Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, Rodman Flender’s intimate documentary account of the comedian’s 30-city “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour,” goes into limited release tomorrow. Aside from being uproariously funny (with O’Brien at his spontaneous, reactive best), it is also a fascinating account of a superstar comedian’s life on the road: the rehearsals, the travel, the meet-and-greets, the stress. Of course, Flender isn’t the first documentarian to take a close look at the business of stand-up, or the complex psychology of the working comedian; we’ve assembled just a few of the best documentaries about comics after the jump.
Read More »
Documentary fans the world over are mourning the passing of the great Richard Leacock, who died yesterday at 89. Leacock, known as “Ricky” to his friends and colleagues, was best known as one of the founding fathers of the “direct cinema” movement. Direct cinema (often conflated with cinéma vérité, though there are subtle differences between the two forms) was the groundbreaking documentary technique that utilized handheld cameras and portable sound recording equipment to create observational, fly-on-the-wall works — films that “directly” captured their subjects, without the interference of the filmmaker.
This might sound like a no-brainer, since the direct cinema style has become our most immediate notion of what a documentary is, from the films of Leacock and his contemporaries right down to the reality shows of today. But before these groundbreakers, most documentaries were just talking-head-and-archival-footage jobs — films that explained the past, rather than capturing the present. The direct cinema directors and cameramen saw the development of lightweight 16mm Arriflex film cameras and Nagra’s mobile audio gear in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a way to shake all of that up. In the process, they created a vital new film form. In honor of Leacock, join us after the jump for a look at a few of the touchstones of the movement.
Read More »
In his introduction to Éric Rohmer’s Autumn Tale, which screened last night as part of BAM’s Late Film Series, YOU or The Invention of Memory author Jonathan Baumbach began his introduction by referencing one of the more notorious allusions to Rohmer in popular culture: “I saw a Rohmer film once. It was like watching paint dry.” Read More »
So: Vanya is a virgin. Of course! It’s everywhere! The confusion of infatuation and love (“You are my joy, my life and my youth!”); the ridiculous superlatives (“I’ve never seen a more beautiful woman in my entire life.”). The childish ideal of feminine purity (“a noble, gentle creature, pure as that blue sky above”); the false, showy cynicism (“Is she faithful to the Professor?” Astrov asks. “Unfortunately yes.”). The bumbling assertiveness when he lunges for a kiss (“First let me make peace with myself! My darling…”); the simpering fear when a woman takes offense (“Wait, wait, my joy, my ecstasy, forgive me. I apologize.”). It’s everywhere, and we missed it ― until Denis O’Hare showed us.
Read More »
Photo: Richard Finkelstein
Looking at The Garden of Earthly Delights, that trippy sixteenth-century triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, is a bit like perusing an X-rated Where’s Waldo? scene. But instead of a guy wearing a striped shirt and ski cap, you might find a naked woman reclining beside a fellow with a giant berry for a head, or a man getting mauled by a pig in a nun’s habit.
If you can’t make it to the Prado to check out the painting in person, there’s another option if you live in New York: Head on down to the Minetta Lane Theater, where The Garden of Earthly Delights comes to life six nights a week through March 1.
Read More »
