Surviving maulings and marriages: Mabel Stark, tiger trainer
Mar
3
2018
Looking forward to a screening of Mabel, Mabel Tiger Trainer written, produced and directed by Leslie Zemeckis, whom we last met in connection to her prior film Behind the Burley Q. “Mabel” is receiving a special screening in Los Angeles in connection with International Women’s Day, March 8. That is truly well timed, particularly in ...
Creative women SoKo & Loie Fuller align in new film ‘La Danseuse’
We are looking forward to meeting SoKo, the French singer/songwriter/video artist, in her film performance playing modern-dance pioneer Loie Fuller, in La Danseuse (The Dancer). The movie opens tomorrow, Friday, at Laemmle Theatres. Fuller (1862 – 1928), the great modern-dance pioneer, is now considered, in retrospect, to have been a prescient multi-media artist for her ...
‘Rebels on Pointe,’ a film about the pursuit of human happiness
“I can be myself. I can wear tutus. Why not?” asks the Cuban-born ballet dancer. Carlos Hopuy, in a matter-of-fact tone. He adds, “Those little things change the world.” Hopuy voices these comments with the candor of a liberated person — he’s one of the members of the male-travestie troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte ...
‘Delicate and sensitive’ film, ‘The Whales of August,’ in 30th anniversary screening
Film producer and marketing executive Mike Kaplan is a friend of arts·meme. This super nice guy is the leading collector of a massive trove of superlative movie musical posters; more to the point, Kaplan’s collection zeroes in on the art of dance as captured in artful movie posters. We like that. Kaplan published a companion ...
REVIEW: ‘Bobbi Jene,’ life-and-love in contemporary-dance lane
Bobbi Jene Smith, Or Schraiber in “Bobbi Jene” Tropes and customs of the world of contemporary dance are on view in the new dance-documentary, Bobbi Jene, soon to open in Los Angeles. Rarefied and bizarre rituals, notably a naked dancer, that would be the titular Bobbi Jene, masturbating against a sandbag before a roomful of ...
Anniversary Classics: From ‘Cape Fear’ to ‘Sudden Fear’
Aug
19
2017
From the people who just brought you ‘Cape Fear,’ a doubling down on the same theme: a 65th anniversary screening of ‘Sudden Fear.’ Those would be the folks at Anniversary Classics (produced and hosted by film critic Stephen Farber for Laemmle Theatres). This screening will prove that anything Donald Trump or Kim Un Jong can ...
Tough guys have centenaries. Robert Mitchum feted on his 100th
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series, curated and hosted by film critic Stephen Farber, celebrate the centennial of Hollywood icon Robert Mitchum (b. August 6, 1917) with two of his best roles. Out of the Past (1947, 70th anniversary) and Cape Fear (1962, 55th anniversary). The double bill is playing at Laemmle Theatres in ...
Summer fun: ‘Il Boom’ lost De Sica comedy comes to town
Jul
5
2017
IL BOOM is a rare and undervalued example of director Vittorio De Sica’s long and fruitful collaboration with screenwriter Cesare Zavattini — a canon that includes other landmark neo-realist films Shoeshine, Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D. IL BOOM is considered a minor masterpiece of the commedia all’italiana, a mordant form of film comedy that arose ...
Honoring Curtis Hanson: actress Kim Basinger @ ‘Confidential’ screening
May
3
2017
In a tribute to Oscar-winning writer-director Curtis Hanson, who sadly passed away in September 2016, lovely actress Kim Basinger will appear in person for a 20th anniversary screening of the film noir masterpiece, L.A. Confidential (1997) hosted by Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series. Basinger’s luminous, Oscar-winning performance as a hooker with a heart, ...
Docu-worthy: Yvonne Rainer in ‘Feelings Are Facts’
Oh jeez, in our nightmarish ‘new normal,’ an American existence in which mediocrity — so painful in a society in which political freedom enables the pursuit of excellence — rises to unimaginable levels; in which lies and blather pollute our air; in which values that can only be called contemptible predominate, into this setting enter ...