Soundtracking: "Best Worst Thing..."

Soundtracking is our newest wekly series, with Chris Feil talking music in the movies! The Tony Awards are this weekend, so here is a documentary on a Broadway flop...

Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened charts the making and failing of Stephen Sondheim / Hal Prince collaboration Merrily We Roll Along. The musical charts the decades-spanning friendship of three showbiz types, but told in reverse and with teenagers playing the roles. It was high concept and it was a notorious bomb - but with one brilliant and emotionally involving score.

If you’re unfamiliar with the musical and its complicated backwards plotting, Best Worst Thing does a pretty snappy job of quickly explaining the show’s concept before focusing on the cast left out in the cold by Merrily’s failure. What sounds rather niche for a documentary subject is actually quite moving and emotionally accessible, and still touches on some hefty themes. The film, directed by original cast member Lonny Price, is personal but not cloying. It’s a documentary about the hard truths of growing up into a world that isn’t all you were promised, - and it consistently finds deeper context for the music.

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Everyone Joins "The Papers"

by Ben Miller

Steven Spielberg made news a few months back with word that his next film about the Pentagon Papers would bring together two American treasures in Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep.  The film, originally referred to as The Post and now titled The Papers, chronicles the Washington Post’s Vietnam War expose’ with Hanks and Streep as the Post’s editor and publisher, respectively. 

The big news is who else has been cast in the supporting roles.  Rather, who hasn’t been cast...

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The Dramas of Diane Keaton

“It’s not a good idea to be identifiable, though it’s reassuring. It feels safe in most ways, and that’s bad, because it means that you’re accepted, and once that happens that’s where you stay. You have to watch yourself. I’d like a life like Katharine Hepburn’s in terms of work. She matured. She made the changes. Like Martha Graham.”

Diane Keaton,  New Yorker, 1978

Diane Keaton is to receive the American Film Institure Lifetime Achievement award on June 8th. We should be pleased, not only deserved because Keaton is a true legend, but also because highly accomplished comic actors are so often overlooked by awards bodies. Think of Keaton and Annie Hall comes immediately to mind along with other Woody Allen films, as well as comedies like The First Wives Club, Father of the Bride and Something's Gotta Give. But few actresses have a dramatic filmography that can match Keaton's. For all her fluffy breeziness, her dramatic skill is equally sharp and coldly acerbic, with films like Shoot the Moon, Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Reds capturing this dichotomy. And we can't forget the entire Godfather trilogy.

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Six Degrees of Stockard Channing

By Spencer Coile 

John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation is a finely tuned satire of the rich and elite, inviting its audience into the lives of Flan and Ouisa Kittredge, an art dealer and his wife. Through a mixture of broad comedy, close examination of "how the other half lives," and an honest depiction of race relations in the 20th century, his work was not only a Best Play nominee at the 1990 Tony Awards, but was a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is no surprise that his creation would soon find its home on the screen as well, being adapted into a 1993 film of the same name, directed by Fred Schepisi and written for the screen by Guare. 

Indeed, much can be said about both its stage and screen representation (Nathaniel even wrote about the play's current revival here), from its kooky premise to the performances. Considering the revival's Tony success (nominations for Best Revival of a Play and Best Leading Actor in a Play), not to mention many of its timeless qualities, let's dive into Guare's work and find out what connects us all. 

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I'm wishing... (I'm wishing)... 🎶

Someday our funds will come...Hello dear readers!

Today is your host's birthday (c'est moi, Nathaniel R) and I want to thank my team for filling in for me while I was on a wee vacation --special thanks to Chris Feil who has been a superstar since joining the team and really jumped in daily in my absence. In case you don't follow me on twitter or instagram, I was away at Disney World, a birthday treat from my bestie.

I'm not quite back up to speed from the trip so I shall return in the morning with a jampacked Wednesday through Friday of blogging for y'all since I know you haven't heard from me in a bit. I'll answer reader questions, return to Pfandom retrospective, oh and also BEST SHOT - PARENT TRAP (tomorrow night - pushed back 24 hours so you still have time to join us!), and more.

Since it's my birthday, I'm allowed to do a wee bit of fundraising. I did some wishing at Snow White's well while I was away and if she can survive a coma, get a Prince Charming, and a whole kingdom, and a whole new set of miniature friends, surely The Film Experience can continue strong another year with your support! 

C O N S I D E R 

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