A documentary about a 55-year-old musical sounds like a quaint and nostalgic cinematic scrap book. But Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles turns out be an exhilarating, expansive, warts-and-all look into 1964 Broadway phenomenon Fiddler on the Roof. Director Max Lewkowicz delivers an emotional powerhouse in which none of the compromises, growing pains and ego wars of Fiddler’s creation are left out in the name of tribute. The film is dedicated to the memory of Hal Prince, who produced the original show and died last month, and truly documents what goes into the creation of a masterpiece.
- 8/21/2019
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films have co-acquired worldwide rights to Max Lewkowicz'sFIDDLER A Miracle Of Miracles. The documentary tells the story behind one of Broadway's most beloved musicals,Fiddler on The Roofand its creative roots in early 1960s New York. The film includes interviews with the show's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick, legendary producer Hal Prince, original cast members, such as Austin Pendleton, as well as rare archival footage of renowned choreographer Jerome Robbins. Further insights into the play's legacy and enduring influence come from new interviews with Broadway luminaries and cultural influencers includingHamiltoncreator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chaim Topol, Harvey Fierstein as well as famed authors Fran Lebowitz, Calvin Trillin and Nathan Englander. Roadside and Goldwyn will releaseFIDDLER A Miracle Of MIRACLESin theatres this summer.
- 3/20/2019
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The worldwide rights to “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles,” Max Lewkowicz’s new documentary, has been co-acquired by Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films.
The documentary tells the story behind Broadway musical Fiddler on The Roof” and its creative roots in early 1960s New York. “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” includes interviews with the Broadway show’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick, legendary producer Hal Prince, original cast members, such as Austin Pendleton, as well as rare archival footage of choreographer Jerome Robbins.
“Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” also features new interviews with Broadway luminaries and cultural influencers including “Hamilton” and “In the Heights” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chaim Topol, Harvey Fierstein, and famed authors Fran Lebowitz, Calvin Trillin and Nathan Englander.
Also Read: Leonard Cohen Sundance Documentary 'Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love' Acquired by Roadside Attractions
“Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” was directed by Max Lewkowicz — who was...
The documentary tells the story behind Broadway musical Fiddler on The Roof” and its creative roots in early 1960s New York. “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” includes interviews with the Broadway show’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick, legendary producer Hal Prince, original cast members, such as Austin Pendleton, as well as rare archival footage of choreographer Jerome Robbins.
“Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” also features new interviews with Broadway luminaries and cultural influencers including “Hamilton” and “In the Heights” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chaim Topol, Harvey Fierstein, and famed authors Fran Lebowitz, Calvin Trillin and Nathan Englander.
Also Read: Leonard Cohen Sundance Documentary 'Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love' Acquired by Roadside Attractions
“Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” was directed by Max Lewkowicz — who was...
- 3/20/2019
- by Trey Williams
- The Wrap
Drink, l’chaim…to life! Max Lewkowicz’s Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles has found a home at Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films. The two companies have co-acquired worldwide rights to the documentary that tells the story behind one of Broadway’s most beloved musicals, Fiddler on The Roof and its creative roots in early 1960s New York. The docu is slated to be released in theatres this summer.
The film includes interviews with the show’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick, legendary producer Hal Prince as well as original cast members such as Austin Pendleton. The docu takes a deep dive into the musical based on the stories by Yiddish author and playwright Sholem Aleichem and features rare archival footage of renowned choreographer Jerome Robbins.
In addition to the interviews with the creators and original cast members, the docu features numerous Broadway luminaries and cultural influencers including Hamilton godfather Lin-Manuel Miranda,...
The film includes interviews with the show’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick, legendary producer Hal Prince as well as original cast members such as Austin Pendleton. The docu takes a deep dive into the musical based on the stories by Yiddish author and playwright Sholem Aleichem and features rare archival footage of renowned choreographer Jerome Robbins.
In addition to the interviews with the creators and original cast members, the docu features numerous Broadway luminaries and cultural influencers including Hamilton godfather Lin-Manuel Miranda,...
- 3/20/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films have acquired worldwide rights to Max Lewkowicz's Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles, a documentary about the creation of the classic musical Fiddler on the Roof. Roadside and Goldwyn will release the film theatrically this summer.
The doc includes interviews with the show's lyricist, Sheldon Harnick, producer Hal Prince and original castmembers, such as Austin Pendleton, as well as archival footage of its choreographer, Jerome Robbins. It also features interviews with such Broadway figures as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chaim Topol and Harvey Fierstein, as well as authors Fran Lebowitz, Calvin Trillin and Nathan Englander.
Fiddler ...
The doc includes interviews with the show's lyricist, Sheldon Harnick, producer Hal Prince and original castmembers, such as Austin Pendleton, as well as archival footage of its choreographer, Jerome Robbins. It also features interviews with such Broadway figures as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chaim Topol and Harvey Fierstein, as well as authors Fran Lebowitz, Calvin Trillin and Nathan Englander.
Fiddler ...
- 3/20/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films have acquired worldwide rights to Max Lewkowicz's Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles, a documentary about the creation of the classic musical Fiddler on the Roof. Roadside and Goldwyn will release the film theatrically this summer.
The doc includes interviews with the show's lyricist, Sheldon Harnick, producer Hal Prince and original castmembers, such as Austin Pendleton, as well as archival footage of its choreographer, Jerome Robbins. It also features interviews with such Broadway figures as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chaim Topol and Harvey Fierstein, as well as authors Fran Lebowitz, Calvin Trillin and Nathan Englander.
Fiddler ...
The doc includes interviews with the show's lyricist, Sheldon Harnick, producer Hal Prince and original castmembers, such as Austin Pendleton, as well as archival footage of its choreographer, Jerome Robbins. It also features interviews with such Broadway figures as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chaim Topol and Harvey Fierstein, as well as authors Fran Lebowitz, Calvin Trillin and Nathan Englander.
Fiddler ...
- 3/20/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Anthony Bourdain helped me get over my feelings of “imposter syndrome” in the early days of “Top Chef.”
When the show started in 2006, I was surrounded by top-tier professional chefs. I had already published a book about food, had another coming out and had done a cooking show and a couple “Planet Food” documentaries for Food Network, but I still felt people thought I was just a model and what did I know about food? I hadn’t been to culinary school. I have never worked the line in a kitchen.
Through our friendship, Tony taught me to feel pride in my own view of the world. We both relished travel and were transformed by it. He cared about me and my history and how that related to food. He was interested in everyone’s opinion. He taught me that no person’s opinion about food was too small to matter.
When the show started in 2006, I was surrounded by top-tier professional chefs. I had already published a book about food, had another coming out and had done a cooking show and a couple “Planet Food” documentaries for Food Network, but I still felt people thought I was just a model and what did I know about food? I hadn’t been to culinary school. I have never worked the line in a kitchen.
Through our friendship, Tony taught me to feel pride in my own view of the world. We both relished travel and were transformed by it. He cared about me and my history and how that related to food. He was interested in everyone’s opinion. He taught me that no person’s opinion about food was too small to matter.
- 6/12/2018
- by Padma Lakshmi
- Variety Film + TV
Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold director Griffin Dunne Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The Spotlight on Documentary programme at the 55th New York Film Festival has a number of high profile authors in the spotlight, including Gay Talese in Josh Koury and Myles Kane's Voyeur. Griffin Dunne's Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold with interviews with Harrison Ford, David Hare, Anna Wintour, Calvin Trillin, and Vanessa Redgrave (her Sea Sorrow is in the festival with Emma Thompson and Ralph Fiennes), and Rebecca Miller's portrait Arthur Miller: Writer (with Tony Kushner and Mike Nichols commenting on her father's career) are two excellent insider depictions. Aki Kaurismäki's The Other Side Of Hope (starring Sherwan Haji, Sakari Kuosmanen) and Chloé Zhao's The Rider, screening in the Main Slate, round out the four early bird highlights.
The Rider is the winner of the <a href="...
The Spotlight on Documentary programme at the 55th New York Film Festival has a number of high profile authors in the spotlight, including Gay Talese in Josh Koury and Myles Kane's Voyeur. Griffin Dunne's Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold with interviews with Harrison Ford, David Hare, Anna Wintour, Calvin Trillin, and Vanessa Redgrave (her Sea Sorrow is in the festival with Emma Thompson and Ralph Fiennes), and Rebecca Miller's portrait Arthur Miller: Writer (with Tony Kushner and Mike Nichols commenting on her father's career) are two excellent insider depictions. Aki Kaurismäki's The Other Side Of Hope (starring Sherwan Haji, Sakari Kuosmanen) and Chloé Zhao's The Rider, screening in the Main Slate, round out the four early bird highlights.
The Rider is the winner of the <a href="...
- 9/24/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The New Yorker Festival will present a Theatre for a New Audience production of a reading of the new two-character play About Alice that Calvin Trillin adapted from his memoir about his late wife, the educator Alice Stewart Trillin.About Alice, with Jessica Hecht as Alice and Tony Shalhoub as Calvin and directed by Leonard Foglia, will be heard one night only at the Directors Guild Theatre, 110 West 57th Street, Today, October 8, at 700pm.
- 10/8/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The New Yorker Festival will present a Theatre for a New Audience production of a reading of the new two-character play About Alice that Calvin Trillin adapted from his memoir about his late wife, the educator Alice Stewart Trillin.About Alice, with Jessica Hecht as Alice and Tony Shalhoub as Calvin and directed by Leonard Foglia, will be heard one night only at the Directors Guild Theatre, 110 West 57th Street, Saturday, October 8, at 700pm.
- 9/9/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Temperamentally, geographically and/or demographically, there’s seldom been a film that seemed a better fit for the Tribeca Film Festival than Leah Wolchok’s “Very Semi-Serious,” about the cartoons of the New Yorker magazine. Sophistication without constipation. Humor without frivolity. Punchlines. Fun. Characters? Wolchok’s got characters. Central to her offbeat crew is Bob Mankoff, the New Yorker’s current cartoon editor, who also drew what may be the greatest cartoon of the modern era. (Exec on phone: “No, Thursday’s out. How’s never – is never good for you?”). But they also include the wry veteran Mort Gerberg and – in a field that includes the venerable 88-year-old George Booth, of the dogs, cats and flea-ridden humans – such relative newcomers as Emil Flake, Liana Finck and Zach Kanin, all of whom joined Calvin Trillin Sunday for a panel after the movie. Mankoff is a garrulous sort who, as the movie shows,...
- 9/29/2015
- by John Anderson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Temperamentally, geographically and/or demographically, there’s seldom been a film that seemed a better fit for the Tribeca Film Festival than Leah Wolchok’s “Very Semi-Serious,” about the cartoons of the New Yorker magazine. Sophistication without constipation. Humor without frivolity. Punchlines. Fun. Characters? Wolchok’s got characters. Central to her offbeat crew is Bob Mankoff, the New Yorker’s current cartoon editor, who also drew what may be the greatest cartoon of the modern era. (Exec on phone: “No, Thursday’s out. How’s never – is never good for you?”). But they also include the wry veteran Mort Gerberg and – in a field that includes the venerable 88-year-old George Booth, of the dogs, cats and flea-ridden humans – such relative newcomers as Emil Flake, Liana Finck and Zach Kanin, all of whom joined Calvin Trillin Sunday for a panel after the movie. Mankoff is a garrulous sort who, as the movie shows,...
- 4/21/2015
- by John Anderson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Sad news this evening, as writer, screenwriter, and director Nora Ephron has passed away at the age of 71.
It's hard to imagine the modern romantic comedy without the influence of Ephron, whose perceptive and humorous take on how the sexes interact set a template for a generation. It was Ephron's sense of humor that first got her noticed, pairing with (now celebrated writer) Calvin Trillin for a satirical newspaper that caught the eye of New York Post publisher Dorothy Schiff, who offered her a job. This began Ephron's journalism career that saw her write for a variety of publications including New York, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine. In 1976, Ephron married Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame, and even did a draft of the screenplay for "All The President's Men" that ultimately wasn't used, but again, someone saw her talent and gave her a shot.
Following a gig writing a...
It's hard to imagine the modern romantic comedy without the influence of Ephron, whose perceptive and humorous take on how the sexes interact set a template for a generation. It was Ephron's sense of humor that first got her noticed, pairing with (now celebrated writer) Calvin Trillin for a satirical newspaper that caught the eye of New York Post publisher Dorothy Schiff, who offered her a job. This began Ephron's journalism career that saw her write for a variety of publications including New York, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine. In 1976, Ephron married Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame, and even did a draft of the screenplay for "All The President's Men" that ultimately wasn't used, but again, someone saw her talent and gave her a shot.
Following a gig writing a...
- 6/27/2012
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Last evening, at the 2010 Moth Ball, literary well-wishers gathered at New York’s Capitale to fête journalist and author Calvin Trillin, this year’s recipient of the Moth Award, an annual prize given by the Moth, a New York City–based nonprofit that arranges storytelling events. The gala’s theme was the 1930s, in particular, the 1934 Frank Capra screwball comedy It Happened One Night. Partygoers interpreted the theme as an invitation to bring out hats of all stripes: bowler hats, tiny hats, top hats, even, yes, a striped hat. The motif occasionally trended toward the 20s: many women, slouching under the weight of long strands of pearls, clung to delicate clutches likely to have been traded for studier fare during the Depression. The event’s emcees, comedian Mike Birbiglia and Bored to Death creator Jonathan Ames, wore simple, smart suits in lieu of the boxy jackets favored by their 30s forebears.
- 11/17/2010
- Vanity Fair
The filmmaker and writer was The Daily Beast and Credit Suisse's breakfast guest and chatted about what she's learned in her career, journalism's sexism-and missing historical moments.
Nora Ephron's new book, I Remember Nothing And Other Reflections, hits bookstores next week. On Friday, at a breakfast co-hosted by Credit Suisse and The Daily Beast, Ephron took questions from Tina Brown and a small audience about her illustrious, shape-shifting, constantly surprising career, and the great loves (and great disappointments) in her life.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Inside The New Beast
"On some level, my life has been wasted on me. After all, if I can't remember it, who can?" goes a line in the new book. Ephron's trenchant, witty style shines in her numerous hit films: Heartburn, When Harry Met Sally..., Sleepless in Seattle, Julie & Julia, among many other charming, classic comedies. When Brown asked Ephron about working with Meryl Streep,...
Nora Ephron's new book, I Remember Nothing And Other Reflections, hits bookstores next week. On Friday, at a breakfast co-hosted by Credit Suisse and The Daily Beast, Ephron took questions from Tina Brown and a small audience about her illustrious, shape-shifting, constantly surprising career, and the great loves (and great disappointments) in her life.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Inside The New Beast
"On some level, my life has been wasted on me. After all, if I can't remember it, who can?" goes a line in the new book. Ephron's trenchant, witty style shines in her numerous hit films: Heartburn, When Harry Met Sally..., Sleepless in Seattle, Julie & Julia, among many other charming, classic comedies. When Brown asked Ephron about working with Meryl Streep,...
- 11/7/2010
- by Claire Howorth
- The Daily Beast
If the great Calvin Trillin can crow about predicting the underwear bomber, can I, at least, squawk about predicting the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter sex tape? Back in August 12, 2008, I went on the record with my belief that “somewhere in a locked U.S. bank vault sits a small digital tape containing footage of a presidential hopeful looking less than presidential.” Yesterday, ABC News reported that a judge had ordered “the retrieval of a sex tape of former presidential candidate John Edwards from an Atlanta bank vault. “ As soon as the story of the affair broke, it seemed obvious where this sordid story was heading. Hunter was a videographer in love with her subject. Edwards was a politician also in love with her subject. Hunter had means (camera), motive (money, proof), and opportunity (unfettered access, hotels). Plus, vanity was on her side. You can just imagine her cooing: “Johnny, you...
- 2/11/2010
- Vanity Fair
Calvin Trillin puts his feelings about the folks who defend Roman Polanski into poetic verse for The Nation: A youthful error? Yes, perhaps. But he’s been punished for this lapse— For decades exiled from La He knows, as he wakes up each day, He’ll miss the movers and the shakers. He’ll never get to see the Lakers. For just one old and small mischance, He has to live in Paris, …...
- 10/14/2009
- Thompson on Hollywood
Holiday Village Cinema
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- Pretty much a one-man show (behind and in front of the camera), "I like Killing Flies" is a rare, hilarious and ultimately touching look at the kind of American iconoclast that barely exists anymore. Matt Mahurin's hand-held camera invitingly enters Shopsin's, a Greenwich Village hole-in the-wall where neighbors have been coming for comfort food for the last thirty-five years, and introduces its philosophizing owner, Kenny Shopsin. It's a unique slice of life, and theatrical as well as home vid audiences should respond to Shopsin's curmudgeonly humor and wisdom.
Made semi-famous a few years ago in a New Yorker profile by Calvin Trillin (who appears briefly in the film), Shopsin looks like an overweight Jerry Garcia in T-shirt and red suspenders as he reigns over his tiny kitchen, which offers delicacies such as okra chowder with date nut rice, apple-glazed pancakes and literally hundreds of other self-created dishes.
The kitchen is a tribute to inventiveness with jerry-rigged solutions to dripping faucets and humming refrigerators. As Shopsin cooks at a break-neck pace he dishes out his philosophical musings. He wonders about the meaning of life and then in the same breath asks, "where's the marinara sauce?" The title refers to his fondness for swatting flies, which he turns into an existential riff on foreign policy and terrorism.
Shopsin dispenses the food with love, but it's a tough love, even for his wife and five kids who help him run the place. For instance, he will not seat a party of more than four and is as likely to throw out newcomers as serve them. He considers the restaurant an extension of his home and demands loyalty and respect from his guests. Once they're accepted, regulars relish the show.
The drama of the film comes from the fact that Shopsin has lost his lease and is being forced to move to a newer and bigger spot a few blocks away. But he's a character who doesn't like change, and dislodging the ancient stove and paintings on the wall and giving up the grime that has become the fabric of his life is an occasion for soul searching.
Mahurin was himself a longtime patron who was invited to chronicle the last days before the move. His bare-bones, no frills style (you can see his hand holding a mike in front of Shopsin because there wasn't a boom operator), suits the subject perfectly. The film was shot on a Sony 150 PDA and edited in Mahurin's bedroom. It's rough look matches Shopsin's personality.
Shopsin's foul-mouthed diatribes on life, politics and sex actually make a lot of sense. The patron saint of the place is an action figure of Sigmund Freud posted near the entrance. And hanging out with Shopsin, even for a short time, has the calming, life-affirming joy of a perverse therapy session.
I LIKE KILLING FLIES
MORTAL FILMS
Credits: Director: Matt Mahurin; Producer: Mahurin; Director of Photography: Mahurin; Editor: Mahurin. Unrated, running time 80 minutes.
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- Pretty much a one-man show (behind and in front of the camera), "I like Killing Flies" is a rare, hilarious and ultimately touching look at the kind of American iconoclast that barely exists anymore. Matt Mahurin's hand-held camera invitingly enters Shopsin's, a Greenwich Village hole-in the-wall where neighbors have been coming for comfort food for the last thirty-five years, and introduces its philosophizing owner, Kenny Shopsin. It's a unique slice of life, and theatrical as well as home vid audiences should respond to Shopsin's curmudgeonly humor and wisdom.
Made semi-famous a few years ago in a New Yorker profile by Calvin Trillin (who appears briefly in the film), Shopsin looks like an overweight Jerry Garcia in T-shirt and red suspenders as he reigns over his tiny kitchen, which offers delicacies such as okra chowder with date nut rice, apple-glazed pancakes and literally hundreds of other self-created dishes.
The kitchen is a tribute to inventiveness with jerry-rigged solutions to dripping faucets and humming refrigerators. As Shopsin cooks at a break-neck pace he dishes out his philosophical musings. He wonders about the meaning of life and then in the same breath asks, "where's the marinara sauce?" The title refers to his fondness for swatting flies, which he turns into an existential riff on foreign policy and terrorism.
Shopsin dispenses the food with love, but it's a tough love, even for his wife and five kids who help him run the place. For instance, he will not seat a party of more than four and is as likely to throw out newcomers as serve them. He considers the restaurant an extension of his home and demands loyalty and respect from his guests. Once they're accepted, regulars relish the show.
The drama of the film comes from the fact that Shopsin has lost his lease and is being forced to move to a newer and bigger spot a few blocks away. But he's a character who doesn't like change, and dislodging the ancient stove and paintings on the wall and giving up the grime that has become the fabric of his life is an occasion for soul searching.
Mahurin was himself a longtime patron who was invited to chronicle the last days before the move. His bare-bones, no frills style (you can see his hand holding a mike in front of Shopsin because there wasn't a boom operator), suits the subject perfectly. The film was shot on a Sony 150 PDA and edited in Mahurin's bedroom. It's rough look matches Shopsin's personality.
Shopsin's foul-mouthed diatribes on life, politics and sex actually make a lot of sense. The patron saint of the place is an action figure of Sigmund Freud posted near the entrance. And hanging out with Shopsin, even for a short time, has the calming, life-affirming joy of a perverse therapy session.
I LIKE KILLING FLIES
MORTAL FILMS
Credits: Director: Matt Mahurin; Producer: Mahurin; Director of Photography: Mahurin; Editor: Mahurin. Unrated, running time 80 minutes.
The 1960s are generally thought of as the primary period of social ferment in this country, but the seeds for that cultural uprising were sown in the previous decade. That is the thesis of Betsy Blankenbaker's intelligent if standard talking heads/archival footage documentary, based on the autobiographical book by Dan Wakefield, and she makes the case in clear, convincing fashion.
Running a mere 72 minutes, the film doesn't offer much in the way of depth. Despite its title, it mainly focuses on the denizens of Greenwich Village, where people from all over the country congregated to avoid the stifling conformism of the Eisenhower era. Included are interviews with some of the writers and artists who were part of the scene, including -- besides Wakefield -- Gay Talese, Joan Didion, Nat Hentoff, Calvin Trillin, Norman Mailer, Ed Fancher (the founder of the Village Voice), and, representing the film's coup in terms of marquee value, Robert Redford. Archival footage presents other seminal figures of the era, including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Mailer and James Baldwin.
The film contains several distinct segments, including ones devoted to Baldwin, depicted as torn between his concern about civil rights and his desire to write; the prevalence of alcohol among the literary set; and the subordinate roles afforded women. Mainly, though, it deals with reminiscences: novelist Lynn Sharon Schwartz's recollection about how people came to New York to have sex, Wakefield's description of a botched suicide attempt the night before an important interview for a scholarship and Talese's amusing account of how the editorial offices of the New York Times were a hotbed of illicit affairs.
NEW YORK IN THE FIFTIES
Avatar Films
Director: Betsy Blankenbaker
Producers: Betsy Blankenbaker, Dorka Keehn
Directors of photography: Bobby Shepard, Dustin Teel, Jeff Watt
Editor: Steve Marra
Music: Steve Allee
Color/stereo
Running time -- 72 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Running a mere 72 minutes, the film doesn't offer much in the way of depth. Despite its title, it mainly focuses on the denizens of Greenwich Village, where people from all over the country congregated to avoid the stifling conformism of the Eisenhower era. Included are interviews with some of the writers and artists who were part of the scene, including -- besides Wakefield -- Gay Talese, Joan Didion, Nat Hentoff, Calvin Trillin, Norman Mailer, Ed Fancher (the founder of the Village Voice), and, representing the film's coup in terms of marquee value, Robert Redford. Archival footage presents other seminal figures of the era, including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Mailer and James Baldwin.
The film contains several distinct segments, including ones devoted to Baldwin, depicted as torn between his concern about civil rights and his desire to write; the prevalence of alcohol among the literary set; and the subordinate roles afforded women. Mainly, though, it deals with reminiscences: novelist Lynn Sharon Schwartz's recollection about how people came to New York to have sex, Wakefield's description of a botched suicide attempt the night before an important interview for a scholarship and Talese's amusing account of how the editorial offices of the New York Times were a hotbed of illicit affairs.
NEW YORK IN THE FIFTIES
Avatar Films
Director: Betsy Blankenbaker
Producers: Betsy Blankenbaker, Dorka Keehn
Directors of photography: Bobby Shepard, Dustin Teel, Jeff Watt
Editor: Steve Marra
Music: Steve Allee
Color/stereo
Running time -- 72 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Holiday Village Cinema
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- Pretty much a one-man show (behind and in front of the camera), "I like Killing Flies" is a rare, hilarious and ultimately touching look at the kind of American iconoclast that barely exists anymore. Matt Mahurin's hand-held camera invitingly enters Shopsin's, a Greenwich Village hole-in the-wall where neighbors have been coming for comfort food for the last thirty-five years, and introduces its philosophizing owner, Kenny Shopsin. It's a unique slice of life, and theatrical as well as home vid audiences should respond to Shopsin's curmudgeonly humor and wisdom.
Made semi-famous a few years ago in a New Yorker profile by Calvin Trillin (who appears briefly in the film), Shopsin looks like an overweight Jerry Garcia in T-shirt and red suspenders as he reigns over his tiny kitchen, which offers delicacies such as okra chowder with date nut rice, apple-glazed pancakes and literally hundreds of other self-created dishes.
The kitchen is a tribute to inventiveness with jerry-rigged solutions to dripping faucets and humming refrigerators. As Shopsin cooks at a break-neck pace he dishes out his philosophical musings. He wonders about the meaning of life and then in the same breath asks, "where's the marinara sauce?" The title refers to his fondness for swatting flies, which he turns into an existential riff on foreign policy and terrorism.
Shopsin dispenses the food with love, but it's a tough love, even for his wife and five kids who help him run the place. For instance, he will not seat a party of more than four and is as likely to throw out newcomers as serve them. He considers the restaurant an extension of his home and demands loyalty and respect from his guests. Once they're accepted, regulars relish the show.
The drama of the film comes from the fact that Shopsin has lost his lease and is being forced to move to a newer and bigger spot a few blocks away. But he's a character who doesn't like change, and dislodging the ancient stove and paintings on the wall and giving up the grime that has become the fabric of his life is an occasion for soul searching.
Mahurin was himself a longtime patron who was invited to chronicle the last days before the move. His bare-bones, no frills style (you can see his hand holding a mike in front of Shopsin because there wasn't a boom operator), suits the subject perfectly. The film was shot on a Sony 150 PDA and edited in Mahurin's bedroom. It's rough look matches Shopsin's personality.
Shopsin's foul-mouthed diatribes on life, politics and sex actually make a lot of sense. The patron saint of the place is an action figure of Sigmund Freud posted near the entrance. And hanging out with Shopsin, even for a short time, has the calming, life-affirming joy of a perverse therapy session.
I LIKE KILLING FLIES
MORTAL FILMS
Credits: Director: Matt Mahurin; Producer: Mahurin; Director of Photography: Mahurin; Editor: Mahurin. Unrated, running time 80 minutes.
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- Pretty much a one-man show (behind and in front of the camera), "I like Killing Flies" is a rare, hilarious and ultimately touching look at the kind of American iconoclast that barely exists anymore. Matt Mahurin's hand-held camera invitingly enters Shopsin's, a Greenwich Village hole-in the-wall where neighbors have been coming for comfort food for the last thirty-five years, and introduces its philosophizing owner, Kenny Shopsin. It's a unique slice of life, and theatrical as well as home vid audiences should respond to Shopsin's curmudgeonly humor and wisdom.
Made semi-famous a few years ago in a New Yorker profile by Calvin Trillin (who appears briefly in the film), Shopsin looks like an overweight Jerry Garcia in T-shirt and red suspenders as he reigns over his tiny kitchen, which offers delicacies such as okra chowder with date nut rice, apple-glazed pancakes and literally hundreds of other self-created dishes.
The kitchen is a tribute to inventiveness with jerry-rigged solutions to dripping faucets and humming refrigerators. As Shopsin cooks at a break-neck pace he dishes out his philosophical musings. He wonders about the meaning of life and then in the same breath asks, "where's the marinara sauce?" The title refers to his fondness for swatting flies, which he turns into an existential riff on foreign policy and terrorism.
Shopsin dispenses the food with love, but it's a tough love, even for his wife and five kids who help him run the place. For instance, he will not seat a party of more than four and is as likely to throw out newcomers as serve them. He considers the restaurant an extension of his home and demands loyalty and respect from his guests. Once they're accepted, regulars relish the show.
The drama of the film comes from the fact that Shopsin has lost his lease and is being forced to move to a newer and bigger spot a few blocks away. But he's a character who doesn't like change, and dislodging the ancient stove and paintings on the wall and giving up the grime that has become the fabric of his life is an occasion for soul searching.
Mahurin was himself a longtime patron who was invited to chronicle the last days before the move. His bare-bones, no frills style (you can see his hand holding a mike in front of Shopsin because there wasn't a boom operator), suits the subject perfectly. The film was shot on a Sony 150 PDA and edited in Mahurin's bedroom. It's rough look matches Shopsin's personality.
Shopsin's foul-mouthed diatribes on life, politics and sex actually make a lot of sense. The patron saint of the place is an action figure of Sigmund Freud posted near the entrance. And hanging out with Shopsin, even for a short time, has the calming, life-affirming joy of a perverse therapy session.
I LIKE KILLING FLIES
MORTAL FILMS
Credits: Director: Matt Mahurin; Producer: Mahurin; Director of Photography: Mahurin; Editor: Mahurin. Unrated, running time 80 minutes.
- 1/19/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 1960s are generally thought of as the primary period of social ferment in this country, but the seeds for that cultural uprising were sown in the previous decade. That is the thesis of Betsy Blankenbaker's intelligent if standard talking heads/archival footage documentary, based on the autobiographical book by Dan Wakefield, and she makes the case in clear, convincing fashion.
Running a mere 72 minutes, the film doesn't offer much in the way of depth. Despite its title, it mainly focuses on the denizens of Greenwich Village, where people from all over the country congregated to avoid the stifling conformism of the Eisenhower era. Included are interviews with some of the writers and artists who were part of the scene, including -- besides Wakefield -- Gay Talese, Joan Didion, Nat Hentoff, Calvin Trillin, Norman Mailer, Ed Fancher (the founder of the Village Voice), and, representing the film's coup in terms of marquee value, Robert Redford. Archival footage presents other seminal figures of the era, including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Mailer and James Baldwin.
The film contains several distinct segments, including ones devoted to Baldwin, depicted as torn between his concern about civil rights and his desire to write; the prevalence of alcohol among the literary set; and the subordinate roles afforded women. Mainly, though, it deals with reminiscences: novelist Lynn Sharon Schwartz's recollection about how people came to New York to have sex, Wakefield's description of a botched suicide attempt the night before an important interview for a scholarship and Talese's amusing account of how the editorial offices of the New York Times were a hotbed of illicit affairs.
NEW YORK IN THE FIFTIES
Avatar Films
Director: Betsy Blankenbaker
Producers: Betsy Blankenbaker, Dorka Keehn
Directors of photography: Bobby Shepard, Dustin Teel, Jeff Watt
Editor: Steve Marra
Music: Steve Allee
Color/stereo
Running time -- 72 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Running a mere 72 minutes, the film doesn't offer much in the way of depth. Despite its title, it mainly focuses on the denizens of Greenwich Village, where people from all over the country congregated to avoid the stifling conformism of the Eisenhower era. Included are interviews with some of the writers and artists who were part of the scene, including -- besides Wakefield -- Gay Talese, Joan Didion, Nat Hentoff, Calvin Trillin, Norman Mailer, Ed Fancher (the founder of the Village Voice), and, representing the film's coup in terms of marquee value, Robert Redford. Archival footage presents other seminal figures of the era, including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Mailer and James Baldwin.
The film contains several distinct segments, including ones devoted to Baldwin, depicted as torn between his concern about civil rights and his desire to write; the prevalence of alcohol among the literary set; and the subordinate roles afforded women. Mainly, though, it deals with reminiscences: novelist Lynn Sharon Schwartz's recollection about how people came to New York to have sex, Wakefield's description of a botched suicide attempt the night before an important interview for a scholarship and Talese's amusing account of how the editorial offices of the New York Times were a hotbed of illicit affairs.
NEW YORK IN THE FIFTIES
Avatar Films
Director: Betsy Blankenbaker
Producers: Betsy Blankenbaker, Dorka Keehn
Directors of photography: Bobby Shepard, Dustin Teel, Jeff Watt
Editor: Steve Marra
Music: Steve Allee
Color/stereo
Running time -- 72 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/22/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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