Friday, October 19, 2007

• A Few Books, Movies and Shows

  Tonight, I'll be watching the Broadway show "Mamma Mia" at New York's Winter Garden Theater. I've heard many good things about the show, I like Abba's songs of course and so I look forward very much to seeing it. Now before I did that, I was hoping to talk about some movies and books that I have checked out this year (well, that I can remember).

  Over the summer I read "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a controversial figure originally from Somalia. The book details her early life as a Muslim girl in Somalia, painfully recreating some of her experiences as a child who underwent genital mutilation and, because of the conflicts in her native Somalia, also suffered repeated flights into other countries as a refugee. Like many girls she had a complex relationship with her strong-willed father who was also the first person to teach her to think independently. In her quest to exist as a free individual and free thinker she escaped from a marriage that was arranged for her by her father. She does a beautiful job of explaining the Islamic culture in which she was brought up. She also explains beautifully how she came to the conclusion that there are things inherent in the Islamic culture that are hostile to women. The book ended perhaps a little abruptly, as it was written only a couple years ago, and her story is not yet over. I know very little about these countries and about Islamic culture, so it was interesting to learn what living in it as a woman might be like. It can be very sad, but it's definitely a book worth reading.

  Last week, the Better Half and I checked out a small movie called "King Corn". The basic idea of the movie: two college buddies from Boston realize one day that their ancestors were both Iowa farmers in the same small town at the turn of the 20th century. Curiosity about farming, and questions about the US farming industry, compel them to buy just one acre of Iowa farmland and grow their own little corn crop. In the process they learn a good bit not just about how to farm but of how the corn industry is run from the ground up, and also what happens to the vast majority of corn that is harvested in flat states like Iowa (I was surprised to learn that since there is so much corn product in our food, our hair is made mostly of corn; most of the corn grown on US farms is not edible at all, and much of it goes to make feed for cattle and also to make multiple additives to food - very few of them nutritious; and that a whole acre of corn would earn a farmer only about $350). Even as they were troubled by some of the aspects of the modern farming industry (the disappearance of the small farmer, the realization that the large farms is bacially propelled not by the market but by government subsidies, the fact that much of the corn had little to no real nutritional value, the sheer volume of US farming output that goes into junk food - feeding the problem of obesity and the prevalence of diabetes), because of their farming heritage and their willingess to throw themselves into the process, they approached the actual farmers and their communities with respect and humility. I think this movie is in very limited release, but when it becomes available on DVD, you should really check it out. It was very interesting.

  Not so long ago, I went to see two Broadway musicals - "Curtains" and "The Ritz". Both of them were absolutely fun and a great time. I recommend them both. 

  "The Ritz" is a crazy farce set in a 1970's gay bathhouse. The basic plot is that an unsuspecting businessman from Cleveland - a straight, married man - finds himself on the run from his wife's mob family after his father in law used his dying wish to put a hit out on him. Desperate to escape his homicidal brother-in-law, he instructs the cabdriver to take him to "the last place on earth anyone would ever find me". And so he winds up in what at first looks like a seedy hotel, but turns out to be a gay bathhouse. Hijinks ensue as he fends off advances from eager residents, encounters an ambitious second-rate female performer who he mistakes for a man in drag, and eventually the residents shield him from his angry brother-in-law. Rosie Perez plays the female performer and there is one entire scene where she recreates the performer's riotously bad nightclub act, losing one shoe toward the end of the performance. The story was absolutely nuts, but it was such a hoot - and a bargain for the $18 tickets my friends and I managed to get. The theater was so small that we had a perfect view of everything, even though we were in the absolute last row.

  In a rather more traditional musical theater vein, I went with my boyfriend to see "Curtains", starring David Hyde Pierce from the TV show "Frasier". "Curtains" is set in about the 1950's and had many elements of the classic Broadway musical - this was no "jukebox musical" (a la "Movin' Out" or "Mamma Mia"). A Boston theater company is just rebounding from a disastrous first performance when their lead, a terrible performer, is suddenly murdered. In comes Pierce, playing a Boston detective who is on the case, but rather more interested in being in showbusiness and snagging the only sweet and modest member of the troupe, a shy blonde member of the cast, and the only one who probably did not commit the murder. By the end of the show, the mystery is solved, everyone is happy, and the detective gets a part in the play and gets his lady. The story is pretty silly and the songs were mostly run of the mill, but this was one where the performances really just stole the show. My favorite part were the many cute and funny one-liners delivered with perfect aplomb by the cheekier members of the cast. It was definitely a musical that had you coming out going - "what an amazing job everyone did".

  There were other books and movies that I read/saw this year, but these were the most recent. If more reviews pop into mind, maybe I'll do another one of these.

  • 1:55 PM
  • 18 eprops
  • 10 comments