AUSTRALIA Don Bridges
Movies:
Editor’s Note: This month’s report by Don on movies in Oz is featured in inView with his reviews of the nominations for the Australian Film Industry awards. Click here to feast on his commentary and read below his latest take on the telly down under.
Television:
The Games: A fabulous show concerning the organizing committee of the Sydney Olympics but using this vehicle to comment on committees and organizations everywhere, this witty and biting satire is a laugh a minute. My favourite episode concerned the “fact” that Americans were going to boycott the Olympics because the Australian Prime Minister, whose name is John Howard, had refused to publicly apologize to the Aboriginal population for their past treatment. A brilliant solution was found by having John Howard on a video delivering a magnificent apology to the Aboriginal people. Only thing was it was an Australian actor named John Howard who is well known here. The punch line was, “everyone knows that’s John Howard the Actor”….Everyone in Australia knows it’s the actor, no-one outside Australia has ever heard of our Prime Minister.”
Verdict: This committee couldn’t organize a piss-up in a brewery. The following URL should give you their website, containing clips and script transcripts. BEWARE!!! Tongue is
planted very firmly in cheek and this is an EXTREME IRONY ZONE.
http://www.abc.net.au/thegames/
© 2000 Don Bridges ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
You can’t tell by us on the West Coast that summer’s over; it’s just begun & so has the notorious Fringe Festival. Our local theatre critic, who shall remain unnamed but whose initials are SW, announced that he couldn’t be bothered by the Fringe: too much effort for a disappointing payoff, sez he. While in the past I haven’t attended many shows, preferring instead to appear, (or at least concentrate on auditioning), I do know that were it not for the vigorous, pulsating mass of talent in the Bay Area that makes such as the Fringe happen, there would be alot of theatre folk just sitting around picking their noses. This year we’ve got at least 50 productions on the docket, including (random picks) Parched Camel presenting “Withering Glances”, Iron Workers Local 202 Theatre Co.’s “Stew!”, Gleasonworks’ “First Woman Plural”, & “Doctor Constance Cumming Wants to Help You Get Laid” from Theatre Crisp. While every venture can’t be gold, it still would be NICE to be taken seriously. Worthy shows have closed prematurely because the critics were not NICE, even when asked with a pretty please, and let their heavy hands remain glued to their laps & their stubby pencils stay stuck behind their ears.
Aside from the outer limits, there are the so-called tried & true. In the East Bay, we are due for a major transformation on an avenue more known for restaurants & cinemas. Off Shattuck Avenue, our home-grown award-winning Berkeley Rep is expanding & will have two houses and training. Joined close by in the old space occupied by a five & dime store, Aurora Theatre will have its home, as well as Shotgun Players. If this were not enough, our good old venue for acoustic performances of the best shit-kickin’ musicians worldwide, Freight & Salvage, will be across the street from BR. Now if we can just talk people into taking rapid transit.
On top of this wonderful news, I must say that the revival of “Cleopatra the Musical” by John Fisher at UC Berkeley exceeded all expectations. This man’s productions are unmatchable for energy & delight. Full marks to the tall drink of water playing Cleo for making it through the evening’s choreography neither stumbling on his platforms nor tripping on his gowns. A total trip to watch an exhilarated cast & to understand 99% of the lyrics (unmiked!), whilst traveling on Fisher’s patented journey through gaily rewritten history.
The advent of the Summer Blockbuster has been known to spoil the season for filmgoers but we made it virtually unscathed. 15 films & not one over-hyped. I did break down & go see “Autumn in New York”, though, and found complaints to be quibbling. To recommend: “Long Day’s Journey into Day” doc on the Truth & Reconciliation Committee in South Africa. Reminded me of the work done in “My Brother’s Keeper”: how do they do it? It is as though they’ve caught the lives on camera while invisible. Also worth a 5 buck minimum: “The Tao of Steve”, charming & funny; “ The Girl on the Bridge” Daniel Auteuil (I’m perhaps prejudiced being half French); “Chuck & Buck”, worth it just to see the brother of one actor cast to play the character played by his brother in a play about his brother (the character); “Aimée & Jaguar” and “But I’m a Cheerleader”, both deal respectfully with lesbian issues & entertain as films; and speaking of respect, “The Tic Code” comes close to saying something real about Tourette’s Syndrome. I’ve long since done my homework on this one, since many members of my family, myself & my son & older brother included, have Asperger’s Syndrome, a cousin to both Tourette’s and Autism . The filmmaker’s husband must be proud that she represented those with this perceived “disability” not as broken people who need to be fixed. “The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott” is a keeper and “Saving Grace” is fun, but watch out for “Titanic Town”—wonderful, but needs subtitles, like they did for “Riff Raff”—remember? Makes those great accents of Belfast or Liverpool or such, remain genuine, whilst not staying tantalizingly out of the reach of our poor wee brains. Give John Waters a chance, too, “Cecil B. Demented” is a hoot. And last, just got back from “An Affair of Love” –counted no less than 4 groups of people coming out of this small theatre deep in discussion; good sign!
© 2000 Claudine Jones ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Don Bridges Australia
Claudine Jones San Francisco
Michael Bettencourt Boston
Chandradasan India
Andrea Kapsaski Greece
Ren Powell Norway
Steve&Lucille Esquerre New Orleans
september 2000
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