Into the woods, with French movie-thriller ‘Misericordia’
It’s no news to anyone — we’ve known it since “Hansel & Gretel.” Bad things happen in the woods. To prove that that essential truth has gone unchanged since the days of Grimm’s fairy-tales, the woods are the chosen terrain in which auteur Alain Guiraudie stages the central plot turn of his latest movie, Misericordia ...
Death of a dancer: the great Christian Holder (1949-2025)
Mar
16
2025
ed. note: With permission of the author, artsmeme is very proud to republish William Whitener‘s marvelous obituary of a F.O.A.M. (Friend of Arts Meme), Christian Holder, who passed away, too soon! too soon!, at his home in London recently. How we loved this Renaissance man of the dance. Whitener’s homage, which Dance Magazine originally published ...
Road trip with Neil Young, April 17, via new doc ‘Coastal’
February 9, 2025: Neil Young performs for victims of Altadena fire at Pasadena Red Cross shelter He’s so interesting — and so worth it. He’s truly an artist of our collective lifetime. I saw him in concert in the summer of 2023 at the Greek Theatre. His show was a fascinating melange of devoted musicianship ...
In month of March, ‘A Week of French Language Cinema’!
Mar
11
2025
We all have to find our bliss anymore, don’t we. For me, it’s watching motion pictures to the sound of “la belle langue.” It’s the dulcet tone of francais in your ears — if only for a few hours. A Week of French Language Cinema, an annual West Los Angeles event of francophonia + cinemaphilia, ...
An aural ‘fountain of tears’: ‘Ainadamar,’ soon at L.A. Opera
Ainadamar, in Metropolitan Opera production, year, photo: It’s special if only because it will be conducted by Lina González-Granados, who will lead the LA Opera Orchestra premiere of the Grammy Award-winning opera Ainadamar by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. The opera, dating from 2003, traces the life and work of poet-playwright Federico García Lorca (a trouser role by mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack), ...
ABT Studio Company will ‘love you two times’ in Pepperdine showcase
Mar
7
2025
[marvelous studio footage set to The Doors, click above] ABT Studio Company, the junior company of American Ballet Theatre, is comprised of future stars of the ballet world ages 17 through 21. They hail from all over the world. Nearly 80 percent of current dancers in American Ballet Theatre are alumni of ABT Studio Company, ...
DANCE REVIEW: Twyla Tharp talks
Feb
26
2025
Dance critics like to use the word “language” in describing the identifiable steps, movement chains, and tonality associated with choreographers of stature. At sight, you know it is Balanchine, Taylor, or Cunningham. You know it’s Fosse or Cole. But that metaphor does not often move to the next level, viz., whether (or not) in drawing ...
Film review: THE SUBSTANCE, a triumph of the insubstantial
Ed note: This review, written in August 2024, is belatedly published, thus the wishful reference to a woman president in its last paragraph. The director is French, which I found surprising. And she cannot be called young. That was my second shock, for, in watching her movie, THE SUBSTANCE, I would have sworn it was ...
BEST IN SHOW: A tour of Oscar-nominated international movies of 2024
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here Each year it’s the best of world cinema, delivered to your doorstep. The competition for Best International Feature Film is my personal favorite part of awards season, and the crop of films released in 2024 did not disappoint. Depending on your tastes and preferences, any of the five movies up ...
Out of the blue, an accident: Margot Rose’s ‘Unconditional’ at Skylight Theatre
Melina Young, Margot Rose – photo: Sherry Ryan Barnett for SPLASH Some people transmit their profound life experiences in autobiographies. Others, in memoirs. Playwright/performer Margot Rose has fashioned a proprietary genre, a “musical memoir,” as a live-theater experience. The one-act show’s title, “Unconditional,” ostensibly refers to the quality of unbound love that she tapped, in ...