Gossip Central

Mamma Mia!

“If you don't like spandex and platform boots, you can leave quietly now,” announced producer Judy Craymer at the Mamma Mia! premiere at the Southampton Cinema Sunday night, before introducing “the most kissable” star Pierce Brosnan who said of making this dizzying, Dionysian spectacle, and showcase for those addictive Abba tunes: “We had the time of our lives.” Fans of the long running Broadway musical and skeptics alike will find much to love in this fairy tale of female bonding: postcard perfect Greece, the irresistible performance of Meryl Streep as Donna, an American raising a daughter (Amanda Seyfried) on a tiny mountainous island where she runs a rundown bed and breakfast. On the eve of marriage to Sky (Dominic Cooper), Sophia secretly invites three men she suspects of being her dad, on the basis of mom's 20 year old diary, to escort her down the aisle: Brosnan and fellow cocksmen Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard. Donna imports her gal pals (Christine Baranski and Julie Walters), back up singers from their defunct rock group Donna and the Dynamos, and part of the merriment in this celebration of spirited women is reviving their old act in full regalia thanks to the superb work of costume veteran Ann Roth. The movie is a chain of joyful, jaw-dropping song and dance numbers: a Greek chorus of villagers that pop up at random to accompany Streep singing rooftop, a bachelor party cum flipper dance; Walters's valiant turn on “Take a Chance on Me” ensures that no one goes uncoupled; and, a rousing rendition of “Dancing Queen,” has you gasping, what was that bulbous thing between your ample long legs, Christine? Mamma Mia! Yes, Craymer told me at the lavish after party at the Parrish Art Museum honoring Evelyn Lauder's Breast Cancer Research Foundation sponsored by Pink Blackberry Curve, Bloomberg, and Conde Nast Portfolio, despite that bawdy British humor, they got a PG-13 rating! Christine Baranski was flown into East Hampton's airport by helicopter after the matinee performance of “Boeing! Boeing!” for the party, and this being the Hamptons, the limo transporting her through the towns on Sunday night hit so much traffic, she may as well have taken the Jitney from the city. Nevertheless she joined the happy crowd: I saw Barbara Walters at the screening, and spotted many guys (lest you think this was strictly a girls' night out): Marty Richards, Ted Hartley, Terry George, David Margolick, Steven Gaines, Bob Balaban, Bob Colacello, among those boogying and cheerfully chowing down on moussaka, stuffed grape leaves and grilled lamb-and Pierce Brosnan who played the elegant but stiff 007 and these over-the-top comedic roles with such finesse. Which does he prefer? “You only go once, Baby,” he said three times with a wink. “I love it all.”

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Momma Mia! (trailer)

Hellboy 2

You may not find lobster your ideal complexion hue for an action hero. Hellboy, nicknamed Red (Ron Perlman) is not Robert Downey Jr. as Ironman. Nevertheless with his Kojak-style appeal and quick wit, thanks to the clever imagination of writer/director Guillermo del Toro, he has charm galore. Del Toro is, of course, the creative mind behind the 2006 Oscar nominated Pan's Labyrinth, a film that was so astonishingly original that everyone waited to see what del Toro would dream up next. Hellboy, based on the comics by Mike Mignola, is a more formulaic work with a twist: this epic savior as a  young boy watches Howdy Dowdy, pondering the nature of existence as if he were an ordinary earthling instead of a demon, and faithfully squelches evildoers despite an ungrateful public. On Sunday night, at a post-screening dinner in East Hampton's Cittanuova, Chuck Scarborough, Tracy Feith, Joe Pintauro, among many others, dined and delighted in the director's work. Del Toro's drawings for the movie's spectacular creatures: elves, goblins, giant beanstalks, and the apish Mr. Wink were featured in Sunday's New York Times. Clearly, he is the right man for "The Hobbit." And, check out the incendiary Selma Blair!

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Celebrating Gonzo

When Alex Gibney was cutting his documentary, “Taxi to the Dark Side,” the Academy Award winning investigation of the grim business of a simple Iraqi man tortured to death in Bagram Prison in Afganistan, he would go into the next room to work on his documentary on Hunter S. Thompson for comic relief. Now that film is about to open, appropriately for the 4th of July. Thompson, originator of gonzo journalism, investigated “the American Dream,” embedded himself with the Hell's Angels, reported on American politics for “Rolling Stone,” and wrote one of the funniest books in the language, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Gibney's prismatic biopic (a high just watching), narrated by Johnny Depp and featuring interviews with Pat Buchanan, Jimmy Carter, a diverse who's who in contemporary American culture, reveals Thompson's development as a writer (he obsessively typed out “The Great Gatsy”) as well as the consuming fame that may have contributed to his suicide. Even talking about Hunter brings a tear to editor Jann Wenner's eyes, halting his tribute. Wenner as well as the film's producer Graydon Carter and a duly eclectic group including Meg Ryan, Arianna Huffington, Tom Wolfe, Gail Sheehy, Gay Talese, Lynn Nesbit, Dominic Dunne, Jimmy Buffett, etc. crowded into the hip Waverly Inn for a pre-screening party last week. Graphic designer George Lois who recently had a show of his classic Esquire covers at MoMA pointed out the Waverly Inn's mural, painted by New Yorker Magazine illustrator Edward Sorel: who could be Narcissus? asked Lois, reflecting on the literary/mythological conceit of the painting adorning the restaurant's walls. Norman Mailer is stretched out looking at his reflection in a pond. Near him, Jack Kerouac, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth works a surreal typewriter as Bob Dylan hovers above. Presidential historian and close Thompson ally Douglas Brinkley introduced me to Juan, the writer's son. “Gonzo,” for all its bravado, is also a warmly felt family portrait thanks to Juan and his mother, Thompson's first wife. Then William Kennedy and family piled into Sean MacPherson's jeep for a short trip to the Angelica theater for the screening. Brian Williams, the NBC newsman who sat in for the deceased Tim Russert on last Sunday's Meet the Press modestly explained the secret of a great talk show: get Joe Biden. And then he noted how great it is that Tom Brokaw volunteered to take on the awesome election season, calling from a cell phone, from a spot on his Montana ranch that's not a dead zone, to say he's in.
                  And speaking of dedication in media, Clay Felker, famed New York Magazine editor, has just died. You could say that gonzo is a branch of the New Journalism, the use of novelistic techniques in the reporting of news, much championed by Felker.

Regina Weinreich 

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Gonzo (trailer)

Trumbo

Dalton Trumbo may have made his living as a screenwriter and novelist, but as a play and a new must-see documentary film make clear, Dalton Trumbo excelled at the dying literary art of letter writing as his Hollywood career was stifled during the McCarthy 'fifties. Comprised of nine A-list actors reading from his witty and searing letters-Joan Allen, Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, Brian Dennehy, Liam Neeson, Donald Sutherland, Josh Lucas among them--the film “Trumbo” takes us back to the era of blacklisting, when writers were hauled before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to define their communist affiliation and name names. Defying them, Trumbo spent 11 months in jail. Adapted by his son Christopher from his 2003 Off Broadway play and directed by Peter Askin, “Trumbo” features performances of his words, archival interviews and resonant clips from his movies “Papillon,” “Spartacus,” “Exodus,” and “Johnny Got his Gun” all focused on characters showing integrity, all standing up for what is right in times of crisis. Trumbo's language stars, as does the true meaning of patriotism especially now when some invoke The Patriot Act to muzzle democratic discourse, when loyalties are so rigidly questioned as to violate our First Amendment. See The DixieChicks. Nathan Lane does a superb and hilarious rendition of Trumbo's riff on “servicing himself” using every euphemism in his ample arsenal. And David Strathairn who so brilliantly brought Edward R. Murrow to life in George Clooney's “Good Night and Good Luck,” reads Trumbo's letter of outrage addressed to his daughter Mitzi's teacher as the child was ostracized at school when her father's history became playground news. The toll on family for resisting fear and cowardice is a large part of the story of Trumbo and the Hollywood Ten whose lives and careers were disrupted by this "witch hunt." See Arthur Miller, "The Crucible." The footage of HUAC is an embarrassing reminder of what Trumbo called "a time of evil."

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Trumbo (trailer)

Chuck Connelly Rediscovered

Charming, disarming, with a tendency to profanity and cynicism, Chuck Connelly strolled around the National Arts Club last Tuesday delighted so many showed up to see his art, and celebrate a new HBO documentary about him. He invited well-wishers like Mark Kostabi to a show at DFN Gallery in Chelsea on the weekend, and then he waited for the bubble to burst. Who is Chuck Connelly, you ask. Connelly was a darling of the '80's art scene, compared to Van Gogh, collected at the MetropolitanMuseum, emerging alongside Basquiat and Schnabel. In the first of the film trilogy Love Stories, scripted by Richard Price, who is now enjoying acclaim for his recent novel “Lush Life,” and directed by Martin Scorsese, Nick Nolte plays a Connelly type painting in his downtown loft. The much-admired oils were Connelly's. Clearly on a path toward major superstardom, Connelly nevertheless could not curb his dark side. Drunk, he trashed Scorsese famously in Page Six, as reported by George Rush. The rest is history in opposition: obscurity and exile to Philadelphia. The documentary, “The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not for Sale,” directed by Jeff Stimmel to air on July 7, attempts to explain the artist's contempt for the art market and consequent demise. A belligerent alcoholic, he is one of a dying breed, modeled on the image of the rebellious artist. Yet he also considers the highly sellable Warhol his hero, and in a contrary mood rails against commercialism. While it hurts him to see “crappy” art emerging, to see his peers Basquiat and Schnabel get the attention, he exclaims, “Now it's my turn,” and then, “I'd like to see this film make people get tired of the bullshit.”?

Regina Weinreich 

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Shaun White, Unscripted

Look out for “Don't Look Down,” an intimate documentary portrait of snowboarding champion Shaun White, directed by Willie Ebersol and produced by Charlie Ebersol. Homing in on the year after the superstar won prizes for every snowboarding event he entered in 2006 including the Winter X games and the Olympic Gold Medal in Torino, the film asks, how can you top this? Well, maybe you can't by always coming out first in every competition, but the flame haired White reveals himself to be a charismatic, cheerful subject-and a good sport-- moving through airports, losing luggage, sleeping on planes, refusing to be scripted for an American Express commercial, and taking his share of spills. Of course, not everyone considers snowboarding an Olympic worthy event. Yet, this fine film goes far to show the balletic, athletic grace involved in snowboarding and skateboarding as White makes mastery look effortless. Most moving is a trip to Kigali, Rwanda where this California white boy with his red mane instructs local kids in a schoolyard, patiently taking each one through the moves. Prepped beforehand, he knows everyone here has seen the genocide. One stop on the tour is a memorial mass grave. We are surely a long way from home in sunny Carlsbad, California. Bob Jameson, Bob Costas, Phil Griffin, (who is quoted in a smart feature about Keith Olbermann in this week's “New Yorker Magazine”), and many media types were on hand for an after screening dinner at the elegant Plaza Athenee. The talk turned to the recent shock of colleague Tim Russert's death with speculation of who would fill the uber-newsman-with-a-reputation-for integrity's ample shoes at “Meet the Press,” before the announcement was made in this morning's “New York Times” that Brian Williams will moderate this week. But coming back to the feature at hand, Producer Willie Ebersol said “Don't Look Down” would air on ESPN in November after a brief theatrical run in key snowboarding cities. No, he said, New York is not among them.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Picture Books

In case you missed the Walter Reade Theatre tribute to photographer/filmmaker Robert Frank last week, you can catch up with his extraordinary career with new editions of his legendary “The Americans” (Steidl). First published in 1959, the photos reveal the flip side of Ozzie-and-Harriet America with an introduction by Frank's friend Jack Kerouac. These artists also collaborated on the movie “Pull My Daisy,” new in DVD, with performances by Larry Rivers, David Amram, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Gregory Corso, Delphine Seyrig, Alice Neel, Milo O'Shea, and Pablo Frank.
               

Photographer Mellon Tytell's My Lucky Dog (HarperCollins) is a documentary style picture book of the last days of Hunter, her beloved dog. Combining resonant photos of Vermont with text, Tytell's book is an unsentimental meditation on the subject of loss.

In tandem with a show at Staley-Wise Gallery till June 7, notorious paparazzo Ron Galella's “That's Great!” (Monacello Press) features Andy Warhol in the world of glitz and glamour he loved: alongside Lauren Hutton, Sylvia Miles, Bob Colacello, Bianca Jagger, Marisa Berenson, Baryshnikov.
Christine Ebersole may have brought the Edie Beales mother and daughter to life on Broadway last year, based on “Grey Gardens,” the non-fiction film by The Maysles Brothers, but a new scrapbook, “Memorabealeia” is Walter Newkirk's clever collage-like compilation of Little Edie's stuff: clips, letters, etc. that should bring a smile to Edie's legion of fans.
            And “Perpenilsis,” a compilation of “psychopts,” collaborative drawings and prints by Christopher Wool and rocker Richard Hell to accompany an exhibition at Glenn Horowitz Booksellers on East 64th Street till June 4. Here's the inscription: “Mountaineering entails many great penis.” Need I say more?

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Sex and the City

One thing is certain after the extravaganza premiere of Sex & the City: The Movie: Carrie should have had her wedding to Mr. Big, now revealed as John James Prescott, at MoMA. Last night, on two floors, the museum was lit in pink with plush pillow seating and silver settees, and food themed for the fabulous four's onscreen retreat to Mexico with empanatas, ceviches and salsas washed down with fruity cosmos and champagne. True to their characters, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, and Kim Cattrall were decked to the nines, with the crowd buzzing about accessorized for the occasion. Of course the men were there: Jason Lewis, Mario Cantone, Chris Noth, director/writer/producer Michael Patrick King. Creator Candace Bushnell told me she is working on another book and flame-haired signature S&C designer Patricia Field continues to wow the downtown crowd with '70's inspired platforms. Also on hand: Matthew Broderick, Jerry Seinfeld, Jay McInerny, Katie Couric, and Project Runway winner Christian Siriano, looking very smart, worked the room with a model wearing one of his creations.

                 Another certainty: S&C is going to be a huge hit. Having had premieres in London and Berlin, S&C's New York event brought the world of Manolos and other luxury goods back home to New York real estate, and without spoiling the movie's ending, to grounded values in love and family. That may sound cheesy, but trust me, it isn't. I laughed. I cried. Balancing the girls last night-now famous worldwide-- was another fabulous four in the room: Jason, Daniel, Travis, and Brandon, marines in uniform. In town for Fleet Week, this group was nabbed off the street by the party's security to join in the festivities. And a good time was had by all.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Sex and the City (trailer)

Recount

If we have to relive the 2000 election in the state of Florida, the best way is to watch the drama unfold chad by chad in the HBO movie Recount, which airs on May 25. Archival footage of the candidates, George W. Bush and Al Gore, is neatly folded into the drama about the attempt to make every vote count in that pivotal state where decisions were made by the likes of Kathryn Harris played to ditzy perfection by Laura Dern gone brunette. Kevin Spacey, Tom Wilkinson, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley, Jr., Denis Leary give excellent performances as the key players in both Democrat and Republican camps. Dern, Spacey, Leary, and Balaban attended last night's premiere, at MoMA followed by dinner at The Four Seasons. Upon entering the restaurant, diners were given ballots that duplicated the butterfly ballots that were so confusing to Florida “bubbies,” the candidates switched to Obama, Clinton, and McCain. Needless to say, in a crowd of New York sophisticates, Obama would hold sway with Clinton coming in second. The stellar crowd including Tina Brown, Sidney Lumet, Stanley Crouch, Richard Holbrooke experienced firsthand the distinctions between dimpled and dangling, and we all learned that the plural of chad is, well, chad.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Midtown Movie/ A Diamond is Forever/ Narnia

One never knows the title of the movie he's working on, but Woody Allen stood in the doorway of “the bulldog” carriage house on East 38th Street chatting with Larry David on the set of an up coming film.  Ed Begley Jr. grazed at the sidewalk food tables, and ogling pedestrians stepped over wires. No sign of Evan Rachel Woods, who also stars. After the last few films set in Britain-Match Point, Scoop, Cassandra's Dream--Woody's back to making movies in New York. Also in the neighbs on Tuesday, a luncheon hosted by De Beers “Diamonds are Forever,” on the balcony overlooking Grand Central Terminal in Grand Central Station with great views of the zodiac ceiling and an enormous display of roses to show how diamonds, unlike fragile flowers, endure. Attending in honor of Antony Todd were Helena Christiensen, Diane Kruger (in Balenciaga), Elizabeth Hasselbeck, Lakeand Robin Bell, Tory Burch, and Marghuerita Missoni. Model Maggie Rizer said, “It was a simple, elegant lunch with great people that said, 'Diamonds are for everyone.'” She loves diamonds because each one has its own story: “One was given to my grandmother by my grandfather from his mother, one is so small I can barely see it but my dad gave it to my mom when he couldn't afford to; one I bought on a trip to India, and so on . . . .” Natasha Richardson joined the fashion crowd for that pre-Mother's Day event and then was on hand the next night for the premiere for the new “Chronicles of Narnia” at another neighborhood gem, The New York Public Library on 42nd Street. Her husband Liam Neeson is the voice of Aslan, so the library with its signature stone lions looked Narnia-ready and so are the movie's legions of fans, many of whom watched the jugglers, threaded beads and supped on forest fare in one of the city's most spectacular landmarks.

Regina Weinreich 

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

The invitation to the special screening of a new documentary about Roman Polanski had the imprimatur of 20 directors in solidarity with the exiled Oscar winning director, and then a disclaimer, that the filmmakers, on location, would not be on hand at the Paris Theater. Nevertheless, I spotted Sidney Lumet, Julian Schnabel, Alex Gibney, Taylor Hackford, Barry Levinson, Bennett Miller, Bob Balaban, Lasse Hallstrom, and a slew of actors: Dustin Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Emmy Rossum, Leelee Sobieski, Gretchen Mol, Julianna Margulies, Lena Olin, for the screening, some staying on for the buffet supper at the newly refurbished Plaza Hotel. It was like the old days, when the Plaza was a haven for fictitious little girls like Eloise, and for movie premieres of the most lavish sort: beef, bass, grilled chicken and veggies fit for kings. Carlos, my waiter, who had worked there for 25 years seemed pleased with lobby level luxury shops, saying that during the renovation, new rooms had been created, pockets of space no one had thought about now gave way to conference rooms on the 4th floor. But I digress.
     Marina Zenovich's  riveting “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" will air on HBO on June 9, and will be shown in theaters thereafter distributed by Mark Urman's ThinkFilm. Reading the papers, Zenovich came upon a story about Polanski's trial for raping a 13 year old in 1977, and thereafter fleeing the country. What is wrong with this picture, she thought and set about finding out. The resulting film uses provocative archival footage and interviews to trace Polanski's life in Hollywood, his unabashed obsession with young girls, the tragic circumstances of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate's murder by the Manson clan, the eerie echoes in his films, his Holocaust back story-mostly investigating the legal matters surrounding the trial, marked by a tricky judge who was out to get the infamous director. The result fascinates, not only in illuminating Polanski as a brilliant and charismatic character but as a revelation of our justice system. Polanski remains wanted in America, and desired in Pariswhere he resides with Emmanuelle Seigner, his wife for 18 years, and two children. Seigner starred most recently in Schnabel's “Diving Bell and the Butterfly” and in “Lou Reed's Berlin,” a hit at the recent Tribeca Film Festival. Though some of the hosting directors were not feasting at the Plaza, the girl in question was, her mother and husband in tow. Now Samantha Geimer (45) lives happily in Hawaii, having settled with Polanski out of court. Her mother Susan, conspicuously not in the film, was the proverbial elephant in the room dwarfing even the grandeur of the Plaza; you wanted to shake her while she glowingly invited everyone to visit in Kuaui.  How she could leave a 13 year old child alone with Polanski remains a mystery, leaving all the celebrity and media moms at the premiere asking, what is wrong with this picture?

Regina Weinreich            

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Roman Polanski:Wanted and Desired (promo)

John Waters' Cry Baby/ Tribeca Film Festival

Don't cry for me, John Waters! Your over-the-top tour de gross-out has hit mainstream, proving what your pal William Burroughs used to say about acceptance, if you stick around long enough . . . Commercial success may of course come at the price of losing edge, but in your case, edge may be overrated. On Broadway Hairspray and now Cry Baby are huge hits, showing how edgy meets marketplace: with exuberant choreography, the crinkle of crinolines, slick pompadours, padded rumps. When New York Magazine features you as a subversive gone MOR, your pencil thin mustache loses its twitch. Divine's shit eating ending in “Pink Flamingos,” the stray dog eating a lesbian's discarded “bone” from a botched sex change in “Desperate Living”! Ah, those were moments of high satire. In “Cry Baby,” set in Waters' beloved Baltimore, the outcast, misunderstood teens sing of kissing with tongues, going down in the marshes. Anyone who has seen “Grease” is familiar with this territory of preppies vs. hipsters, with “Cry Baby” adding a bit of social consciousness: not only do the lovers (James Snyder and Elizabeth Stanley) meet at the anti-polio picnic, but the rebel-with-cause cried himself out when his parents were wrongly executed as arsonists. Wow! Talk about the '50's!
               When you become an authority-that's the ultimate acceptance. Where was John Waters the night I saw his play? He was partying at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of “Squeezebox!” with directors Steve Saporito and Zach Shaffer, the likes of Debbie Harry,  Lady Bunny, Misstress Formika, Michael Musto, John Cameron Mitchell, and the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. The doc about Don Hill's legendary boite turned trans-sex disco for a night/week is actually quite moving, with lots of heart as the real-life characters finally finding a place to fit in. Waters is also called upon to expound on the art scene in another festival favorite, “Guest of Cindy Sherman” directed by Sherman's ex, Paul H-O. So please, give John Waters an honorary doctorate!

Regina Weinreich            

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Standard Operating Procedure

You don't want to think of that pixie-ish woman with the shit-eating grin in the famous Abu Ghraib photo as more than a sadistic little bitch as she points to a hooded man on a leash. But, Errol Morris's documentary probe, “Standard Operating Procedure” affirms: that picture, and others: the naked human pyramid as well as the wired figure on the box, is more than meets the eye. Imagine this: the woman in question, Lynndie English, a teen when she enlisted for duty in Iraq, falls in love with MP Charles Graner and simply acts in thrall, a girl with a girlish crush who ends up pregnant (with his child while he is carrying on with another woman involved in the scandal) and facing some serious charges, a Rumsfeldian “bad apple.” Who are these people and why do they have so much time on their hands? That is a question addressed by Morris in the film and in an accompanying book co-authored with Philip Gourevitch. No wonder the Rummy-Cheney-Bush triumvirate, is embarrassed, but, in the words of Desi to Lucy, this administration has some 'splainin' to do. The seven “bad apples” have been prosecuted, for taking the photos but not for their content. That justice will no doubt never be served for these crimes against mostly ordinary Iraqis has been shown in this excellent and disturbing documentary as it was in Alex Gibney's “Taxi to the Dark Side,” the Academy Award winning film investigating the untoward fate of a young man taken to a sister prison, Bagram in Afganistan, and tortured to death. Although he deserved to win the award for his "Thin Blue Line," Errol Morris received his Oscar for “The Fog of War” with its central interview portrait of Robert McNamara, the architect of the Viet Nam War. In this new film, said Morris in a recent interview, he reveals a “crazy war of humiliation.” Here is an interesting tidbit gleaned from “Standard Operating Procedure:” as a method of torment, forget water boarding. Certain music blasted in prisoners' ears proved more torturous. After awhile the victims began to groove to Metallica and Hip Hop. They broke at Country Western.

Regina Weinreich            

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Standard Operating Procedure (trailer)

Meryl Streep Honored at Film Society of Lincoln Center

Will the real Meryl Streep please stand up! Last night Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center was packed with well-wishers, benefactors, friends and family to pay tribute to the premier actress of our time. As Uma Thurman, a speaker in a string of co-stars and directors that also included Robert Deniro, Christopher Walken, Jonathan Demme, Garrison Keillor, and Stanley Tucci, said of Streep, “There's Meryl and then there is everyone else.” Robert Redford spoke about her commitment to craft. Amy Adams mentioned that she taught her how to knit on the set of the upcoming film of “Doubt.” And Mike Nichols quipped about her perfect nose, so much like his they cannot be onstage together. Between speakers, clips of Streep's performances in one classic after another were projected: the heart-wrenching choice scene in “Sophie's Choice,” as Ethel Rosenberg confronting the dying Al Pacino's Roy Cohn in “Angels in America,” a begoggled blond in a two-seat prop plane with Redford, a red-head in “The French Lieutenant's Woman” with Jeremy Irons, silver coiffed in “The Devil Wears Prada,” a Hillary Clinton clone in “The Manchurian Candidate,” singing in a pub in “Ironweed,” singing in the Tuscan landscape in the upcoming film of “Mamma Mia!” It is clear there is nothing she cannot do, no one she cannot be! Taking the stage in an elegant black silk shirt-waist she kept tugging down Streep flashed her sense of humor. Claiming she dreaded this tribute, she spoke about a time studying acting at Vassar, when in an exercise intended to practice the art of crying the fledgling students each conjured up sad images: mothers, dogs, boyfriends dying. Not la Streep, who imagined herself in tears: approaching 60 (she's 58), the premier actress of her time at a tribute, onstage before her immense body of fans, announcing her retirement. “I am not crying tonight,” she said, “because I am not retiring.” And then she danced and pirouetted off the stage.
     At the elegant supper across the way in the New York State Theater, the celebrants included playwright Tony Kushner, director Robert Benton, Sylvia Miles who played her mother in “She Devil,” wives and widows Kathryn Altman, Rose Styron, Hannah Pakula. I had my own Streep moment: complimenting me on my outfit, she mocked interest in the designer, to wit I countered, who was she wearing. “Oh I just picked this up at the Short Hills mall,” she laughed.

Regina Weinreich            

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Jellyfish and Other Surreal Tales

This year's excellent New Directors/New Films series, a yearly collaboration of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and MoMA that ended last week, had many films you will see in theaters in the coming months. One, “Jellyfish,” directed by Israeli fiction writer Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen, his wife and the movie's scriptwriter, is already out: in this fine, intimate film, the dislocation and suffering taking place in their home country among a group of recent immigrants is reflected in water, in places where it is welcome, healing and mysterious, as in the beach in Tel Aviv and unwelcome, as a rising flood in a young woman's apartment caused by a leak. At one point she stands mouth agape, water pouring down from the ceiling quenching her thirst. Such surreal images dominate Keret's fiction. His new book,   “The Girl on the Fridge” features a tale called “Crazy Glue” in which a girl is stuck on that substance “so pretty, and so incongruous, hanging upside down from the ceiling that way. . . . I climbed onto the pile of books and kissed her.” The image brought to mind lovers in a Chagall painting. The stories, some one-pagers, can be selected like bonbons out of a chocolate assortment, each offering a peculiar, offbeat yet surprisingly satisfying center. In the title story, a couple breaks up for no better reason than the girl liked being alone, as when in childhood, she stayed perched atop a refrigerator. Her lover even tried to fuck her there, to no avail. I asked Etgar Keret which he prefers, making film or writing stories. “Writing,” he said, “I have all the control.”

Regina Weinreich            

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Shine a Light

This Rolling Stones' concert film, "Shine a Light", directed by Martin Scorsese made me feel, how shall I put it, not so bad about ageing. Something about Mick Jagger jumping about the stage, his six pack intact, his act a fine-tuned workout. Drummer Charlie Watts has gone completely gray and Keith Richards has facial crevices to rival the Grand Canyon