Sacha Baron Cohen’s runaway hit mockumentary, Borat, is being seen by most observers as a scathing indictment of American ignorance. But is it America that is cartoonish, or just the infuriatingly limited European view of America? Chris Jones says that Borat “functions very nicely as a smug celluloid confirmation of the cheap and ignorant Western European view of a homogenously ugly America.”
Tag: 12.03.06
How To Fix A Crippled Art Fair
“Chicago-based Merchandise Mart Properties Inc… last year bought Art Chicago, the longest-running and once-leading contemporary art fair in the country, from its longtime producer. Its team will be at Art Basel Miami Beach — as it has been at other such fairs around the world — to try to make the contacts and find the elements that could return Art Chicago to international prominence… Part of the Mart’s plan is to host five concurrent commercial shows, of varying size and focus, in its complex along the Chicago River.”
German Drama Takes Top Prize Among Euro Films
“A film about a secret policeman in the former East Germany has taken top prize at the European Film Awards in Warsaw. The Lives of Others – or Das Leben Der Anderen – beat Spanish production Volver by Pedro Almodovar, although this still came top in five categories. These included best director for Almodovar, top actress for Penelope Cruz plus the people’s choice award.”
LA’s Noir Vision, An Export To The World
“Noir is the indigenous Los Angeles form: It was created here, it grew up here and from here it spread, not only as a genre but as a way of looking at life, character and fate. As a framing lens, it’s now so powerful that it seems not only to be a strategy for telling a story but a way to understand — automatically, unconsciously — how a story works. … Raymond Chandler’s narrow mean streets now encompass Tokyo, Berlin, São Paulo, London — any city that has crime or deceit or cracks in the facade or some event in which fate’s jaws snap shut with cruel or ironic finality.”
Sinking, Swimming Or Soaring At City Ballet
Only a handful of dancers are made City Ballet apprentices each year, but for them it is an almost certain prelude to becoming part of the company. “City Ballet does not hold auditions; other than a few dancers like Nikolaj Hübbe, who joined as a principal after attaining that rank at the Royal Danish Ballet, company members enter through the school, which was created to cultivate dancers of the quality George Balanchine needed.”
TV For The Whole Family, Sans Saccharine
“The debate over what should be considered ‘family TV’ is never-ending. We talk ourselves into spirals of contradiction, illogic, and subjectivity when we make big pronouncements about how to control a child’s imagination. Oddly, if you ask the Parents Television Council what kids ought to watch, the answer is reality TV.” Recoiling from that suggestion, Matthew Gilbert says the situation is not so dire. He points to “a number of recent prime time shows that have found a way to appeal to teens and their parents simultaneously, without insulting either group with sap or stupidity.”
Tan Dun On The Busking Life
Composer Tan Dun chats about his life, including his student years, when he played the violin on a Greenwich Village street corner to make money: “It was West Fourth Street. That time it was very good. In an hour I can make maybe $30. Amazing. I still see those people who used to share the spot with me. ‘Hey, Tan, where are you playing?’ I say, ‘I play at Lincoln Center, but inside.’ “
In The New South Africa, Black Novelists Emerge — Slowly
“Twelve years after the end of apartheid, the South African literary scene remains as fragmented as ever, with writers exploring their own ethnic experiences. Although more books are published than ever before, few create a national conversation…. Since the end of apartheid, the national and international spotlight has been shifting to black writers, driven by an expectation that this is their moment to write the next chapter of South African history: the political, social and economic coming-of-age of the 80 percent of the population that was formerly disenfranchised.”
Audio Books, Savior Of The Lowly Cassette
“Variety recently published an obituary for the VHS format: ‘VHS, 30, dies of loneliness.’ If there’s a format heaven, you’d expect VHS to be joining audiocassettes there. At age 42, cassettes predate VHS and have been pummeled by CDs and digital downloads. But the cassette just won’t seem to die.” What’s keeping it alive? Audio books.