All in one e-mail title: Story Ideas and Reviews
Enjoy!
Hello,
Seasonal previews for fall often invite more songs and movies with lullaby tones, somber moods, and a need for a pick me-up after a wild rumpus of a summer. Now that the first rain has settled, I have some great music and movie reviews for the upcoming issue:
This week, the highly anticipated “Where the Wild Things Are” will hope to wake up the masses back to the sweet freedom of childhood. Will Spike Jonze bring us to this promise land, or is the story simply lost in translation on film?
In this same respect, the masters of folk and indie sensibilities are set to play at the Greek Theatre this month, and though Regina Spektor has been reviewed by your magazine before, the experience just might be better with the outdoor foliage. After “500 days of Summer,” Spektor’s lyrical amusements and provocative sound is as powerful as ever.
Speaking of power, another event describes the best of folk musicians simply as “monsters”. I find the definition befitting since the Monsters of Folk tour at the Greek Theatre will be a tremendous acoustic driven event that is sure to send coffee house tremors from the various sing-alongs that may occur.
I would love to review these films and concerts for your issue, and have attached some writing samples from other film and theatre reviews while I was at UCLA’s Daily Bruin. I freelance part-time with a strong attachment to the college community in LA. Let me know if you’re interested.
-Denise Guerra
909-319-4878
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Advertisements for “Taking Woodstock” read, “It’s a trip,” and though the destination is worth it, the road to get there is a long and heavy wait.
Director Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain”) is best known for capturing the humanistic and psychological struggle of all his characters. The film is filled with scenes and nuances of the era, utilizing many effects to capture the feeling that came with 1969.
Following the actual 40th anniversary of the real Woodstock, the film takes the whole life-altering experience of the festival and focuses it on the coming-of-age of its central character, Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin), the man responsible for making Woodstock happen.
Directed by Ang Lee
FOCUS FEATURES
Based off Tiber’s best-selling autobiography of the same name, the movie follows his struggle to live his own life while fulfilling an obligation to aid his parents in their ailing motel, the El Monaco, in White Lake, New York.
As head of White Lake’s Chamber of Commerce, Tiber approves the permit to hold the Woodstock Festival in White Lake after the festival loses its permit to an adjacent town.
In his first full-length movie as a lead character, actor-comedian Martin plays the awkward, waiting-to-get-out-of-his-
But it is only when Woodstock comes into his life that Tiber and the movie audience begin to wake up.
The audience is able to sense this conflict in the beginning of the film as it drags along Tiber’s experience with his overbearing mother (Imelda Staunton). In fact, her character as a grouchy immigrant shows the most interesting transformation and dramatic comedy in the movie. Just watch her eat a “special” brownie and see what happens.
Following the approval of the festival, chaos ensues as the town is literally flooded by hippies of the clothed and nude variety. With the influx of people creating massive traffic jams and food shortages, Lee truly captures the communal peace, love and psychedelic trips that defined the era.
He accomplishes this not only through small vignettes like Tiber’s experience with LSD but also through a technique of splitting the screen into two points of view. Though the view may create a little confusion, it is also an interesting way to effectively provide an insider’s perspective of all the different elements going on within a single scene.
Other recognizable characters in the film include Emile Hirsh (“Into the Wild”), Eugene Levy (“American Pie”) and Liev Schreiber (“Wolverine”).
Schreiber, who naturally extends a physical appearance like that of Rambo, plays cross-dressing bodyguard Vilma, who aids Tiber in becoming comfortable with his sexuality. All these minor characters add some richness to the film’s central storyline, but otherwise they are one-dimensional.
Besides the chaotic conflict of the concert’s overall planning and the town’s sudden population growth, Tiber is also trying to come to terms with his sexuality, which is downplayed a little too heavily in the film.
Don’t expect to ever see the actual concert; the film is all about what happens backstage, behind the throngs of concertgoers and promoters. It goes all the way back to the transformation of the individual.
– Denise Guerra
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Teenagers having sex, nothing new there; in this day and age, we’ve become immune and amused. In 1890s Germany, where the topic of sex is treated like a case of cholera, “Spring Awakening” gives these teens a mic and lets the frustration fester into an all-out rock-and-roll musical fable. The theme is prevalent, but the experiences of the play’s characters are still as poignant, confusing and angst-filled as our own coming-of-age sexual entendres.
“Spring Awakening,” a 2007 smash hit on Broadway and eight-time Tony Award-winner is now playing for LA audiences at the Ahmanson Theatre until Dec. 7. The production’s controversies settle around explicit portrayals of homosexuality, masturbation and suicide.
For its brooding, highbrow hero Melchior, a Hollywood casting of blond Kyle Riabko is decent, like a darker, more intellectually mature Zac Efron from “High School Musical.” With the shadow of its Broadway predecessor, the energy of the new cast is not up to par with the original but still holds its own in its portrayal of electrifying musical numbers such as “Mama Who Bore Me.”
Written in 1891 by Frank Wedekind, “Spring Awakening” was readapted from the originally banned production to include more contemporary musical numbers against the backdrop of traditional Germany. Dealing with parents, teachers and authority figures who oppress the developing teenagers’ sexual desires, the play jumps inside the inner minds of these teens kicking and screaming to let their urges out to a catchy soundtrack of indie rock-and-roll numbers.
The extremely naive heroine, Wendla, played by Christy Altomare, is annoyingly innocent, but the progression of her character in the toils of her explicit encounter with Melchior grows into a deeper portrayal of her confusion and sheltered life.
However, expect to find yourself tapping your feet most to Melchior’s underachieving and over-sexually burdened schoolmate Moritz, who steals the spotlight in upbeat musical tempos such as “Don’t Do Sadness” and “The Bitch of Living.” When Moritz speaks, he exudes a quirky nervousness and jittery unrest that plagues him throughout the production. If this is just Moritz speaking, wait until the music is added.
The set design is structured with minimal stage props and relies on an array of stage and background lighting to convey various scene and mood changes. In a unique altering of theater traditions, the stage is crafted so that public audience members are seated at the sides of the stage, allowing the cast to interact with the audience and the band during the production.
