Meta-Mahler
New York-based pianist Uri Caine has assembled an amazing group of musicians to rev up the classics … using jazz riffs and turntables to reinterpret the works of classical composer Gustav Mahler.
End of an era?
Isn’t Details dead yet?! The official magazine of mid-’90s, ironic-yet-conspicuous consumerism, was rumored to have gone to JFK Jr.’s locker last month, yet here it is again, filling page after page with banal, occasionally useful, mostly perplexing tidbits of nothingness. Since it’s so easy to digest, Details has always been good bathroom reading, but it’s…
Malt shop classics
Comet Burger’s concept of the ’50s is pink vinyl and stainless steel chairs, Formica tabletops decorated with little boomerangs (you’ll recognize them when you see them), album covers on the walls, lots of TVs, and, of course, sliders and malts. The malts alone are worth the trip. As for the sliders, they’re sliders, but grilled…
Human Traffic
After a short discussion by the film’s narrator, Jip, on his inability to maintain an erection and a rather standard introduction of his friends – “that’s my friend (fill in the blank) – he/she’s off his/her tits!” – Human Traffic drops the proverbial beat and, if only for a moment, raises hopes. Over the opening…
I Dreamed of Africa
I Dreamed of Africa is a perfect title for this film, because it’s as much about the idea of a place as the place itself. For Kuki Gallmann (Kim Basinger), Africa represents a physical and spiritual Eden, where she can create a new kind of life with her second husband, Paolo (Vincent Perez), and 7-year-old…
I Dreamed of Africa
I Dreamed of Africa fails on so many levels that it’s hard to even give it credit for the one area in which it excels. With a backdrop of the wilds of Kenya – with its lush landscapes and magnificent creatures – how could this film help but deliver a picturesque presentation? Unfortunately, director Hugh…
Kikuhiro
One would expect a comedy about a gruff middle-aged guy who gradually befriends a cute little boy to be a major change of pace for writer-director Takeshi Kitano, but as it turns out Kikujiro is yet another – though very strange – variation on his absurdly deadpan cinema of cruelty. Structured like one of Jerry…
The Last September
Set in a stately manor house in County Cork in 1920, The Last September is a subdued tale about the final days of British rule in Ireland. Even though politics and the very real possibilities of change swirl around them, its characters are primarily navel-gazers concerned with their private passions and petty conflicts. Out of…
Les Bonnes Femmes
When director Claude Chabrol’s Les Bonnes Femmes was released in France in 1960, it was neither a critical nor a commercial success. Like Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, released in England the same year, it was considered to be too vulgar and too dark and generally up to no good. But some sort of dismissal was…
