL skit, Alec with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, and eh, Sarah Palin.

Alec Baldwin does seem to be everywhere, but as Patricia Clarkson put it, “You want him everywhere.”

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

 

Allen Ginsberg at the Oscars, at MoMA, at Large .

When James Franco co-hosts the Oscars this weekend, it won't be as the bespectacled poet Allen Ginsberg he so lovingly portrayed in the movie Howl. Of course, Franco may win the Best Actor Oscar for his work in 127 Hours, but his Ginsberg is spot on. 

The multi- talented Franco has good taste in poets, currently immersed in projects involving American literary giants Harte Crane (the Bridge) and William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury). And Allen Ginsberg had good vision: even before Warhol made fame famous, the poet understood fame's power as a marketing tool.  He may remain the most famous poet of the Beat Generation literati, but even till the time of his death in 1997, he worked diligently, championing his close associates, Kerouac, Burroughs, Corso, Micheline, Huncke, Whalen, etc. so that they too would be known. Who wants to be the sole famed figure in his coterie, he would say.

Now Allen Ginsberg seems to be everywhere: Witness his moving (literally in motion) portrait on the 6th floor of MoMA, in a fine show featuring Andy Warhol's screen tests. In perfect synergy, his face looms large with those of Dennis Hopper, Edie Sedgwick, and others. James Franco's excellent performance is freshly available on the Howl DVD, along with an audio feature, Franco reading Howl. 

And, an exhibition of Ginsberg's photography-yes he was a visual artist too-- is displayed at the Howard Greenberg Gallery. A handsome book, Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, accompanies the show. While it is not the first collection of the poet's photos, the book includes many well-known pictures-i.e. Kerouac smoking on a fire escape-as well as lesser known Robert Frank, Peter Orlovsky, and New York back alley takes. A distinct feature of Ginsberg's work is the hand scrawled caption situating those he shot in the historic moment. 

Recently, the yearly reading of Howl at Columbia University with music by David Amram attracted crowds to that institution's Philosophy Hall. An irony was not missed: in his days at Columbia he represented rebellious youth, and now more than a decade dead, he is revered as the poet of our time.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

 

 

I (Heart) The Fighter

With Oscar nominations close at hand, Frank Rich's New York Times column on the values illustrated in two top movies, True Grit and The Social Network hit home, affirming America's premier art form. Rich's discourse on the unexpected success of the Coen Brothers' western in the time of Facebook suggests another film: The Fighter. This beautifully wrought film is on every critic's select list, but the debate for Oscars centers on The Social Network and The King's Speech, each taking the lead for many awards. Last week's retrospective of David O. Russell's career at The Museum of the Moving Image had me thinking of a new category: Movie with the Biggest Heart. The Fighter may vie with Toy Story 3, but in the end would topple all contenders. 

First, the real-life location of Lowell, Massachusetts, a red brick urban center with distinct ethnic enclaves, is the perfect breeding ground for the Great American Story. The director has a real feel for such places, having worked for a time in Lewiston, Maine. Then, the performances: at center is Mark Wahlberg in the role of Micky Ward, praised as masterful and understated. Around him swirl some outsized characters, Golden Globe winners Melissa Leo as Alice Ward and Christian Bale as Dicky, over the top as the real life personae are. (By the way, look out for Leo in the upcoming HBO movie, Mildred Pierce.)  And when Letterman asked Dustin Hoffman what performance he thought stood out this year, the “Huckabees” veteran picked Amy Adams in this movie, the “MTV girl” and only woman whose hair was not teased out of the frame. 

At a luncheon at 21 last week celebrating the director's career, you could see where this movie with heart gets its soul. David O. Russell worked the room focusing on each guest: hosts Spike Jonze and Geoffrey Fletcher, director John Cameron Mitchell, and other movie insiders and well-wishers. Russell said he had never eaten in the legendary restaurant before. When Jeannie Berlin came to say hello, Russell sang her praises for a movie that meant so much to him as a teen, what else? The Heartbreak Kid. The 1972 one. And so it went. 

Later that night in Astoria, reported Russell: the kick off to the retrospective week was “particularly great” with about 300 people showing up. Spike Jonze, conducting the Q&A, was “very gracious in his subversive way.” When Russell offered him a cinnamon Altoid, the box got passed around the audience too: “It was very real and alive.” Rosie Perez was there, as was Jonze's mom Sandy who said “the nicest things about me that almost made me cry.” 

I'm told that the Academy voters are unpredictable. So maybe those seeking movies that reflect “another America” -in Frank Rich's words-- can consider the one that's here. Maybe this is the year of The Fighter that could. 

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

 

Foreign Films for Oscars: Outside the Law

Charles Cohen, of the newly minted Cohen Media Group, introduced his distribution company and their inaugural film, the Algerian entry into the Oscars race, “Outside the Law,” at a luncheon at The Four Seasons last week. Of the 65 films Charles Cohen put forward by their countries as contenders for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award, this epic drama of occupation and resistance through the story of a family of brothers is on many a short list.

Paris-based writer/ director Rachid Bouchareb is familiar to American audiences through his previous film, “Indigenes” (or Days of Glory), nominated for the Foreign Film Oscar in 2006; before that, his “Poussieres de vie” had been a 1995 nominee. His films tend to limn the same themes: colonialism, immigration, occupation, and multi-racial, multi-cultural issues that resonate particularly in North Africa and the Middle East. “Outside the Law,” at least chronologically, picks up where “Indigenes” leaves off, in 1945.
Filmmaker Paul Morrissey, upon hearing an outline of “Outside the Law,” how a family was expelled from their ancestral home in Algeria and ended up in France with three sons each in his way participating in the movement for Algerian independence, declared he would like to see a comedy from this director. Sure enough, the Paris-born Algerian Rachid Bouchareb told me he will now stay in Los Angeles to finish a script with Larry Gross, a comedy to star Queen Latifa and Jamel Debbouze, the brother Said who becomes a boxing impresario in “Outside the Law. “

And what does he think about the possibility of again being nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, and maybe winning? Scorcese was nominated seven times before he won, smiled Rachid Bouchareb. This would make only three for me.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

 

Oscar Night: Off Site Views

Awards fatigue was almost forgotten at the splendid Oscar festivities at Gilt at the Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue. Members of the American Academy of Motion Pictures who were not walking the red carpet at the Kodak Theater partied perfectly at home in New York, begowned and bejeweled, and if not surprised by the unfolding of honors for colleagues, sipped fine champagne and dined in celebration of the accolades their votes produced.

Movie legends Celeste Holm, Arlene Dahl, Shirley Knight, and Sylvia Miles escorted by painter Hunt Slonem, posed for photos and other film world notables: Mitchell Lichtenstein, Celia Weston, Courtney Hunt enjoyed specially created canapes: Mississippi style corn fritters a la The Blind Side, citrus-marinated yellowtail and blood orange ceviche for Inglourius Basterds-“served cold like revenge,” and matzo balls with chicken consommé for A Serious Man.

While the long telecast was a ceremonious end to the especially protracted award season, the results were remarkably predictable with wins for The Hurt Locker, Sandra Bullock, and so on. Actors Mo'Nique, Jeff Bridges, and Christoph Waltz won just about every important honor leading up to Oscars.  So, no surprise there.

The sheer poetry of Barbra Streisand's presenting to Kathryn Bigelow cannot be overlooked. Streisand's direction for Yentl (1963) and perhaps Prince of Tides (1991) should certainly have earned her Oscar distinction.

As to the one true surprise of the evening: Best Foreign Language Film was thought to be a battle between the Austrian The White Ribbon and French The Prophet. The Argentinian The Secret in their Eyes took home the statue. My spies, travelers in Argentina, emailed me that they were watching the ceremony at a modest Buenos Aires hotel, and there the locals partied proud.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

 

Oscar Watch: Best Picture/Director

Members of the Motion Picture Academy assure me, financial success, even the overwhelming Avatar billions, is no criteria for Best Picture Oscar. We have seen the Avatar story in many incarnations in various genres, and The Hurt Locker has a fresh narrative strategy. Awesome as Avatar is, I don't see it as Best Picture over the tighter, more thrilling achievement of The Hurt Locker.

This is not to limit the race to these contenders, but as discussed on Charlie Rose's excellent panel on Tuesday night: Annette Insdorf, Stephanie Zacharek, Dana Stevens, and A.O. Scott, a dark horse may exist in one of the other eight fine nominees, but really, these two movies define the award season race.

And ditto for Best Director. The well deserving Kathryn Bigelow should get the statue on the merit of the work, and, if history is made, so be it.

Precious based on Sapphire's Push may also present an opportunity for historic moment. As Dana Stevens put it, she felt “bludgeoned” by this movie. And yes, the performances are so good, you could feel for Precious, and surprisingly, her abusive mother too.

Without selecting one to knock off the list, I liked C more than most critics. I never understood the negative take on this highly entertaining movie. Compare it to 8 1/2. Remember Marcello, a colleague pointed out, look at the humor he brought to the Fellini film on which the show Nine and now the movie was based. True, Daniel Day Lewis as Guido is strong in suffering, a bold brooder, sexy in suits, yet short on comedy. Still. His work block seems especially real.

Inglourious Basterds deserves a category all its own for subversive humor and Tarantino's passionate, outsized, wicked and witty imagination. Best Live Action Cartoon.

The Blind Side and personal faves: A Serious Man and An Education. The animated Up may be one of the best movies I've ever seen on an airplane, and speaking of airplanes, Up in the Air is the kind of smart movie that is superbly attuned to the Zeitgeist. Best Picture for any of these? Hmm.

But one member of the academy cautioned me to avoid assumptions: “The Academy doesn't think like anyone else. You may be surprised.”

To be continued.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Oscar Night

While Rex Reed extolled the pleasures of watching the Academy Awards in bed in pajamas, pizza in hand in his recent Observer column, New York members of the academy had a more thrilling night in mind. The annual dinner at the Carlyle Hotel drew Oscar voters and winners Patricia Neal and Geoffrey Rush, nominees like Sylvia Miles who came with painter Hunt Slonim, Shirley Knight, Burt Young (Miles' onscreen husband in Abel Ferrara's Go Go Tales), and other actors such as Elaine Stritch, Lisa Eichhorn, Denis O'Hare, Celia Weston and Tovah Feldshuh, opening in the play “Irena's Vow” in a few weeks. Geoffrey Rush soon to star on Broadway in “Exit the King” has been spending a lot of time in New York lately, especially in the elegant Carlyle, he said, inspired by Elaine Stritch who performed there and lived upstairs. How bohemian!, he exulted. The resident of Melbourne said they love the Academy Awards in Australia: when Russell Crowe wins, they cheer one of their own. If he gets into a fight, they remind the world he was born in New Zealand. Rip Torn came with his wife Amy Wright, just back from Berlin, from the  premiere of a new movie, “Happy Tears,” directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein. He plays the slightly demented father of Parker Posey. I'm lucky to have had such a rich career as a character actor, said this nominee for his work in “Cross Creek”. People ask me what acting is and I say, my adult education.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura