The Art Of Cannes

“The opening ceremonies of the Cannes International Film Festival are, have been and will always remain the most lavishly meaningless event in the world of cinema, compared with which the Oscars resemble a seminar in German philosophy. This is not necessarily a put-down…”

Is Billy Elliott The Best British Musical Ever?

Plenty of musicals being made from films these days. The new Billy Elliott is the best of them, writes Charles Spencer. “This is not a time to beat about the bush. Billy Elliot strikes me as the greatest British musical I have ever seen, and I have not forgotten Lionel Bart’s Oliver! or Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. There is a rawness, a warm humour and a sheer humanity here that is worlds removed from the soulless slickness of most musicals.”

Yikes – Brits Everywhere!

Three American clasics on Broadway have been directed by Brits. “The continuing tragedy of American theater is that it doesn’t have confidence in its own culture. It doesn’t reveal security in its own glorious past. If it did, there would be no need to ask British directors to stage American classics. There would be no need for Anglophilia. Now, on the one hand, I don’t believe in cultural borders. Theater is an international art form, and artistic exchanges can revitalize both cultures. On the other hand, I strongly believe that American artists should not be treated as also-rans because the British are cravenly thought of as somehow “better.”

Creatives Leaving America?

Is America’s “creative class” fleeing the US for other countries? Richard Florida tried to make the case: “It may be too soon to anoint Tallinn, Estonia – or Dublin, Ireland, or Sydney, Australia – the world’s new creative capital, as opposed to many thriving US cities. Still, by Florida’s reckoning, America’s magnetism for creative workers has weakened as the drawing power of other nations has become supercharged – owing to regulatory policies, quality of life, tolerance, and a range of other issues.”

Ready. Aim. Art!

How should a museum mark the occasion when it’s about to shut its doors for renovation? The Art Gallery of Ontario thinks it knows: “Leading with an elite squad of eight paintball marks-people, the Argentinean-born artist [Fabian Marcaccio] is coating part of the east and west walls of the AGO’s George Weston Hall tonight for 30 minutes starting at 9:15 p.m. with an impressionistic palette of blues, whites and magentas. The instant painting ends at 9:45 p.m. But it will still be drying and fading when the space closes permanently to make way for architect Frank Gehry’s massive reconstruction of the entire gallery.” The public is invited, and the whole gooey spectacle will be accompanied by an original score for trumpets and percussion.

Cleveland Museum To Make The City Its Gallery

The Cleveland Museum of Art’s decision to close many of its galleries over the next three years as it readies for a major expansion is a risky one, but the museum is hoping to stay visible in the city through a program of neighborhood events. “While the museum plans to hold off-site programs, concerts and performances through the fall and winter, it has no specific information yet on where those events will take place.” The $258 million expansion will require the entire museum to be closed for almost two years.

Cannes Off To A Strange Start

The traditional opening press conference at the Cannes Film Festival was not the usual affair this year. The jury president’s English was sketchy enough to leave everyone wondering what he was talking about, and author Toni Morrison responded to questions about what she was doing on a film jury by declaring her judgment “infallible.” All in all, no one seemed quite sure what was going on, but there did seem to be a general agreement that “democracy is very different from film.” Whatever that means.