IMAGE: ‘MODERN LIFE OF THE SOUL’/COURTESY:BIPOLART
BIPOLAR ‘FACELIFT’ – A GROUP SHOW – CURATED BY ERIC LAINE
OPENS TO-NITE – FRI FEB 22, 2008 – 7-10 PM
the show runs: FEBRUARY 22 – MARCH 17, 2008
CAPLA KESTING FINE ART – 121 ROEBLING ST – CORNER NORTH 5TH – BROOKLYN
ARTISTS FEATURED ARE: MELANIE BONAJO, CLARE CHURCHOUSE, DAVID HENRY BROWN Jr., MARC GRUBSTEIN, KINGA KIELCZYNSKA, STEFFI LINDNER, MAROK, MOSCO, AUTUMN ROONEY, KRISTEN SCHIELE, ANIA SIWANOWICZ, MATTHEW STEINBERG & CARLOS VALENCIA.
BIPOLART IS AN INDEPENDENT “CURATORIAL OUTPOST” – LAUNCHED IN 2007 – BY ERIC LAINE – WITH THE GOAL OF “EXHIBITING DIVERSE WORK SIDE BY SIDE” – SO THAT THE RESULTANT “DIALECTICAL TENSION FROM SUCH A CURATORIAL PROCESS” leads to a ‘Bipol.art’ DISCOURSE. (!)
here’s a good example: the plant world visions of MODERN LIFE OF THE SOUL – which appears to be KINGA KIELCZYNSKA & MELANIE BONAJO vs. the hard edged urbanism of MATTHEW STEINBERG.
MODERN LIFE OF SOUL, ‘Who wants to buy the Earth’, PHOTO/COURTESY: bipolart
MODERN LIFE OF SOUL, ‘after-the-aferlife’, PHOTO/COURTESY:bipolart
MODERN LIFE OF SOUL, ‘vision-quest’, PHOTO/COURTESY: bipolart
MODERN LIFE OF SOUL,’vision-quest II’, PHOTO/COURTESY: bipolart
MATTHEW STEINBERG, ‘La Guardia’, 10 x 10 ins., acrylic & photo transfer on canvas, PHOTO/COURTESY: bipolart
MATTHEW STEINBERG, ‘Blue Triptych’, 16 x 20 ins., acrylic & spray paint on canvas, PHOTO/COURTESY: bipolart
(you might recall MATTHEW STEINBERG from the photo –
‘WATCH OUT !! – 2 new local talents coming up’ – posted in the ERIK PARKER post – just below.)
check out: Bipol.art
CAPLA KESTING FINE ART
~BIPOLART ‘FACELIFT’/opens to-nite |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 22nd, 2008, 4:37pm
artwork by MATTHEW FEYLD/COURTESY: CINDERS GALLERY
‘WHERE IS IT SLOWLY GOING’ – OPENS TO-NITE: FRI FEB 22, 2008 7-10PM
featuring artwork by:
JO DERY, MATTHEW FEYLD, DAVID HERMAN DUNE & JULIEN LANGENDORFF
FEBRUARY 22 – MARCH 23, 2008
CINDERS – 103 HAVEMEYER ST. – WILLIAMSBURG – BROOKLYN – NY
HOURS: WED-FRI 2-8PM / SAT+SUN 12-7PM
MATTHEW FEYLD HAILS FROM SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA.
JULIEN LANGENDORFF LIVES & WORKS IN PARIS, FRANCE – in this show – he collaborates with artist & musician, DAVID HERMAN DUNE, who also hails from FRANCE.
JO DERY lives & works in PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, US of A. She will be presenting a “brand new animation with her unique paper cut style inside a sculpture” and several new embroideries and silkscreen prints.
JO DERY also has an underground following as a musician – she is the singer in the band: TEENAGE WAISTBAND – out of PROVIDENCE, RI.
artwork by JULIEN LANGENDORFF & DAVID HERMAN DUNE/COURTESY: CINDERS GALLERY
artwork by JO DERY/COURTESY: CINDERS GALLERY
JO DERY, MATTHEW FEYLD, & JULIEN LANGENDORFF/DAVID HERMAN DUNE artwork/COURTESY: CINDERS GALLERY
CINDERS
P.S. – if the name JO DERY sounds familiar to you – her work was highlighted recently, in the ‘SECRETS OF THE WOONASQUATUCKET RIVER’ screenprint show at the AD HOC GALLERY in BROOKLYN – in the: 2007-11-21 Art Lovers Photo Report.
see: 2007-11-12
one of the JO DERY screenprints we featured:
JO DERY, screenprint, in the survey show ‘SECRETS OF THE WOONASQUATUCKET RIVER’, AD HOC ART, opening NOV 16, 2007
note: this screenprint, of a cricket – edition of 5 – is now available at CINDERS ($30) !!
JO DERY, ‘FOX’, screenprint, edition of 5, ($30), printed on vellum, also available at CINDERS.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
CINDERS
~JO DERY, MATTHEW FEYLD, JULIEN LANGENDORFF & DAVID HERMAN DUNE/CINDERS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 22nd, 2008, 11:15am
this brings to mind a nifty, unexpectedly resonant little show that was recently up at MAX PROTECH:
(‘little’ . . as in quietly presented – !!)
MARJETICA POTRC – ‘FUTURE TALK NOW: THE GREAT REPUBLIC OF NEW ORLEANS’
JANUARY 12 – FEBRUARY 9, 2008
MAX PROTETCH – 511 WEST 22ND ST. – CHELSEA – NYC
“Selected as a fellow at the VERA LIST CENTER for ART and POLITICS in NEW YORK, POTRC has been conducting research in New Orleans over the past year. She has focused on issues of sustainability, water, and the emergence of new geographic and political territoires based on changing ecology, working to create artworks that address those issues in a larger global context . . .
Operating at the interface of architecture, art and social science, POTRC has conducted research along these lines all over the world . . .
In 2000 she received the HUGO BOSS PRIZE.
‘FUTURE TALK NOW: THE GREAT REPUBLIC OF NEW ORLEANS’ highlights the role of small-scale initiatives as basic building blocks of urban architecture.
The ‘SHOTGUN HOUSE’, the large-scale sculpture in the exhibition, is based on a form typical to New Orleans architecture. Lately this local style has begun to undergo modifications as inhabitants have outfitted their homes with additions that allow them to harvest rainwater and solar power.
The two figurative caryatids that support the roof at the front of the house refer to the origins of the shotgun house style in Greek revival architecture and African tradition. They also stand as literal reminders that New Orleans is being rebuilt by its citizens.” – PRESS RELEASE
MARJETICA POTRC was born in Ljubljana, SLOVENIA, where she currently lives and works.
see: curriculum vitae
MARJETICA POTRC , ‘New Orleans: Shotgun House with Rainwater Harvesting Tank’, 2007 – a view of the rainwater harvesting tank.
MARJETICA POTRC, ‘New Orleans: Shotgun House with Rainwater Harvesting Tank’ – the front porch with the 2 (folkloric) caryatid female figures.
MARJETICA POTRC , ‘New Orleans: Shotgun House with Rainwater Harvesting Tank’ – the satellite dish !!
the exhibit also included some very interesting and visually bright/fresh, works on paper. MARJETICA POTRC, ‘New Orleans: Settlement and The Return to Archetypes’, 2007, ink drawing on paper with inkjet print. (2 @ 26 x 33 3/4 ins.)
MARJETICA POTRC, ‘New Orleans: City and Rainwater Connections’, 2007.
MARJETICA POTRC, ‘New Orleans: Highway and Surviving in Pieces’, 2007.
MARJETICA POTRC, ink drawing on paper, ‘New Orleans: Highway and Surviving in Pieces’
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
see: more of the installation !!
MAX PROTETCH
~MARJETICA POTRC/THE SHOTGUN HOUSE/NEW ORLEANS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 22nd, 2008, 10:12am
MATTHEW RONAY – FEB 1 – MARCH 8, 2008
ANDREA ROSEN GALLERY – 525 WEST 24TH ST. – CHELSEA – NYC
a show of a completely different, minimalist striped down style. though, still very much hand-made, hands-on . . .
This is Matthew Ronay’s second solo show at the gallery.
MATTHEW RONAY, ‘Observance’, 2007-2008, walnut, sapele, clear pine, plaster silk, plastic, leather, newspaper, polystyrene, paint and vinyl glue.
MATTHEW RONAY, ‘Of Host’, 2007, steel, pine, walnut, cotton, plastic, paint and sawdust.
MATTHEW RONAY, ‘Mist Haze Fog Mist’, 2007, steel, walnut, clear pine, canvas, string and paint.
MATTHEW RONAY is a founder/musician, actually he is the drummer – of the artist performance noise punk band, THE FINAL RUN-INS. Their 7″ was on sale in the gallery for $5.
RONAY, is the guy in the middle:
THE FINAL RUN INS gave a great performance, and produced an even greater, whimsical and off-the-wall installation, ‘HONG KONG’, at TAXTER & SPENGEMANN, last summer, 2007.
artlovers was there – see: THE PIX – ‘HONG KONG’
MATTHEW RONAY, at the opening performance/installation of the FINAL RUN INS – ‘HONG KONG’ – a wildly successful – paper – Mandarin Chinese restaurant.
TAXTER & SPENGEMANN, MAY 31, 2007
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
ANDREA ROSEN
~MATTHEW RONAY |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 22nd, 2008, 9:31am
AIDAS BAREIKIS – ‘PART TWO: EASY TIMES’ – OPENS TO-NITE !!
THURS – FEB 21, 2008 6-8PM
the show runs: FEB 21 – MARCH 21, 2008
LEO KOENIG INC – 545 WEST 23RD ST. – CHELSEA – NYC
SORRY – LOOKS LIKE THE GALLERY CHANGED THE TIME OF THE OPENING.
on the card it says: 6-8PM, on the gallery website – it now says: 4-5PM.
AIDAS BAREIKIS has a pretty crazy show going on at LEO KOENIG.
The first installment, titled ‘PART ONE: FANCY MEETINGS’ looked like something out of apocalyptic futuristic death match meets the ghosts of ‘PIRATES of the CARIBBEAN’. It was actually a pretty amazing tableau to walk in on.
It ran from Jan 10 – Feb 8th, 2008.
Unlike ‘PART ONE’ – which was multi-colored, to say the least, ‘PART TWO’ – is totally black and white – but it appears to have a slightly more black/noir humorous, almost ‘carnival’ edge. ‘PART ONE’ – was pretty much all in-your-face-scary amazing !!
AIDA BAREIKIS – ‘PART TWO: EASY TIMES’ – OPENS TO-NITE.
ALSO PRESENTING WORKS BY: AARON BREWER, LILY LUDLOW, BILL SAYLOR and ANKE WEYER.
THIS IS ONE SHOW – WHERE – A PICTURE IS DEFINITELY WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS – SO HERE’S SOME PIX !!
first up, ‘PART TWO: EASY TIMES’ – JUST AS IT WAS BEING ASSEMBLED.
AIDAS BAREIKIS starting on the installation of ‘PART TWO: EASY TIMES’
AIDAS BAREIKIS beginning to assemble ‘PART TWO’ – those are his black and white drawings in the background, in the frames on the wall.
AIDAS BAREIKIS – very bizarre life-size figures begin to emerge from their delivery wrappings. Aidas makes all the figures by hand. He rummages second hand stores for the clothes and accessories.
AIDAS BAREIKIS – in ‘PART TWO: EASY TIMES’ the figures are free-standing. in ‘PART ONE: FANCY MEETINGS’ – they were held up by an array of plastic cables and hooks – from the ceiling.
AIDAS BAREIKIS – up close and personal – this could be you !! – the way things are going.
AIDAS BAREIKIS – charming.
AIDAS BAREIKIS – ‘PART TWO: EASY TIMES’ – going up . .
AIDAS BAREIKIS – ‘PART TWO: EASY TIMES’ – going up
AIDAS BAREIKIS – ghostly figures await their resurrection !!
AIDAS BAREIKIS – a cautious, closer look at this curious being – she looks dead – but like trick dead – like, she could turn around and bite you in a nanosecond.
AIDAS BAREIKIS – ok. the last sneak peek – the thing to really see – is how they all assemble – and tell their story !!
this is from the first tableaux – AIDAS BAREIKIS – ‘PART ONE: FANCY MEETINGS’
AIDAS BAREIKIS – ‘PART ONE: FANCY MEETINGS’
AIDAS BAREIKIS – ‘PART ONE: FANCY MEETINGS’
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
the card for the show, it was oversize (8 x 10 ins.) and the image is one of the framed black and white drawings – on the back wall.
AIDAS BAREIKIS – ‘PART ONE: FANCY MEETINGS’ & ‘PART TWO: EASY TIMES’
the gallery has an interesting write-up on the show on: their website
where there is also one shot of: AIDAS BAREIKIS – ‘PART TWO: EASY TIMES’ assembled !!
and here it is – pretty amazing.
AIDAS BAREIKIS – ‘PART TWO: EASY TIMES’
PHOTO/COURTESY: LEO KOENIG INC.
LEO KOENIG INC.
~AIDAS BAREIKIS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 21st, 2008, 3:57pm
JOHN HODANY, MICHAEL LAZARUS & CAETANO de ALMEIDA
FEBRUARY 19 – MARCH 16, 2008
ELEVEN RIVINGTON – 11 RIVINGTON ST – LOWER EAST SIDE – NYC
JUST WEST OF BOWERY
Our friend JOHN HODANY is in this 3 person show, the 4th show in this new space run by Director/Curator AUGUSTO ARBIZO. (we’re guessing the space has serious ties to – and – backing from JEANNE GREENBERG – but Augusto isn’t talking – except – to say – “no strings attached” – and we’re like – hey: give a hand to the backers – no matter who they are! we all need all the backers we can get – in this crazy artworld.)
AUGUSTO ARBIZO
MICHAEL LAZARUS
painting by MICHAEL LAZARUS
detail, painting by MICHAEL LAZARUS
painting by MICHAEL LAZARUS
detail, painting by MICHAEL LAZARUS
painting by MICHAEL LAZARUS
detail, painting by MICHAEL LAZARUS
CAETANO de ALMEIDA and independent curator FERNANDA ARRUDA. both hail originally from Brazil.
artwork by CAETANO de ALMEIDA
another view of artwork by CAETANO de ALMEIDA
we catch up with JOHN HODANY, he’s outside taking a ciggie break. with him, to the side, ANNA CONWAY
HODANY’S piece was hard to photograph in the room – it was so large – a totally handmade amusement park-type quarter-eating treasure hunting game.
these formally attired guests give some sense of its scale. JOHN HODANY made it all from wood – except the metal parts on the hardware, like bolts, and the security lock arches, for example – & – he also made all the mechanical inner workings. it runs on electricity. it’s timed to have on and off phases.
JOHN HODANY – the red ‘lobster’ claws come down to grab the ‘treasure’ which is a wide assortment of locks !!
JOHN HODANY – the locks !!
JOHN HODANY – the paint job, on the wooden locks and the wooden sculpture, itself – as a whole – was every bit as good, if not better than the woodworking & mechanical workings – most of the time you thought you were looking at metal – until you picked up on actual metal pieces – as in the lock arches.
JOHN HODANY – an example of the ‘very swift’ paint job and the place where the quarters go – & – the joy stick. it was interactive – for real.
JOHN HODANY lightens up a little bit, towards the end of the opening, ANNA CONWAY is with him.
the man who introduced us to JOHN HODANY – BRIAN BELOTT, with ANNIE PEARLMAN. BRIAN BELOTT’S gotta piece in the big MoMA Spring 2008 show about Books on Shelves !!
documentary filmmaker MAX FIERST and artist JEFF CARAMAGNA, good friends of JOHN HODANY’S
ERIN
ANNIE PEARLMAN, in a pensive moment. Annie edited that classic DAVID GREENBERG INTERVIEWS BRIAN BELOTT (at CANADA) clip – we all loved so much !!
CHIE FUEKI – the more we cross paths with her – the more we like her – she’s wild.
oh oh – the-after-the-after party at that German Bar on Rivington St .- some pretty wild rolling and rumbling around on the street – these guys are super fun to hang out with. P-A-R-T-Y !!
JOHN HODANY – says: cool it – what ?- he started it !!!
JOHN HODANY and MAX FIERST – who knew a night on RIVINGTON ST – in the middle of the week on a Tuesday no less, in the almost now totally gentrified Lower East Side – could be almost as rowdy as back in the old days – back in the rockin’ 80s – when BASQUIAT & RICHARD HAMBELTON used to tear up that very same street !! P-A-R-T-A-Y !! – S.P.O.O.K.A.Y !!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
ELEVEN RIVINGTON
~JOHN HODANY/MICHAEL LAZARUS/CAETANO de ALMEIDA |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 20th, 2008, 5:40pm
ERIK PARKER – ‘BETWEEN THE LINES’
FEBRUARY 16 – MARCH 8, 2008
MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY – 509 WEST 24TH ST – CHELSEA – NY
ERIK PARKER also opened a show, of works on paper in the PROJECT SPACE, in the small front room of the MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY, on Friday, Feb 16, 2008. After a long-time association with LEO KOENIG – ERIK seems very happy to be here. Unlike his previously exhibited large canvases, here he presents a small series of drawings on paper, sometimes: 2 to a frame – that seemed much more intense and focused, despite the smaller size, or because of it ? These drawings were also unique from his past work in their utilization of rows of tiny inventive, and ‘serially’ expressive cartoon-type embellishments – essentially – contemporary hieroglyphics. Though colorful, and full of cartoonish imagery – that imagery was often more wicked, than light-hearted – so the work had a real edge – that, close up – seemed very hard, and almost totally dark in spirit.
ERIK PARKER at the opening of ‘BETWEEN THE LINES’, FEB 16, 2008, MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY, NY.
MARIANNE BOESKY, at the ERIK PARKER opening.
a guest studies an ERIK PARKER drawing, at the opening.
ERIK PARKER, ‘CORE’, acrylic and ink on paper
detail, ERIK PARKER, ‘CORE’ – one of the more light-hearted, but still – sobering pieces.
detail, ERIK PARKER, ‘CORE’ – those yellow orbs – are reminiscent of those early 80s KEITH HARING metal ‘buttons’ & are about the same size, too.
ERIK PARKER, ‘KEEP IT TOGETHER’ – !!
watch out – there’s always a new wave of young artists wanting to make it to the top. from left: NIKITA SHOSHENSKY & MATTHEW STEINBERG a couple of local talent – NYC boys, who made it thru LaGuardia H.S. and COOPER UNION – and are looking to make the real scene, now. at the ERIK PARKER opening. FEB 16, 2008
ERIK PARKER had a really great card – it was cut from hard card stock – to resemble an old vinyl 45rpm – the lettering was in a great raised typeface – of iridescent cobalt blue.
another drawing in the show, ERIK PARKER, ‘NEVER RUN’
detail, ERIK PARKER, ‘NEVER RUN’
detail, ERIK PARKER, ‘NEVER RUN’ – what do they say – God is in the details ?
. . . no, just remembered – the saying is: the DEVIL is in the details !!!!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
see: more of the work, here !! / on the gallery website
unfortunately there are no close-ups – so if you’re in NYC – your gonna have to get up off the couch – and go see the show up live and personal.
MARIANNE BOESKY
~ERIK PARKER |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 19th, 2008, 3:44pm
Film Review
February 18, 2008 by JAN ALBERT
JAN ALBERT’S 10 BEST LIST FOR 2007
Last year was a tough time to escape from the real world at the movies. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath to see what additional harm the Bush Administration would do to our country and around the world, how many more human lives would be destroyed by the war in Iraq, how low the dollar would fall, how fast the climate would change, and many of those feelings of fear and dread – and our increasing estrangement from each other – seeped right onto celluloid.
Take NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, the hit film by Joel and Ethan Coen, adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Set in the iconic desert that has graced so many American films, there are no heroes to be found in this postmodern western. It’s just one vast wasteland of evil where life or death is determined by a coin toss. There’s no reasoning with the villain played by Jarvier Bardem – he’s just a killing machine that can’t be stopped. The sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) packs it in and quits because no one observes the traditional boundaries anymore. It’s every fucker for him (or her) self, chasing a suitcase of drug money, and he can’t make heads or tails of what he can do to hold the line.
Now, I recognize that there were some admirable elements in this cinematic story – including an anti-hero (a terrific breakthrough performance by Josh Brolin) we care to root for, brilliant cinematography, and a handful of incredibly suspenseful scenes (the dog chase, the coin toss in the convenience store, hiding the suitcase in the motel vent!).
It’s undeniably skillful, but pretty bleak stuff. I don’t know what I can take away from a film like this, that I don’t already know – and, don’t want to be reminded of. It may well be a work of art for our times but it didn’t rock my world, so it ain’t on the list!
HERE’S WHAT IS:
1/ INTO THE WILD, another film about a guy on the run, was my favorite film of the year and it didn’t even get nominated for an Academy Award. At least Hal Holbrook’s performance was recognized. You’d have to be pretty hard-hearted not to be moved by his isolated old man trying to persuade a young one to reconsider his decision to cut himself off from the rest of the world. This is at once a rousing on-the-road adventure, which shows off some of America’s greatest scenery, and a compelling coming of age story. Chris McCandless’s true-life journey of discovery becomes unforgettable because it’s cut so heartbreakingly short. Sean Penn wrote, directed, and also pulls great performances from Catherine Keener, Marsha Gay Harden, Bill Hurt, and especially Emile Hirsch as the hard-headed seeker who finds out what makes life worth living.
check out: INTO THE WILD – the official website – it’s excellent !!
2/ THE DIVING BELL and THE BUTTERFLY is an astonishing experience. Julian Schnabel is an inspired filmmaker. I don’t know why he wanted to get into the head of Jean-Dominique Bauby, (a 43 year-old French magazine editor who had the unlucky fate to awaken from a stroke fully cognizant of the world around him, but unable to move any part of his body except for one eyelid) but that’s what he does. Working from the book Bauby wrote, blinking out one letter at a time, Schnabel creates a visual tour de force – flashes of the world Bauby experiences moored to his hospital bed, scenes from the life he remembers, and flights into his imagination, where he continues to enjoy making love, driving fast cars, tossing his children into the air, and eating oysters. A toast to grabbing life by any means necessary – and the human desire to leave one’s mark in the sands of time.
check out: THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY – the official website
LUST, CAUTION IMAGE/COURTESY: rottentomatoes.com
LUST, CAUTION IMAGE/COURTESY: rottentomatoes.com
LUST, CAUTION IMAGE/COURTESY: rottentomatoes.com
3/ LUST, CAUTION – a dark erotic spy thriller set in Shanghai during WWII, sucked me into a fascinating world I’d have no excuse to spy on otherwise. It was too long (like There Will Be Blood and most other films these days), but my eyes ate up the sumptuous costumes and period decor. As the idealistic college student turned undercover agent, Tang Wei seems to bare her very soul to Ang Lee’s camera and to her suspicious prey. Ditto: Tony Leung, playing a Chinese collaborator during the Japanese occupation. Now, here is a villain (unlike Jarvier Bardem’s cartoon baddie in No Country) who is uncomfortably believable as a human being. The lengthy cat and mouse game between these two is unbelievably tense as duplicitous seduction turns to passionate sex, and then becomes a painful love story. The sex scenes are uncompromisingly bold and hot (I think I learned a couple of new positions from this film), but did not feel exploitative of the female star to me. This might have been how SUSPICION would have looked like if Alfred Hitchcock had made it in 2007.
see: LUST, CAUTION – the trailer !!
4/ JUNO: A wonderful script meets the perfect actress (Ellen Page) and is nimbly shepherded to the screen by Jason Reitman (whose THANK YOU FOR SMOKING made my list in 2006). Diablo Cody’s dialogue is so fresh; a combination of email and cellphone slang turned into verbal jazz riffs. Ellen Page delivers it so confidently and embraces her character so completely, you really can’t imagine anyone else as the feisty teenager who gets pregnant her first time at bat. The adult actors surrounding Juno are all perfectly cast and Reitman is judicious in giving each one their moments to shine. It was such a rush to hear people talk smart to each other in this slip of a film, which emulates the very best romantic comedies of the past but perfectly embodies this moment in time.
see: the JUNO trailer
see: the JUNO – official website
5/ THE DARJEELING LIMITED// I’M NOT THERE:
I place these two films together smack in the middle of the list because while neither one succeeds completely, I really admire the strong vision of Wes Anderson and Todd Haynes. Much of what they got up on the screen is inspired and uncompromising, full of life, and unlike anything else out there. They deserve a shout out!
Wes Anderson has been continually criticized being too precious for his own good – Mr. Style over Substance.
Now, it’s true, a tight story is not his strongest point, but this saga of three estranged brothers trying to re-bond on a train trip through India works pretty well. It’s a road movie with style to spare (the Louis Vuitton suitcases the brothers haul across the globe even get a special credit!) but the film is about something more than production design. I came away thinking about the importance of trying to make peace and maintain family connections, for better or worse. There’s a divine short film (Hotel Chevalier) about one of the brothers and his difficult romance that precedes the big show but stands on its own as a marvelous divertissement.
Anderson’s stock company of players, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Angelica Huston, are all on board; joined this time by Adrien Brody and Bill Murray, who, in a great recurring bit, fails to make the train! There’s a tourist’s sense of wonder at the visual treats they discover, and a sense of humor that tips it’s hat to Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and the Beatles, as the brothers bicker their way across India. But then, there’s a moment when they set aside slapstick to stand together and support a small town through a tragedy that sticks with you in an entirely different way.
see: THE DARJEELING – official website & trailer
HEATH LEDGER as BOB DYLAN-PHOTO/COURTESY:ctvdigital.com
Todd Haynes has always been accused of being an inscrutable genius. This film meditation on the role Bob Dylan has played in public and in private is inscrutable but nothing short of epic. You get kind of lost in it but then tune back in. I do think his gimmick of having six different actors play Dylan is brilliant. You can tell Haynes has studied all of Dylan’s biographies, press conferences and concert films dozens of times searching for clues to the muse. All the touchstone moments are imagined in this film; Bob being booed for going electric, his refusal to be anointed as a prophet, mocking the press at work trying to discern “the meaning of it all”, Dylan in his ‘Lay Lady Lay’ Woodstock days, and, as the man who finds his Lord.
Heath Ledger plays Dylan as a failed husband in some searing scenes from a marriage with the wonderful Charlotte Gainsbourg. The deep sense of sadness he communicates couldn’t be more affecting. In retrospect, one can’t help but wonder how Dylan was able to save his soul in the constant spotlight that burned out this beautiful young star way too soon.
check out the: I’M NOT THERE website !! – 2 trailers !!
6/ GONE BABY GONE: MICHAEL CLAYTON got all the attention, but I loved this melancholy little modern noir and the moral dilemma it dumps in the lap of the most believable private detective to grace film in ages. Casey Affleck holds the screen in the central role up against some real scenery chewers, like Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman. Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard did a very good job of adapting Dennis Lehane’s sordid case of a missing child. A real feeling for South Boston and the characters who live there (the people who started out in the cracks and then fell through) permeates the film. It’s a fine directorial debut for Ben Affleck; and Amy Ryan deserves to win the Oscar as the little girl’s druggie, careless mom. She’s a force of nature as a woman the audience disapproves of, but just cannot hate despite it all.
see: GONE BABY GONE official website with trailers !!
7/ THERE WILL BE BLOOD: Some of the best sections of Paul Thomas Anderson’s film about the rise of a ruthless oil baron in early 20th century California are without dialogue altogether. Since there’s no chit chat, it forces you to slow down and examine the work at hand in a whole different way and the film pulls you in with the same kind of power that some of the greatest silent films (like Napoleon and Sunrise) exhibit. Watching the sheer determination it takes to violate the earth with manual tools, to drop deep down into a mine and set explosives, to risk the high probability of injury and the long odds of actually making a strike, tells us a lot about Daniel Day Lewis’ character before he ever speaks. Later, watching the expression on his face as he swims blissfully in the ocean, then gradually begins to glance at his trusted partner with the growing suspicion that he is being played for a fool, is a towering moment of acting that took my breath away.
Although Anderson pays direct homage to Citizen Kane in the cataclysmic final scenes, I think There Will be Blood is a work of art that will stand the test of time on it’s own merits. If you need any reminder of where the foundation of greed that supports our society sprang from, just watch as Daniel Plainview’s ambitious pioneer spirit twists into an avaricious grab for land that betrays the innocent and emasculates any competitor trying to succeed on the same playing field. Why, I guess he’s as much of a destroyer as Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men (just one that I can access slightly better). Man, it’s downright poetic when Plainview’s little son, the one person on earth he shows his soft side to and wants to share it all with, is deafened in a oil rig explosion and they can no longer communicate. Your heart almost goes out to this monster.
see: THERE WILL BE BLOOD – website & trailers !!
VIGGO MORTENSEN in DAVID CRONENBERG’S EASTERN PROMISES/A FOCUS FEATURES RELEASE/PHOTO: PETER MOUNTAIN/COURTESY: STARPULSE
8/ EASTERN PROMISES– was an immensely satisfying movie-going experience for me. Even though the divide between the good guys and bad guys is blurred, righteousness ultimately wins out after some heart-stopping action sequences. Now, this is the kind escape from reality I’m looking for! David Cronenberg’s body of work is way too bloody for many, but his films always make provocative points about our culture and he always gets great performances from his actors. This time is no exception. The uncommonly excellent script is about a doctor (a persuasive Naomi Watts) who tries and fails to save the life of a young Russian woman who gives birth in the E.R. The dead patient’s diary opens up a sordid world of illegal immigrants promised good jobs, then enslaved as sex workers in a foreign country where they can’t even speak the language. The great Armin Mueller Stahl is truly terrifying as the Russian mob boss masquerading as a ‘kindly’ restaurant owner who offers Watts borsht while plotting her murder. Vincent Cassel is just terrific as his screwloose son, and then there’s Viggo Mortensen as the mysterious mob driver who marches to his own drummer. SIGH! From the hippie guy who gives Diane Lane a summer to remember in A Walk on the Moon to Aragon, the mythic hero in The Lord of The Rings, to the guy in A History of Violence, trying to rub out the past, Viggo just gets better and better. For me, the character he creates in Eastern Promises is the single greatest performance of the year. And the greatest thing about it is that you can’t even catch him acting. He is riveting as a smooth Russian criminal who isn’t fazed by cutting off a dead enemy’s fingertips and fights like a naked animal when he’s cornered with switchblades in a steam bath. He will be working again with Cronenberg in the screen adaptation of The Road and playing Edgar Allen Poe soon. I can’t wait.
check out: the EASTERN PROMISES official website with trailer
FROM LEFT: KAL PENN, IRRFAN KHAN, SAHIRA NAIR and TABU in THE NAMESAKE.
PHOTO CREDIT: MIRA NAIR/COURTESY:FOX SEARCHLIGHT
FROM LEFT: TABU, KAL PENN and JACINDA BARRETT in THE NAMESAKE.
PHOTO CREDIT:ABBOT GENSER/COURTESY: FOX SEARCHLIGHT
9/ THE NAMESAKE: Long novels that follow a family’s fortunes are the stock and trade of great literature. Movies: not so much. There are countless examples of Hollywood buying a beloved book (The Kite Runner comes to mind) and trying to condense and capture it’s magic in the most well-meaning manner.
Director Mira Nair’s elliptical film adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s bestseller stands out because it succeeds so gracefully where so many have missed the boat. The film follows a young man who marries a girl his parents have chosen for him in Calcutta and brings her to Queens, New York. A son and a daughter are born to the Gangulis and grow up living the American dream in the suburbs. They become adults who disappoint their parents and reject their values by taking up with white lovers, getting divorced, etc. Grandparents, then parents die, and before you know it, 40 years have passed. The acting is as subtle as the storytelling (and the cinematography by the masterful Frederick Elmes). I felt almost privileged to look on as a slow regard and enduring love builds between Ashima (Tabu) and Ashoke (Irrfan Khan). Kal Penn (1/2 of the Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle team) does nice work as the ‘namesake’ who doesn’t find out until almost the end why his father called him Gogol.
see: the trailer on the THE NAMESAKE website
JEAN-LOUIS COULLOC’H as OLIVER PARKIN in LADY CHATTERLEY/COURTESY: KINO
MARINA HANDS as LADY CHATTERLEY/COURTESY: KINO
JEAN-LOUIS COULLOC’H and MARINA HANDS in LADY CHATTERLEY/COURTESY: KINO
10/ LADY CHATTERLEY: It’s their love of nature that brings two lonely people from different classes together. Pascale Ferran’s adaptation of the second and lesser-known version of D.H. Lawrence’s once scandalous tale of sexual awakening is beautiful. An aristocratic lady whose husband has been paralyzed in the war seeks what stimulation and release she can find by taking long walks and collecting flowers. Passing through the gate that separates their estate from the forest beyond leads her to Parkin, the rough, almost monosyllabic gameskeeper, who becomes her soul mate. Almost three hours long (with subtitles!), you will either fall asleep or surrender to the experience! Marina Hands and Jean-Louis Coullooc’h give such brave performances. As the seasons change, flowers bloom, snow blankets the ground, and they reveal themselves in the kind of relationship most men and women just dream about.
check out: the LADY CHATTERLEY website with trailer
THE BEST OF THE REST:
11/ The Bourne Ultimatum: Who doesn’t love a great chase scene? And, it’s quite an achievement to make the 3rd installment in a series as action-packed as the first two. Matt Damon is a seriously underrated actor who brings great intensity and a wounded humanity to this guy who doesn’t know who or what exactly he is.
12/ 3:10 to Yuma: an absolutely swell throwback to the classic western where the good guy triumphs after having his ass kicked. The whole cast looks like they are having a blast. It’s pure joy seeing two of the best, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, square off. Ben Foster was robbed of a best supporting actor nomination. That dude was one scary sidekick!
13/ Talk about cutting to the chase! Consider: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. This sad little robbery gone wrong proceeds at warp speed under the able direction of Sidney Lumet. The script by Kelly Masterson is a puzzle, which obscures the big picture by starting and stopping the action to consider each piece from a different character’s POV. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the most valuable player of 2007. He is brilliant here, in Charlie Wilson’s War, and The Savages. What a showoff!
14/ Two Days in Paris: She acts, she writes music and scripts, she directs: I for one, didn’t find the critical comparisons of Julie Delphy to early Woody Allen grandiose. I laughed and laughed at this weird little comedy about a woman who drags her boyfriend (played by the hysterically caustic Adam Goldberg, Delphy’s real life former B.F.) home to meet the parents in Paris, where they run into her numerous previous lovers wherever they go.
15. Persepolis: Another feisty female coming of age story – this one set in Iran after the Shah’s overthrow. Marjane Satrapi (with Vincent Paronnaud) turns her comic book memoir into a beautifully animated film journey. Do yourself a favor and don’t miss it.
16/ Atonement: I am a complete sucker for historic British love stories set in sweeping cinemascope landscapes with impeccable production design. I loved the first section – Keira Knightley and James McAvoy are very well matched and that is one divalicious green gown. Found the second section very frustrating despite the brilliant ‘cuts’ made as the camera move across the battlefront. I just didn’t like the woman that bad little girl became, and the lovers are separated for soooooo long. Admired the short and sweet 3rd part with Vanessa Redgrave.
17/ Away From Her: Impressive directorial debut and literary adaptation by actress Sarah Polley. Loved the visual metaphor of the cross-country ski tracks in the snow. Thought Gordon Pinsent was every bit as good as Julie Christie in the less showy role of a husband whose loved one is losing her mind but seems to remember all of his missteps perfectly! Olympia Dukakis was also superb as a woman who wants her share of the action before it’s too late.
18/ Blade Runner 25th Anniversary re-release: I know it seems like this 1982 cult film is re-released or recut by director Ridley Scott every two years, but this year’s model, seen on the big screen at the Ziegfield, was simply amazing. Every time you see it (and my husband has required me to see it about 11 times) you notice or understand something else about this terse, dense evocation of the near future. Shots have been fixed, wires digitally removed, and what has always been a film of uncommon beauty has been lovingly enhanced. To think this visual masterpiece was made before all these CG tricks existed is fantastic. The DVD package contains every version of the film ever made and features an incredible documentary, which contains deleted scenes, screen tests by the actors who got the roles, as well as those who didn’t, interviews with all the major players, the screenwriters, production designers, et al.
One detail I found fascinating was that the writer’s strike that was going on back then delayed the start of shooting and gave Scott and his team of visual futurists a few extra months to bring their iconic vision to life.
They didn’t know it at the time, but looking back it becomes obvious that everyone connected with Blade Runner was giving their very best. Their vision of what lies ahead has never been surpassed by the dozens and dozens of films it influenced and all the special effects that have come since.
But what also makes it such a timeless gem is the score by Vangelis (one of the all-time greatest), a perfect cast (yes, even Sean Young), and THE STORY, STUPID! What does it mean to be human? Hampton Fancher and David Peoples turned Philip K. Dick’s book, ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ into a screenplay that still pricks the conscience and touches the heart.
19/ Tekonkinkreet: Like Blade Runner, Michael Arias’s absolutely mesmerizing animated feature (a stunning blend of computer graphics and hand drawn character and background work) imagines the immediate future. It’s about two Japanese street kids surviving harsh changes in their world with guts and imagination. It came and went in America without notice. Catch up with it soon.
20/ Forever: Heddy Honingmann’s documentary film set in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is about how the dead continue to inspire the living. It’s an inspiration.
~BEST of 2007 |
Posted in Movie Reviews | By Jan Albert | February 18th, 2008, 12:53pm
gotta run to some OPENINGS !! yo, content is everything. ok. style counts, too.
more to follow !!!
yes, including: MATTHEW STEINBERG & NIKITA SHOSHENSKY !!
but, we’ll leave you . . . with a couple of biggies:
yes!! it was JOSH HARTNETT at the KON TRUBKOVICH – ‘ALMOST NOWHERE’ opening, last night, Friday, FEB 15, 2008, at MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY, NYC.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH/artloversnewyork.com
ANDREW GUENTHER, with 3 pieces in the ‘BREVITY’S RAINBOW’ show at CINDERS & the curator of the ‘ONE HUNDRED ARTISTS – ONE HUNDRED T SHIRTS’ show – summer of 2003 – was also, at the KON TRUBKOVICH opening.
on the right, DANIEL JACKSON of SURFACE-TO-AIR (the design collective) & BBLESSING (a small, but groovy retail menswear store on the Lower East Side – which recently scored a big write-up in the NY TIMES STYLE SECTION – and, its pronounced, just Blessing – the x-tra B is for ‘style’), with ARROW, at the KON TRUBKOVICH opening.
wouldn’t be fair to omit – the main man – last night – at any rate, he certainly has a big, and very male, fan base !!
. . . and, that would be KON TRUBKOVICH – opening ‘ALMOST NOWHERE’ – at MARIANNE BOESKY, FEB 15, 2008
. . . VITO SCHNABEL, was also there, but he definitely wasn’t in the mood to be photographed – usually he’s very outgoing, and friendly. he must feel burnt by the recent unfortunate press he got on PAGE SIX, linking him to ELLE MacPHERSON, in a rather stupid way. He made sure that he was followed around, by one of the only 2, gorgeous, and young, leggy blondes in the room.
the card for: KON TRUBKOVICH – ‘ALMOST NOWHERE’ – FEB 16 – MARCH 15, 2008, at MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY, CHELSEA.
KON TRUBKOVICH – ‘Almost Nowhere’
FEBRUARY 16 – MARCH 15, 2008
MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY – 509 WEST 24Th ST – CHELSEA – NY
KON TRUBKOVICH’S biggest claims to fame, and no small change, either, seem to be his inclusion in 2 trend-setting international shows: ‘Six Feet Under’ at the KUNSTMUSEUM, BERN; and ‘Uncertain States of America-American Video Art in the 3rd Millennium’ which was curated by DANIEL BIRNBAUM, GUNNAR B. KVARAN and HANS ULRICH OBRIST at the 2nd MOSCOW BIENNALE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, 2007.
His most important show to date, has got to be his debut solo show at P.S. 1 which was curated by the one of the most inspired curators here in New York, and that would be NEVILLE WAKEFIELD. Titled ‘No Country for Old Men’ (!!) – it was presented in 2006.
Raised in Moscow, Russia, till age 11 – he now lives and works in New York. many of his fans at the show seemed to be fellow Russian ex-pats – heavily nuanced, male, Russian conversations floated over the opening chatter. It was evidently apparent that those in attendance, and there were many – were really into the work.
read more about the show – on the: gallery website – press release !!
KON TRUBKOVICH, frame from a video work, ‘No Exit’, in ‘ALMOST NOWHERE’.
KON TRUBKOVICH, frame from another video work, ‘Ant Farm’, in ‘ALMOST NOWHERE’.
KON TRUBKOVICH, color photograph, in ‘ALMOST NOWHERE’.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
MARIANNE BOESKY
~KON TRUBKOVICH & JOSH HARTNETT !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 16th, 2008, 4:13pm
NICOLAS CONSUEGRA & MONICA PAEZ – ‘VOID’
FEBRUARY 15 – MARCH 29, 2008
MAGNAN EMRICH CONTEMPORARY – 505 WEST 28th ST. – CHELSEA – NY
This is the first NYC solo show for this 2 young artists – who originally hail form Bogota, Columbia.
Now living and working in NYC – they both received MFA graduate degrees from PRATT, Nicolas Consuegra in 2007, and Monica Paez in 2006. In fact, the gallery first met up with their work at the PRATT GRADUATE SCHOOL OPEN STUDIOS.
This show at MAGNAN EMRICH CONTEMPORARY is a collaborative effort – in which “they examine the constant need for space in a city like New York.” (press release)
from left: gallery partner ED EMRICH, (who is also a naturally inclined photo hound!), NICOLAS CONSUEGRA, and MONICA PAEZ, at the opening, which took place last night, FEB 15, 2008
NICOLAS CONSUEGRA and MONICA PAEZ, at the opening of their first solo NYC show, ‘Void’.
the photograph on the wall behind them – is also the image for the card.
the small, but well conceived installation, presented a wall of ‘mirror bricks’ – that interacted with a strangely compelling precision – with the framed photographs, and the guests, at the opening.
MONICA PAEZ at the mirror brick wall.
NICOLAS CONSUEGRA & MONICA PAEZ, ‘Untitled (Container)’, 2007, Digital C-print, 50 x 36.7 ins., Edition of 4, ($4,500)
NICOLAS CONSUEGRA & MONICA PAEZ, ‘Untitled (erased self-storage 2)’, 2007, Digital C-Print, 50 x 36.7 ins., Edition of 4, ($4,500) – and also the image for the card.
the gallery director, VAUGHN LEWIS.
the good-natured, gallery director VAUGHN LEWIS, peeks out from behind the mirrored wall.
MAGNAN EMRICH CONTEMPORARY & their sister gallery MAGNAN PROJECTS around the corner on 10TH AVE. – brought NYC – one of the best shows of last season – the DUKE RILEY – submersible and mosaic/scrimshaw show – ‘AFTER THE BATTLE OF BROOKLYN’ – of NOV 1 – DEC 22, 2007.
check out: the first DUKE RILEY POST/’AFTER THE BATTLE OF BROOKLYN’
check out: photos from the DUKE RILEY – ‘AFTER THE BATTLE OF BROOKLYN’ – opening !!
MAGNAN EMRICH CONTEMPORARY
~NICOLAS CONSUEGRA & MONICA PAEZ/VOID/MAGNAN/EMRICH |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 16th, 2008, 2:38pm
