Gossip Central

Keep On Keepin’ On, Alan Hicks’ First Film Screens at the Hamptons International Film Festival Summerdocs

The documentary’s catchy title, Keep On Keepin’ On, comes from the legendary trumpeter Clark Terry, now 94, a line he uses to inspire young musicians: Justin Kauflin, a blind pianist composer he’s nurtured, could not attend the special Summerdocs screening at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Friday night. Now in Los Angeles recording an album with Quincy Jones, Kauflin’s one of Terry’s successful students in jazz, but so is the Australian drummer and surfer who made this debut documentary, winner of the Audience Award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival; the filmmaker Alan Hicks also took home the award for Best New Documentary Director. At a pre-screening cocktail party at The Maidstone, I had the opportunity to ask him how an Australian came to this landmark American music, and how he made his first film on a jazz legend’s story.

Simon Pegg’s Search for Happiness Leads to East Hampton

Introducing Simon Pegg at the East Hampton Cinema last night, at a special screening of his new movie, Hector and the Search for Happiness, Gwyneth Paltrow announced of Pegg, the godfather of one of her children: “he’s the movie star in the family.” A pregnant pause followed these words, as the self-styled nerdy British comic hardly has the recognition of say, her mom, Blythe Danner, not to mention Paltrow herself. Was there irony in that praise?

Robert Wilson’s Lady Gaga Portraits at The Watermill Center’s Annual Summer Benefit/ “Andy Warhol: Global Phenomenon” at Guild Hall

The theme may have been “One Thousand Nights and One Night: Sleepless Night of Sheherazade” at this year’s Watermill Center Benefit, but as we well know, Lady Gaga’s visual and conceptual incarnations can fire off a thousand and one narratives in anyone’s imagination. That conceit informs the slow moving videos of the “Born This Way” singer/ performance artist created by Robert Wilson, perhaps following Andy Warhol’s classic experimental work in that genre. Having made a live appearance last year, this weekend Lady Gaga was represented in images of impending demise, such as David’s “Death of Marat,” and Ingres’ “Mademoiselle Caroline Riviere.” Only Cindy Sherman has more poses.

Lunch with Calvary’s Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Kelly Reilly and Chris O’Dowd

Scandals about pedophile priests bring many to tears. In John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary, a victim of abuse gets his day. No spoiler here. Make sure you are not late when you see this powerful, taut movie, which begins in a confessional. The camera is on Father James’ concerned yet calm face as the voice on the other side of the wall tells of the horrific acts done to him as a youth. Our priest is innocent, but the voice tells him to get his affairs in order, to meet him on Sunday at the beach, where he will kill him.

Classical Theater of Harlem’s Romeo & Juliet in Marcus Garvey Park

The logical comparison to this Shakespeare-in-the-Park is not the Public’s more established revival of the bard’s genius at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater. The Classical Theater of Harlem’s stunning Romeo & Juliet most resembles in theme the play Holler If Ya Hear Me, inspired by the demise of Tupac Shakur. Each has a clear message about the horrors of gang violence, and with the work of very talented artists, illustrates the havoc done by such violence, on human values, identity, and life’s pleasures, like love.

Marlo Thomas’ Sins of Omission in Clever Little Lies at Guild Hall

Marlo Thomas worked the homey sitting room at East Hampton’s Baker House on Saturday night: her husband Phil Donahue, Alec and Hilaria Baldwin, Bob Balaban and Lynn Grossman, Jordan Roth, his mom Daryl Roth, Blythe Danner and others ate sandwiches served on a silver tray by party planner Peggy Siegal. This was opening night of Joe Pietro’s play Clever Little Lies at Guild Hall, under David Saint’s fine direction. When we meet her in the living room of a suburban home, Thomas’ character Alice grouses about adorning the windows of her bookstore with copies of the sexually charged 50 Shades of Gray. By contrast, Alice’s family, including husband Bill (Greg Mullavey), son Billy (Jim Stanek), and daughter-in-law Jane (Kate Wetherhead) have other volatile issues. Nobody deploys the word, but “adultery” resonates, and compared with the sex in the best-selling book, the extra-marital sort seems genteel indeed. Son Billy has delusions of love-- with a gym trainer—and plans to take off with her to Hawaii. Mom saves the day by coming clean about her own past, and dad well, Bill Sr. notes ruefully, “Someone always gets hurt.”

Woody Allen’s Sleight-of-Hand: Magic in the Moonlight

Woody Allen is up to his old tricks. Real ones, like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. In previous films he’s played the magician role himself, but in Magic in the Moonlight, a romantic comedy set in the luscious Provence landscape, he allows the dreamy Colin Firth to handle the willing suspension of disbelief, making elephants disappear, sawing women in two, misdirection, bedecked in chinoiserie. Even as an insufferable pompous egomaniac, Firth is so suave it is easy to fall in love with him. 

Valentino Red and Other Luxuries at Jill Zarin’s Second Annual Luncheon

It is a truth widely held, that ladies who lunch are wont to shop. The options for lavish spending were in sumptuous display at Jill Zarin’s Southampton waterfront home last weekend. While Valentino’s slinky gowns were not present, a sleek red smart phone case by the company Mophie sat enticingly under glass. Valentino and Mophie teamed up for the design. And for guilt free spending, the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation benefits from a portion of the sales. Dr. Waxman, a part time resident of East Hampton, was pleased with the Zarins’ support, helping the foundation grow in its efforts to fund researchers worldwide.

Diane Keaton Croons in Rob Reiner’s And So It Goes

Diane Keaton’s presence was felt on Long Island’s east end the day before her new movie And So It Goes premiered at Guild Hall last Sunday: she had a book signing at Bookhampton in East Hampton for her memoir, Let’s Just Say It Wasn’t Pretty, and Main Street was mobbed. At the screening, Keaton was a hot target too, and in her neurotic Annie Hall voice, she worried she was blocking the aisles. She was, but no one minded shimmying past her.

In Real Time: Richard Linklater’s Boyhood Premieres at MoMA

The ecstasy around Richard Linklater’s Boyhood reached climax at the premiere at MoMA this week. A two and three quarter hour epic in which a boy goes from first grade to high school graduation, this landmark movie was filmed in yearly stages for over 12 years, meaning the actors portray themselves as they age. We see Patricia Arquette in several haircuts, Ethan Hawke with and without facial hair, and most dramatically, the kids, Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater, the director’s real life daughter, go from children to young adults, passing through their awkward teens. While this filming strategy pays off in stellar performances, in the big picture, the 12-year gestation is mere conceit. People love this movie for its glimpse into a family, broken marriage and divorce, change of schools, jobs, friends, in short, the quotidian we avoid by going to the movies. Engagement comes in the unfolding of these richly drawn lives, and the nostalgic reviewing of our own. It all seems so real, and yet, Boyhood is scripted in its major moments, with improvisation from the actors.