The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is hardly what one would call a collection of great film reviewers. In fact, “the association has repeatedly rejected applications from prominent foreign publications while accepting freelancers for small publications in Bangladesh and South Korea. Members need write only four articles a year to maintain active membership.” Nonetheless, HFPA members are lavished with attention and gifts by the Hollywood elite throughout the year, and are treated as if they were movie stars themselves, despite repeated reports of boorish and bizarre behavior. And all this because the Golden Globes, presented by the HFPA, get good television ratings.
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Redgrave’s Other Career
When most actors begin to talk about politics, most people roll their eyes. But Vanessa Redgrave is a different matter entirely: “On stage and on screen, she has worked on the edge, never shying away from a tough or controversial role… Through the years, her often-groundbreaking performances in Shakespeare, Chekhov, Noel Coward and Tennessee Williams have left an indelible mark on theatre history… She has always been a passionate, tireless activist who has never spared herself to advance causes such as the Palestinians, the people of Kosovo, the atrocities in Chechnya and threats to democracy at home and abroad. One of her current preoccupations is the situation at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where the Americans are holding more than 600 ‘enemy combatants’ without charge or trial.”
Cities And The Not-So-Public Interest
The controversy surrounding the WTC memorial in New York is indicative of a larger disconnect, writes Edward Rothstein. There was a time when American cities were viewed as great models of social engineering, vast islands of humanity where hard work and a general devotion to the public interest could overcome all sorts of human failings. No more: “The [modern] city’s greatest achievement, it often seems, is the protection of the private realm and competing private interests; about the public realm there is no clear understanding… New forms of urban life have to develop. But in the meantime, the public seems to exist only in the midst of cataclysm.”
Boston’s Controversial Arts Commissioner Quits
“Boston cultural affairs commissioner Esther Kaplan has abruptly resigned after five years as Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s liaison to the city’s arts and cultural community. Neither Kaplan nor Menino would discuss what led to the resignation… News of Kaplan’s departure surprised many in Boston’s tight-knit cultural community, but only a handful expressed disappointment… Over the years, the heads of midsize and large arts groups privately complained that Kaplan functioned more as an advocate than a leader, focusing her energy on grass-roots and neighborhood efforts, sometimes at the expense of those with far bigger audiences.”
Defining El Greco
“In 16th-century Italy, art was an instrument of faith and Michelangelo its divine master, unassailable until El Greco appeared on the scene. But was he a puritan on a mission to clean up wicked Rome, or simply an arrogant young artist?” Where Michelangelo had begun to stray into vaguely secular realms, (exemplified by his masterpiece, The Last Judgment, based on the themes of Dante,) El Greco represented a calculated and forceful return to faith-based art which strove to keep the public servile to its Christian masters, rather than to encourage independent thought on Christian themes. Today, few would doubt that “El Greco is a great artist – but what kind of a great artist?”
Sci-Fi, Rock ‘n Roll, and Big Macs Rule the Sundance Roost
Primer, a decidedly low-budget sci-fi thriller, has won the top dramatic prize at the Sundance Festival. The film, directed by Shane Carruth with a miniscule budget of $7000, is about two men who invent a time machine. The award for best documentary went to Dig!, which follows the frontmen of two cult bands embroiled in a bitter rivalry. “Morgan Spurlock, who spent 30 days eating only food from McDonald’s and then chronicled its impact on his body in Super Size Me, earned the directing award for his efforts.”
The Semantics of Indie Film
In the last fifteen years, independent film has become big business, thanks in large part to Robert Redford’s Sundance Festival, and to Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax Studios. Still, current conventional wisdom holds that, far from elevating indie film to new heights, Sundance and Miramax have in fact dragged much of the indie scene down to Hollywood’s shallow level. But has “independent film” really changed as a genre, or is it merely that we have broadened our definition of the term to such an absurd degree as to encompass directors and films which are in no way independent of Hollywood’s movie machine?
Growing Your Own
America’s ballet scene has never exactly been bursting at the seams with homegrown talent. Indeed, compared with European countries, as well as with the former Soviet Union, the U.S. simply has no serious tradition of intensive dance training for talented young students. Ballet schools abound in the U.S. but few approach the level of the state-sponsored academies overseas. Now, the American Ballet Theater, which has traditionally filled its company with the best talent it can poach from other countries, is starting what it hopes will become America’s definitive school of classical dance.
How To Run A Dance Company
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is a decided anomaly in an age when dance companies nationwide are struggling for survival. Financially secure, well-managed, and respected worldwide, Ailey is preparing to move into a new, 77,000-square-foot home in midtown Manhattan, a testament to the company’s ability to succeed in the hyper-competitive world of New York culture. No one element is responsible for the Ailey’s phenomenal success, but a combination of sound management ideas, diverse artistic goals, and a constant and unwavering eye on the newest trends of the dance world has made the company a dominant force in the industry.
Picking The Carcass Clean
It didn’t take long for the vultures to descend in South Florida, where the now-defunct Florida Philharmonic auctioned off its salable assets yesterday, with many items going for far less than their actual value. When the final gavel banged, the Phil had raised only $170,000 from the sale of instruments, music stands, and other musical detritus.