The Bridge. In 2004 Eric Steel set up movie cameras near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, filmed twenty-three people diving to their deaths, then interviewed their friends and family members without telling them that he was making a documentary that would also contain footage of the deaths of their loved ones. Is The Bridge exploitative? Does it aestheticize suicide? I find these questions impossible to answer. All I know is that I couldn’t turn my eyes from this deeply unsettling portrait of human despair and its aftermath (TT).
Archives for May 17, 2007
TT: So you want to see a show?
Here’s my list of recommended Broadway and off-Broadway shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.
Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.
BROADWAY:
• Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)
• A Chorus Line * (musical, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, reviewed here)
• Company (musical, PG-13/R, adult subject matter and situations, reviewed here)
• The Drowsy Chaperone (musical, G/PG-13, mild sexual content and a profusion of double entendres, reviewed here)
• Frost/Nixon * (drama, PG-13, some strong language, reviewed here, closes Aug. 19)
• LoveMusik * (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)
• A Moon for the Misbegotten * (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here, closes June 10)
• 110 in the Shade (musical, G, suitable for children old enough to enjoy a love story, reviewed here, extended through July 29)
• Talk Radio (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)
• The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (musical, PG-13, mostly family-friendly but contains a smattering of strong language and a production number about an unwanted erection, reviewed here)
OFF BROADWAY:
• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children old enough to enjoy a love story, reviewed here)
CLOSING THIS WEEKEND:
• Biography (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here, closes Sunday)
TT: Almanac
“The critic lives at second hand. He writes about. The poem, the novel, or the play must be given to him; criticism exists by the grace of other men’s genius.”
George Steiner, Language and Silence