The feature directorial debut of Josh Margolin, Thelma is an action-comedy that gives veteran Oscar®️ nominee June Squibb (Nebraska) her first leading role and features the final performance of trailblazing actor Richard Roundtree (Shaft). Squibb, who did many of her own stunts in the film, plays Thelma Post, a feisty 93-year-old grandmother who gets conned by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson (The White Lotus’s Fred Hechinger) and sets out on a treacherous quest across Los Angeles, accompanied by an aging friend (Roundtree) and his motorized scooter, to reclaim what was taken from her. Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, and Malcolm McDowell also star. Inspired by a real-life experience of Margolin’s own grandmother, Thelma puts a clever spin on movies like Mission: Impossible, shining the spotlight on an elderly grandmother as an unlikely action hero. With infectious humor, Margolin employs the familiar tropes of the action genre in hilarious, age-appropriate ways to tackle aging with agency. In the first leading film role of her 70-year career, Squibb portrays the strong-willed Thelma with grit and determination, demonstrating that she is more than capable of taking care of business — despite what her daughter Gail (Posey), son-in-law Alan (Gregg), or grandson Danny might believe.
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Saturday, December 9, 2023
Theater: Monsieur Chopin, written and performed by Hershey Felder
Hershey Felder as
MONSIEUR CHOPIN
A play with music
Directed by Joel Zwick
Monsieur Chopin features the romantic story and music of the Polish pianist-composer Fryderyk Chopin, set in Chopin’s Parisian salon where he will teach a piano lesson that actually took place in March 1848, just days after the February 1848 revolution. As the piano lesson unfolds, Chopin reveals secrets about the art of the piano and composition, as well as secrets about himself. Hershey Felder delves deep into the music and psyche of the man, considered by his contemporaries, and now by history, as the true “Poet of the Piano.”
In Monsieur Chopin, Hershey features some of the pianist-composer’s most beautiful and enduring music while entertaining us in his unique and theatrical style.
Theater: ADRIFT | A Medieval Wayward Folly at 59E59, Dec. 2023
Devised by Happenstance Theater
Under the Co-Direction of Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell
With Gwen Grastorf, Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, and Alex Vernon
A ship of fools adrift at sea.
They ask, “What do we do now?”
After an apocalypse, the search begins.
Characters from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch and archetypes from the tarot are brought to life in this ingeniously staged production of theatrical alchemy using live music, physical comedy, puppetry, and so much more. This pod of eccentrics will drift into the world to bring delight, share hopes and fears, and find a way forward.
A dynamic medieval tapestry of pure theater…and it wouldn’t be the Middle Ages without a hellmouth, demons, and angels.
Film: Frederick Wiseman's MENUS-PLAISIRS LES TROISGROS (2023)
WINNER!
Best Non-Fiction Film
New York Film Critics Circle Awards 2023
Frederick Wiseman’s 44th documentary takes us to Central France and Troisgros — a Michelin 3-star restaurant owned and operated by the same family for four generations, and destination for gastronomes from around the world. Behind the scenes, we are privy to passionate debates among the head chefs (a father and his two sons) about texture, color, and depth of flavors; visits to a bounteous produce farm, a local vineyard, and a massive cheese cave (where “each cheese has its moment of truth”); and waitstaff meetings focused on individualized customer preferences and food plating at a performance-art level. In his trademark style, Wiseman patiently illuminates the restless creativity of this culinary family as they experiment with dishes, methods, and ingredients — keeping their haute cuisine anchored in tradition while brilliantly evolving.
Film: TOTAL TRUST directed by JIALING ZHANG (2023)
WINNER
GRAND JURY PRIZE (International Competition)
DOC NYC 2023
For two decades, China has implemented high-tech security and surveillance to monitor its citizens. In this fascinating and chilling documentary, Jialing Zhang (co-director of ONE CHILD NATION) immerses us in this daily reality: half a billion cameras pointed at the populace, invasive neighborhood watch programs (“Sharp Eyes”), employees monitored for stress levels, and a “social credit” point system that rewards for community service and penalizes perceived societal infractions. With the assistance of dozens of anonymous locals, Zhang focuses on three courageous women fighting for civil liberties and justice, including independent journalist Sophia Xueqin Huang, one of the first Chinese reporters to investigate #MeToo accusations and subsequently arrested for “inciting subversion of state power.” A bracing portrait of a society for whom privacy is all but extinct and a warning for democracies employing surveillance tools in unprecedented ways.
With support from the Richard Brick, Geri Ashur, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries.
Film: Terrence Malick’s DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978)
In 1916, Chicagoan Richard Gere, his little sister Linda Manz, and his lover Brooke Adams (pretending to be his other sister), head for the Texas Panhandle (Alberta, Canada, standing in) to work the wheat fields of prosperous farmer Sam Shepard. An ensuing marriage is only the beginning of a bizarre love triangle, ending with violent death amid a spectacular locust plague, and a BADLANDS-style manhunt for a killer.
Shot almost entirely during the "magic hour" before sundown, with natural light, the arresting images just keep coming: Manz's wise-eyed gaze, a train passing over a lacework bridge, the frosty fields of the prairie, the pearly sweat of the harvesters, a crystal glass at the bottom of a river. Inspired by Vermeer (and reminiscent of Wyeth and Hopper), cinematographer Nestor Almendros cleaned up the cinematography awards at both Cannes and the Oscars, with late-inning relief from Haskell Wexler when Almendros was called to shoot a Truffaut movie.
Legendary auteur/dreamer Malick’s second film (after 1973’s BADLANDS), before a twenty-year break, won him the Best Director prize at Cannes and his first New York Film Critics Circle award.
Directed by Terrence Malick
Starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz
Cinematography by Néstor Almendros
Music by Ennio Morricone
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Theater 59E59: A Eulogy for Roman (Written and performed by Brendan George ) NYC, August 2023
A Eulogy for Roman
Produced by:Through The Tollbooth Co.
Written and performed by Brendan George
Conceived and directed by Peter Charney
Meet Milo, a nervous young man who shares the stage with an urn. But things aren’t as dark as they seem.
Milo is trying to give a eulogy for his friend Roman, but the ceremony proves unexpectedly difficult, and attendees are voluntarily enlisted to help him complete the memorial. Together, they celebrate life, confront death, and make a promise of their own.
After a sold-out run in last year's East to Edinburgh festival and a critically-acclaimed world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, A Eulogy for Roman returns to New York City for its Off Broadway debut.
"Brendan George is earnest and endearing"
"The bravest thing about A EULOGY FOR ROMAN is its embrace of kindness, resilience and community." – The New York Times
Film: THE PLOT AGAINST HARRY (U.S., 1969 Directed by Michael Roemer)
THE PLOT AGAINST HARRY
U.S., 1969
Directed by Michael Roemer
Starring Martin Priest, Ben Lang, Maxine Woods
Approx. 81 min. New 35mm print/New 4K restoration.
Deadpan, small-time Kosher Nostra member and ex-con Harry Plotnick (Martin Priest) is just released from prison and trying to regain his lost turf in a neighborhood turned topsy-turvy. After a chance reunion with his ex-wife and grown children, Harry is suddenly immersed in middle-class normality and goes meshugga when he gets into the catering biz with his ex-brother-in-law (Ben Lang). What follows is a world of call girls, bar mitzvahs, lingerie fashion shows, Cuban-Chinese mobsters, subway parties, Mafia barbecues, dog training classes, Congressional hearings, and hotel pajama parties. Shelved by writer/director Roemer in 1969 following a laugh-less preview, THE PLOT AGAINST HARRY emerged two decades later when he overheard a technician performing a video transfer of the film laughing hysterically. On a whim, Roemer made two 35mm prints and sent them to the New York and Toronto Film Festivals (it was a hit with audiences), before releasing theatrically to great acclaim in early 1990 as a bona fide comedy classic.
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Theater: EDDIE IZZARD PERFORMS DICKENS' GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Theater: The Immortal Jellyfish Girl at 59E59
Monday, January 16, 2023
Theater: King Gilgamesh & the Man of the Wild, (UTR) Under The Radar Festival 2023 Public Theater
King Gilgamesh & the Man of the Wild is a one-act theater-music production featuring Ahmed Moneka and Jesse LaVercombe alongside acclaimed Arabic-maqam / jazz band, Moneka Arabic Jazz. A present-day story of friendship interweaves with the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, along the way tracing Ahmed's real life journey from an actor-refugee in a new country to an acclaimed musician at the top of his game. Featuring themes of art, ambition, sex, fatherhood, mortality and identity, this two-man epic spans centuries, cultures and continents, illuminating the mysteries of love, death and friendship in a moving, funny, tragic and ultimately celebratory performance.
TRIA Theatre is a collective committed to making risk-taking and cross-cultural performance works. We believe in the fusion of music, theater and conversations across national, racial and religious differences. Moneka Arabic Jazz is an acclaimed Toronto-based world-music ensemble that includes members from across the globe.
Created and written by Seth Bockley, Jesse LaVercombe and Ahmed Moneka
Cast: Ahmed Moneka and Jesse LaVercombe
Director: Seth Bockley
Music created and performed by Moneka Arabic Jazz (Waleed Abdulhamid, Jessica Deutsch, Demetrios Petsalakis, Max Senitt, Selcuk Suna)
Theater: HOLES IN THE SHAPE OF MY FATHER, (UTR) Under The Radar Festival 2023 Public Theater
Written and Performed by Savon Bartley
Developed in part with the #BARS Workshop at The Public Theater
What spirals when an absent father reaches out to his son over Instagram with no apologies, no remorse, and 20 years’ worth of unanswered questions? Savon Bartley unravels the nuances of boys who grew up without a father. Told by the son of a mother who tried, HOLES IN THE SHAPE OF MY FATHER is the myth and miracle of boys becoming men.
Theater: THREE LITTLE GIRLS DOWN A WELL, (UTR) Under The Radar Festival 2023 Public Theater
Created by Justin Elizabeth Sayre
A brand-new play by playwright and performer Justin Elizabeth Sayre, THREE LITTLE GIRLS DOWN A WELL is a doom comedy for children. Libby ran out of her ninth birthday party with two of her best friends, Marigold and Joanne. They all fell down a well. Now a year later, they've all survived, but will they ever be saved, or must they continue a life underground? A comedy about death, grace, towering doom, and the will to go on. As the world premiere, THREE LITTLE GIRLS DOWN A WELL is a comedy for our time.
https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2223/utr-2023/jes-dtwg/
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
Film: RRR
"A short while later, both Bheem and Raju encounter each other; unaware of their opposing identities and intentions, they unite to save a boy from a train wreck, sparking a friendship between the two. Over time, the two grow close to each other..."
Theater: The New Group, Fall 2022, "Evanston Salt Costs Climbing"
https://thenewgroup.org/production/evanston-salt-costs-climbing/
Winters keep getting worse in Evanston, IL where salt truck drivers Peter and Basil battle the ice and snow and pass the time with jokes and stories. But what’s with this creeping sense of dread? Is it because their boss Maiworm has noble visions of new green technology that would make their jobs obsolete? Or is there a more terrifying warning calling out from under these roads? At least they have each other, right?
Pulitzer Prize finalist Will Arbery confronts humanity’s darkest fears with humor, warmth, and the fortitude of municipal public servants in this play about climate and change.
Directed by Danya Taymor (Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery, “Daddy” with The New Group), Evanston Salt Costs Climbing features Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Ruined, Marys Seacole), Jeb Kreager (HBO’s Mare of Easttown, Heroes of the Fourth Turning), Ken Leung (HBO’s Industry, Lost) and Rachel Sachnoff (Evanston Salt Costs Climbing at White Heron Theatre).
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/16/theater/evanston-salt-costs-climbing-review.html
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Film: Illustrious Corpses (1976) Director Francesco Rosi
Original title: Cadaveri eccellenti
Director: Francesco Rosi
Starring: Lino Ventura as Inspector Amerigo Rogas
Film: Army of Shadows (1969) Director Jean-Pierre Melville
Philippe (Lino Ventura), aided by Resistance compatriots including maitresse of disguise Mathilde (Simone Signoret), goes underground in the face of the German Occupation – but the price of heroism can be truly horrific.
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/483-army-of-shadows-out-of-the-shadows
Saturday, March 12, 2022
Film: Red Lion
Red Lion
Japan, 1969
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto
Starring Toshirō Mifune, Shima Iwashita
35mm print courtesy Japan Foundation. Approx. 115 min.
1868. Stuttering former “village idiot” Mifune returns to his hometown resplendent in a borrowed officer’s red lion headdress, to announce their liberation by advancing anti-shogunate imperialist forces — but there’s a sting in the tale as slapstick farce turns to something far more serious…
Film: A Tale of Love and Desire - Une histoire d'amour et de désir
Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2022
A Tale of Love and Desire - Une histoire d'amour et de désir
Dir. Leyla Bouzid
Two students from very different backgrounds, both enrolled at the Sorbonne, find themselves passionately attracted to each other in Tunisian-born writer-director Leyla Bouzid’s sophomore feature. Ahmed (Sami Outalbali) is a shy, socially conservative Arab of Algerian background, born and raised in Paris; Farah (Zbeida Belhajamor) is an outgoing, sexually confident young Tunisian immigrant. They meet on the way to the same bookstore to purchase ancient, sexually charged Arabic poetry, and their mutual study of these texts helps kindle a spark between the two that causes Ahmed to increasingly question his values. Bouzid’s sensual and sensitive drama is a cross-sectional portrait of the diverse varieties of Arab diaspora life unfolding in the heart of a very contemporary Paris. A Distrib Films US release