MeyerBros

I ran into this* today, while checking out feminist reviews of various movies. Then I started watching Match Point because Blockbuster had it and I thought it might be interesting. It wasn’t. It broke the third rule. I didn’t even make it a half hour in.

update: I fixed this link.

2 out of 5 stars
someone airbrushed my fugard

I have to admit - I saw it coming when I saw the airbrushed cover art. And I was right. Within the first five minutes this movie had deviated so far from the book (and the book’s intention) that there was no way back. The complexity of Athol Fugard’s characters is reduced to simplistic stereotyping and meaningless redemption. Fugard’s story is gritty and complex, where this movie has an air-brushed and pristine gilding with nothing underneath. The movie changes everything from Tsotsi’s past (where the political context of apartheid is removed and replaced by a drunk father), to the present story (where a complex story of personal growth is replaced by a crime thriller), and even his implied future (where an honest story of redemption is replaced by, well, fluff). There is no way to call this the same story. Please read the book (and the rest of Athol Fugard’s work) before you watch this movie.

oooo… I was with you right until that last bit.

(Sidenote: I was going to post this as a comment on Eric’s post, but then it got long and I decided to make it my own post. A review of his post, if you will.)

Some great questions, points, musings… But the “edification of the artists involved” part I question. At the New York Times, there is an ombudsman (yes, he’s a man), and he is the person who speaks for the readers (ie, the audience) - not for the paper. Speaking for the paper (ie, the artists) would be the editors in their editorials (like the Artistic Directors in our letters and director’s notes to audience). So the way I understand it, an ombuds for a theatre would be someone on staff who would express views of the audience (”the people”), not views of the artists.
(more…)

my reviews of “snakes on a plane”, “a man without a country” by kurt vonnegut jr., and a South Bend Tribune review of “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea” as performed at New World Arts.
(more…)

• South Bend Tribune: ‘Danny and the Deep Blue Sea’ Preview
• various Mac app suggestions
• Quicksilver: the app i’ve fallen in love with from those suggestions

soon i’ll have a review of ‘Danny’ to post…