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Travelin' Through: Broken Toys @CervantesTheatr

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Things are a bit different at the Cervantes Theatre when you see Broken Toys. You enter through the upstairs dressing rooms and go down to the theatre. It is a circuitous route, much like the story of Marion. You end up in the same place but have taken a different journey. And like what the old prostitute said. It's not the work but the stairs. And there before you is the theatre, but not entirely as I recall it. It feels like an intimate cabaret venue with tables and a shiny stage. And there we are introduced to Marion. Marion grew up in a small town during the Franco regime. A place where looking a bit different could make you the subject of gossip and a threat to your life. And despite being assigned male at birth and the attempts of family and father figures, she was an outsider in her town.  And so Marion sets off on a journey to the city. And in the shadows, she finds a place to hide. But with guidance from drag performer Dorian Delacroix begins to find her voice. Her journe

Film: The Good German


The Good German poster, originally uploaded by Daryl Van Horne.

At one point during The Good German I turned to Ad and said to him, "Forget it Jake it's Potsdam". There was a hint of Chinatown about this movie. The only difference was it wasn't as well acted, directed or with an intelligible story.

But there was plenty of confusion as Clooney plays a character called Jake who spends most of the film chasing Lena (Cate Blanchett) all over the American and Russian sectors of 1945 Berlin. Why he pursues a woman with such a badly fitting wig is anyone's guess. She spends most of the movie pouting and talking in slow, low and deliberate voice. Her line "Yuu shud naht huv cum bahk to Berlin" evoked memories of Meryl Streep as Karen Blixen in Out of Africa "Yuu have mede me barrhen"...

Tobey Maguire also has a role. He gets to say very non film noir words such as "fuck" and "cunt" in an unusually high pitched voice. Fortunately he gets "done in" early on and we are left wondering who did it for all of five minutes... Well war is hell... So is the peace it seems too...

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