biography
Public Speaking : a profile of Fran Liebowitz
Martin Scorcese’s profile on Fran Lebowitz is no ordinary documentary. After 90 minutes of essentially listening to this quick-witted brilliant observationist with her razor sharp tongue spend forth on some of her favorite bugbears, we actually learn very little about the woman behind all these rapidly fired opinions. By filming her in conversation in…
L’Amour Fou
The best part of this disappointing mish-mash of a film is the opening sequence which is footage of Yves St Laurent announcing to the world that he is about to retire. In a highly dramatic speech that he stumbles through in which, amongst other things, he confesses to the demons (drink and drugs) he has…
Absolute Wilson
As part of my continuing process of brushing up on American Cultural Icons I viewed Katherina Otto-Bernstein’s 2006 documentary on ROBERT WILSON, who is arguably the pre-eminent avant-garde theater director/artist in the world. I shouldn’t have been quite so ignorant of Mr. Wilson as although he is American, most of his work has been in Europe where there is…
Becoming Chaz
This highly personal film documents part of the journey that Chaz Bono takes to become a transgendered man. He is remarkably brave, strikingly honest and an extremely likable person who allows the cameras to record the crucial steps of taking the necessary hormones and then having the vital breast surgery and how all of this effects…