Classic TV: “The Comeback”

Every fall, a plethora of formerly big-name actors (or those who simply aspired to be but never were) make much-hyped, often embarrassing returns to the medium that made them famous in the first place. They often return in the context of a reality show and is “rediscovered” by a younger generation that tries to reclaim the washed-up star as one of their own, lending them an air of cool and generally upsetting universal law. It is in this atmosphere that one can fully appreciate one of the most brutally funny and expertly crafted comedy series ever created for American television, The Comeback.

Launched in the summer of 2005 on HBO, The Comeback was the brainchild of Michael Patrick King, then fresh off the conclusion of Sex and the City’s run on the same network, and starring Emmy winner Lisa Kudrow, who was herself coming off the successful run of Friends. The series, which ran only one season, was not a show-within-a-show, but two TV series that ran within the context of another show. Valerie Cherish is a former late 80s/early 90s sitcom star of the fictional, aptly-titled I’m It! The show, then nine-seven episodes into its run, was cancelled just three episodes shy of the one hundred episodes required for syndication. The show has since been forgotten and Valerie has been looking to return to her glory days ever since. Married to workaholic attorney Mark, she is well-to-do, looks fondly on a career that only lasted three years, and treats her housemaid as a visitor who somehow broke into her mansion. (They are not Karen and Rosario from Will & Grace.) Valerie has taken a role in the fledgling new comedy Room & Bored, and agrees to have a camera crew film her comeback and return to sitcom stardom as one of the conditions of assuming the role. It’s her first major acting project in years.

Valerie’s joy is short-lived as things take a vicious turn in the pilot. Valerie initially auditions for the role of an older roommate to a group of perpetually sunned, biologically gifted quartet of housemates. Needless to say, there are plenty of references to Three’s Company, as the sexual innuendo abounds. Her character is turned into Aunt Sassy, a Mrs. Roper-type who favours tacky track suits and landlady who barges in only to spoil the housemates’ fun. Her screen time is cut, she is continually forced to read lines mocking her alleged old age (Valerie herself is only in her early 40s).

Other characters revolve around and seem to exist only in relation to Valerie, at least from her point of view. It takes several viewings of certain episodes to see the rich inner life of even the more minor characters. Room & Bored’s juvenile creators and head writers are Tom and Paulie G, both of whom despise Valerie and are stuck with her only because the network agreed to green-light the series only if the reality show is given unrestricted access to the series. Needless to say, they engage in sadistically subjecting Valerie to further humiliations major and petty, at one point insisting that she dismiss a group of puppies in character with the line “you see puppies, I see Korean barbecue!” despite her protestations that the insensitivities of that line would be offensive. 

The show’s breakout star is a perky blonde thing name Juna (Malin Ackerman), an aspiring actress with no acting experience whatsoever. Her husband tolerates her activities, if only to get her out of his hair (although he clearly adores her). Her devoted, elderly gay hairdresser Mickey lives in the proverbial glass closet door, but like Mark, is the only person on the show who unconditionally loves Valerie. James Burrows, the legendary director of such classic series as Cheers, Frasier, Will & Grace and (life imitates art!) Friends, makes a handful of appearances as himself, a comic genius who is perpetually bemused by the fact that he has to direct the infantile mess known as Room & Bored.

Cinematically Inclined: Vancouver Latin American Film Festival 2011

For film buffs in Vancouver, every season has at least one or two major film festivals. In the late summer, bridging the gap between the QueerFilm Fest and the major International Film Festival in late September is underrated but no less intriguing Vancouver Latin American Film Festival (VLAFF).

Originally started in 2003 as a vehicle to promote Latin American films, the festival crested the wave of popular Mexican films that gained a global audience at the turn of the millennium, most notably Y Tu Mama Tambien, El Crimen de Padre Amaro and Amores Perros, each of which earned Academy Awards nominations. With Pan’s Labyrinth becoming a major hit a few years later, the emergence of Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna and Guillermo del Toro on the global stage, and the surprise Oscar win of Argentina’s El Secreto en sus ojos, Latin American film has become a player in world cinema. VLAFF honours this and brings some of the major films of the era into Vancouver.

VLAFF has grown in awareness and stature each year, and has the support of a number of local and national corporate and government sponsors. This year, the list of presenting sponsors and partners include: the City of Vancouver; the BC Council for the Arts; the Province of BC; Scotiabank; the Hamber Foundation, Simon Fraser University (which is also screening a number of films at their many campuses this year); Corona; Smirnoff; Holiday Inn; and the LGBT publication Xtra. Each of the Consulate Generals of Brazil, El Salvador, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela will also take part, as will the tourist ministry of Mexico. A number of other films festivals will also sponsor the event, including the Queer Film Festival, Doxa Documentary Film Festival, Jewish Film Festival and the Al-Jazeera Documentary Channel. As a number of films may touch on human rights issues, Amnesty International have also been announced as a community partner.

VLAFF 2011 will take place from September 1 to September 11, 2011. Films will be played throughout Metro Vancouver, including the following theaters:

• Granville 7 Cinemas
• Pacific Cinematheque
• Roundhouse Community Centre
• SFU Harbour Centre (Downtown)
• SFU Woodward’s / Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
• SFU Burnaby Campus
• PS Production Services 

Please check VLAFF’s website to check on locations and show times. Take note that tickets are $10 per film, but gala presentation tickets will cost $15. As films will be shown unrated, in compliance with local and federal laws, you must purchase a one-time $2 membership in order to see the films. Online ticket purchases can be made here. 

For those wanting an intelligent, exciting alternative to the commercial fare now showing on too many multiplex screens near you, VLAFF is a welcome breath of fresh air. A number of films presented at this year’s festival are summarized after the jump.

The German Opera Project: the Bregenz Festival

Much can be said of stripped-down theatrical productions that do not diminish the power of the work. I once saw a production of The Laramie Project presented in the small theatre at the back of a Cuban restaurant, staged by Fighting Chance Productions. It in no way minimized the work’s message and reduced me and my companions to blubbering, quivering, weeping masses. It’s times like that when I love intimate theatre.

And then there’s the Bregenz Festival. 

What is the Bregenz Festival?

Think of opera. Now think of the phrase “go big or go home”, apply it to the staging, then multiply that to an absurd scale. You have the Bregenz Festival. Or just look at the picture to the left. That, folks, is a big-ass stage.

A competitor to the popular Bayreuth Festival in Germany, this uniquely Austrian opera company takes place every summer on the shores of Lake Constanza, located at the northern foot of the Rhine River. The first Bregenz Festival took place in 1946, a year after the war. Although the town itself did not even contain a theatre or outdoor performance space, the troupe still put together a production on two adjoining bridges and were backed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, who have been supporting and playing at the festival ever since. The Festival contains a number of concurrent performances including outdoor ballet, giving you the option of seeing Swan Lake not only in an outdoor theatre, but on an actual lake.

Over the years, permanent structures were put into place to house the orchestra pit as well as concurrent productions on different stages. Should the weather suddenly turn bad, the performances can move from the Festival Hall to the adjoining Seebuehne hall and house approximately 1,700 attendees, meaning that the performance would not be cancelled that evening and with only part of the audience members being furnished refunds in the event of rain. Now that is some outdoor planning. By 1985, some operas would run at least two seasons and stage structures were solidified so that the formerly outdoor festival would be able to run almost year-round.

What distinguishes the Bregenz Festival’s productions from your usual opera is the sheer audacity of the scale. The dazzling Lake productions are the ones that take place on mammoth outdoor stages that dwarfs the performers, reducing them to the size of ants. The concept of the staging is daring on a literally epic scale, with the floating stage by the lake towering several stories into the sky. Take for instance the picture to the left of the skeleton reading an oversized book the size of a small arena for the 1999/2000 production of A Masked Ball. Also observe the beheaded Statue of Liberty floating above the stage in a modernized version of Aida. You may recognize the giant “Tosca eye” from the James Bond film Quantum of Solace: that’s the opera Bond attends where there’s a chase sequence through the opera hall edifice. 

Master Class: Costa-Gavras’s “Z”

The most recent issue of Time Magazine carries the title “The Decline and Fall of Europe”. In light of the austerity protests in Greece and Rome, the rioting in London, and numerous issues surrounding the continent in the Arab Spring, it’s a wonder that more political art hasn’t been created at this time. It’s an opportune moment in history to review one of the greatest political films ever made, Costa-Gavras’s 1969 masterpiece Z.

Z is a film loosely based on the assassination of Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963, the film was an incendiary comment on Greek military rule in that era. The film’s title refers to the Greek term “Ζει”, meaning “he lives”. Superimposed over the screen is this confrontational inscription:

“Any resemblance to real events, to persons living or dead, is not accidental. It is INTENTIONAL.”

And that is how you get an audience's full attention within the first two minutes and never let go.

The film is in French and the country in which this all happens is unnamed, but make no mistake about it that this is a thinly veiled account of the Greek military junta in the 1960s. It is no coincidence that Costa-Gavras cast Greece’s leading actress of the age, Irene Papas, in a strongly featured role here. The fact that this is an Algerian-French co-production makes this a companion piece to the equally outstanding 1966 political thriller The Battle of Algiers.

The assassination

The film opens with a chilling government briefing session. The commander warns against an “ideological mold” and that it is imperative for them to “spray”, in order to prevent further subversive activities and / or popular uprisings. The euphemism “spray” as a means of eradication is veiled dialogue instructing the army to “cleanse” the many new diseases in society, reduced to the all-inclusive term “isms”, likening opposing parties to unwanted contagion. And yet, they demonstrations or other expositions of opposing ideals must not be suppressed, for “this is a democracy”. Why is this always what despots and extremist politicians always seem to say the moment they are about to commit something really, really insidious? And so Costa-Gavras sets the tone for his political film classic. Perhaps the most adept descriptor for Z is its original, unused title: The Anatomy of a Political Assassination.

Irene Papas as the politician's wife

This is not a film with distinct personalities. It is no accident that characters wear variations of the same outfits and there is nothing to denote an individual based on ideology, class, or any other distinguishing factors. Everything is just a little faceless, just a little impersonal, and more than a little unnerving because of it. In this cinematic world Costa-Gavras created, extermination is imminent. There are characters here but they do not go beyond their functions: government officials, charismatic opposition leader, his wife, an interrogator, prosecutors, witnesses. This is a film that paints a broad canvas supporting a broader vision. The director is not interested in any of their personalities, which seems to be the failing of so many American-made political thrillers. We do not and should not care about their inner lives, their childhoods, or anything else. Z is presented documentary-style, as if a camera crew were allowed free access to view political machinations at work in destroying all forms of opposition while spouting the term “democracy” as if it were a salve to soothe the burn.

It’s a credit to Costa-Gavras’s vision that he never stoops to speechifying or expounding grandiose ideals in his films. He simply presents the films as versions of events as they are. The personal stories aren’t the point, which was what made Proof of Life and Beyond Borders cinematic and political lame ducks, because a love triangle or conventional Hollywood narrative cannot co-exist against a greater global context. Ideals are not the same as ideas. Z must be savoured and experienced the way the filmmakers present it, with a restless camera that follows the ongoing story to its natural end, and bravely shows that sometimes even the justice system fails. Make no mistake that Z is not fantasia. It is in fact perhaps the most straightforward document of a faceless dictatorship cementing its foothold, and sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it, even if you live in a “democracy”. (Is this sounding familiar to anyone?)

Pop Rewind: the MTV Video Music Awards

With the VMAs taking place this coming Sunday, it’s time to contemplate the videos up for the title of “Video of the Year”. They are:

• Adele, “Rolling in the Deep”
• Beastie Boys, “Make Some Noise”
• Bruno Mars, “Grenade”
• Katy Perry, "Firework"
• Tyler, the Creator, “Yonkers”

Each of these is noteworthy and represents creative breakthroughs for some nominees (Tyler, the Creator), commercial breakthroughs for others (Adele) and a long-running history of making great clips (Beastie Boys). I hope that MTV chooses well, as they have in the past.

Here are ten notable past winners for Video of the Year, each of which has blown out the solar plexus at one point of another, and some of the worthy  clips they beat in the year of their victories. Whoever wins has a lot to live up to ... 

1987: Peter Gabriel, "Sledgehammer"

Beat Out: U2, “With or Without You”

1993: Pearl Jam, "Jeremy"

 Beat Out: Nirvana, “In Bloom”; Peter Gabriel, “Digging in the Dirt”, R.E.M., “Man on the Moon”

1995: TLC, "Waterfalls"

Beat Out: Michael & Janet Jackson, “Scream”; Weezer, “Buddy Holly”

1996: Smashing Pumpkins, "Tonight, Tonight" - 

Beat Out: Alanis Morissette, “Ironic”; Foo Fighters, “Big Me”

1997: Jamiroquai, “Virtual Insanity”

Beat Out: Nine Inch Nails, “The Perfect Drug”; No Doubt, “Don’t Speak”

Internet Viewing: “Moscow Out”

Some of my friends have asked about my mild fascination with all things Russian, such as luxury shopping at GUM and TSUM and the Eurovision Song Contest (I make no apologies for the latter). Some friends have visited Russia and others have expressed an interest in visiting the former Soviet Union, but aren’t sure what sites to check out.

While there are a number of travel sites that will suggest tours and help you out with visa requirements, sometimes it’s daydreaming about travel in the dog days of August and seeing travelogues that hits the spot. That, and the thought of being stuck on a tour bus with loud tourists isn't to everyone's liking. 

Moscow Out host Martyn Andrews

My favourite English-language Russian travelogue is Moscow Out. It is a weekly Internet webisode series dedicated to all the pleasures in the Russian capital. Hosted by British expatriate and travel expert Martyn Andrews, the program is presented every Friday in English on the Washington DC-based Russian online news outlet Russia Today. The charismatic Andrews is clearly in love with his adopted hometown.

This is not a travelogue where they simply tell you about the major stops such as Red Square, the Bolshoi and the banyas. There is considerably more to the massive city than these central sites. The series is unique and compact, informing viewers of tourist sites that may not be picked up by the major travelogues or tours. The effect is that they encourage and inspire one to get off the tour bus and actually travel with a select guide or by yourself, rather than a massive group, to really explore the city. Andrews brings an economic approach to traveling, by presenting destinations and events with a bit of history, access to the sites, and giving you an idea of pricing. There are webisodes dedicated to such interesting sites as:

Contemporary Moscow skyline, at night

1. Tsverskaya (formerly Gorky) Boulevard, the high-end retailer street home to free-standing boutiques for haute couture designers;
   
2. Contemporary art galleries beyond the Pushkin, including the Garazh Centre for Contemporary Art, the Borscht Gallery and Winzavod, for the more adventurous and lovers of experimental art pieces; and
   
3. Serybryany Bor, or “Silver Forest”, the famed forest, park and inner-city beach that is an artificial island planned around a waterway to keep cool (remember that Russian’s continental summer climate is just as unforgiving as their famously long winters);

amongst others.

The programs are becoming increasingly tourist-friendly, presenting a number of options that inspires one to stay longer than the standard one-week package tours. Moscow Out also includes a number of money-saving travel tips that come in handy in the world’s most expensive city, such as restaurant and hotel pricing, discount (donation) entry days at art galleries, brand-name clothing shopping and other delights that won’t break the bank. The producers clearly understand that the city is not just for the mega-wealthy, and that democratic pricing in the current global economy is probably a good idea. To that end, Moscow Out’s has an episode on getting by in the city on a (not literal) dime:

Together Again: Janet Jackson’s Number Ones Tour

[Programming note: original article ran June 11, 2011. This piece is running to coincide with the upcoming August 26 concert in Vancouver.)


The Blogger recalls his first-ever concert. On June 9, 1990, he attended Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation Tour. It became, at the time, the highest-grossing debut concert tour of all time. The Blogger didn’t care that he was sitting far in the back and watching Janet storm across the stage as a well-dressed military ant dancer. He didn’t care that production values dwarfed in the unfortunately oversized stadium (there were thousands of seats still available). He was just so darned happy to be there!

The Blogger has had the pleasure of seeing Ms. Jackson (if you’re nasty) live at least three more times since: on the janet. tour in 1994, the All For You Tour in 2001, and 2008’s RockWitChu Tour. Janet remains, Nipplegate or not, his favourite Jackson (sorry Michael). 

Ms. Jackson returned to the road this year for a scaled-down tour supporting her greatest hits double-disc set Number Ones, and showcasing her sets in a more toned-down setting. For those of us who grew up watching Janet dance out from under her brother Michael’s shadow and blaze onto the international stage on her own power, and watch her try to return from the Super Bowl Incident, any occasion to see Janet is a trip down memory lane. Here are five reasons why Janet Jackson still matters.

1. Janet dances her ass off. In an interview with her late, great brother Michael, he took one look at his sister in the 80s when she was heavier and said “lookit that butt!” Yes Michael, we can see it, but not because we’re ridiculing its size: we’re seeing it because she can shake whatever yo’ mama gave her. A Janet Jackson concert is an occasion for the world’s biggest dance party. Like Madonna before her, Janet made her name as a first-class dancer who happened to have a penchant for a great hook and melody. The fact that she has co-written every single one of her hits in her entire career speaks to her passion for the marriage of song and dance, and it’s her words – and therefore her conviction – that compels her to move. It’s guaranteed to make you move, too. 

2. Janet sings all her old hits in concert! Say what you will about her admittedly thin singing voice: Janet doesn’t lip-synch. She doesn’t need a back-up tape of her come-hithers and harmonies for those nights when she doesn’t feel up to it. You can hear every breath in her body and see every bead of sweat when she’s on that stage, and that’s from singing everything. This lady works hard. Janet has a vast array of nearly three dozen global Top Ten singles spanning the last quarter-century (it has been 25 years since her groundbreaking R&B album Control first stormed into the pop world). She understands that her fans have different favourites charting the span of her entire career, and she intends to give them the respect they deserve by singing every last hit, even if she has to blend them into medleys to fit them all in. 

The tour’s set list includes such early singles like “Nasty” and “When I Think of You”; iconic club-stompers like “Escapade” and “Rhythm Nation”; more mature work such as “That’s the Way Love Goes” and “If”; and sing-along favourites like “Together Again” and “Let’s Wait Awhile”. No one goes home from a Janet Jackson concert complaining about the songs she didn’t sing. And this time, with no new material to promote, the show is full of nothing but the hits! Everybody wins!