Awww… I’m missing this!

Shakespeare in the Park: Twelfth Night

If I was still in NYC, I’d stand in line to get free tix to see this play (going on until July 12th).  Twelfth Night is of my faves by the Bard, and has gotten GREAT reviews!  Since I’m living MANY hrs from Central Park these days, I’ll have to settle for reviews and pics.  Oh well, there’s always NEXT summer…

  

 

 

 

A comedy love triangle: Audra McDonald (Olivia), Anne Hathaway (Cesario/Viola), & Raul Esparza (Orsino); Shakespeare's wife was also named Anne Hathaway!

 

 

Though pining for Olivia, Orsino is curiously drawn to his new servant Cesario (actually Viola in drag)!

  

This production is set in the Regency Era (Jane Austen's time).

 

Cesario/Viola falls quickly in love the melancholy duke

 

Olivia won't take "no" for an answer!

 

When it's revealed his loyal/loving manservant is a TRULY a gentlewoman, Orsino is overjoyed! LOL!

 

Time to take their bows

 

A New York Times review of the play:

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/theater/reviews/26night.html

“Do The Right Thing” (1989)

This film is an accurate portrayal of New York City at that time, under Mayor Ed Koch, who I think really escalated the racial polarization and fear in New York City. And it’s safe to say that the city is not like that today. The New York you saw in this film is not here today. That’s not to say all racism is gone, just because Barack [Obama] is in the White House. 

-Spike Lee

 

 

 

I watched this film after many years.  Did you know that Pres Obama and  Michelle went to see Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing on their 1st date?  They mentioned liking the film very much.  It was controversial when it came out; some reviewers worried that race riots would ensue.  These people totally didn’t understand the film!    

 

This film helped launch the careers of Rosie Perez (who plays Mookie’s gf, Tina) and Martin Lawrence (one of the jobless guys on the block).  Perez (who grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn) was a college girl when Lee noticed her dancing abilities; Lawrence was living in the projects in Maryland.  Wow!

 

Mookie (Spike Lee) and Sal (Danny Aiello)

 

One of the most well-rounded characters in DTRT is the Italian-American owner of the pizzeria, Sal (Danny Aiello).  In a nice scene w/ his unabashedly racist older son Pino (John Turturro- see pic below), he tells the young man: “They grew up on my food.  My food.  And I’m very proud of that.”  Pino, on the other hand, hates being around black people.  His friends back in Bensonhurst make fun of him for working in Bed-Stuy.  “If they make fun of you, they’re not your friends,” Sal quietly tells him. 

 

 

 

Pino’s extreme prejudice toward blacks doesn’t make sense.  Racism doesn’t make sense!  The black customers he (often) curses at put money in his family’s pockets.   Sal sees Mookie not just as a delivery man, but as “another son.”  Vito, Sal’s younger son, likes that Mookie listens to him.     

 

The looks on the faces of Pino and Mookie speak volumes when they see Sal (innocently) flirting w/ Mookie’s younger sis, Jade (Joie Lee).  Sal’s face lights up, and he says “I’m gonna make you something special.”  He notes that hers are “the biggest eyes I’ve ever seen.” 

 

I think what everyone underestimates in the film is how funny the film is. One of the great gifts in the film is its tremendous humor. The film keeps its edge, but you’re still laughing up until the last 15 minutes of the movie. … It’s got the energy, the humor, the color … but it’s really not heavy-handed.

-John Turturro 

 

Da Mayor (Ossie Davis) advises Mookie: "Always do the right thing."

 

A voice of reason on the block is elderly, wrinkly-clothed, and (often) drunk Da Mayor (Ossie Davis).  Da Mayor doesn’t like the fact that some young people are rude to him, judging him for his drunkenness.   After all, they don’t know what he’s been through over the years.   

 

Da Mayor and the lady he has a big crush on, Mother-Sister (Ruby Dee), harken back to another era.  In that time, people looked out for each other in the neighborhood.  In an action sequence, Da Mayor performs a heroic act.

 

Radio Raheem

It’s not often that films evoke that type of response where [racism] is really that exposed in people.

-Spike Lee 

 

What’s the big deal about having pics of black people on the wall of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria? Jade asks Buggin Out.   Jade advises him to channel his energies into something productive.  But Buggin Out decides to boycott Sal’s.   Mookie tries to keep everyone cool b/c he needs this job ($250/wk) to support his baby son, Hector.  

 

Toward the end of the film, Mookie does something that is STILL debated by viewers!  Did he do the right thing?  You decide!   

 

Related Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_the_Right_Thing

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097216/

http://www.theroot.com/dtrt20

No easy answers here!

Hello readers!

I hope you had a good (though short) vacation over 4th of July wknd.  (It was cloudy and rainy, so we didn’t see much fireworks- TOO BAD!!!) Dad and I went to see Mom and lil bro in Indy.  Evan will be 20 later this month- WOW!  He looks a BIT taller- maybe he’ll grow until 21.  Did you know that a person’s brain keeps developing until age 25?  OK, I feel old now…   

My 2 blogs help keep me sane during this tough time of being jobless!  This month, I’ll have plenty of movie reviews for you (as usual).  BTW, I found a film Dad was looking for (Swades) at a VERY low price online recently.  Even though Swades is an Indian (Hindi) movie w/ Shah Rukh Khan, it’s NOT totally Bollywood (has more subtlety & originality).   If you liked Lagaan, you should see it.

I’m on the lookout for interesting blogs.  If you have a blog, please leave a comment w/ the address.  I’ll keep adding to the blogroll…

Thanks for visiting,

EMMA.

  

 

In Moonstruck, another work by John Patrick Shanley, we met a group of loud/loveable/quirky Italian-Americans in Brooklyn.  Doubt (set in 1960s Bronx) couldn’t be further from that- the predominantly black/white/gray color scheme, nuns in restrictive habits, and a priest who could be a predator or a prayer to a needy community.  By now, many people have seen the critically-lauded Doubt.  This is a thinking person’s movie w/ many layers!  (Each of you may have a different interpretation.)  It’s NOT just about whether the priest is guilty or not…   

 

Sister Aloysius (Merlyl Streep)

While I was watching this film, my sympathies lay w/ different characters at different times.  I liked the liberal views of the approacheable Father Flynn; the congregation and the boys at the school seemed to like & respect him.  I REALLY liked how the gentle/naive Sister James (Adams) was committed to teaching her kids.  I wanted to know more about sensitive student Donald and his mother, Mrs. Miller! 

 

I sided w/ the stern principal, Sister Aloysius (Streep), who was certain that the priest had done something VERY wrong.  It’s easy to believe Meryl Streep, right?  She truly disappeared into her role!

 

Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman)

Streep was the 1st one cast in the film.  Then Shanley wondered who was an actor who could “stand up to Meryl Streep?”  That would be Hoffman- he was honored to work w/ Streep, BUT able to challenge her as well.  Father Flynn is a complicated character, and Hoffman is able to convey that.  As one reviewer said, “we never see the gears moving” while he’s acting.  I was VERY impressed w/ his work!  

            

Sister James (Amy Adams)

Amy Adams is easy to relate to in this film; she doesn’t know exactly what’s going on, but wants to “do the right thing.”  Like many young teachers, she’s full of enthusiasm, smiles, and concern for her students.  But Sister Aloysius comes to teach her about discipline b/c she needs that as well.  I liked learning more about the Catholic church, but I thought it was unfair how the hierarchy limited the nuns’ options (even when dealing w/ VERY serious issues).       

 

Streep and John Patrick Shanley

Doubt is about more than meets the eye, though Shanley attended Catholic school for many yrs in the East Bronx where he was taught by nuns who wore the strange/old-fashioned bonnets seen in this film.  The boys were usually Italian or Irish (like Shanley).  There was once a black student (like Donald Miller), and he wondered ”how does that guy feel?”  If you want to know what this film is REALLY about: Shanley commented that “I’m comfortable w/ some uncertainty.”  Obviously, Sister Aloysius feels differently in the end.             

 

 

 

Somtimes little/mundane events in one person’s life are equal to big/dramatic ones in another person’s world.  Man Push Cart is slice-of-life film that was recently shown on IFC.  The director, Iranian-American Ramin Bahrani, was featured in an article in the New York Times Magazine a few months back.  It centers around Ahmad, a young/sad-eyed/lonely Pakistani immigrant who runs a breakfast cart in Midtown Manhattan.  He sells bootleg videos at night.  Ahmad lives in a tiny attic room in Flatbush, Brooklyn.     

 

 

One day, a customer (and fellow Pakistani) recognizes him as a popular singer in the old country.  This customer, a wealthy young businessman named Muhammad, gives him some work and even offers to help Ahmad w/ his music career.  We sense that Ahmad is uncertain about singing again.   

 

 

Ahmad has a (potential) love interest, a petite beauty from Spain who’s running a newspaper stand a few blocks away from Ahmad’s cart.  They become friends quickly, but she wants to be closer to him.  Check this film out for yourself!