On the Town With Aubrey Reuben
Where All the Stars Shine Brightly!
July 12, 2014
07-10-14 Japanese actress Fumi Nikaido received the First Screen
International Rising Star Award at the 13th New York Asian Film
Festival at the Walter Reade Theater. 165 West 65th St. Wednesday
night. 07-09-14
The New
York
Musical
Theatre
Festival
Gala (NYMTF)
at the
Liberty
Theatre
was a
delightful
event.
We had
the
opportunity
to meet
many of
the
talented
actors,
who will
be
performing
like Bronwyn
Whittle from
Dublin
and Jessica
Dyer,
both in Madame
Infamy.
Among
the many
celebrities
were Jack
O'Brien (the
host), Michael
John
LaChiusa,
Kirsten
Sanderson and Michael
Musto.
It was a
very
enjoyable
evening.
The Film
Society
at
Lincoln
Center
presented
press
screenings
of the 13th
New York
Asian
Film
Festival,
June
27-July
14. Au
revoir
l'ete,
by Koji
Fukada,
Japan,
2013, is
about a
ten day
vacation
in a
seaside
town by
an aunt
and her
teenage
niece (a
wonderful Fumi
Nikaido).
As the
neice
meets
various
friends
of the
aunt,
she
becomes
aware of
the
deceits
and
hypocrisy
of the
adults.
It is a
valuable
learning
experience
on her
way to
maturity,
and for
the
spectator,
it is a
penetrating
view of
life
among
middle
class
Japanese.
It is an
excellent,
beautifully
photographed
film.
My
Man,
by Kazuyoshi
Kumakiri,
Japan,
2014,
features
another
remarkable
performance
by Fumi
Nikaido as
a
seventeen-old
student,
who
forms an
erotic
and
sensual
relationship
with her
adopted
father (Tadanonu
Asano).
At
ten-years
of age,
she is
the only
survivor
of her
family
from a
tsunami,
and is
rescued
by a
lonely
relative.
They
form a
family
together,
but as
there
life
becomes
more
intense,
problems
develop.
It is a
powerful
film,
and
Nikaido
attended
the
screening
to
receive
the
First
Screen
International
Rising
Star
Award.
After
seeing
her in
the two
films,
she
definitely
deserves
it.
Aberdeen,
by Pang
Ho-cheung,
China,
2014, is
a film
about a
middle
class
family,
with
various
problems.
They
vary
from
adultery
to
worries
about
growing
old,
and, to
what is
particularly
annoying,
about a
young
daughter
being
unattractive.
Many
fine
actors
portray
characters,
who are
mostly
unbelievable
and
unrealistic.
There is
also a
whale
and a
lizard,
which
add
nothing
to a
disappointing
film.
MoMA
presented Lost
Persons-Two
Films by
Caroline
Strubbe
July 2-8. Lost
Persons
Area,
Belgium/Netherlands/Hungary/Germany,
2009, is
the
first
part of
a
trilogy
that
takes
place in
an
industrial
wasteland.
A
foreman,
who
maintains
power
lines on
big
pylons,
the
woman he
lives
with,
who runs
a
trailer
cafe for
the
Hungarian
workers,
and
their
weird
nine-year-old
daughter,
who
skips
school
to
collect
discarded
pencils
and
little
stones,
are the
main
characters
of this
depressing,
gloomy
story.
When an
accident
hospitalizes
the man,
a
Hungarian
worker
moves
into
their
trailer
cafe.
Tragedy
follows.
There is
little
dialogue
in this
overlong
film.
.
.
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I'm the Same, I'm an
Other,
Belgium/Netherlands/
Hungary. 2013, is the
second part of the
proposed trilogy, in
which we learn that the
man and woman have
committed suicide and
their daughter has
disappeared. We see the
girl in a car with the
Hungarian worker in
Ostend, where they cross
to England, and arrive
at an out of season
coastal seaside resort.
They rent an apartment,
where he locks her
inside, while he wanders
around. Again, there is
little dialogue in this
dull, boring, overlong
film. The filmmaker has
only made these two
feature films, and the
first won a prize.
Wonders never cease.
MoMA is presenting
ongoing An
Auteurist History of
Film. Trollflujten
(The Magic Flute).
by Ingmar
Bergman, Sweden,
1975, is an imaginative
film of Mozart's opera.
An excellent cast sings
and acts wonderfully,
bringing the opera to
life. Although it
appears to be filmed on
a stage, it has so many
cinematic marvels,
especially in the second
act when winter with
snow is transformed into
sunny spring. It is a
delightful film, which
all opera lovers will
enjoy.
MoMA is presenting ongoing An
Auteurist History of Film. Trollflujten
(The Magic Flute). by Ingmar
Bergman, Sweden, 1975,
is an imaginative film of
Mozart's opera. An excellent
cast sings and acts
wonderfully, bringing the
opera to life. Although it
appears to be filmed on a
stage, it has so many
cinematic marvels,
especially in the second act
when winter with snow is
transformed into sunny
spring. It is a delightful
film, which all opera lovers
will enjoy.
MoMA is presenting Lady
in the Dark: Crime Films
from Columbia Pictures,
1932-1957 from July
11-August 4. I
Love Trouble, by S.
Slyvan Simon, USA, 1947,
is delightful detective
story, starring Franchot
Tone as
a private investigator, and
a number of beautiful
Hollywood screen actresses,
including Janet
Blair, Janis Carter and Adele
Jergens. It has snappy
dialogue, unexpected twists
in the plot and lots of
humor. It is entertaining
and thoroughly enjoyable.
Film Forum is presenting Femmes
Noirs: Hollywood Dangerous
Dames July 18-August 7. Too
Late for Tears, by Byron
Haskins, USA, 1949, is a
fine example of the genre. A
husband (Arthur
Kennedy) and wife (Lizabeth
Scott) are driving on a
road, when another car
tosses a bag with $60.000 in
cash into their backseat.
She wants to keep the money
and spend it on a luxurious
life. This is the beginning
of a downward spiral, when a
blackmailer (Dan
Duryea) shows up at her
apartment. Murder begins to
rule her life, as greed
dominates her. It is a
grand, old-fashioned movie,
highly entertaining, and
considered one of Scott's
finest roles. It will keep
you interested from
beginning to end.
Fanny, by Daniel
Auteuil, France, 2012,
is the second film of a
trilogy based on the the
writings of Marcel
Pagnol. It focuses on
Fanny (Victoire Belezy),
who is left pregnant, when
her fiance Marius (Raphael
Personnaz) abandons
her and runs off to sea. In
order to hide her shame, she
agrees to mary a middle-aged
Panisse (Jean-Pierre
Darrousin), who wants
her child to become the heir
to his fortune. As I wrote
reviewing the first film Marius,
the acting is superb, the
dialogue is intelligent and
realistic, the plot is
absorbing and the
photography is beautiful. It
is a marvelous film
experience, and I recommend
it highly.
07-08-14 Jack O'Brien was the host at the opening night gala of the 2014 New
York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) at the Liberty Theatre. 233 West 42nd
St. Monday night. 07-07-14
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