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Reviews
Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical (2001)
Please God No
While there are a few (and very far between) watchable moments in this show, by and large it is the most ghastly, amateurish production I have ever seen in my life. The stunning music is horribly overshadowed by wooden, stilted acting by the principle characters with few notable exceptions, and excruciatingly bad choreography draw the eye precisely where it is not supposed to go.The acting is painful, Hasselhoff unwatchable, though the direction and the choreography are what really doom what could otherwise have been an incredibly powerful show. And this is not mentioning the chronological anachronisms that pop up all over the place, from clothing not appropriate to the period all the way to accents from the wrong part of London! Pick this up if you are new to musical theater and are looking to expand your knowledge of musicals, but for those of you who know what you're looking at when you look at a show, look elsewhere.
Lian ai zhong de Bao Bei (2004)
Baober in Colorado
I had the pleasure of seeing this strange and yet wonderful film at the Telluride film festival with a group of fellow film students, and actually got to meet the director and speak with her through a translator. She was thrilled with the audience her work was reaching, and is planning on more films in the future. The director (a woman, which is amazing enough for Chinese cinema) is also one of the first to be allowed to shoot a film with such dark material and given an international screening, uncensored by the government.
The film itself is deeply experimental, but never for an instant boring, despite sometimes hard to follow subtitles. A landmark achievement for Chinese film.
Connie and Carla (2004)
Hilarious Twists!
Imagine yourself stuck in Austin Texas in the middle of ridiculous August heat, and the only thing on TV is this weird movie about a pair of girls running around in the city. Suddenly you're hooked on a whirlwind adventure into world of drag queens and comedy, with surprising stars like David Duchovny stepping outside their normal roles for a little fun.Full of the best show tunes, outrageous costumes, drag-city make up and an appearance by Debbie Reynolds, a more charming, funny movie I couldn't have asked for. My mother and I laughed ourselves silly, we've never enjoyed a hotel room more. Definitely a diamond in the rough, well worth the renting for a girl's night out.
Kontroll (2003)
Fantastic Movie!
I had the great honor to meet and conference with Nimrod Antal when I was a student film director traveling to the Telluride film festival in September of 2005. A very bright and engaging man, Nimrod was more than excited to discuss the movie with us students. The film was his first feature, and far surpasses any expectations one would have for a man's first feature film. The darkly hilarious Kontroll is a masterpiece of storytelling, and can be widely enjoyed for what it is, a piece about the vagaries and nuances of humanity in it's cramped limitations and spaces. It explores in a truly insightful style nearly all of man's flaws, and some few virtues he does have, while managing to always be entertaining and engrossing. I hope to see more from Nimrod, and hope to meet that wonderful young director again.