When Neil Burger’s debut as feature-film writer and director, Interview with the Assassin, was being shopped around, it had many intrigued but few interested enough to buy it for distribution. The theory goes that some distributors, among them Miramax, felt its subject matter was a bit off post-September 11; they…
Could Dylan Thomas, boisterous Welsh poet and advocate of public readings, have predicted today’s open-mike nights? Siamese twins reciting rhymed quatrains in unison; anemic beat poets accompanied by ferrets and inbred Chinese dogs; the drunk, the infirm, and, of course, the eighteen-year-old who must read the painful rendering of his…
March 13, 2003 Form follows function, or is it the other way around? When brought to bear on our physical beings, such cut-and-dried theorems don’t necessarily apply. Rio de Janeiro’s Lia Rodrigues Dance Company will explore the infinitesimal possibilities of our collective mortal coil in Such Stuff As We Are…
The Raleigh. The Ritz Plaza. The Tides. The Marlin. The Tiffany. The Victor. For anyone the least bit familiar with Miami Beach’s hallowed Art Deco District, those hotel names instantly conjure up visions of clean lines, sweeping curves, dazzling terrazzo floors, gleaming metal railings, shimmering etched glass panels, block and…
By a recent count, more than 300 theatrical productions are staged each year in South Florida — just about one new show a day. Of course, it doesn’t work out so neatly — most shows open on or near the weekends and go up against an array of competing openings…
One of the maddening aspects of theater is how uncertainty plays havoc with the best-laid plans. Gather the best actors and directors to work on the best scripts and you still can end up with a misfire. That’s the end result of The Countess, now in production at the Caldwell…
“To Blink” is an exciting show by Argentinean Liliana Porter at Casas Riegner Gallery in the Design District. Porter’s work has a reflective quality about it, which reminds me of early Dutch painting. She adds windows and mirrors, to invade their apparently serene bourgeois interiors. Porter takes up aesthetic and…
This is a story with a happy ending, because, so far, nothing bad has happened to indicate otherwise. There are no ratings to sweat over, no network executives to fight with, no cancellations to suffer through. The rough territories lie ahead, over the horizon of 8:30 p.m. this Sunday, when…
Ever since Amores Perros burst onto the international scene two years ago, Latin American cinema has been experiencing one of the most fertile periods in its history. Encompassing such works as Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También and Walter Salles’s Behind the Sun, these socially conscious, frequently brutal portraits of…
Hitler as artist … Hitler as artist … Damn. So much for the ol’ “summarize plot, tease overpaid actors, pontificate wildly” formula. Reviewing Max — about the wonder years of Der Führer (Noah Taylor) and his eponymous, fictional Jewish benefactor Max Rothman (John Cusack) — looks to be something of…
Who cares if you didn’t get to Hollywood to perform on American Idol? So what if the producers of Are You Hot: The Search for America’s Sexiest People deemed your inner goddess cold, bland, and pretentious? Despite recent rejections, you cling to the conviction — like our favorite jilted reality…
March 6, 2003 Although he didn’t make it as a pop singer, seven-time boxing world champion Oscar de la Hoya is keeping his pretty face in the spotlight. This time he’s sticking close to the ring, the arena that made him famous. Today the young heartthrob super welterweight promotes fights…
Known for its vast collection of cool ephemera, intriguing exhibitions, and engaging presentations that appeal equally to the upper crust and the common man, the Wolfsonian-FIU museum will celebrate itself all over town with A Very Wolfsonian Weekend, seven events designed to raise funds for exhibitions and public programs. And…
In American theater, there’s a long hard road that most successful plays take. At its very start, a playwright gets a script produced somehow, and, with luck, it’s a hit. With some restaging and rewrites and more luck, it moves on to New York City. More luck, more rewrites, and…
This should really piss you off: What follows is a story about a very funny movie you will have absolutely no chance of seeing any time soon. The powers that be who distribute movies–who copy prints, print up posters, deliver them to theaters, collect receipts, split profits (well…)–do not want…
The 2003 Miami International Film Festival is in full swing, with four nights remaining for the marathon run of features, documentaries, and shorts from all over the world. Tonight, however, is the last night to experience “Beachstock,” the series of free screenings on the beach at Nikki Beach: Victor/Victoria, a…
There are fashion victims: people oblivious to the fact their garish outfits make them resemble clowns more than supermodels. And there are fashion victims: people oblivious to the fact that their intense desire to shop for clothes, shoes, and accessories is fed by the media, garment industry, and their own…
February 27, 2003 So you think you have a knack for taking pictures. Wherever you go, images jump out at you and spark your imagination. You see beauty in all places and want to collect those moments that only a photograph can capture. Don’t let the fact that you have…
With a dance department that offers training in forms as diverse as tap and vodou, one can expect a performance titled FIU Dance: Celebrates the Classics! to be far from the pas de deux and promenades that fit the accepted definition of classic. Indeed Florida International University’s spring showcase is…
In Tin Box Boomerang, Ivonne Azurdia’s new play now in production by the Mad Cat Theatre at the Miami Light Project, you will meet a passel of ordinary, flawed characters who seem very real and familiar. Two Mexican-American sisters struggle to make ends meet, living in a beat-up trailer. Their…
Tony Grisoni can always tell when his old friend Terry Gilliam, the visionary who sees too far for his own good, is in pain: He laughs. The worse the pain, the harder the laughter. If that is the case, then the Terry Gilliam seen throughout Lost in La Mancha, Keith…
You will never see an E! True Hollywood Story program about the behind-the-scenes antics of Miami’s finest contribution to television culture, Que Pasa, USA? There will never be a reunion show about this hilarious social farce either. But if ever there were a television show that deserves such attention, it’s…
