Change Your Image
dealaw12
Reviews
Pretty Things (2005)
Interesting subject matter, but poorly conceived
What could have been a fascinating look at burlesque queens from the 40's and 50's turns into a vanity production for the untalented, but obviously well-connected Liz Goldwyn. The subject matter is rich, but Goldwyn oddly chooses to focus on her own pursuit of the art of stripping rather than the experiences of these women. Just as the interviews with the former strippers start getting interesting, Goldwyn forces the audience to watch her clumsy and awkward renditions of the bump and grind. The camera work is bizarre. In a scene where she interviews two former vaudevillians, Goldwyn keeps the camera centered on the trash can placed between the two actors.
She also imposes her agenda and her own feelings about stripping on the gals that actually made a living at it. Goldwyn insists that burlesque is a glamorous art form without listening to a word of what the interviewees are saying. Not only do they tell her that stripping was not glamorous, the majority of the women hated it. They loathed being treated like trash. The most beautiful of the pack, Sherry Britton, responds to Goldwyn's insistence that Britton was such a "confident" young woman by telling her, "that's what you think about me, but it isn't the truth." It seems that Goldwyn's purpose for making the doc is self-serving: She wants an act and needs her subjects to give her their old costumes. Even the music is narcissistic. Instead of scoring the piece with the brassy sounds of the old strip clubs, Goldwyn records and sings her own rendition of "Big Spender". She never gets to the heart of who these ladies are or how they survived once burlesque was over and old age and sagging muscle tone settled in.
It left me wondering if HBO owed the Goldwyn family a favor.
Stuart Bliss (1998)
About a man going crazy in a world gone mad.
STUART BLISS is a black comedy about paranoia. After Stuart's wife leaves him unexpectedly, seemingly coincidental events begin to converge in his life leaving him believing that the world is coming to an end.
SB is extremely funny and at the same time very touching. The screen writers, Neil Grieve and Michael Zelniker have walked that fine line required to successfully pull off a black comedy.
The performances are all exquisitely realized...especially Michael Zelniker as Stuart, Dea Lawrence in the dual role of Janet and Katerina, Mark Fite as Reverend Walmsley, Derek McGrath as Ted, Ania Suli as the Grandmother, and Charlotte Booker and Ken Earl as the Jehovah's Unite couple.
Neil Grieve's direction is organic and inobtrusive, in that he creates with camera the ambience that supports what Stuart is feeling. Very deftly executed.
The music and sound design by John Jones adds immeasurably to the atmosphere.
I'd recommend STUART BLISS highly.