Category: reviews

Review of Things Fall Apart: A Novel by Chinua Achebe

brilliantly written in english, with the rich flavor and music of african proverbs and words. an inside look at how worlds and cultures were rendered irrelevant and brusquely replaced by the colonial/missionary enterprise.

i found the use of the english language incredible in that achebe was able to endow it with a completely diff cultural context – effortlessly. many times when people write about other cultures in english, it feels like we’re looking in, from the outside. the language itself becomes an impediment, an artifice. it’s a true feat to be able to overcome that distance and speak from the inside. a remarkable achievement. i also thought that the story, altho seemingly simple, is multi-layered. finally, his style of writing is anything but “dramatic” (it’s limpid, measured) yet half a page can elicit tears, laughter or shock in the most surprising of ways.

“inception” was disappointing…

great idea, lots of action, nolan and dicaprio, yet the film didn’t quite work for me.

one major weakness: the idea to be planted in someone’s brain (the “crime”) was rather pathetic. also, leo’s story with his wife was a distraction – too schmaltzy, his wife’s character way too annoying. they should have framed the film as a crime flick – a bunch of intelligent, quirky, witty, super creative people working together as a team to commit a crime – using the unconventional method of entering into people’s subconscious, kinda like sneakers or ocean’s eleven – no sentimentality, more focus on the crime itself, the dynamics of a team of geniuses, humor, cool, and a unique way to to commit the crime.

ellen page bored me to death. someone with more of an edge, with a stronger presence, with more maturity would have been terrific. and the psychology was too pat. for a film which undertakes the exciting visual exploration of the human mind and psyche, inception was actually quite boring. that’s criminal, no?

steven dietz’s “yankee tavern” – a post 9/11 mystery

attended a reading of “yankee tavern” at geva theatre yesterday.

the play, written by steven dietz, has been described as a “post 9/11 mystery”. it’s a multi-layered story with 4 characters. adam and janet r planning to get married but there seem to be some uncomfortable secrets, some unsaid things between them. adam has inherited his dad’s run-down tavern along with his dad’s best friend ray, who is a tireless conspiracy theorist. as he talks about the real moon vs the invisible moon and how kleenex made the most of a spore lab-designed to trigger allergies, we find it easy to ignore or mock him. but then the conversation turns to 9/11 and ray becomes quite lucid – he asks some hard-hitting questions which r not so easy to dismiss. a mysterious man named palmer appears on the scene. he seems to have an insider’s knowledge about some disturbing facts related to 9/11. the plot begins to thicken and the play transitions seamlessly from comedy to drama to mystery. well written, tightly wound, and thought provoking, with the events of 9/11 at its core, yankee tavern finds it easy to draw its audience in.

the reading was followed by a discussion with three local “instigators” – a u.s. army general who did a tour of duty in iraq and who had been working at the pentagon before 9/11, a reporter for the democrat and chronicle and an activist/free lance journalist who writes for city news. i have to say that the retired general’s comments were the most cogent and interesting to me. he confirmed in some detail how they had already been working on iraq before 9/11 ever happened, in fact as soon as the bush administration came into office. there was a great push from the neo-cons to make iraq happen and 9/11 was just a convenient cover that fell into their laps.

of course this is not something new. what’s shocking is that it has not yet seeped into mainstream consciousness. that was my question actually: what is the definition of conspiracy? is it anything that contradicts the govt’s official story? didn’t we learn from watergate that govts lie, even ours? and if so, why discredit skepticism about the govt’s position as “conspiracy”? the reporter on the panel made some lame comment about how a conspiracy can be defined as something not confirmed in mainstream media. btw this guy also believes that the ny times and wall street journal r the ultimate bastions of truth. i was glad when the free lance journalist didn’t let him get away with that and pointed out the damage done by the ny times in the run-up to the iraq war. the general answered my question thoughtfully by appreciating the importance of skepticism in a democracy. he also said that based on his own experience of working for the govt he wouldn’t be surprised if some of the “conspiracies” mentioned in the play were in fact true.

there was a lot of talk about oil being at the forefront of our motivation to go to iraq. i couldn’t help interjecting from the audience that oil might have been an attraction but there is more to it than just that. someone asked about the accuracy of the information presented in the play and i was a bit annoyed by one of the organizers who said that every fact mentioned by dietz could be found on the internet thus eliciting a wave of laughter from the audience. i don’t like it when people diss the internet. oh sure, there is much which is worthless and offensive on the web but anyone with half a brain can figure out rather quickly what to look for. the internet gives us democracy now, mosaic world news, al jazeera, counterpunch, the guardian, truthout, dahr jamail, jeremy scahill, pulse media, flashpoints and much much more. it’s rich, multi-dimensional, accessible (hopefully to more and more of the world population), instantaneous and almost free. what’s there not to like? it’s the democratization of information which is obviously a threat to the old establishment and so here goes the dissing again.

all in all it was an interesting evening. i shook the general’s hand before i left. he and i seemed to be on the same page.

kudos to geva theatre for putting this event together. yankee tavern was the last play in geva’s “the hornets’ nest” series this year.

review: VIDEOCRACY by Erik Gandini, Sweden 2009

a fascinating and sometimes chilling visual essay, videocracy examines italy in the age of media baron and current prime minister silvio berlusconi.

erik gandini is an italian filmmaker who went to film school in sweden. u see some of that influence in his work – a certain sparesity in narration which is more than compensated for by the cinematographic content of the film. gandini loves the documentary form on account of that flexibility – u can communicate what reality feels like without having to articulate what it is.

at the beginning of the film he explains how u have to be inside of italy’s berlusconi-induced video culture in order to understand it, it’s not enough to look at it from the sidelines. and inside we go as the film plunges into a collage of footage from tv shows. one of the producers explains how the images and sounds that emanate from berlusconi’s tv programming represent the man himself, his persona. he likes naked voluptuous women, fun parties, loud colors, and money and that’s what u see on-screen.

reality tv is immensely popular in italy and so is the idea that there is no point in just “being” unless u r “seen.” we meet a young man who has been training to become a cross between jean-claude van damme and ricky martin for 12 yrs so he can be on a tv show. he complains about how girls get all the gigs: “the girls will do anything to be on tv. they have an advantage. it’s not fair. why should i be a mechanic for the rest of my life?”

he is right. girls do have an advantage. many of them dream of becoming velines, tv show dancers who accompany the host on stage. they never speak but perform a rather ridiculous dance which is meant to engage the audience in between breaks. whether they r velines or housewives on reality tv, women r constantly objectified, degraded. i couldn’t help ask myself whether it’s worse for women to be hidden away by the taliban or to be stripped naked in front of cameras by talk show hosts. of course there is the question of free will – but is there?

we are introduced to a cherubic friend of the prime minister’s: lele mora is the most powerful talent agent in italy. he can turn regular people into super stars. everyone wants him. he’s a master puppeteer. gandini’s camera lingers on his face – an odd mix of beatific smiles and sleazeball ambiguity.

one of his proteges is a man named fabrizio corona. he employs paparazzi to hound celebrities and sells their compromising photographs back to them. he gets 80 days in prison for extortion but comes out tanned, buffed up, rebranded and fully merchandised. he becomes a celebrity and starts making some serious dough – his job is to show up at parties where people can get pictures taken with him. when he starts to lose his touch, he decides to go to murder scenes and ask the families of murder victims to sport his t-shirts in exchange for money. that doesn’t work out too well. he straps a video camera onto his body and secretly films his own divorce proceedings. he’s a survivor.

it’s a nightmarish world – surreal in its vulgarity, horrifying in its vacuousness, disturbing in its ability to produce mass appeal. the film ends with some text: 80% of italians get their information from tv. it’s the legendary panem et circenses and we would do well to recognize where we’re headed.

review: “the morini strad” by willy holtzman at geva theatre

went to see a reading of willy holtzman’s play in progress, “the morini strad” at geva theatre yesterday.

based on a true story, the play recounts the meeting and gradual friendship that forms between erica morini, one of the most talented violinists in the world (famous for her muscular technique), and brian skarstad, a gifted violin maker/repairman.

they meet for the first time at erica’s fifth avenue apartment. luxuriously furnished yet showing signs of wear and tear, it’s obvious that the apartment has seen better days. erica morini is now in her nineties. a child prodigy who made her new york debut at carnegie hall when she was but 14 and who was able to transition into a successful music career as an adult, erica’s fingers are now arthritic. she can no longer play but she retains much of her diva disposition. she is brusque, standoffish and relentlessly sarcastic. initially, it’s hard to discern some of her dialogue – mostly staccato repartees to brian’s every question and comment.

after much ado she brings out her 1727 stradivarius, a legend more than a violin. brian recognizes it instantly. he is blown away. he also sees that it’s damaged – too much solvent ate right through the wood. he is confident that he can repair it: “it will be invisible” he says.

as he begins to work on the strad with erica hovering over him in his workshop, they start to discover each other. she learns about brian’s wife (a music composer who is on a different diet every week) and his sons (who like to play the electric guitar much more than the violin – erica is frequently appalled by the noise they make). she recognizes brian’s genius at what he does and they have discussions about the artistic life vs family life. she tells him she chose not to have children. she wanted to focus on her art, her career. she asks him if he ever questions his choices. he is overwhelmed by bills and does repair work most of the time but he is happy. he doesn’t have any highfalutin ideas about art and life. she needles him, makes him admit that sometimes he has doubts. we begin to see her in a different light. gone are the short cutting replies. she reveals warmth and a rather raunchy sense of humor. she begins to acquire dimension as a character, as a human being.

erica is impressed by brian’s work, by how he holds the strad. to her he is an artist. one of the best articulated ideas in the play is morini’s belief that life, like a symphony, has 4 distinct movements:

1) opening sonata or allegro: defines the tempo of a musical piece – is crucial as it can affect the mood and difficulty of an entire composition, or an entire life.

2) a slow movement such as adagio: to be performed slowly and gracefully.

3) a minuet or scherzo: written in the same time and rhythm as a minuet (a social dance of french origin for two), to be executed in a lively, playful manner.

4) an allegro, rondo, or sonata: indicates a return to the original theme or motif – it’s music that is fast and vivacious, normally allegro.

she reminds brian repeatedly to make the most of the third movement – to live it to the full and not compromise – before the overwhelming, frantic, harried onset of the fourth and final movement.

having developed trust in brian, both at a personal and professional level, erica asks him to sell the perfectly restored strad. he is elated and grateful. he starts to dream about all the things he can do with his commission. they begin to show the instrument to interested buyers but erica is too exacting. to her the process is as delicate and torturous as an adoption. the sale begins to fall apart. erica changes her mind. brian is disappointed – he feels used. they say some nasty things to each other. but when erica has a heart attack and ends up on her deathbed in a hospital, it’s brian who turns up to comfort her. she asks him to make sure the strad is safe in her apartment – she feels nervous about its whereabouts. by the time brian gets there with the keys, the police are all over the place. the strad has been stolen.

brian returns to erica’s side and doesn’t have the heart to tell her the truth. she passes into the blinding glare of bright lights, much as she did when the curtains opened at carnegie hall and she made her new york debut.

the two actors who read brian and erica (james waterston and lynn cohen) were amazing. i cannot imagine how lovely the final production will be as the play is filled with music and discussions about life and art. terrific.

Erica Morini, 91, Subtle Violinist Who Explored Concerto Range, New York Times, November 3, 1995

Bruch: Violin Concerto No.1 3rd mvt (Erica Morini)1963:

Crossing Borders

just watched this film (which will be screened at RIT on april 22 at the webb auditorium) and loved it. same idea as “the muslims i know” – trying to bring east and west together so that labels fall away and people become people. this time it’s americans interacting with moroccans – more dialogue, less fear. join us at 7 pm. i will be on the discussion panel.

“Crossing Borders is a feature documentary that follows four American and four Moroccan college student as they travel together for eight days through the rich cultural landscape of Morocco and in the process of discovering “The Other”, discover themselves.” More about the film.

review: THE TORNADO

THE TORNADO: this lebanese film highlights the surreal violence, human disconnection and absurdity of civil war. absolute anarchy and lawlessness r brought to light with such vivid urgency in this film. i like the fact that much of the film is abstract, like a never ending nightmare. its fragmented, symbolic aspects bring out the surreal realities of a country torn by civil war and wracked by preposterous levels of constant, irrational, arbitrary violence. v depressing for me to watch – reminded me of escalating civil strife in pakistan. more about the film.

zakir hussain and his masters of percussion

saw zakir hussain perform last night at the center for the arts, university at buffalo. yes, zakir hussain – simply the greatest tabla player to ever walk the earth.

WOW is all i can say. thick mop of curly hair, beaming smile, charismatic presence and absolutely insane tabla skills. flying fingers, thumping hands, sliding wrists – it was all a blur. the man has to be watched in slow motion to try and wrap one’s mind around the speed and precision with which he plays the tabla. after watching his solo, my husband and i were in full agreement: zakir hussain is not human. no one can highlight the tabla’s versatility and expressiveness, its ability to be a lead instrument, more than him.

masters of percussion was a powerful blend of melodic (raga) and rhythmic (tala), hindustani and carnatic, traditional and contemporary, classical and folk. the show started with an explanation (and demonstration) of how the human breath is the most basic beat. later hussain explained how indian classical music is a language and can be used to illustrate the most spiritual or pedestrian of stories: planets orbiting at different speeds around the sun, krishna gtting an earful from radha for coming home late (krishna is a busy god), the structure, paraphernalia and final boom of a cannon (not the one in western classical music, the ugly one). hussain’s brother taufiq qureshi plays a variety of percussion instruments and did a fantastic rendition of a train speeding up, passing another train going in the opposite direction, chugging along over a bridge and finally reaching its destination.

the ensemble included violinists ganesh and kumaresh, sabir khan on the sarangi, sridhar parthasarathy on the mridangam, navin sharma on the dholak and the motilal dhakis from bengal. loved the interplay between the different musicians and their instruments. the motilal dhakis reminded me of pakistani weddings where the bridegroom’s family comes prancing around to that same beat. amazing show, amazing energy, amazing talent.

can’t help being soppy – it was deeply satisfying to see an ensemble that was half muslim/half hindu make such beautiful music together. i felt lucky to belong to the indian subcontinent.

The Hurt Locker – Part of a deplorable trend

The Iraqi population serves merely as a human landscape in the tense conditions in which the bomb defusers operate. It is the enemy, the bearded Other to the clean-cut US soldier. The local people are portrayed in the film as either faceless, darkly clad terrorists or recognizable types, like the neighborhood merchant… who are also terrorists. The Iraqi characters, such as they are, function largely as prop devices. Unpleasantly, in one extended sequence, the presence of insurgents allows the filmmakers to examine the psychology of soldiers on the verge of a kill. This is passed off as “realism.” Full article.

Kashmir: “The World’s Most Dangerous Place”

Peer is not writing about a remote past; torture and extrajudicial execution remain commonplace in Kashmir today, even though Pakistan-trained or indigenous militants are fewer and less lethal. Nor have India and Pakistan gotten any closer to resolving their dispute over the region. Pakistani army and intelligence officers loudly invoke the alleged existential threat from India, helping them to preserve the ISI’s extra-constitutional authority (and business monopolies) in Pakistan and severely limiting the prospects for democracy and equitable economic growth. Full article.

A Prophet: ‘An electrifying tale of survival against the odds’

cannot wait to see this: Director Jacques Audiard has always been great at gauging the pace on the street and slipping into the dip and swerve of contemporary life to generate maximum zeitgeisty white noise in his films. Where he really nails it in his new film A Prophet is with language: its polyglot swirls of French, Arabic and Corsican might give subtitlers the sweats, but feel like a very attuned reflection of multicultural chaos, the exhilarating tangle of tongues that makes up social and business life in most global capitals now. Full article.

Books: Nostalgia compensates for a lost world

Rita Kothari has done great service in translating stories of Partition from Sindhi language, of which there has been no serious acknowledgment so far. This indeed has been the fate of the Sindhis themselves, who, although deeply affected by Partition, neither got to be heard significantly nor did they get any place of their own for their language and culture to flourish. Sindhis on either side of the border suffered various kinds of losses — material, psychological, and spiritual. Some of them get articulated in in this collection. Full article.