Remembering Rudi
July’s onset has us excited about a special event taking place in the City of Lights in a week. A new documentary “La Passion Noureev,” directed by Fabrice Herrault, will have its premiere in Paris. The venue is the Cinéma le Balzac on the Champs-Élysées. Herrault clarifies, via email, that “La Passion Noureev” is not ...
Jonathan Lynn rules comedy
“Laughter is the sound of recognition,” says the author of the book Comedy Rules, Jonathan Lynn. The veteran filmmaker, novelist, screenwriter, and director co-wrote, along with Sir Antony Jay, Yes, Prime Minister, the former hit BBC television series now restaged as theater at the Geffen Playhouse. “When people recognize the truth of something they have ...
Herb Alpert, Los Angeles bus driver, puts on the Ritz 1
Choreography by Tabitha and Napoleon … with a nod to Irving Berlin (1929), Fred Astaire (1946) Like this? Read more: Herb & Lani at Vibrato A royal Hollywood evening with Fred Astaire, John Travolta Paula Abdul, Choreographer’s Carnival honoree
“Un Flic,” c’est fantastique
Jun
25
2013
A cool flick … concerns un flic. Alain Delon plays a French cop (“un flic”) who spends his days and nights chasing criminals, but doesn’t see the crook right under his nose. Simon (Richard Crenna) a smooth nightclub owner, works with a small crew to execute daring heists with big payoffs, while the la belle ...
Fred & Cyd march on tippy toe in “The Band Wagon”
In this publicity still for “The Band Wagon” (MGM, 1953), Cyd Charisse marches on gorgeous gams while her partner Fred Astaire embodies a human exclamation point. In the movie, Cyd dons a different frock. Costumes were by Mary Ann Nyberg, who has a wonderful film-costume portfolio. Nyberg ran into problems dressing Judy Garland in “A ...
Koehler on Cinema: “Between Us”
As Roman Polanski’s decidedly awkward “Carnage,” his 2011 adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage” reminded, faithfully transferring plays to the screen more often than not fails. Dan Mirvish’s “Between Us,” his not-so-obeisant screen version of Joe Hortua’s play (commissioned but never produced by Costa Mesa-based South Coast Repertory), also deals with two married couples ...
Junkyard objects, beautified by Clare Graham, at J.F. Chen
Jun
24
2013
An exceptional installation now on display in the generous exhibition space of J.F. Chen, the influential furniture-as-art dealer located on Highland Avenue. Veteran Los Angeles artist Clare Graham, who shrink-wraps plush teddy bears then bundles them into towering totems, and whose fetishistic snap-top sculptures assume the aspect of medieval armor, is featured in the show. ...
Awakened by the blast of two mighty big bands 1
Jun
24
2013
There’s a resurgence of big-band jazz and that’s a good thing. We enjoyed two recent forays into the reemergence of this distinctly American art form. On Saturday June 1, Grammy-nominated Kim Richmond Concert Jazz Orchestra blasted the rafters off Upstairs at Vitello’s, the chic second-floor jazz outlet in Studio City. The occasion was the celebration ...
How a genius choreographs: Jack Cole’s “Beale Street Blues” 2
In this 30-second snippet from the men’s dance in “Beale Street Blues,” one of Jack Cole’s three great dance numbers from THE I DON’T CARE GIRL (Fox, 1953), the work of a brilliant dance maker is on display. It’s a game of craps gone wrong. It gets played out on a platform, ostensibly (my reading) ...
Koehler on Cinema: Kubrick’s Last Movie
“Stanley Kubrick,” LACMA’s enormous exhibition devoted to the influential filmmaker, which closes June 30 for its only American stop, is essential viewing. The reasons why go beyond the show’s palpably physical survey of the life and work of one of the most important directors since World War II. It provides the viewer with an entirely ...