Week of April 6 to April 12 (Mann)

What’s on at the Tropic
by Phil Mann

It’s time for some fun at the Tropic.

JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME, is a “sweet, surprising comedy” (Joe Williams, St. Louis Post Dispatch). Jeff (Jason Segel – Bad Teacher, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) is a slacker. Though a grown man, he doesn’t merely live at his mother’s, he is embedded there, in the basement, on a couch. But then one day, he goes forth, to the hardware store to buy some glue for his mother (Susan Sarandon) and all hell breaks loose, for him, and for his tight-assed brother (Ed Helms – Hangover, Cedar Rapids) who seems to care about nothing other than buying a Porche which he can’t afford.

“The unassuming, dryly funny, often ramshackle Jeff, Who Lives at Home — the latest from director brothers Jay and Mark Duplass — seems unlikely to be as emotionally rich as it is. Both Jeff and the film have a way of sneaking up on you.” (Ian Buckwalter, NPR)

“It is small, it is smart, it is quirky… But it also is a deceptive film -- and wonderfully so.” (Mike Scott, New Orleans Times-Picayune)

W./E. is the ticket if you don’t like schlubby slackers. How about elegant, upscale ones. Isn’t that what the legendary Duke and Duchess of Windsor were? After all, he quit a pretty big job (King of England) to just hang with his girl and go to parties. Writer/Director Madonna tells their story in W./E.(which alludes to the shorthand by which Wallis and Edward were known.)You might think of this film as the prequel to last year’s hit The King’s Speech. The stuttering Bertie, who stepped into his brother’s role, makes a brief appearance as we delve into the backstory of his good fortune.

Madonna, who has long been fascinated by Wallis Warfield Simpson’s vault to fame, has taken an interesting approach to the narrative. The story is told through flashbacks, as a young, unhappily married Manhattan woman, Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish- Bright Star), explores her namesake’s history at high-end auction houses and museums. Andrea Riseborough (Maid in Dagenham) and James D’Arcy (Master and Commander) capture W. and E. perfectly, and the portrayal of their lush, vacuous life is gorgeously depicted on screen, with an enchanting soundtrack.

“W.E. is all about shameless visual pleasure,…. a world of impossibly rich reds, impeccably coiffed hairdos, mirrored dressers filled with luscious Chanel makeup, irresistibly polished Martini shakers, five-billion-thread count Pratesi bed sheets…. Madonna handles this film like a masterful aesthetician.” (Diego Costa, Slant Magazine)

If the story is a bit empty, well, weren’t their lives.

The lives of CHICO & RITA are quite a contrast. He’s a jazz pianist and she’s a singer, both Cuban, living in the wild, licentious Havana before Castro. When they get together, the music and love are so hot you’ll be reassured that the Tropic has sprinklers, just in case. This unique film was nominated for Best Animated Feature. It lost out to the blockbuster kids film Rango. No surprise. Chico & Rita is not for kids. It’s blessedly free of cute anthropomorphized creatures. And it’s a lot sexier than an NC-17 rated movie like Shame.

“A dazzling and delightful work of modernist animation, a classic movie romance and a hip-swinging, finger-popping tale of musical revolution,…. I’m here to tell you that the niche for “Chico & Rita” includes you, if you are interested in music or art or movies or love.” (Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com)

“This is definitely animation for grown-ups — its look is voluptuous, sexy and sultry; its Latin-inflected Dizzy Gillespie sound is seductive.” (Betsy Sharkey, L.A. Times)

Quite a different musical mood is captured in CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE, a documentary about the famed musical star. Full of archival footage from the day, and contemporary interviews with Carol herself (now 91 and full of spunk), plus others including Marge Champion, Phyllis Diller, Tippi Hedren, and Tyne Daly

“A terrifically entertaining, smartly constructed trip down memory lane with one of the American stage's most legendary troupers.” (Gary Goldstein, L.A. Times)

This week’s Monday Classic is Woody Allen’s THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985), in which Mia Farrow mixes with a movie character (Jeff Daniels) who steps off screen into her life. It’s a mix of fantasy and reality that Woody brought to perfection in last year’s Midnight in Paris.

Full schedules and info at TropicCinema.com or TCKW.info

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway 

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life

A celebrational  documentary on the irrepressible Carol Channing has arrived in town for those of us needing a stimulating New York fix. "Carol Channing: Larger Than Life" is a delightful, disarming confection of a film that will sneak up on you and blow you a kiss in much the same way that Carol Channing might if she saw you on the street.

This is a breezy and charming record of a life that is still very much in motion and both the person and the living Hirschfeld cartoon that is Carol moves across the eye like a bright ribbon. This is no rapidly made tribute film put on auto-pilot, but a thoughtful collection of a legendary life well-lived and analyzed, without selfishness.

Many know Channing as the frenetic blonde bird that comes at the audience with full volume as loud as can be, but I prefer the hidden Channing as revealed in this film: whiskey-voiced and  wise, soft spoken and glib, speaking of ghosts, ebony chanteuses, of kisses taken and misplaced. Such is life.

To see her walking Broadway is a Zen event. Channing is part Andy Warhol flower and part Manhattan magpie. She is a living legend with a story for every gossip rag. To see Channing walk the street, armed with a smile and intention is a wonder. She is no Ditz. And best of all, she is open and approachable.

The film doesn't so much chronicle as it does let Channing tell her story and she does so with gush, verve and violet gusto. Channing is center-stage but never egotistical, and that's all we need.  She is a chimerical chime at 91, her mind and (lips) at full fuchsia fusion with the racing heart of a Broadway bunny.
We may already know of her legendary success with "Hello, Dolly!" (As Jerry Herman says, She IS Dolly.) But what is  more striking is the love she has for her childhood sweetheart, Harry, who she married after being apart from him over 65 years later. Harry was forced to split with Channing over military service. Their scenes together make some of the most heartfelt footage you'll ever see in a documentary and that's even without any kissing. The segments have as much romantic pathos as "The Titanic" and a big part of this is the breaking quality in Channing's lost mascara voice.

We also see her transformation into a pop Icon, meeting Jackie O, Alfred Hitchcock, Andy Warhol, Bill Clinton, and last but not least being fawned over by the sarcastic and furry Snagglepuss, Bruce Vilanch: a dynamic duo for the Millennium.

The daring thing about "Channing: Larger Than Life" is that it takes in all sides of Carol: The trademark, the activist for arts in public schools and gay rights, the romantic, and last but not least, a bright beacon for a living and enthusiastic Broadway that still burns.

Carol Channing has all these facets and none of them are square---all are embodied in that power of Pink.

Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com

W./E. (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway 
"W./E."

Sorpresa! The Notorious Madonna Ciccone has her fingers in many sprockets, but not this one. She has now tried her hand at a biopic of the American Jezebel Wallis Simpson  of all things and injected it with more than a bit of melodramatic absinthe, which comes across as creme de menthe.  All the same, I give her well deserved credit, in spite of it all.

The film "W./E." unfolds like a history lesson from cyberspace, which is not to take away from it, but it does make for addled viewing. We are shown a young girl in present day, getting beat up by an officer in a puddle of blood. The girl is Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) whose family has an obsession with Mrs. Simpson. Why? We dont know. Right from the start, the film merges, mixes and blends into a Vaudevillian photo shoot by Vanity Fair. Then there is an abrupt cut to  the 1930s as The Femme Fatale Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough) sneaks and snakes her way into the domestic inner circle of Prince Edward. Then another flash to present day as Wally learns she can't get pregnant with her handsome but emotionally vile husband (Richard Coyle)  Then, yet again, another flashback to Edward VIII in Wales, rallying the poor. Bloody Hell. This gets confusing. For the first half hour, the film has as much substance as a music video. But this is Madonna after all. 

In watching the film, you have to forgive Madonna her poetic license. The parallel lives shared between Wally and Wallis (yes, the names appear a bit kitschy in print) are a stretch and a leap of faith, reminiscent of "The Hours" and "Julie & Julia", but that doesn't bother me as much as the simplistic treatment of young Wally and her struggle, making the relationship with her husband a bit one dimensional: The Cad vs the Struggling Young Lady. Only to be rescued by a strong and sensitive Hunk, an Evgeni from Russia of course, played by Oscar Isaac. Everything is underlined and there are no shades of gray. 

The most provocative thing about "W./E." is its fetishistic attention to object and detail; the arc of a red lip, the curve of an eyebrow, the cloak of a dark veil as forbidding and mysterious as a succubus's confessional closet. The importance of sex is ritualized as a Religion or sacred art and a bejeweled  Cartier crucifix is the key that unlocks a fleshly and marital Eden. 

A pair of gloves, a silver necklace or the whole catalogue of Cartier, becomes more important than any love letter or Wallis-dispensed kiss.

Oscar Wilde fans take heart: The spirit of Dorian Gray is alive and well.

"W./E." is as much about Madonna as it is about Wallis Simpson. For years, Madonna has wanted to film Frida Kahlo, and I think she has found her karmic Kahlo-spirit, in the tight shape of Wallis Simpson. One look at those heavy knitted  eyebrows that look like woolen ribbons  say everything about a strong dramatic woman in distress, a  Scarlet Lady carrying on.
W./E." is a "W"-esque  magazine collage of Harlequin romance confusion and compelling pathos. It is an odd, flashy novelty of a film, but it doesn't deserve a Razzie, I  only wish it had more depth in its portrayal of those royal initials.



Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com

Jeff, Who Lives at Home (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway 

Jeff, Who Lives at Home

"Jeff, Who Lives at Home" is a title and a film that would make dubious entertainment, were it not for the considerable mumblecore talents of Jay and Mark Duplass. True, it doesn't break ground, taking its plot cue slightly from Noah Baumbach's "Greenberg" about a depressive person who can't seem too accomplish much. This film however, is considerably lighter and much more upbeat, although we are shown a brown interior that is uncannily like "Greenberg" but in this case it's Jeff's mother's basement. Jeff (Jason Segel) is a thirty-something fellow who worries about the state of the world and looks for clues to things. He scribbles about word jumbles and numerology to keep himself busy. His favorite film is "Signs". Jeff is tall gentle and mushy. He is a "Sesame Street" version of a shut in or someone with OCD. There is nothing remotely scary about him, but his passivity is a bit unsettling.

Set on an errand, Jeff emotionally collides with his type A brother Pat (Ed Helms) Helms, who got his showbiz start on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" shows his versatility here. And Helms is not all that comic here but an absolute anal retentive straight man to Segel's  spaced out puffiness. The chemistry between them, as with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen in 50/50" is the best thing about the film. What emerges in the course of  "Jeff, Who Lives at Home" is a kind of Abbott and Costello journey for the Duplass duo.

We get solid performances from Segel, Helms, Susan Sarandon and Rae Dawn Chong. It's just (except for Chong) these actors are so iconic in other roles that they have become typecast. We know Ed Helms is going to play someone uptight and nervous (ala The Hangover) just as we know Jason Segel is apt to play somebody soft, kind and altruistic (Forgetting Sarah Marshall). The performances are fine. I just wanted a bit more surprise and a few imponderables.

The dialogue between supposed deadbeat Jeff and angry Pat is sure to please. All the characters have spirit and their exchanges rival anything in "The Hangover" or "Bridesmaids", I just feel the film would do better to not explain all its secrets and circumstances. What starts as a promising three-pronged character study between the spaced out symbol hungry Jeff, his self-centered brother and their love-saddened mom, loses its pull when it becomes slapstick involving abused love and a go-find-her-march to "the right thing", then attempts to stitch it all together like a tv sitcom with an indie's spiritual consciousness.

What if Jeff's search for "Kevin" ( don't worry I don't mean the psychotic one) led to ambiguity and a further, more meaningful self reflection instead of an all too pat (pun intended) redemption? Now that would have been a provocative film.

That being said,"Jeff, Who Lives at Home" makes for a pleasing comedy worth leaving for, just don't look for any deep eurekas of the heart. 

Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com

Chico & Rita (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway 

Chico & Rita

For those of you who feel the concrete world contains too many rough edges, there is "Chico & Rita", loosely based on the legendary pianist Bebo Valdes and singer Rita Montaner, who rivals the 1920s pop icon Josephine Baker. The film is a voluptual tour de force, as much about art and music as it is about the history of Cuba before the Castro Revolution.

At the start of the film, we are in present day Cuba. The camera moves in on an anonymous man, shifting through the dusty and broken streets. He enters his room which is little more than a tenement. He is surrounded by broken crockery, dusty housewares and a spare mattress. Everything is toned in ochre. The lines of the minimal room appear either jagged and out to get him or lightly traced, tentative and full of heartbreak. Then, a radio plays an old song by Chico & Rita. In an instant, we are back in the 1950s and the animation style magically transforms. Gone are the sketchy, busy lines of Cuba in the present day. Our eyes are now immersed in the rich glossy colors of a  pre-revolution Technicolor, where all elements are carbonated for the eyes.

We are in a smoky Cuban bar. There is a piano. When we see a slender reticent man and his long familiar hands, it becomes clear that it is the old man from the apartment and he is indeed someone notable. His name is Chico. He is a piano player and he Is nationally famous. 
We also see Rita. She is part Chinese calligraphy and part dulce de leche  with the curving lines of Jessica Rabbit, but free associations aside, she is a completely delicious representation of Rita Montaner. 

Even though we are physically in the world of animation, we could just as well be in the world of 3D flesh and blood, for we see nothing less than the rise and fall (and the rise again) of Love as meaningful as "Casablanca", "Life is Beautiful" or "Midnight in Paris". In addition to a human love story, this film is also a love story between a country and a human universal spirit, where Cuba appears as a cultural zenith of motion and magic. What first appears as a broken city of fragmented lines and shattered perspective like scenes from a wilted and soggy coloring book, now becomes crisp, clear and hyper saturated with an inky glamour. 

We also see jazz greats Charlie Parker, Tito Puente and Thelonius Monk along with percussionist Chano Pozo.

"Chico & Rita" beeps and bops, a topical  musical valentine that possesses an added soft shoe message of free trade and transport that turns in a samba and doesn't let you go. It chronicles an era  when a film noir sensibility hit Cuba in its heyday. It has never appeared as lively, affectionate or darkly mischievous as it is seen here with shadows as rich as coffee. 
"Chico & Rita" makes a genuine retinal rhumba across the eye and you would do well to not sit out this dance---it is one that will stay with you.

Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com

W./E. (Rhoades)

“W./E.” Explores the We

In Wallis and Edward

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

When I worked in the Bahamas, one of my staff lived in the apartment once occupied by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor – the royal couple exiled to this Commonwealth outpost when he gave up the British throne “for the woman I love.”

Thus, whenever we used the john, we referred to it as “sitting on the throne.”

King Edward VII and the American divorcée Wallis Simpson were the love story of their time (he abdicated in December 1936). You can relive this precursor to Charles and Camilla at the Tropic Cinema where “W./E.” is currently reigning.

“W./E.” explores this romance through the eyes of Wally Winthrop, a New Yorker who becomes obsessed with what she sees as the ultimate love story. Six decades after the royal couple married, this namesake begins to research Wallis and Edward in order to better understand something about her own marriage. She prowls Sotheby’s where the Windsor Estate is being auctioned off. But what she uncovers is a different story than found in the history books.

Skipping back and forth between the two stories (think: “Julie & Julia”), Wally (played by Abbie Cornish) compares her abusive marriage with the relationship of Wallis (Andrea Riseborough) and Edward (James D’Arcy), from their glamorous courtship to loss of the throne to the unhappy decades that followed.

Directed by Madonna (the singer), the film has received scathing reviews and has earned back only a million or so of its just-under $30-million production costs.

Why a movie about fallen royalty? Having lived in London with now-ex-hubby filmmaker Guy Ritchie (“Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”), Madonna has become something of an Anglophile. So it’s not surprising that she picked this oh-so-British subject for her second outing as a film director. Trying to show her stuff, she chose to be the film’s director, producer, screenwriter, and song composer. Meanwhile, Guy Ritchie has gone on to have success with the two “Sherlock Holmes” blockbusters starring Robert Downey, Jr.

On the other hand, Madonna (née Madonna Louise Ciccone) has sold more than 300 million albums worldwide and is recognized by Guinness World Records as the top-selling female recording artist of all time. Hmm, maybe this material girl should stick to what she’s good at.

Or do a sequel to her “Sex” book.

As for Wallis Simpson, she was never an Anglophile. She told her husband, “I hate this country. I shall hate it to my grave.” She was not allowed to be addressed as “Her Royal Highness.” And the Royal Family would not receive her formally or accept her as part of the family.

The Duke of Windsor served as governor of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas from 1940 to 1945. He was not a popular governor, often referring to the Bahamas as “a third-class British colony.” The editor of the Nassau Daily Tribune once told me that Wallis and Edward often fought in public. So much for the perfect love story.

srhoades@aol.com

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (Rhoades)

Carol Channing Is

“Larger Than Life”

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

To me, she will always be Dolly Gallagher Levi, the matchmaker in “Hello Dolly!” Others will think of her as Lorelei Lee in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.”

 This is bright-eyed Carol Channing, who originated those roles on Broadway. No matter that Barbra Streisand and Marilyn Monroe usurped them on screen.

Fact is, Carol Channing won a Tony for “Hello Dolly!” – but Streisand was only nominated for a Golden Globe for the movie version.

Channing also snagged a Grammy Hall of Fame award for the original cast recording of “Hello Dolly!” She was nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role as a flapper in “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

Back in 1981 she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. And in 1995 she received a Tony Lifetime Achievement Award. She also received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre in 2001.

I used to watch her on TV, the old black-and-white Emerson flickering as she did guest stints on “What’s My Line” and other near-forgotten shows. Her thickly lashed eyes and clownish smile looked like a Hirschfield caricature. In fact, he did one of her.

In the world of show business, she was what you called a trouper, always displaying an on-with-the-show attitude. She has been called a “Broadway diva extraordinaire,” as a compliment.

Carol Channing is now in her 90s. And director Dori Berinstein has made a documentary about her that’s aptly titled “Carol Channing: Larger Than Life.” It’s now playing at the Tropic Cinema.

The doc traces her story from childhood in San Francisco to her life on Broadway, with a few stopovers in Hollywood, right up till today.

The director knows the territory. Berinstein’s films include “Show Business: The Road to Broadway” (2007) and “Gotta Dance” (2008).

Put this documentary in the same category as the recent “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.” A show biz bio that actually lets you get to know the subject, rather than glossing over their life like a chintzy TV E! Channel biography.

You get all the behind-the-scenes Broadway hoopla. But the heartwarming story here is that of Channing’s last marriage, after three previous husbands. Turns out, her junior high school sweetheart read in her memoir “Just Lucky I Guess” that she remembered him fondly. So Harry Kullijian got in touch with his old flame and after 65 years apart they rekindled their romance and wed at the age of 82. Working together on foundations that support arts education in California schools, they found a true happiness. He passed away in December 2011 on the eve of his 92nd birthday.

Yes, you’ll leave the theater feeling good about Carol Channing. And about growing old, with her as the cheerleader for a satisfying life.

She once famously said, “...if you're lucky enough to have two hit shows, the world passes through your dressing room.” Carol Channing has enjoyed quite a parade. You’ll met her friends and admirers, among them Loni Anderson, Marge Champion, Tyne Daly, Tippi Hedron, Rich Little, and Phyllis Diller.

As the lyrics to “Hello Dolly!” go: “You’re still glowin’/ you're still crowin’/ You’re still goin’ strong.” That’s the smiling, goggle-eyed nonogenarian we meet in “Carol Channing: Larger Than Life.”

srhoades@aol.com