6 minute read
CHIP’S CORNER
This time last year, romance – not COVID – was in the air. But there’s still plenty to love in this month’s entertainment options.
AMARILLO ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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“GO FIGURE”: Amarillo Museum of Art’s latest exhibition explores a variety of interpretations of the human figure, featuring artists Vera Barnett, Barnaby Fitzgerald, Miles Cleveland Goodwin, Sean Cairns, Lindy Chambers and Otis Huband. (Jan. 22 to March 28, 2200 S. Van Buren St. 806-371-5050, amoa.org)
“ONCE”: Amarillo Little Theatre tackles this beloved contemporary musical, based on the 2007 drama, in its next Adventure Space production. Set in Dublin, it follows the love story of an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant, and intriguingly, the actors all play their own instruments, adding an intimate yet communal touch. (Feb. 11 to 28, ALT Adventure Space, 2751 Civic Circle. 806-355-9991, amarillolittletheatre.org)
AMARILLO SYMPHONY: The orchestra announced last month that it would shift most of its 2020-21 season online, aiming to return to live concerts in April and extending conductor Jacomo Bairos’ contract to November 2021. Details had not been announced for February by presstime, but music should be distributed via social media and email, with a potential broadcast in the works, too. (806-376-8782)
VERA BARNETT “THE PAINTED WORD: IN/OUT,” 2011 OIL ON LINEN, 48 1/8 X 48 INCHES LOAN COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND VALLEY HOUSE GALLERY AND SCULPTURE GARDEN
MOVIES
Icy and arch, the melancholy farce “French Exit” is just about the last film you’d expect to have a talking cat.
And yet, the sonorous Tracy Letts lends his vocal cords to Small Frank, a sleek black cat that’s apparently the vessel for the reincarnated spirit of the late Frank, deceased husband of Frances (Michelle Pfeiffer).
This bizarre little comedy from director Azazel Jacobs (“The Lovers”), based on a novel by Patrick DeWitt (who wrote the screenplay), plays like a Wes Anderson supernatural yarn. As it opens, Frank’s untimely death has sent Frances’ life into a pitiful spiral. Told in an early scene that she is rapidly burning through what’s left of Frank’s estate, she decides to sell it all, cross the Atlantic on a second-rate cruise ship with her son, Malcolm (Lucas Hedges), and move into a friend’s apartment in Paris.
Here’s the thing, though: Frances is never pitiful, no matter her situation. Pfeiffer exudes a graceful coolness throughout, even when her life is utterly falling apart. She’s in control, despite really having no control at all. It’s a delightful, masterful performance that elevates the film. Because, truly, in any other hands, Frances would be utterly unlikeable; instead, she’s captivating. And whatever magic Pfeiffer is spinning is abetted by a charming performance by Hedges, a memorably odd one by the great Valerie Mahaffey and a wry one by Danielle Macdonald as a medium.
But ultimately, maybe it’s all too arch, too dry to really, truly work. I wish it all held together better, but Pfeiffer’s performance alone is worth the price of admission. (Opens Feb. 12 in limited release; available Feb. 26 on streaming services)
A top-notch cast and a riveting true story somehow aren’t enough to make a compelling film in “The Mauritanian,” based on the true story of an innocent man locked away for years in Guantanamo.
Other narrative features on the same subject (think “Rendition” and “Camp X-Ray”) also have fallen flat. Maybe that’s because the horror is too recent or, more likely, because it’s hard to dramatize something so absolutely despicable as the abuses suffered by our hero, Mohamedou Ould Slahi (Tahar Rahim, “A Prophet”), and have the audience come to any other conclusion than how absolutely despicable the abuses are. It’s hard to find nuance when the circumstances are so vile.
LINDY CHAMBERS “HOME ALONE,” 2020 OIL AND ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 48 X 48 INCHES LOAN COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND VALLEY HOUSE GALLERY AND SCULPTURE GARDEN
Rahim, though, gives it his all as a man accused of being one of the planners of 9/11, though, as the film points out, there’s no real evidence. He lands a highpowered human rights attorney, Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster), who takes him on as a pro bono client alongside a young assistant (Shailene Woodley). They’re pitted against a Marine lawyer, Stu Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch), who’s assigned to the case primarily because he lost a close friend in the terrorist attack.
The film is at its best when both Nancy and Stu finally get their hands on unredacted reports describing the brutal torture Mohamedou suffered at the hands of his American military jailers. Foster and Cumberbatch give great outraged expressions, and the jarring flashbacks bring the horror home. But otherwise, neither fine actor is really given much to play with; their characters are sadly thin and unfortunately not very compelling.
There’s still enough here to rouse ire in the right kind of audience, but a documentary would have served this story far better, I think. (Opens Feb. 12)
I didn’t get around to making a list of my Top 10 films of 2020, largely because it is so hard to tell what films actually came out in 2020 (and also because I largely want to forget 2020). But if I had, “Minari” would have been at the top of the list.
This lovely, profound film follows a Korean American family as they relocate from California to a small town in Arkansas in the 1980s. Lee Isaac Chung’s autobiographical drama finds the family caught between the urge to assimilate and the desire to keep their independence, particularly through the eyes of the patriarch, Jacob (Steven Yeun, “The Walking Dead”).
Jacob is anxious to live the American Dream, even as it leaves his family – wife Monica (Yeri Han), children Anne (Noel Cho) and David (Alan Kim) and motherin-law Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung) – living what could charitably be called a spartan existence. Soon-ja’s arrival lightens things considerably, especially as she and David start to bond. A sickly child, he’s only treated normally by his grandma, though between her foul mouth and practical jokes, she’s hardly a normal grandma.
The title refers to a hardy Korean herb that Soon-ja plants along the creek bed when she arrives. The resilient plant symbolizes the stubbornness the family must summon to survive in their newly adopted home, all smartly observed by Chung and adroitly performed by his sensational cast. (Opens Feb. 12 in limited release)
Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) are a long-term couple facing a heartrending crisis in “Supernova,” an intimate new drama with astounding performances.
Firth and Tucci are traveling through northern England in an RV in writer-director Harry Macqueen’s lovely autumnal feature. We soon realize that this is their last vacation: Tusker, a novelist, is suffering from ever-worsening dementia, and this is the couple’s chance to say goodbye to dear friends and come to terms with the inevitable.
The actors are perfectly paired, bringing a real lived-in quality to their relationship, even as it faces such a dire challenge. As they come to the inescapable end, they must lower their defenses and honestly weigh their options. It’s the kind of story that has been told often in film (as in Julianne Moore’s Oscar-winning turn in “Still Alice”), but this version finds new notes to play, led by sensational performances by its leading men. (Opened Jan. 29 in theaters, available Feb. 16 digitally)
MILES CLEVELAND GOODWIN “THE BAKER,” 2018 OIL ON CANVAS, 30 X 40 INCHES LOAN COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND VALLEY HOUSE GALLERY AND SCULPTURE GARDEN
