The Daily Californian » Anna Horrocks

Alice Notley reading featured laughter, musing between the lines

Anna Horrocks — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 03:51:32 +0000

The Poetry Foundation/Courtesy

The intimate selections of poetry read by Alice Notley and Simona Schneider at UC Berkeley’s Holloway Reading Series on Thursday made for a night of contradictions; the poets’ performances were lovely yet severe, and their content felt personal yet universal, both descriptive and emotive. Before the event’s slightly delayed start, the reading’s comfortable tone was set as the breezy autumn evening rendered Wheeler Hall’s Maude Fife Room warm and welcoming to the 40 or so eager listeners.

A UC Berkeley student introduced each poet with an eloquent, complimentary biography of the respective poet’s life, work and influence. These introductions were influential additions, as the appreciative students expressed the incredible extent to which poetry can affect aspiring minds.

The first to read was Simona Schneider, a graduate student at UC Berkeley who delivered a collection she wrote during a summer spent in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her determined delivery was sprinkled with interludes of smiles and laughs that brought listeners back to the present after being pulled into the meticulously thorough worlds constructed in her poems. Selections that felt particularly moving were those that concentrated on the extraordinary quality of the ordinary; Schneider recounts her absorption in the incredible innovation of Velcro as one of a few “Small Miracles on Public Transit” and meditates on a “gas station to save our souls,” found along the roadway of an American landscape. Her loving, confident tone permitted listeners to recognize the immense beauty found in the everyday.

Where Schneider discovered small miracles of the outer world, Notley explored her inner passions; where Schneider smiled between her works, Notley grasped the podium and her pages, delivering her pieces without pause or introduction. Notley has been recognized with awards including the International Griffin Poetry Prize in 2002 and the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize in 2007. Many of the pieces she read shifted between dreams and wakefulness — I don’t know how to dream, but I’m dreaming — but the shameless honesty of her writing makes her dream state relatable, even appealing. She reasons aloud how she fits into this world: “In your assigned role, you’re a woman, but I’ve always been a poet … Why do I have human features?” She describes her power and courage openly in lines such as, “I like this story, but I like my voice better.” An experienced meditator on self-awareness and self-assertion, Notley delivered her work with passion and honesty.

The pairing of Schneider and Notley at the Holloway Reading Series reading made for a night that was satisfyingly complete. Their performances were both light and strong, exposed and determined, and their works balanced between the observational and the expressive. Schneider’s and Notley’s writings and performances were inspiring, revealing and unapologetically human.

Contact Anna Horrocks at ahorrocks@dailycal.org.

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What does “Tomorrow” Have in Store?

Anna Horrocks — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 21:17:05 +0000

Producers Distribution Agency/Courtesy

After following its splash at Sundance Film Festival and Ebertfest (Roger Ebert’s Film Festival) this spring, I eagerly await the public release of the film “Escape From Tomorrow,” this Friday, October 11th. Its trailer is both enticing and riveting; while little information on the plot of the film is enclosed, the official trailer for “Escape From Tomorrow” teases at its particularly alluring aesthetic. This black-and-white psychodrama twists a family’s vacation to Disney World into a sinister, dark adventure for survival.

What is most interesting about this film for me, however, is not its Disney-dream-turned-nightmare theme, but the process through which it was made. With absolutely no permission from the Disney Corporation, Randy Moore not only shot this film at the Disney World and Disneyland theme parks, but, as the trailer suggests, utilizes its rides, themes and characters as the film’s central focus. As Moore explains in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “I thought it should be morally acceptable to go in and do this … to me, Disneyland has transcended just being a theme park. It is an American landmark.”

Was Moore within his right to appropriate the Disney parks into his film without permission, especially considering the critical stance this horror film seems to take on Disney’s insistence on providing (or selling) happiness to all? Quite honestly, I’m still on the fence.

First and foremost, I definitely don’t think that making money off of other people’s material is justified. However, I think Moore has a point in saying that Disneyland has become an “American landmark.” Personally, I believe that Disney as a corporation has become so pervasive in American culture that we often forget to step back and question its content and influence. It is exciting to think about the potential of “contraband” filming like Moore’s to shed new light on old, ubiquitous material. I’m anxiously waiting for Friday’s opening of “Escape from Tomorrow,” maybe it will make me think twice before I buy my next ticket to “the happiest place on earth.”

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Aurora Theatre play stages emotional revolution

Anna Horrocks — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 03:25:48 +0000

David Allen/Courtesy

When a dark secret reveals a heart-wrenching detail of the surreptitious past of her beloved grandfather, Emma is forced to investigate every other familial relationship by which she deeply defines her profession and self. Under the direction of Joy Carlin, a well-selected Aurora Theatre cast successfully renders Amy Herzog’s “After the Revolution” (2010) an intimately honest production, poignantly relatable and perennial.

At first glance, “After the Revolution” may be considered narratively simplistic: Emma, a lawyer who fights wrongful persecution in memory of her late grandfather whom she had believed to be wrongfully blacklisted, is traumatized to learn that her grandfather participated in espionage during World War II. After the delivery of this news very early on in the production, little else happens in terms of narrative or action, placing substantial pressure on the cast to present the emotional transformations within and between the characters in a compelling way.

As the action fades and emotional understanding comes to the forefront, a sense of movement is created between the scenes through a well-calculated use of space. A platform at one end of the stage represents Emma’s father’s home, which is made to feel increasingly distant as Emma and her father’s relationship worsens; the lighting on the stage progressively lessens, finally placing Emma in a spotlight at one end of the stage and her father in a dimmer light at the other, with darkness between them.

Furthermore, while the first scene takes place on the entire ground level of the stage, each scene thereafter is confined to one of four corners. This choice concentrates attention on the emotional specificity of each scene (usually between only two of the six characters) and perhaps also on Emma’s own feeling of being “cornered” by the rupture of her career.

Critical journalism on “After the Revolution” and Herzog herself attest to similarities between Herzog’s family and the characters and relationships presented through the course of the production. While the script gains depth from its autobiographical nature, the Aurora Theatre cast successfully makes very close, complicated relationships relatable.

In this context, the commendable work of Rolf Saxon (Ben, Emma’s father) comes to mind. The extensive history of care and support behind the relationship between Emma and her father is beautifully expressed through Saxon’s multifaceted performance. His character is, at certain moments, the grounded, mastering presence taking over the theater and, at others, a fragile shadow of his former self.

It would be difficult to watch such a performance without applying such strong feelings of pride, comfort, loss and guilt to one’s own life and relationships. Performances like Saxon’s, as well as those of much of the rest of the cast, make such intimate, emotional material available and identifiable.

Written in 2010, this production deals with historical events of the 1940s — Emma’s grandfather and World War II — and the 1980s; Emma’s legal client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, was accused of shooting a police officer in 1981 and faced 30 years on death row.

One of the most vivid portrayals of the constant relevancy and interaction of history with the present is the inclusion of Emma’s younger sister Jess (Sarah Mitchell) and her grandmother Vera (Ella Ratner). Both Mitchell and Ratner create breaths of comic relief that are representative of innocence or wisdom; Mitchell rolls her eyes and often retains a relaxed, disconnected aura, while Ratner walks slowly but steadily, always listening closely and critically. Mitchell and Ratner create a sense of youth and age that work together to guide and critique Emma as she makes decisions about how to proceed personally and professionally.

Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre presents Amy Herzog’s “After the Revolution” as a piece of intimacy and availability, history and relevance — a two-hour investigation of the vulnerability and strength of familial relationships.

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Litquake 2012

Anna Horrocks — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 06:02:34 +0000

Sebastian Yen/Staff

From Oct. 5-13, Litquake 2012 shook San Francisco with literary events.

“Two Guys from Chicago: Daniel Clowes, Dave Eggers”

Despite the formal feel of two red velvet chairs spotlighted on stage, “Two Guys from Chicago: An Evening with Daniel Clowes and Dave Eggers” began casually.

The two compiled a humorous Power-Point of past drawings with slides of different artistic phases, such as “scary faces from disturbed young men” and “unfortunate adventures in the rendering of nudes.” Respective writer and graphic-novelist Eggers and Clowes are much more than just those narrow descriptions. They made this clear through their frank conversation, meandering through topics of failure, success and their creative processes.

Although it was clear that many flocked to see Eggers, the two played off of each other better than expected. Clowes’ humor made him the unexpected star of the event. His time at the Pratt Institute and the struggles and rejections that he faced created a full picture of his development as a wide-ranged artist and the reality of the road to success.

— A.J. Kiyoizumi

“Original Shorts: Suspicious Circumstances” lines

It was cloudy and raining outside the Make-Out Room (a trendy, dimly lit bar in the Mission District) on the night of the 10th, which was coincidentally apt for the tone of the debut stories being read during “Original Shorts: Suspicious Circumstances.”

The reading included work from authors Will Boast, Christopher Coake, David Corbett, Valerie Fioravanti, Tupelo Hassman and Matt Stewart. Their assignment? Write an original short story that involves a situation that is somehow suspicious or foreboding. The results were a diverse lineup featuring characters drenched in self-deprecation, young lovers held at gunpoint and a hilarious international incident at a border-crossing-gone-wrong in Istanbul.

The effect was as mixed as the author’s chosen topics; some stories landed, others tried a bit too hard, but all entertained.

— Ryan Koehn

“Visionary Women: Extraordinary Work”

At “Visionary Women: Extraordinary Work,” four acclaimed authors — Anne Fingers, Tony Mirosevich, Judith Tennenbaum and Angela Lam Turpin — explored the topics of female perspective, individual versus global milieux and their personal experiences at Hedgebrook, a writing retreat for women.

Each author introduced a piece of her work, which ranged from fictional modes of addressing social shifts in heterosexual marriages to the colorful personal memories that can be triggered by washed-up treasures on the beach. While perspective and writing style varied among the authors, they all agreed that their experiences in Hedgebrook gave each of them the space to strip herself of all social responsibility and connect with herself through her writing. The event itself proved to be similarly cathartic, as taking an hour away from the bustling world to sit quietly and listen to four uniquely powerful voices was simultaneously comforting and inspiring.

— Anna Horrocks

“You’re Not Doing It Right: Michael Ian Black”

Comedian, author and VH1-frequenter Michael Ian Black discussed the two books he released this year at The Booksmith on Oct. 7: his memoir, “You’re Not Doing it Right: Tales of Marriage, Sex, Death, and Other Humiliations” and a political collaboration with Meghan McCain (U.S. Senator John McCain’s daughter), “America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom,” where they take turns commenting from their diverging political perspectives.

From his memoir, he read a chapter about trying to have a baby with his wife and his fears of fatherhood. From “America, You Sexy Bitch,” he read the first chapter about how he casually tweeted Meghan McCain about writing together.

His tone was part deadpan, part seriously serious. The intimate Q&A session of about 80 people was confessional. He talked about his greatest fears, his marriage and his invitation to celebrate Thanksgiving with the McCain family (“John doesn’t like me very much,” he joked).

This leap in seriousness from the comedy of shows like “Stella” and “The State” was uncomfortable for Black. He related his work in comedy to a story about how he stopped dressing like Ducky from “Pretty in Pink” when he felt his appearance started to define him. Similarly, the memoir is a way for him to escape being trapped by his jokes.

— Caitlin Kelley

“Literary Clown Foolery”

The circus came to The Booksmith on Friday as the Literary Clown Foolery troupe performed a series of skits that used Andrew Shaffer’s “Fifty Shames of Earl Grey” as a “jumping-off point for a night of madcap antics,” as Shaffer put it in our interview. The event was in one sense a tribute and in another a parody of a parody (bestseller “Fifty Shades of Grey” is Shaffer’s source material), as different aspects of the romance novel were deconstructed.

Hosted by comedy duo Gretchen and Dr. Schmidtt (Tristan Cunningham and Polina Smith), the show began with a screening of the promotional video for “Fifty Shames.” Using “Twilight” dolls, titular character Earl Grey seduces Anna. Next, there was Gretchen and the doctor’s re-enactment in a video of a tea bag being dipped into a cup with “in and out” being shouted. There were sex scenes in both videos, the attempted clown sex being more awkward than that of the dolls, as the fully dressed Gretchen and the doctor filmed many takes, stumbling around each other.

The climax of the erotica-centered evening occurred when Shaffer imitated one of the doctor’s skits by caking on clownish red lipstick and trying to do a pushup. This added a third layer of parody to an already ridiculous show. Shaffer and the clowns played out a respectful one-upmanship of mockery that made for quite a spectacle.

The show ended with a tea-bag-swinging dance party put on by the clowns. Guests left feeling satisfied.

— Caitlin Kelley

Contact Daily Cal arts and entertainment at arts@dailycal.org.

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Shotgun Players’ ‘Assassins’ kills it

Anna Horrocks — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 04:19:28 +0000

Pak Han/Courtesy

How could one little man cause such universal grief and anguish? More importantly, why would he?” These stimulating questions blossomed into the 1990 musical “Assassins,” a spectacle that lures its audience into a world suspended in time and space, alternating between fiction and history to create a “dreamlike vaudeville” in which nine assassins of U.S. presidents from different points in history unite, collaborate and live through their experiences killing (or attempting to kill) the commander in chief. The Shotgun Players’ production of this Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman collaboration succeeded in building a hauntingly inviting carnival of misfits, beautifully displaying a vast range of quirks, ticks, yearnings and thirsts that trigger the same immortalizing exploit.

Upon entering the theater, it is impossible not to feel a sudden chill down the spine. The tone of the musical is immediately set by the enchantingly alluring yet frighteningly unsettling stage piece that towers over the audience. This sort of shape-shifting gazebo that functions as a carnival game booth magnificently dominates the theater in its oppressive size, dreary hue and wistful antiquity. Despite its overpowering grandiloquence, this enormous stage piece functioned pragmatically throughout the production. Rather than overwhelming the cast of characters, it served as a cleverly placed stage upon the stage on which characters make a spectacle of themselves for the other characters, performing their murders as if they were vaudeville acts supported by their peers throughout history.

In this and other ways, the stage direction of this performance was both fluid and effective. Almost every performer was present for most of the production on a relatively small stage (about 60 percent of which was dominated by the set and live orchestra) without seeming crowded or misplaced. Using the players to frame the central action and join the audience in the aisles among the seats not only incorporated the entire space to its best capacity but also contributed to the intrigue and spectacle created by the murders.

The small cast of 10 players (a characteristic quality of Sondheim’s work) smoothly executed the particularly taxing venture of blending in and out of ensemble and soloist positions throughout the production. Rebecca Castelli’s powerhouse voice, Jeff Garrett’s joltingly whimsical presence and Kevin Singer’s remarkable talent on the banjo displayed a spectrum of individual strength and variety that was highlighted both by independent performances and through the support of the ensemble. This strategic display of varied specialized personal talents maintained the atmosphere of a twisted vaudeville expression of American history, making for a clean transition back and forth between fiction and reality.

While the aforementioned features of the show succeeded in creating a memorable performance, the only element that seemed to be lacking was the immaculate attention to detail that must be paid to every moment in a Sondheim show. The incredibly precise diction demanded by a musical with such intentionally specific lyricism was not present in every singing performance, and closer attention to this detail could have created a more varied rise and fall in genre. Rather than feeling dark throughout the play, the comedic moments may have felt more lighthearted and the melodramatic ones less somber. However, all in all, the Shotgun Players triumphed in crafting a hauntingly tragic portrait of the unsatisfied American who is seduced into performing the eternalizing stunt of assassinating the president.

Contact Anna Horrocks at ahorrocks@dailycal.org.

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The Arts in Moments of Crisis: Tools of Inspiration and Support

Anna Horrocks — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 02:22:50 +0000

Yesterday, for me, was a day of self-reflection. After getting the WarnMe alert from the chancellor about a threat on campus, I found myself — like many others I presume — in a state of quick panic as I fought the urge to bolt out the door in the middle of my French presentation, then wondered whether or not it would be safe to stay on campus for the rest of my classes. After spending the day on edge, all I could do to cool myself down was plug myself into my iPod and listen to some music, which almost instantaneously channeled me back into a more relaxed state of mind. This swift, powerful shift in emotions generated my reflection on how and why music has such a therapeutic effect on me, even in such a concentrated state of anxiety.

While thinking about this experience, my attention was promptly turned to Woody Allen’s 1986 film, “Hannah and Her Sisters.” Through the course of this film, Woody Allen’s character goes through a high-strung couple of days while he grapples with the idea that he may have a brain tumor (which, of course, is mostly a hyperbolized condition that exacerbates in Allen’s character’s paranoid mind, not his actual physiology). In the midst of his existential crisis, Allen finds himself questioning the purpose of life and walking mindlessly into a movie theater for a dark, private place to think. Here, he finds his reason to continue living in a world where he could potentially die at any moment. The mass of performers singing and twirling across the screen in a showing of the Marx Brothers’ film, “Duck Soup,” convinces him that even if we have a limited amount of time on this earth, it only makes sense to “enjoy it while it lasts.”

Yesterday, I was reminded of how precious the arts are to my life. When the going gets rough, listening to music, dancing, or watching a film are ways that I remind myself of the beautiful creativity that surrounds and fuels me every day. This unexpected stimulus of reflection was a formidable reminder of how the arts are more powerful, more supportive, and more vital to my sanity, health and joy than I usually take the time to realize.

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Is a Cigarette Worthy of an “R” Rating?

Anna Horrocks — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:01:20 +0000

Smoke Free Movies/Courtesy

While entering my “Drugs and the Brain,” class today, the last thing I expected was to leave Wheeler auditorium battling through a heated inner dialogue about film ratings and evolution in censorship. Leave it to Professor Presti to connect my academic nemesis —science — with my passion for film analysis. At the end of a lecture on the dangers of smoking tobacco, the class’s attention was brought to www.smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu, an informational website promoting UCSF’s movement to assign any film that portrays the use of tobacco an “R” rating. The site explicitly states its reasoning behind this action with this shocking statistic: “An R-rating for smoking will cut kids’ exposure to smoking in movies by at least half, preventing almost 200,000 adolescents from starting to smoke every year and averting 50-60,000 tobacco deaths a year in coming decades.”

My initial reaction to this idea was shock: isn’t it a bit extreme to give an R-rating to something so common? Would it really be worth it to censor films more heavily than they already are, to hide something that I see at least once on a daily basis? Is this censor a way to shy away from the tragic truth that smoking tobacco kills about 450,000 people in America per year? (That’s right, I paid attention in class today!) Further down in my line of reasoning, it became more and more clear that this actually seems like a pretty revolutionary idea. The media has such a strong influence on our conscious and subconscious perceptions of what is accepted in society, so why not use the film industry to provide healthier examples and role models for PG-13/under audiences? Frankly, if inappropriate language or too much sexual content call for an “R” rating, why not censor something that is actually lethal? While I am in no way a fan of harsh artistic censorship, I believe this to be a compelling topic and a potential example of how changing the film industry really can have an effect on our world. Maybe in a couple of decades this change could make the aforementioned difference, and spotting a tobacco smoker will not longer be a commonplace occurrence, but rather an infrequent incident.

Contact Anna Horrocks at ahorrocks@dailycal.org

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Sixpence None the Richer: Lost in Transition

Anna Horrocks — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 03:01:36 +0000

Sixpence/Courtesy

Considering the group’s erratic success in the past, Sixpence None the Richer’s 2012 album Lost in Transition seemed like the perfect opportunity for a strong comeback, but falters in producing a directed effort at gaining widespread popularity. After mild success in the early 1990’s with full Christian pop albums, Fatherless & the Widow and This Beautiful Mess, Sixpence found their stride with their first hit single. The 1999 song “Kiss Me,” which was featured in an episode of Dawson’s Creek, grew to win international acclaim.

Since their breakup in 2004, Sixpence’s first reunited album was The Dawn of Grace, a variety of Christmas covers in 2008. This year’s Lost in Transition is their first album of original pieces since their break, an ideal opportunity to prove that they’ve still got it. However, the differences in sound quality between the songs on this album and Sixpence’s previous hits do not seem like improvements on their work.

While “Kiss Me” was the most upbeat of their three major singles, each of these songs has a relatively catchy rhythm, retains a strong, powerful voice throughout and plays with crescendos, adding variety to a single listen. In contrast, pieces in Lost in Transition are mellow, with heavy rhythms that carry like a haunting dream but lack in variation within each song. As a comeback album, this drifting tone accompanied with solemn lyricism do not send the message that Sixpence is fighting hard to get back on track; some songs, like “Failure, mention the fear of giving up a passion, while others such as “My Dear Machine,” express that, “now it’s time for another drive,” but drag on a slow, smooth pace.

It may not be the most powerful return for Sixpence, this album does contain some beautiful moments. Many of the melodies are gorgeously written and there is a harsh, refreshing reality to many of their lyrics that address the dread of watching a dream or loved one float away or the pain of living in memories. Lost in Transition may not be an instant hit but will not fail to please fans who have long awaited new, mature material from Sixpence None the Richer.

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San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Anna Horrocks — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 17:41:17 +0000

Paramount Pictures/Courtesy

In a summer filled with CGI special effects, the annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival reminds audiences of the beauty of film’s early days. Live music accompanies every film as festival attendees take advantage of one of the few chances to see such films as von Sternberg’s “Docks of New York” or Victor Fleming’s “Mantrap” with a large audience in San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre.

— Jawad Qadir

The Mark of Zorro — Castro Theatre: July 15 10:00 a.m.

“The Mark of Zorro,” a film that is briefly alluded to in Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Artist,” has much to offer to those whose interest was sparked by this unanticipated 2011 revival of silent film. While “The Artist” quotes “Zorro” in terms of its goofy, over-dramatic acting style and storyline, its characters, subject matter and direction work together to form a finished product that is far from one-dimensional. The film’s complexity may be originally traced to its principal subject — a homely, fatigued introvert named Don Diego Vega who, unbeknownst to all but the audience, transforms into a sword-swinging, smooth romancing, parkour-mastering avenger of the socially oppressed when trouble is afoot. Inspired by its central character’s multifaceted personality, the film assimilates the theme of duality in both its central characters and overall tone.

The romantic interest, Lolita, is the strongest example of how the characters in “Zorro” are deeper than may at first seem. While she often acts fragile and delicate, her description of marriage as an “awful nuisance” and desire to “be a man (and) ride the highway like Zorro,” prove that there is more to her than meets the eye. Furthermore, the film itself takes on a complicated form, as its classification into a single genre is nearly impossible; its portrayals of harsh subject matter such as rape or whippings accompany remarkable physical feats in sword choreography, passionate romantic dialogue and laughably clever chase sequences. So, while “The Artist” may portray it as a typical silent film in terms of its acting style and storytelling convention, “The Mark of Zorro” is filled to the brim with elements that are both unpredictable and remarkably captivating.

— Anna Horrocks

Erotikon — Castro Theatre: July 15 2:00 p.m.

Don’t be fooled by the somewhat salacious title of this 1920 film. Finnish-Swedish director Mauritz Stiller’s “Erotikon” does not start on a sexy note. Instead of silken sheets or a demure wink of the eye, we get bugs — bark beetles, to be specific. In the opening scenes, we are introduced to Professor Leo Charpentier — a diligent but preoccupied entomologist. With a calm and collected academic air, Charpentier relates the mating habits of Ips typographus (the European spruce bark beetle). The insects are surprisingly polyamorous — with this one, in particular, taking on as many as three females at a time. Charpentier’s niece listens with pointed ears and shocked eyes while his wife is found snuggling up to another man — Baron Felix.

It’s the classic love triangle we’ve all seen before. Whether it be in literature with D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” or in other silent films like Cecil B. DeMille’s film (released also in 1920), “Why Change Your Wife?,” this type of romantic entanglement has been around forever. But what makes “Erotikon” unique is its execution. Though the film lags at a little over 100 minutes, the pace is surprisingly breezy for a genre thought to be slow. The physical antics of the three main actors (Anders de Wahl, Tora Teje and Lars Hanson), coupled with the impressive set pieces, dance numbers and the actors’ emotional intensity, amount to a film far more complex than a simple, erotic adventure.

— Jessica Pena

The Cameraman — Castro Theatre: July 15 7:30 p.m.

With the development of motion pictures came the creation of a new profession: the newsreel cameraman. Often risking life and limb, these heroic filmmakers scaled the heights of the newly built skyscrapers, braved their way through runaway city fires and even fought their way to the front lines of battle — all for the noble pursuit of journalism. Buster Keaton was not one of those cameramen. Instead, in 1928’s “The Cameraman,” he was a curbside tintype photographer, a sort of Jazz Age photobooth, the type you can imagine Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald stumbling upon on one of their New York romps.

In “The Cameraman,” Keaton tries to work his way from lowly tintype photography to the heights of professional newsreel cameramen to win the affection of his flapper sweetheart. Of course, Keaton being Keaton, things don’t go so smoothly and he constantly manages to find his way to the wrong place at the wrong time — or the right place at the right time, depending on how you look at it.

It goes without saying that “The Cameraman” is hilarious. Keaton delivers his audience endless physical gags. As a matter of interest, “The Cameraman” also contains perhaps one of the best trained animals in cinema, a spider monkey, who fights his way through a gang battle in chinatown, pilots a boat and operates a movie camera! “The Cameraman” also features some fascinating scenes shot on location. In the 1920s, when most American film shoots were shot on Hollywood back lots, these scenes offer an interesting glimpse of life on the streets of the burgeoning cities at the dawn of the skyscraper age. Just mind the spider monkeys.

— Thomas Coughlan

Docks of New York — Castro Theatre: July 15 12 p.m.

Josef von Sternberg is known, in film history, for his innovative use of soft lens lighting. No more apparent is this technique than in his noir-esque film, “The Docks of New York.” The shadowy towers of this industrial city permeate the opening shots as images of wearied workers populate the landscape. The title card sets the scene: “These were the days before oil fuel made stoking a lady’s job — when stokers earned their pay in sweat and coal-dust.” Stoking is the largely unseen profession whereby lower-class laborers tended coal on ships and in locomotives. And it is this unseen underbelly that “Docks of New York” illuminates so eloquently.

A formidable stoker, Bill (George Bancroft), meets the damaged ingenue, Mae (Betty Compson) after she nearly commits suicide by drowning. Like Bill, she too had a life of hard work and little pay. After spending barely any time together, Bill proposes marriage. The rest of film follows the falling out of this precarious relationship. Through scenes of darkened hues and huddled masses, Sternberg highlights the complex layers of society’s fringes. The financial, social and religious issues of the day are woven into a story that is equal parts drama and comedy. It’s a thrilling mix of entertainment. Like Hitchcock’s “Rope,” Sternberg uses minimal sets and few actors to amplify a slight nod of disapproval or a subtle look of desperation. Though the film received mixed reviews when it was released in 1928, the elegant direction and compelling characters of “The Docks of New York” make it an absolutely indispensable feature of American history.

— Jessica Pena

Mantrap — Castro Theatre: July 13 7:00 p.m.

“Ralph Prescott feels that even when a woman gives a man the best years of her life, he gets the worst of it” — or so says the opening title card of the provocatively titled “Mantrap.” A 1926 vehicle for the fast rising star Clara Bow, Mantrap is a not-so-vaguely misogynistic town versus country story about Alverna, a city girl who, having lived in isolated Mantrap for many years, yearns to return to the bright lights. It also stars Percy Marmont as Ralph Prescott, the wealthy but disaffected city man who against his better judgement, is determined to marry Alverna.

Adapted from a popular contemporary novel, this film demonstrates cinema’s tentative first steps with adapted material (though of course, there had been notable adaptations before it including 1915’s “Birth of a Nation” the first feature film). The film makes liberal use of title cards that sometimes get in the way of the powerful performances. We hardly need to be told, Bow is a flirt. Once she has us in the orbit of those big eyes, we know she means business.

The film makes interesting work of its subject matter, Alverna’s heroic abandoning of both her suitors may ultimately be undone by the film’s conciliatory ending, but there’s something lurking under the surface of Bow’s perky grin that suggests “happily ever after” wasn’t quite what she had in mind. As her hubby, Joe says “she’ll flirt as long as she breathes.” Sadly, however this did not come to pass and Bow worked for only another seven years, retiring in 1933.

— Thomas Coughlan

Wings — Castro Theatre: July 12 7:00 p.m.

As the very first winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, it is an understatement to call “Wings” a must-see American classic. This two and a half hour-long feature (complete with an intermission) follows two young men, Jack Powell and David Armstrong, as they pursue their dreams of flying airplanes by enlisting as aviation pilots in World War l. It is tempting to say that this film incorporates the War as a backdrop upon which Jack and David grow from boys into men. Their experiences in training and combat inspire both a newfound devotion to their country and an evolving understanding of the meaning of love, of course with young women, but most profoundly with one another. However, the maturation of the protagonists does not take precedence over the physical and emotional effects of war expressed in the film.

A considerable portion of screen time is devoted to the horrors of warfare, with step-by-step narrations of battles, images of men falling to the ground, bombs exploding out of nowhere, and pilots failing to return from their dawn patrol. While these quickly-paced action scenes are both captivating and terrifying, the most heart-wrenching moments of the film may be found in its portrayal of the emotional consequences of the war, whether in terms of parting from one’s family for what may be forever, or learning that a loved one will not return home. In many ways, this film has earned its place as a treasured piece of American history, and its lasting relevance in the portrayal of personal and national strife allow it to remain appreciated and understood today.

— Anna Horrocks

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Lincoln brings fresh blood to cliche vampire films

Anna Horrocks — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:54:56 +0000

20th Century Fox/Courtesy

At first sight, previews for “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” spurred the only thought that could overshadow the blatant absurdity of its title: “Do we really need more vampire movies?” The answer to that question, of course, is no. Today’s audience is in no way deprived of vampire material; from “Twilight” to “True Blood” to “Dark Shadows,” vampires are not only popular, but they seem to be getting more attention than any other mythical creature, at least in my lifetime. So, why another vampire movie? Why now? And most importantly, why Abraham Lincoln? Interestingly enough, this film, which originally seemed to scream redundancy and hilarity, succeeds in not only separating itself from much of today’s vampire rage but also in presenting imagery and themes that are cinematically and socially timely.

The film opens with the voice of Abraham Lincoln (an uncannily casted Benjamin Walker) reading from a journal entry as the camera soars over a picturesque Washington, D.C. — its first of many establishing shots that perfectly merge the aesthetic of a Philippoteaux painting and the dimension of a pop-up picture book (through its use of 3D). 3D technology is used in a multiplicity of ways throughout the film — from the classic surprise thrust of a weapon or a splatter of blood into the face of the audience, to a subtle, yet beautiful, portrayal of floating dust particles in an old alleyway or gun closet — that gives the film an antiquated, almost mystical feel. Its incorporation of effects such as 3D, fast and slow motion and “Matrix”-like combat and stunts make the film a fun, captivating and thrilling watch.

Narratively, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” offers a “complete” review of Lincoln’s life through an exploration of the entries found in his private journal. Along with exposing the intricacies behind his journeys to presidential power and marital happiness, the journal also reveals Lincoln’s confidential pastime — working as a vampire assassin in hopes of taking revenge for a lost loved one. Through the course of the film, his development as a vampire hunter and rise in political power build side by side and eventually merge. Among countless other details, the correlation between the 3D projection of a whip with similar 3D projections of vampire weaponry, along with the incorporation of vampires as Southern soldiers, establish a strong parallel between Lincoln’s war against vampires and his fight against racial inequality.

The congruity between Lincoln’s pursuit of vampires and his persistence in the Civil War succeeds in removing this film, at least to a certain degree, from the rest of today’s vampire material. Rather than being the single, central concentration of the film’s themes or storyline, vampires are incorporated as an extra dimension to which Lincoln expresses his dedication to the fight for human freedom — not only as a president sending troops to the Civil War, but as a man who is willing to risk his own life in the most dreadful battles for the good of humanity. So, while we are currently in no dire need of another vampire flick, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” is timely in a different manner. With the constant strife present in current-day politics and elections looming in the near future, it was beyond refreshing to watch a political leader with the tools, heart and drive to fight for what is right. Rather than a simple vampire movie, this film is the story of the quintessential American president: a great man who strives to save a country on the brink of destruction because he is willing to fight unflaggingly for justice and equality.

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