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Friday, September 18, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Week of Sept. 11 to Sept. 17 (Mann)
What’s on at the Tropic
by Phil Mann
UNMISTAKEN CHILD is about a search to find the child who is the reincarnation of a deceased monk. It’s an incredible story.
Before I get started, I must offer full disclosure. I’m skeptical about religion. Personally, I think the Egyptians had it right, worshipping the Sun. But it is fascinating to see how caught up people get in their beliefs, whether it’s Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu or… Buddhist.
There’s no question that the central character in this documentary film, a young man named Tenzin Zopa, deeply believes in the literal truth of reincarnation. He has spent almost his entire life as a disciple of the lama Geshe Lama Konchog, and when the lama passes away at 84, Zopa is lost. The lama was a revered figure who lived alone in a cave for decades, reportedly without food other than the nourishment that he could gather from the air. For background see http://www.tonglen.oceandrop.org/Geshe_Lama_Konchog.htm.
But then the Dalai Lama gives Zopa the mission of finding the child who is the reincarnation of his lost master. Nati Baratz, an Israeli filmmaker who has Buddhist leanings, was there in Nepal at the time, and somehow secured permission to follow Zopa on his quest. And he did so for four years, enabling us to watch as omens are read from the direction of smoke from the lama’s funeral pyre, a remote consultation takes place with a Taiwanese astrologer, and a long trek follows from village to village in the Nepalese Tsum Valley, until Zopa succeeds in his quest. The film has won awards all over, including Best Feature Documentary at the prestigious Full Frame Documentary Festival.
It’s beautiful. It’s fascinating. Maybe it’s even true.
Coming back down to Western earth, Friday and Saturday nights bring the lesbian comedian Dana Goldberg to the Tropic. She’s one of the five funniest lesbians in the country according to Curve magazine. I’ve always thought the Tropic was a great venue for stand-up. Let’s hope this starts a trend. Two shows only. Tickets are at WomenFest.com, not at the Tropic box office.
The Saturday Kids matinee continues this week at 12:30pm with such delights as the Swan Princess and Hiawatha. It’s all free, for kids and accompanying adults, thanks to the sponsor, Southernmost Photography. This week there’s a special treat: a drawing for a free bicycle. No purchase necessary. Just be there and see a free movie. Now that’s Zen!
And coming up on Monday night for the weekly classic revival, is THE FALLEN IDOL (1948), directed by Carol Reed from a script by Graham Greene. They are, of course, the team that brought us The Third Man, which is better known, but according to the Village Voice, The Fallen Idol is a superior psychological drama. Long unavailable, it’s just been released in a newly restored print.
I hope that this, along with the still running JULIE AND JULIA and TAKING WOODSTOCK will keep you busy. Meanwhile, get ready for the long overdo opening of the new Peggy Dow Theater at the Tropic. This new fourth screen has been ready for projection for over a month, but the opening has been held up by some technical details. It might even be ready next week. I’ll let you know.
Full details and schedules at TropicCinema.com.
Comments, please, to pmann99@gmail.com.
[from Key West, the newspaper - www.kwtn.com]
by Phil Mann
UNMISTAKEN CHILD is about a search to find the child who is the reincarnation of a deceased monk. It’s an incredible story.
Before I get started, I must offer full disclosure. I’m skeptical about religion. Personally, I think the Egyptians had it right, worshipping the Sun. But it is fascinating to see how caught up people get in their beliefs, whether it’s Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu or… Buddhist.
There’s no question that the central character in this documentary film, a young man named Tenzin Zopa, deeply believes in the literal truth of reincarnation. He has spent almost his entire life as a disciple of the lama Geshe Lama Konchog, and when the lama passes away at 84, Zopa is lost. The lama was a revered figure who lived alone in a cave for decades, reportedly without food other than the nourishment that he could gather from the air. For background see http://www.tonglen.oceandrop.org/Geshe_Lama_Konchog.htm.
But then the Dalai Lama gives Zopa the mission of finding the child who is the reincarnation of his lost master. Nati Baratz, an Israeli filmmaker who has Buddhist leanings, was there in Nepal at the time, and somehow secured permission to follow Zopa on his quest. And he did so for four years, enabling us to watch as omens are read from the direction of smoke from the lama’s funeral pyre, a remote consultation takes place with a Taiwanese astrologer, and a long trek follows from village to village in the Nepalese Tsum Valley, until Zopa succeeds in his quest. The film has won awards all over, including Best Feature Documentary at the prestigious Full Frame Documentary Festival.
It’s beautiful. It’s fascinating. Maybe it’s even true.
Coming back down to Western earth, Friday and Saturday nights bring the lesbian comedian Dana Goldberg to the Tropic. She’s one of the five funniest lesbians in the country according to Curve magazine. I’ve always thought the Tropic was a great venue for stand-up. Let’s hope this starts a trend. Two shows only. Tickets are at WomenFest.com, not at the Tropic box office.
The Saturday Kids matinee continues this week at 12:30pm with such delights as the Swan Princess and Hiawatha. It’s all free, for kids and accompanying adults, thanks to the sponsor, Southernmost Photography. This week there’s a special treat: a drawing for a free bicycle. No purchase necessary. Just be there and see a free movie. Now that’s Zen!
And coming up on Monday night for the weekly classic revival, is THE FALLEN IDOL (1948), directed by Carol Reed from a script by Graham Greene. They are, of course, the team that brought us The Third Man, which is better known, but according to the Village Voice, The Fallen Idol is a superior psychological drama. Long unavailable, it’s just been released in a newly restored print.
I hope that this, along with the still running JULIE AND JULIA and TAKING WOODSTOCK will keep you busy. Meanwhile, get ready for the long overdo opening of the new Peggy Dow Theater at the Tropic. This new fourth screen has been ready for projection for over a month, but the opening has been held up by some technical details. It might even be ready next week. I’ll let you know.
Full details and schedules at TropicCinema.com.
Comments, please, to pmann99@gmail.com.
[from Key West, the newspaper - www.kwtn.com]
Unmistaken Child (Rhoades)
“Unmistaken Child” Is a True-Life Religious Quest
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
My friend Donna has become a Buddhist. She’s found an inner peace that has transformed her life. She says she’s gained an insight into the ultimate nature of reality. She believes in reincarnation.
I think she’d like “Unmistaken Child,” the new documentary that’s playing at the Tropic Cinema. It’s a film about a Tibetan monk, reincarnation, and the search for the “unmistaken child.”
In it, we follow a Tibetan monk named Tenzin Zopa as he’s sent by the Dali Lama on a quest to find the child who is the reincarnation of Tenzin’s recently deceased spiritual master.
It’s a ritual that has repeated itself over the centuries. But this time the monk is sporting a modern backpack, traveling in part by helicopter, and being filmed by an Israeli filmmaker.
Director Nati Baratz became interested in this real-life event when he and his wife attended a talk by Tenzin Zopa, who at the conclusion asked everyone to pray for his success in locating the reincarnation of his master Geshe Lama Konghog. The world-renowned Tibetan master passed away at age 84 in 2001.
“Tenzin really touched me in a profound way,” says Baratz. “He has a huge heart, and he’s very smart. And when I heard that he’s looking for the reincarnation of his master, I thought this is a movie I must make. I was obsessed with the idea. I couldn’t even sleep. I went to Tenzin and I said that I really respect him, but I don’t know how I feel about reincarnation, and I really want to make this movie, I must make this movie about his trying to find the child.”
To do the film he had to ask permission from a very senior lama. He waited four months while the monks thought about it and in the meantime found out everything about him. “They really checked me out,” Baratz says. “I even passed their astrology check.”
The story is a true-life religious quest that’s “profoundly meaningful and inherently mysterious.” The filming stretched out five and a half years because it took that long for Tenzin to find the child and determine that he was the true reincarnation. The first time we see the child, he’s one and a half years old. By the end of the film, he’s four and a half.
Does Baratz believe in reincarnation? “I think it doesn’t matter what I believe,” he replies quickly. “The point is that Tenzin believes it … so, the focus was for me not whether they found the reincarnation in the child, but the chance to watch Tenzin, and see how he was changing while he was looking for the child, and when he found the child.”
From Tenzin’s perspective, this child will not only become a great teacher, he’s actually Geshe Lama Konghog – incorporating both the master’s past karma and all his knowledge.
In the documentary Baratz shows the child behaving like child, sometimes happy, other times cranky. Crying while getting his head shaved, whining that he’s all alone when his parents leave him at the monastery and return to their village. “If Tenzin had made the film, I don’t think he would have shown that,” says Baratz. “He doesn’t object to the way the film is, but he would have made a much more holy film.”
Even so, the resulting documentary is very mindful and contemplative, allowing us to observe the Tibetan way of life in that faraway land where people live much as they did centuries ago.
Baratz says, “I moved with my wife and two year old daughter to India, just to give you an example of my commitment. It was great for her to live in the monastery and to play with the reincarnated child … We were really fortunate that they agreed to allow us to enter into the most private and hidden part of their life and tradition.”
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
My friend Donna has become a Buddhist. She’s found an inner peace that has transformed her life. She says she’s gained an insight into the ultimate nature of reality. She believes in reincarnation.
I think she’d like “Unmistaken Child,” the new documentary that’s playing at the Tropic Cinema. It’s a film about a Tibetan monk, reincarnation, and the search for the “unmistaken child.”
In it, we follow a Tibetan monk named Tenzin Zopa as he’s sent by the Dali Lama on a quest to find the child who is the reincarnation of Tenzin’s recently deceased spiritual master.
It’s a ritual that has repeated itself over the centuries. But this time the monk is sporting a modern backpack, traveling in part by helicopter, and being filmed by an Israeli filmmaker.
Director Nati Baratz became interested in this real-life event when he and his wife attended a talk by Tenzin Zopa, who at the conclusion asked everyone to pray for his success in locating the reincarnation of his master Geshe Lama Konghog. The world-renowned Tibetan master passed away at age 84 in 2001.
“Tenzin really touched me in a profound way,” says Baratz. “He has a huge heart, and he’s very smart. And when I heard that he’s looking for the reincarnation of his master, I thought this is a movie I must make. I was obsessed with the idea. I couldn’t even sleep. I went to Tenzin and I said that I really respect him, but I don’t know how I feel about reincarnation, and I really want to make this movie, I must make this movie about his trying to find the child.”
To do the film he had to ask permission from a very senior lama. He waited four months while the monks thought about it and in the meantime found out everything about him. “They really checked me out,” Baratz says. “I even passed their astrology check.”
The story is a true-life religious quest that’s “profoundly meaningful and inherently mysterious.” The filming stretched out five and a half years because it took that long for Tenzin to find the child and determine that he was the true reincarnation. The first time we see the child, he’s one and a half years old. By the end of the film, he’s four and a half.
Does Baratz believe in reincarnation? “I think it doesn’t matter what I believe,” he replies quickly. “The point is that Tenzin believes it … so, the focus was for me not whether they found the reincarnation in the child, but the chance to watch Tenzin, and see how he was changing while he was looking for the child, and when he found the child.”
From Tenzin’s perspective, this child will not only become a great teacher, he’s actually Geshe Lama Konghog – incorporating both the master’s past karma and all his knowledge.
In the documentary Baratz shows the child behaving like child, sometimes happy, other times cranky. Crying while getting his head shaved, whining that he’s all alone when his parents leave him at the monastery and return to their village. “If Tenzin had made the film, I don’t think he would have shown that,” says Baratz. “He doesn’t object to the way the film is, but he would have made a much more holy film.”
Even so, the resulting documentary is very mindful and contemplative, allowing us to observe the Tibetan way of life in that faraway land where people live much as they did centuries ago.
Baratz says, “I moved with my wife and two year old daughter to India, just to give you an example of my commitment. It was great for her to live in the monastery and to play with the reincarnated child … We were really fortunate that they agreed to allow us to enter into the most private and hidden part of their life and tradition.”
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Friday, September 4, 2009
Week of September 4 to September 10 (Mann)
What’s on at the Tropic
by Phil Mann
Time for a rant. How do we overcome the “curse of the subtitle?” Last week the Tropic showed a great little Japanese movie, winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Everybody who saw it loved it, but there weren’t very many of those. Of course it didn’t have big name stars (unless you think Masahiro Motoki is a big name) and it didn’t have a media-saturated TV promotion, but it did have those little words creeping across the bottom of the screen.
Now, I start with the assumption that people who come to the Tropic can read. And that they can walk and chew gum at the same time. We’re deeply into a world of multi-tasking, and CNN has a crawl that looks suspiciously like subtitles. Hell, the crawl isn’t even about the same thing as the screen visual. So what’s up with subtitle animus?
The reason I mention this is that one of this week’s new films, O’HORTEN, is a subtitled Norwegian movie. It has the unique distinction of a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating. To paraphrase the old Sara Lee slogan, “Everybody doesn’t like something, but nobody doesn’t like O’Horten.” The dialogue doesn’t really matter all that much, because it’s a weirdly comic film, dependent mostly on visual humor. The lead character, the aptly named Odd Horten, has retired after a forty-year career driving trains. Unleashed from the schedule and routine that have defined his life, he wanders into a world of mini-adventures. It’s not broad humor, and it’s not fast-paced. It’s been compared to Buster Keaton or Jacques Tati, full of the slow, droll, deadpan scenes that quietly tickle your funny bone.
If you’re game for some of that, give it a shot, and expand your multi-tasking capabilities.
Topping the Special Events calendar is the personal appearance of former Cagney and Lacey star Sharon Gless, here to present a pre-release premiere of her movie HANNAH FREE in connection with WomenFest. The movie will be shown at 6:30 and 9:00pm on Wednesday and Thursday only. Ms. Gless, along with the movie’s director Wendy Jo Carlton and WomenFest coordinator Karin Wolf, will be there for a Q & A after the early show on Wednesday. Carlton and Wolf, but not Ms. Gless, will do the same on Thursday.
Meanwhile, two popular new movies continue their runs: Nora Ephron’s JULIE AND JULIA starring Meryl Streep, and Ang Lee’s TAKING WOODSTOCK. They’re joined by a kid named HARRY POTTER, whose HALF-BLOOD PRINCE will be shown in daily matinees all week.
Streep’s portrayal of Julia Child is amazing. I’ve heard that Streep and Ephron (whose professional relationship dates back to the making of Silkwood in 1983) ran into each other in Central Park last year. When Streep heard that her friend was making a movie about the legendary cook and author, the actress immediately and spontaneously dropped into a dead-on Julia Child persona. You can be sure that the casting was never in doubt. JULIE AND JULIA is a sure bet for Best Actress nomination, if not more. Talent shows!
TAKING WOODSTOCK doesn’t have the same acting dynamite. It’s a surprisingly small film about a very big event. But I have to admit that I left the theater laughing and smiling. The warm glow of “three days of peace and love” is there. That’s what the movie is about: the feeling of Woodstock. We all need more of it.
Full info and schedules at TropicCinema.com
Comments, please, to pmann99@gmail.com
[from Solares Hill]
by Phil Mann
Time for a rant. How do we overcome the “curse of the subtitle?” Last week the Tropic showed a great little Japanese movie, winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Everybody who saw it loved it, but there weren’t very many of those. Of course it didn’t have big name stars (unless you think Masahiro Motoki is a big name) and it didn’t have a media-saturated TV promotion, but it did have those little words creeping across the bottom of the screen.
Now, I start with the assumption that people who come to the Tropic can read. And that they can walk and chew gum at the same time. We’re deeply into a world of multi-tasking, and CNN has a crawl that looks suspiciously like subtitles. Hell, the crawl isn’t even about the same thing as the screen visual. So what’s up with subtitle animus?
The reason I mention this is that one of this week’s new films, O’HORTEN, is a subtitled Norwegian movie. It has the unique distinction of a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating. To paraphrase the old Sara Lee slogan, “Everybody doesn’t like something, but nobody doesn’t like O’Horten.” The dialogue doesn’t really matter all that much, because it’s a weirdly comic film, dependent mostly on visual humor. The lead character, the aptly named Odd Horten, has retired after a forty-year career driving trains. Unleashed from the schedule and routine that have defined his life, he wanders into a world of mini-adventures. It’s not broad humor, and it’s not fast-paced. It’s been compared to Buster Keaton or Jacques Tati, full of the slow, droll, deadpan scenes that quietly tickle your funny bone.
If you’re game for some of that, give it a shot, and expand your multi-tasking capabilities.
Topping the Special Events calendar is the personal appearance of former Cagney and Lacey star Sharon Gless, here to present a pre-release premiere of her movie HANNAH FREE in connection with WomenFest. The movie will be shown at 6:30 and 9:00pm on Wednesday and Thursday only. Ms. Gless, along with the movie’s director Wendy Jo Carlton and WomenFest coordinator Karin Wolf, will be there for a Q & A after the early show on Wednesday. Carlton and Wolf, but not Ms. Gless, will do the same on Thursday.
Meanwhile, two popular new movies continue their runs: Nora Ephron’s JULIE AND JULIA starring Meryl Streep, and Ang Lee’s TAKING WOODSTOCK. They’re joined by a kid named HARRY POTTER, whose HALF-BLOOD PRINCE will be shown in daily matinees all week.
Streep’s portrayal of Julia Child is amazing. I’ve heard that Streep and Ephron (whose professional relationship dates back to the making of Silkwood in 1983) ran into each other in Central Park last year. When Streep heard that her friend was making a movie about the legendary cook and author, the actress immediately and spontaneously dropped into a dead-on Julia Child persona. You can be sure that the casting was never in doubt. JULIE AND JULIA is a sure bet for Best Actress nomination, if not more. Talent shows!
TAKING WOODSTOCK doesn’t have the same acting dynamite. It’s a surprisingly small film about a very big event. But I have to admit that I left the theater laughing and smiling. The warm glow of “three days of peace and love” is there. That’s what the movie is about: the feeling of Woodstock. We all need more of it.
Full info and schedules at TropicCinema.com
Comments, please, to pmann99@gmail.com
[from Solares Hill]
O'Horten (Rhoades)
“O’ Horten” Is Odd Little Film
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Norwegian director Bent Hamer wasn’t thinking in English when he decided to make a film about a 67-year-old railway conductor facing retirement. His main character is named Odd Horten. But this seemingly descriptive appellation wasn’t meant to reflect the man’s eccentric habit-bound nature. It was merely a serendipitous accident between languages. Odd is a fairly common name in Norway, it turns out.
The contraction of first and last name gives us the film’s title, “O’ Horten.” It’s currently playing at the Tropic Cinema.
Admittedly, this is more of a character study than anything else. “O’ Horten” has been described as “a movie without a strong plot or a clear chronology.”
On his next-to-last day at work, our man Odd fussily prepares for his final run between Oslo and Bergen, saying goodbye to old friends. But things go awry when he gets locked outside a surprise farewell party and winds up in the wrong room where a small boy asks him to stay until he can get to sleep. Dozing off himself, Odd finds that when he awakens his familiar trains-must-run-on-time life has been thrown off schedule.
The Fellini-esque sequences that follow give you a glimpse into the psyche of a man whose very existence is about to be changed by retirement. His senile mother awaiting death in an old age home. A favorite tobacconist who has just died. The misadventures that come with trying to dispose of his boat. Losing his shoes at a swimming pool. A new friend who turns out to be less permanent than expected.
Typical of Hamer’s films, the themes here are loneliness, old age, and the courage to take chances.
BÂrd Owe does a convincing job as Odd Horten. After making 30 movies in Scandinavia, this is his first leading role.
Espen Skjÿnberg stands out as Odd’s new friend. In fact, he was awarded a prestigious Amanda Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
“O’ Horten” itself received the Un Certain Regard nod at the Cannes Film Festival.
In a time when America’s Healthcare is being debated as a plan to “kill grandma” and Medicare is running out of funding, when Social Security is at issue and baby boomers are facing retirement, “O’ Horten” offers us an uncomfortable crystal ball.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Norwegian director Bent Hamer wasn’t thinking in English when he decided to make a film about a 67-year-old railway conductor facing retirement. His main character is named Odd Horten. But this seemingly descriptive appellation wasn’t meant to reflect the man’s eccentric habit-bound nature. It was merely a serendipitous accident between languages. Odd is a fairly common name in Norway, it turns out.
The contraction of first and last name gives us the film’s title, “O’ Horten.” It’s currently playing at the Tropic Cinema.
Admittedly, this is more of a character study than anything else. “O’ Horten” has been described as “a movie without a strong plot or a clear chronology.”
On his next-to-last day at work, our man Odd fussily prepares for his final run between Oslo and Bergen, saying goodbye to old friends. But things go awry when he gets locked outside a surprise farewell party and winds up in the wrong room where a small boy asks him to stay until he can get to sleep. Dozing off himself, Odd finds that when he awakens his familiar trains-must-run-on-time life has been thrown off schedule.
The Fellini-esque sequences that follow give you a glimpse into the psyche of a man whose very existence is about to be changed by retirement. His senile mother awaiting death in an old age home. A favorite tobacconist who has just died. The misadventures that come with trying to dispose of his boat. Losing his shoes at a swimming pool. A new friend who turns out to be less permanent than expected.
Typical of Hamer’s films, the themes here are loneliness, old age, and the courage to take chances.
BÂrd Owe does a convincing job as Odd Horten. After making 30 movies in Scandinavia, this is his first leading role.
Espen Skjÿnberg stands out as Odd’s new friend. In fact, he was awarded a prestigious Amanda Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
“O’ Horten” itself received the Un Certain Regard nod at the Cannes Film Festival.
In a time when America’s Healthcare is being debated as a plan to “kill grandma” and Medicare is running out of funding, when Social Security is at issue and baby boomers are facing retirement, “O’ Horten” offers us an uncomfortable crystal ball.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Hannah Free (Rhoades)
“Hannah Free” Brings Sharon Gless to Tropic
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
I just got off the phone with Sharon Gless, the star of a new film called “Hannah Free.” Wow, I’ve been a longtime fan. She was the blonde half of the popular “Cagney & Lacey” TV cop show. And later the mother on “Queer As Folk.”
Now she’s a co-star on “Burn Notice,” the hot action series found on the USA Network. “I feel like I just fell into a pot of jam,” Sharon laughs raucously. “It’s the number one show on cable television.”
She’s a big-hearted lady, easy to like, both funny and fun. I could chat with her for hours on end, pausing every now and then to let her light up another cigarette. Her character on “Burn Notice” is a chain-smoker. “I’ve got a cigarette in my hand right now as we talk,” she admits the similarity.
But what we’re really discussing is her visit this week to Key West. Her latest film – a poignant lesbian love story called “Hannah Free” – makes its Florida premiere at the Tropic Cinema on Wednesday night. It’s a centerpiece of this year’s Womenfest Key West celebration.
Sharon Gless will be on hand for the screening, along with producer Tracy Baim and director Wendy Jo Carlton.
“Hannah Free” is the story of two women at the end of their days, after a lifelong on-and-off love affair. Now Hannah is tucked away in a convalescent hospital recuperating from a fall. And in another wing is Rachel lying in a coma. Keeping Hannah from saying goodbye to her friend and lover is Rachel’s uptight daughter, ashamed of the unconventional relationship between the two women.
Then a student shows up to interview Hannah about living through the Depression. Greta’s as feisty as Hannah is crusty. When she learns about this separation of two old friends, she offers a nighttime excursion past nurses and cleaning crew to take Hannah to Rachel’s bedside.
With a touch of magical realism, this interplay is observed by the spirit of a 30-year-old Rachel, an image conjured up by the grieving Hannah.
This present-day drama frequently gives way to flashbacks: the two children kissing in the barn, the young adults exploring their sexual relationship amid war years, Rachael’s short marriage, Hannah’s wanderlust and infidelities, both growing older.
First-time director Wendy Jo Carlton handles these time-shifts smoothly, delivering a first-rate film. And the script by Claudia Allen, based on her play, is strong on message without seeming so.
The acting – mostly Chicago stage veterans – is a cut above many gay indie films. Bring your handkerchief unless you’re too butch to admit the emotions.
Kelli Strickland (adult Hannah) looks enough like a younger Sharon Gless to be her kid sister. In truth, she’s a director and acting teacher at Loyola University, no Hollywood credits to her name. Quite a find.
Anne Hagemann (adult Rachael) does double duty, appearing in the flashbacks as well as materializing as the spirit in the older Hannah’s recovery room.
Taylor Miller (Rachael’s daughter Marge) is a more experienced television actress, perfectly capturing the conflicts of a conservative woman in denial about her mother’s lover.
Jacqui Jackson (Greta) gives a strong performance as the mysterious student who has come to visit “Grandma Hannah.”
Maureen Gallagher (older Rachel) has less to do, being in a coma much of the movie. But her scenes with Gless are touching.
Sharon Gless (older Hannah) proves she’s a pro, holding the drama together like glue. Hannah’s is the story that’s being told – the happiness, the tears, the faults, the infidelities, the adventuresome nature, the love lost and found.
But at the core of Claudia Allen’s script is the pain (and love) in letting go.
“I’m very proud of the film,” says Sharon Gless. “It was a labor of love. Thirty percent of the crew worked for nothing. I worked at the lowest SAG (Screen Actors Guild) minimum that you’re allowed to, but I would’ve done it for nothing.”
Gless is a strong advocate for gay and lesbian causes. She was recently chosen “Gay Icon of the Year.”
“The truth is, the gay community and lesbian community have been so wonderful to me, so supportive of me throughout my career,” says Gless.
“I proudly walked with my gay granddaughter in San Francisco’s parade,” she tells me.
Now she goes on to her next project, a play based on the book “A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance.” Having optioned the rights eight years ago, it will open in San Francisco. “It’s very out there,” Sharon told me. “I get to have an orgasm on stage.”
But she can’t help returning to the subject at hand, “Hannah Free.”
“It’s a lovely little film,” she muses to me over the phone.
Yes, I had to agree.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
I just got off the phone with Sharon Gless, the star of a new film called “Hannah Free.” Wow, I’ve been a longtime fan. She was the blonde half of the popular “Cagney & Lacey” TV cop show. And later the mother on “Queer As Folk.”
Now she’s a co-star on “Burn Notice,” the hot action series found on the USA Network. “I feel like I just fell into a pot of jam,” Sharon laughs raucously. “It’s the number one show on cable television.”
She’s a big-hearted lady, easy to like, both funny and fun. I could chat with her for hours on end, pausing every now and then to let her light up another cigarette. Her character on “Burn Notice” is a chain-smoker. “I’ve got a cigarette in my hand right now as we talk,” she admits the similarity.
But what we’re really discussing is her visit this week to Key West. Her latest film – a poignant lesbian love story called “Hannah Free” – makes its Florida premiere at the Tropic Cinema on Wednesday night. It’s a centerpiece of this year’s Womenfest Key West celebration.
Sharon Gless will be on hand for the screening, along with producer Tracy Baim and director Wendy Jo Carlton.
“Hannah Free” is the story of two women at the end of their days, after a lifelong on-and-off love affair. Now Hannah is tucked away in a convalescent hospital recuperating from a fall. And in another wing is Rachel lying in a coma. Keeping Hannah from saying goodbye to her friend and lover is Rachel’s uptight daughter, ashamed of the unconventional relationship between the two women.
Then a student shows up to interview Hannah about living through the Depression. Greta’s as feisty as Hannah is crusty. When she learns about this separation of two old friends, she offers a nighttime excursion past nurses and cleaning crew to take Hannah to Rachel’s bedside.
With a touch of magical realism, this interplay is observed by the spirit of a 30-year-old Rachel, an image conjured up by the grieving Hannah.
This present-day drama frequently gives way to flashbacks: the two children kissing in the barn, the young adults exploring their sexual relationship amid war years, Rachael’s short marriage, Hannah’s wanderlust and infidelities, both growing older.
First-time director Wendy Jo Carlton handles these time-shifts smoothly, delivering a first-rate film. And the script by Claudia Allen, based on her play, is strong on message without seeming so.
The acting – mostly Chicago stage veterans – is a cut above many gay indie films. Bring your handkerchief unless you’re too butch to admit the emotions.
Kelli Strickland (adult Hannah) looks enough like a younger Sharon Gless to be her kid sister. In truth, she’s a director and acting teacher at Loyola University, no Hollywood credits to her name. Quite a find.
Anne Hagemann (adult Rachael) does double duty, appearing in the flashbacks as well as materializing as the spirit in the older Hannah’s recovery room.
Taylor Miller (Rachael’s daughter Marge) is a more experienced television actress, perfectly capturing the conflicts of a conservative woman in denial about her mother’s lover.
Jacqui Jackson (Greta) gives a strong performance as the mysterious student who has come to visit “Grandma Hannah.”
Maureen Gallagher (older Rachel) has less to do, being in a coma much of the movie. But her scenes with Gless are touching.
Sharon Gless (older Hannah) proves she’s a pro, holding the drama together like glue. Hannah’s is the story that’s being told – the happiness, the tears, the faults, the infidelities, the adventuresome nature, the love lost and found.
But at the core of Claudia Allen’s script is the pain (and love) in letting go.
“I’m very proud of the film,” says Sharon Gless. “It was a labor of love. Thirty percent of the crew worked for nothing. I worked at the lowest SAG (Screen Actors Guild) minimum that you’re allowed to, but I would’ve done it for nothing.”
Gless is a strong advocate for gay and lesbian causes. She was recently chosen “Gay Icon of the Year.”
“The truth is, the gay community and lesbian community have been so wonderful to me, so supportive of me throughout my career,” says Gless.
“I proudly walked with my gay granddaughter in San Francisco’s parade,” she tells me.
Now she goes on to her next project, a play based on the book “A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance.” Having optioned the rights eight years ago, it will open in San Francisco. “It’s very out there,” Sharon told me. “I get to have an orgasm on stage.”
But she can’t help returning to the subject at hand, “Hannah Free.”
“It’s a lovely little film,” she muses to me over the phone.
Yes, I had to agree.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Rhoades)
“Harry Potter” Works Its Magic at the Box Office
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
When I was a group publisher at Scholastic, we knew we had to keep the pipeline filled with new ideas. At the time The Baby-Sitters Club was our bread-and-butter book series. Later on, it was the Goosebumps books. And then, Harry Potter. Now that the last volume of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books has been published, the hunt is on at Scholastic for another bestselling concept.
Not so for the movies. Hollywood has a few more Harry Potter books to go. The film that’s now playing at the Tropic Cinema – “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – is merely number six. (And the seventh and final book will be divided into two movies in order to stretch out the box-office bonanza for this blockbuster series.)
Even if you’ve read the book, there has been a number of changes in this fantasy adventure film about young wizards and their battle against the evil Death Eaters. In particular, the ending has been altered and such scenes as Dumbledore’s funeral and the climactic battle have been removed.
There’s bonus footage too. Scenes of the Death Eaters terrorizing the community – only mentioned in passing in the book – have been added. And there’s an expanded subplot surrounding Dumbledore's wand.
“We’ve kind of altered our story to make sure we don’t tread on the toes of what comes in ‘Deathly Hallows,’” admits director David Yates (who also did the last movie and is working on the final two).
Yet, Hogwarts Castle and its students and teachers remain visually faithful to the books and earlier films. “We’ve established a world and it’s a parallel world to our own,” says producer David Heyman. “We’re quite strict about making sure we don’t … stray off into the realm of the fantastical as opposed to the magical.”
Although aging before our very eyes, the three stars return. Daniel Radcliffe, with round spectacles and lightning bolt scar on his forehead, is forever our hero Harry Potter. Redheaded Rupert Grint is Harry’s buddy Ron Weasley. And blossoming Emma Watson is Hermione Granger, the boys’ BFF.
You also see the return of the half-giant Hagrid (Robby Coltrane), smarmy Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), bad witch Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter), motherly Minerva McGonagall (Dame Maggie Smith), fatherly Albus Dumbledore (Sir Michael Gambon), and dastardly Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). Figuring prominently in this story is Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent).
This time around the wizardry school is under attack by the Death Eaters. And knowing that Horace Slughorn holds vital information needed to defeat Lord Voldemort’s minions, Headmaster Dumbledore lures the former potions professor back to the school “with promises of more money, a bigger office, and the chance to teach the famous Harry Potter.”
Harry steps up to the task. “His want – or his need – in this film is basically to kill Voldemort, and he realizes that the way in which he’ll do this is to become Dumbledore’s favorite foot soldier,” says Radcliffe. “That’s the role you’ll see him gradually moving toward in this film.”
Also, love is in the air, as thick as mustard gas, with Harry smitten on Ron’s sister Ginny and Ron falling into the romantic clutches of Lavender Brown to Hermione’s dismay. As one moviegoer aptly puts it, “Teenage hormones rage across the ramparts.”
Despite J. K. Rowling’s revelation that she envisioned Albus Dumbledore as being gay, the film maintains an ambiguous don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach to the character. The news about Dumbledore’s sexuality prompted Michael Gambon to playfully “camp it up” around the set, but his on-screen performance is spot-on in a role he took over from the late Richard Harris.
And despite threats of quitting, weary Emma Watson was talked into returning simply because she “could not bear to see anyone else play Hermione.”
Translated into 65 languages, the last four Harry Potter books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history. “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” sold nine million copies in the first 24 hours after its release, a record only broken by its sequel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
Harry Potter is now a global brand worth an estimated $15 billion. The last film in the series by itself did just under a billion dollars in worldwide ticket sales.
So there’s nothing magic in my prediction that this movie will conjure up a big summer box office.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
When I was a group publisher at Scholastic, we knew we had to keep the pipeline filled with new ideas. At the time The Baby-Sitters Club was our bread-and-butter book series. Later on, it was the Goosebumps books. And then, Harry Potter. Now that the last volume of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books has been published, the hunt is on at Scholastic for another bestselling concept.
Not so for the movies. Hollywood has a few more Harry Potter books to go. The film that’s now playing at the Tropic Cinema – “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – is merely number six. (And the seventh and final book will be divided into two movies in order to stretch out the box-office bonanza for this blockbuster series.)
Even if you’ve read the book, there has been a number of changes in this fantasy adventure film about young wizards and their battle against the evil Death Eaters. In particular, the ending has been altered and such scenes as Dumbledore’s funeral and the climactic battle have been removed.
There’s bonus footage too. Scenes of the Death Eaters terrorizing the community – only mentioned in passing in the book – have been added. And there’s an expanded subplot surrounding Dumbledore's wand.
“We’ve kind of altered our story to make sure we don’t tread on the toes of what comes in ‘Deathly Hallows,’” admits director David Yates (who also did the last movie and is working on the final two).
Yet, Hogwarts Castle and its students and teachers remain visually faithful to the books and earlier films. “We’ve established a world and it’s a parallel world to our own,” says producer David Heyman. “We’re quite strict about making sure we don’t … stray off into the realm of the fantastical as opposed to the magical.”
Although aging before our very eyes, the three stars return. Daniel Radcliffe, with round spectacles and lightning bolt scar on his forehead, is forever our hero Harry Potter. Redheaded Rupert Grint is Harry’s buddy Ron Weasley. And blossoming Emma Watson is Hermione Granger, the boys’ BFF.
You also see the return of the half-giant Hagrid (Robby Coltrane), smarmy Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), bad witch Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter), motherly Minerva McGonagall (Dame Maggie Smith), fatherly Albus Dumbledore (Sir Michael Gambon), and dastardly Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). Figuring prominently in this story is Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent).
This time around the wizardry school is under attack by the Death Eaters. And knowing that Horace Slughorn holds vital information needed to defeat Lord Voldemort’s minions, Headmaster Dumbledore lures the former potions professor back to the school “with promises of more money, a bigger office, and the chance to teach the famous Harry Potter.”
Harry steps up to the task. “His want – or his need – in this film is basically to kill Voldemort, and he realizes that the way in which he’ll do this is to become Dumbledore’s favorite foot soldier,” says Radcliffe. “That’s the role you’ll see him gradually moving toward in this film.”
Also, love is in the air, as thick as mustard gas, with Harry smitten on Ron’s sister Ginny and Ron falling into the romantic clutches of Lavender Brown to Hermione’s dismay. As one moviegoer aptly puts it, “Teenage hormones rage across the ramparts.”
Despite J. K. Rowling’s revelation that she envisioned Albus Dumbledore as being gay, the film maintains an ambiguous don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach to the character. The news about Dumbledore’s sexuality prompted Michael Gambon to playfully “camp it up” around the set, but his on-screen performance is spot-on in a role he took over from the late Richard Harris.
And despite threats of quitting, weary Emma Watson was talked into returning simply because she “could not bear to see anyone else play Hermione.”
Translated into 65 languages, the last four Harry Potter books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history. “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” sold nine million copies in the first 24 hours after its release, a record only broken by its sequel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
Harry Potter is now a global brand worth an estimated $15 billion. The last film in the series by itself did just under a billion dollars in worldwide ticket sales.
So there’s nothing magic in my prediction that this movie will conjure up a big summer box office.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
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