Film: Happy Endings

Wednesday night at the Odeon Leicester Square was opening night of the 20th London Lesbian and Gay Film Fest. It was quite a crowd and one to be seen in. As one who was having a bad hair day (forgot to use product in the morning) and having a case of "shiny forehead" I wasn't really in the mood for this.

Fortunately the film Happy Endings that we were about to see wasn't about looks. If it was they never would have let Lisa Kudrow look so old and worn out. So I felt better watching Lisa on the big screen. She was there to introduce the film with writer-director Don Roos. Kudrow commented on how Roos doesn't write gay stories or lesbian stories, but stories where people are there, and they are complex and they do stuff and some of them might be gay and like yeah. The audience just loved her for showing up anyway.

The film was terrific, smart and funny. While it does go on a bit and there are a quite a few subtitles to drive forward the story, and there were enough hand-held camera shots to do your head in, it was very funny and very entertaining. And who could ask for anything more on an opening night?

Oh and the title is about massages. This didn't dawn on me until Javier the masseur from Mexico appeared… Ok so I am slow…

Popular posts from this blog

Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

Image
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House.

This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve...

Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here.

Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understand the…
Read more...

The woke and the trolling: Scrounger @Finborough

Image
Athena Stevens takes her experiences with an airline that damaged her wheelchair and refused to pay for a replacement into a sharp and an incisive piece on how discrimination affects disabled people. The incident led to her confinement in her flat in Elephant and Castle for months while she tweeted about the experience and gained media attention. And was called a scrounger by the usual band of internet trolls. It’s currently playing at the Finborough Theatre.

It's an exciting piece of storytelling that puts you in her shoes. Stevens is a detailed storyteller, and she expertly covers the everyday ordeals that people with disabilities face. From the passive aggressive remarks uttered by flight attendants to friends who have trouble thinking that Elephant and Castle is a part of central London. It's all told with humour, warmth and a healthy amount of outrage.

While the case was eventually settled, she explains as far as her non-disclosure agreement allows, how people, including…
Read more...

Nursing crisis: Persona @Riversidelondon

Image
There’s something reassuringly contemplative about Ingmar Bergman’s Persona. No matter what humdrum life you may be leading, at least you haven’t gone mute from too much acting. It’s not the only message to take away from this stage adaptation. Even when things seem lost in translation from screen to stage, the blurring of lines of the roles people play in life still resonates. It’s currently playing at the newly reopened Riverside Studios at Hammersmith.

The piece centres around a famous stage actress Elizabet (Nobuhle Mngcwengi), who has stopped speaking and appears to have had some form of breakdown. As part of her recuperation, she travels with a nurse (Alice Krige) to a remote summer beach house. Alone with the waves and silence, they both are left to recover.

Krige and Mngcwengi create an intimate and engaging portrayal of this ambiguous relationship between the actress and the nurse. Are the conversations real or imagined? Who is the patient and who is providing the treatment?…
Read more...