Thoughts on the movie 'Still Alice'

On Monday afternoon we went to see the movie 'Still Alice' written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland and based on Lisa Genova's novel of the same name.  It stars Julianne Moore as Dr. Alice Howland, a Columbia professor of communications, who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease near the start of the movie.  One of the producers is Maria Shriver whose own father, the late Sargent Shriver, was an Alzheimer's victim.

The poster for 'Still Alice'.

Alec Baldwin plays Alice's husband, Dr. John Howland, and Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth and Hunter Parrish play her children -- Lydia, Anna and Tom -- an actress, a lawyer and a doctor respectively.  Daniel Gerroll plays her neurologist, Dr. Eric Wellman.  Each gives a performance that deepens and defines the roles they must play in Alice's present and that they have played in her past.  I was particularly impressed with Gerroll's performance as the compassionate deliverer of the incredibly bad news about Alice's condition.

There is no question that Julianne Moore deserves the awards (Golden Globe and SAG) and nomination (Oscar) she has received for this film.  Her performance as Alice is both astonishing and devastating -- and always honest.  Not only is Alice dealing with the ever worsening symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer's, but she is also coping with the complex emotional dynamics that her diagnosis causes in both her professional and personal life.  Ms. Moore and her colleagues make all of these interactions truthful and raw.  Alice's speech to a group of Alzheimer's patients, caregivers, and professionals is a scene of such bravery, clarity and even humor that it catches your heart.

Alzheimer's is a disease strikes us long before we are even aware of it and goes on to cause long-term devastation for both victims and caregivers.  Have the courage to see this film -- you will be shaken by the painful reality it presents, but you will be thankful that Glatzer and Westmoreland and Shriver were brave enough to make it and that Ms. Moore has found the humanity in Alice's no-win situation.  With Alzheimer's disease there are no happy endings -- so don't go to 'Still Alice' expecting one -- but do go.

The movie, 'A Most Violent Year'

On Sunday, we went to see 'A Most Violent Year', the movie written and directed by J. C. Chandor and starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.

Official Poster for 'A Most Violent Year'

As the poster rightly suggests, the third star is 'New York City, 1981'.  We've all conveniently forgotten that New York City in 1981 was a city gripped by crime -- murder, corruption, armed robbery -- and grime -- graffiti, decay, tawdriness.  Chandor and Bradford Young, his cinematographer, have recaptured that time and place with an inky vividness.

Isaac plays Abel Morales, the most honorable (or perhaps least dishonorable) man in the City's corrupt heating oil business.  Chastain plays his wife, Anna, the daughter of a mobster who keeps two (or more) sets of books for the heating oil business.  The story is set in motion by Abel's downpayment on a piece of land on the Brooklyn waterfront he hopes will safeguard his oil supply.  He has 30 days to close the deal.  The tension mounts as Abel is beset by woes on several fronts and his ability to get the funds in time begins to wane.

There are some relatively slow patches in the movie, but the sense of foreboding and apprehension holds your attention.  The excellent supporting cast includes Albert Brooks, David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola, Jerry Adler, Elyes Gabel ('Scorpion' on CBS), and Catalina Sandino Rivera.  The musical score by Alex Ebert makes an eerily apt contribution to the ominous atmosphere.

Oscar Isaac is relatively stoic as the Job-like Abel maneuvering from one catastrophe to another.  Jessica Chastain as the mercurial Anna gives an astonishing performance that walks an ambiguous knife-edge between good and evil that enlivens every scene she is in.

Banner for 'A Most Violent Year' featuring its three stars:  Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, and New York City, 1981.

More Ballet Quibbles and Bits

SAB's Holiday Showcase by Advanced Students

Because I usually work as a volunteer at School of American Ballet on Thursday afternoons, on the Thursday before the holiday break in December I was lucky enough to be included in the audience of staff and faculty for SAB's Advanced Division students' performance of variations they had learned during the fall.  It included all of the advanced students who were physically able (injuries and flu had taken a toll) performing variations from 'Raymonda Variations', 'La Source', 'Agon', 'Stars and Stripes', 'Donizetti Variations', 'Symphonie Concertante' (all by Balanchine), 'Russian Seasons' (by Alexei Ratmansky) and probably several others that I can't recall.  These were performed by groups of three, four or five students -- or in the case of 'Symphonie Concertante' by the entire class of D girls.

These were all introduced by members of the faculty – Kay Mazzo, Suki Schorer, Susan Pillare, Arch Higgins and Jock Soto.  Ms. Pillare seemed particularly intent on pushing for a revival of ‘Symphonie Concertante’ – perhaps on the SAB workshops program.

The program concluded with two couples each performing the entire Sugarplum pas de deux from Balanchine's 'Nutcracker' -- including the solo variations.  To say that all of these performances were exceptional is an understatement -- but it will do.

SAB's Capstone Program for Advanced Students

The School of American Ballet started a program last year for advanced students who are probably in their final year at the school.  They are identified as 'Capstone' students.  While all of them probably yearn for an apprenticeship with New York City Ballet there are a limited number of opportunities there each year -- dictated by retirements, injuries, but most of all by budget constraints.

The program which was started last year prepares these students to take the next steps in their lives.  Just before the holiday break posters created in group research projects by Capstone students were posted in the main hall of the School.  They covered companies that will be auditioning dancers at the School this winter -- Los Angeles Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, the Joffrey Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Washington Ballet and one or two other companies -- highlighting interesting things about their cities, their repertory, their SAB alumni, their directors (sometimes also SAB alumni), their performance schedules -- whatever these teenagers think their fellow students should know before their auditions during the winter.

These youngsters have received wonderful ballet training at SAB.  Now they're also preparing for the next step -- whether it's into coveted apprenticeships at NYC Ballet, into the wider world of dance or on to some other option.  Take a look at the impressive list of professional dance opportunities that the School's alumni have taken in the last five years here:

https://sab.org/winterterm/career_planning/recent_professional_employmentp.php 

Nutcracker Debuts:

On the NYC Ballet facebook page, they announced a record number of twelve debuts in the performance of 'George Balanchine's The Nutcracker' on Sunday, December 28th:

https://www.facebook.com/nycballet/photos/a.194499540528.254487.112319735528/10155004814490529/?type=1&theater

Brian Siebert wrote about some of them in the 1/2/2015 NY Times.

The long run of 'The Nutcracker' and the large number of featured roles gives the company an opportunity to showcase promising  members of the corps -- only one of the dozen is a soloist.

Kennedy Center Honors Segment on Pat McBride: 

On December 30th, CBS aired the 2014 The Kennedy Center Honors.  One of the honorees this year was Patricia McBride, a favorite NYC Ballet ballerina who danced with the company from 1959 to 1989 -- 28 years as a principal.  Among the roles George Balanchine created roles for her are 'Jewels' (Rubies); 'Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet' (2nd movement); 'Who Cares?' (The Man I Love & Fascinatin' Rhythm); 'Harlequinade' (Columbine); 'Divertimento from Le Baiser de la Fee'; and 'Coppelia'.  Jerome Robbins memorably cast her in 'Dances at a Gathering' (girl in pink); 'In the Night'; 'Goldberg Variations'; 'The Four Seasons' (Fall); and others.  Among her partners were Edward Villella, Helgi Tomasson, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Peter Martins.

After leaving NYC Ballet, McBride and her husband, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, have become artistic directors of the Charlotte Ballet & School and the Chautauqua Institute School of Dance (summer program).  

The segment saluting McBride in the Honors program was produced by Damian Woetzel, another well-known former NYCB principal dancer, who is Artistic Director of the Vail International Dance Festival, among many other roles.

Christine Baranski introducing the Patricia McBride segment of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Christine Baranski, a star of the CBS show 'The Good Wife' introduced the biographical film on McBride with eloquence and class.  Following the film, Tiler Peck (NYCB principal) danced 'Fascinatin' Rhythm' from 'Who Cares?'; Lauren Lovette (NYCB soloist) and Jeffrey Cirio (Boston Ballet principal) danced part of the 'Rubies' pas de deux; Misty Copeland (ABT soloist) danced a variation from Balanchine's 'Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux'; Tiler Peck and Jared Angle (NYCB principals) danced a pas de deux from 'Dances at a Gathering'; and Alessandra James, Anna Gerberich, Sarah Hayes Harkins, and Pete Walker (Charlotte Ballet dancers) led off 'I Got Rhythm', the finale from 'Who Cares?' with all of the other dancers joining in for the ending.

Misty Copeland (ABT), Alessandra James (Charlotte Ballet), Jeffrey Cirio (Boston Ballet), Pete Walker (Charlotte Ballet), Anna Gerberich (Charlotte Ballet), Tiler Peck (NYCB), Sarah Hayes Harkins (Charlotte Ballet), Jared Angle (NYCB), and Lauren Lovette (NYCB) backstage at Kennedy Center Opera House.  Photo from Jeffrey Cirio

Tiler was in Broadway babe mode for 'Who Cares?' -- a little too much pizzazz for me, but probably just right for the CBS audience.  

Lauren Lovette and Jeffrey Cirio in the pas de deux from 'Rubies'.

Lauren and Jeffrey looked great together and danced with supreme assurance in the snippet from 'Rubies'.  Misty danced with confidence and style in the female variation from the Tschaikovsky pdd.  Jared and Tiler were wonderful in the Robbins snippet.  The four dancers from Charlotte looked grand in 'Who Cares?' which provided a great finale for the McBride segment.

Now, if the Kennedy Center Honors/CBS producers and editors could just have been induced to film this segment with fewer close-ups, less chopping off of feet, and without cutting away to the First Lady looking bored, it would have been a totally splendid tribute to a truly great American prima ballerina.

Among the audience 'reaction' shots we spotted Heather Watts and Damian Woetzel and Lauren Lovette's swain, Chase Finlay (NYCB principal).  And here's a glamorous shot of Ms. Lovette in the Kennedy Center lobby before or after the show.

Lauren Lovette in the lobby of the Kennedy Center in Washington for the Kennedy Center Honors.

Look for a longer post about Patricia McBride's outstanding career at New York City Ballet coming soon.

New Role at SAB for Jon Stafford  

I just learned that in addition to his post-performing career as a ballet master at NYC Ballet and a faculty member at the School of American Ballet, Jon Stafford will be advising SAB's 'capstone' students (see above) on their professional careers.  Not only is Jon a recent (and relatively young) retiree from the company and a trusted SAB teacher, but he also has wide connections with dancers and directors throughout the dance world which can help the 'capstoners' in making smart career moves.

Apprentices Going from SAB to NYC Ballet 

At least three School of American Ballet apprentices --  Jacqueline Bologna, Laine Habony and Mimi Staker -- have been given contracts with New York City Ballet following the completion of 'The Nutcracker' season on January 3rd.  And another student -- Miriam Miller -- was named an apprentice by Peter Martins just before the start of the company's Winter Season on January 20th.

Comments on the movie 'Selma'

On Tuesday afternoon we went to see the movie 'Selma', the historical drama about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 to secure voting rights for Negroes in the deep South.  It was directed by Ava DuVernay from a script by Paul Webb. 

Poster for 'Selma'

Maybe the projection equipment at the AMC Lincoln Square sucks, but I suspect that the movie is just murky.  The colors are bleached out and dull.  

The cast is lead by David Oyelowo as Dr. King with Tom Wilkinson as President Lyndon Johnson and Tim Roth as Alabama Governor George Wallace.  These three actors inhabit their characters in ways that make you both forget and remember the roles they played in the civil rights movement of the 60's.  Oyelowo has internalized the cadences and sonorities of Dr. King the masterful black orator and strategist -- as well as his insecurities and wariness; Wilkinson leans into the skillful political manipulator LBJ with down home Texas twang and four-letter swagger; Roth gleefully wallows in the racist bigotry of Wallace at his most malevolent.

Oyelowo's accomplishment seems all the more remarkable since he doesn't use quotes from any of Dr. King's famous speeches (which the King family denied the movie makers).

In Alabama, Oyelowo is surrounded by a wonderful supporting cast portraying Ralph Abernathy (Coleman Domingo), Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo), Andrew Young (Andre Holland), John Lewis (Stephan James), Amelia Boynton Robinson (Lorraine Toussaint), Diane Nash (Tessa Thompson), Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) and others too numerous to mention here.

The pacing of the movie is deliberate and the major confrontations and meetings are staged at an epic crawl.  Digressions to less important plot elements and characters saps the film of narrative drive and focus.  The result is an enervating sprawl, rather than the invigorating cascade of events I recall reading about in 1965.  The key events depicted in 'Selma' had an enormous impact on the lives of all black Americans and their place in American society.  In striving to encompass all of the players and their roles the movie fails to sustain the viewer's involvement in their struggle and their accomplishments.  

Banner for 'Selma'.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

It is unfortunate that this movie is being released shortly after a 2013 Supreme Court decision (Shelby County v. Holder) dismantled the most effective elements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, allowing states to proceed with racially motivated redistricting, permitting states to enact onerous voter registration requirements and limit polling hours to suppress minority voting.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

It is equally disturbing to note that Ferguson, MO -- the scene of violent racial disturbances following the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer last August -- where over 67% of its citizens are black, is governed by a white mayor; a city council of 5 white and 1 black council members; and a nearly all-white (50 of 53) police force.  

As 'Selma' rightly points out, black (and some white) people risked and lost their lives to gain the right for black Americans to register to vote -- so they could vote and serve on juries and otherwise enjoy the all rights and responsibilities of American citizenship.  Why haven't the citizens of Ferguson, MO been able to avail themselves of those rights to shape a government that is responsive to their needs -- a government that looks like them?

It is clear from more recent demonstrations across America that the promises of the civil rights movement of the 60's have not succeeded in totally eliminating the racial divide.  Perhaps 50 years is not enough time to undo the damage of hundreds of years of slavery and oppression.  Perhaps the color of our skin or the color of our uniform cannot ever be taken for granted.  Black lives matter; blue lives matter; all lives matter -- in a country that espouses the belief in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.  

Italian Trip Diary -- Day #22 -- Rome to New York

Wednesday, July 4, Rome to New York:

On our final morning at the Jolly Via Veneto we decided to splurge with breakfast on our terrace overlooking the Borghese Gardens.  It was a sybaritic way to enjoy our final hours in Italy with the pines of Rome swaying in the breeze.

View of the Borghese Gardens from our terrace at the Hotel Jolly Via Veneto.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Through the concierge we had arranged for a van to take us to the airport.  We arrived in plenty of time for our flight to London and our connection to New York.  (Carl’s direct flight to New York was cancelled and he ended up on a later plane that got him to JFK about the same time as us.)  The flights were uneventful, but unfortunately at JFK our checked luggage did not appear.  The overwhelmed baggage service person eventually located one of the two pieces after about 90 minutes.  The other bag arrived on a later plane from Heathrow and was delivered to our apartment the following day.

As our taxi climbed over the Triboro Bridge to Manhattan in a light drizzle and then down the FDR Drive we were aware that there were people waiting for Macy’s fireworks to go off.  We settled for just getting home – exhausted from the long and frustrating day of travel, but exhilarated by our memories of a wonderful trip to Italy.

Here are some tips for travellers that were scattered throughout my diary of our 2001 Italian trip:

• Keep track of your luggage.  Count the number of pieces and make sure that they are always with you when you move in or out of hotels or go from one means of transport to another.

  

  Doug McClure & George Blomme on the ramparts of Orvieto.  Photo by Carl Koivuniemi

• Keep your medications in your carry-on bags and always have a list of medications with their generic names and copies of prescriptions from your doctor or pharmacist.

  

  Doug McClure & George Blomme at the Piazzale Michelangelo overlooking Florence.
  Photo by Carl Koivuniemi

• Keep your wallet in your front pocket or in a zippered, double-handled bag.  Carry copies of the contents of your wallet -- credit/debit cards, drivers licenses, other I.D. cards -- either in your luggage or on your mobile phone.

  

  George Blomme & Doug McClure atop the unfinished west facade of Siena Cathedral.
  Photo by Carl Koivuniemi

• Be aware of your surroundings and avoid being jostled on public transportation or on crowded streets.

George Blomme & Doug McClure in Siena's Piazza del Campo.  Photo by Carl Koivuniemi

• Always act like you know where you are going.  Use a map to plot the route for your day's itinerary over breakfast at the hotel.  Try not to stop on the street to consult a map or guidebook -- it draws attention to the fact you're a tourist who's not familiar with the area.  Instead, stop for coffee or a snack to consult your guidebook or map.

  

  Doug McClure & George Blomme atop the tallest tower in San Gimignano -- no elevator.
  Photo by Carl Koivuniemi  

• Try to figure out when tour buses are likely to arrive at a museum or an attraction.  They'll usually visit the most important attractions (the Vatican Museums or the Uffizi Gallery, for example) early in the morning.  You're better off going at a different hour or at least visiting less important sections and then doubling back to the prime attractions (the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican is less crowded after an early lunch in the museum cafe).

  

  Luca Tura, Doug McClure & George Blomme under an arcade in Bologna.  Photo by Carl Koivuniemi

   
• Don't carry lots of cash.  There are ATMs everywhere in Europe that will take debit or credit cards for cash.  My dad used to say 'Never carry more cash than you can afford to lose'. 

  

  Doug McClure & George Blomme at Villa Morosini XXV Aprile in Merano.  Photo by Carl Koivuniemi
• Check the internet for opening and closing hours when you plan your day's activities .  In Italy, you'll find that churches are often closed for one or two hours at midday.  Museums may not be open every day of the week.

  

  Doug McClure & George Blomme at top of Campanile San Marco in Venice.  Photo by Carl Koivuniemi
• Get admission tickets via the internet for popular museums and attractions prior to your departure to avoid long lines.  You can do this from home and arrive with reservations in hand.  You'll usually walk right by the lines directly up to the ticket taker with an internet reservation.
• Learn at least a few words of the local language.  Shouting 'Police!' when you're in trouble is great, but shouting 'Carabinieri!' is even better.  Most workers in the travel industry know some English and are often eager to practice on Americans.

  

  George Blomme & Doug McClure at the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola on the Janiculum Hill in Rome.
  Photo by Carl Koivuniemi

• Avoid packaged tours.  With a few key websites (TripAdvisor.com is our favorite) you can assemble your own tour which allows you to move at your own pace and avoid activities that you dislike.  We hate shopping for souvenirs; going to watch glass blowers or lace makers (and then visit their showrooms and wait while the shoppers on your tour browse and buy 'stuff'); only hitting the high points in a museum; eating set menus in tourist traps; being on the bus 'bright and early'.  We love finding charming cafes and restaurants; visiting out-of-the-way churches and galleries; getting started when we want; having some down time for a nap; taking extra time to seek out less familiar art; wandering the quiet streets of a town long after the tour buses have moved on; visiting a place that's off the beaten track. 
• Contribute the knowledge you've gained to fellow travelers with a review when you get home.  If you've had a memorably good or bad experience at a hotel or restaurant write about it on TripAdvisor.com.  I've been doing it for years and over 35,000 travellers have benefited from our insight on nearly 80 hotels, restaurants and attractions.