…And The Fear Cracked Open.

As part of this year’s Anti-Depressant Festival at The Brick Theater the troupe Ten Directions is presenting “…And The Fear Cracked Open.,” which follows on the heels of their award-winning “Bouffon Glass Menajoree.” While I haven’t seen the company’s parody of that American classic their latest piece about a Minnesota couple’s journey from meeting cute, to moving in together, to tackling the domestic drama of unpaid bills and infidelity, makes me wish I’d seen “Bouffon Glass Menajoree” instead if only for the blueprint Williams’ drama would have provided.

To read the rest of my review visit Theater Online.

Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2009: The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court

"Without justice, people have no respect for each another," one victim of the atrocities in the Congo offers in Pamela Yates's “The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court.” "If this is left unpunished, it will happen again," he adds. Opening the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival with a whimper rather than a bang (as did last year's underwhelming cinematic salvo), Yates's film follows ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his dedicated deputies as they seek to bring to trial the worst of the worst war criminals of our time. Unfortunately, the doc is no fascinatingly addictive character study a la “Sin City Law” writ large, but rather a clinical procedural better suited to classroom use than for theatrical release.

To read the rest of my review visit Slant.

Shiny Happy Unclassified People: Why “Hair” Matters

Free love is in the air—and “Hair.” Forty years after the summer of ’69, the greatest tribal love-rock musical ever sung just won Best Revival of a Musical at the Tony Awards, while Pola Rapaport and Wolfgang Held’s documentary “Hair: Let the Sun Shine In” recently made the micro-cinema rounds.

The film’s clips from recent rehearsals notwithstanding, I’ve yet to see the musical in any of its incarnations (as I developed an aversion to peacenik shit during my punk rock youth). But after watching “Hair: Let the Sun Shine In” which mixes archival footage from the era and the production (along with its surrounding hype) with present-day interviews with the original cast and creative team, I feel like at least I’ve gotten the hippie Cliff’s notes version.

To read the rest visit my Sex Beat column at Carnal Nation.

Portrait of an Artist as Rambo: A Conversation with Zack Oberzan about Flooding With Love For The Kid

When Jean-Luc Godard referred to his criticism and filmmaking as one and the same he couldn’t have envisioned the “one-man cinematic war” called “Flooding With Love For The Kid,” Zachary Oberzan’s no-budget ($96 to be exact) version of “First Blood,” shot entirely by himself in his Manhattan studio apartment, in which he plays all the characters.

I spoke with Oberzan on the set of his upcoming film (aka, his apartment) about our mutual appreciation of action heroes, mind versus body control, Stallone versus Van Damme and so much more.

To read the interview visit The House Next Door.

The Burning Bush!

Like the very best preachers Tracey Erin Smith in her one-woman dynamo show “The Burning Bush!”, which follows a rabbinical school dropout named Barbara who discovers the true meaning of spirituality at the Tit for Tat strip club – and takes both miraculous message and exotic dancers on tour to spread the holy word – doesn’t actually preach to her congregation. Instead the exuberant and passionate Smith actively listens to her audience, connecting, engaging and adjusting as she segues effortlessly from embodying the uptight Barbara to becoming a variety of diverse characters. There’s Christie, a Marilyn clone who worships Madonna, Sammy the homegirl stripper, a southern Jewish Martha Stewart, a Texas handyman who’s a dead ringer for Matthew McConaughey – and even the nebbish Jackie Mason himself who serves as Barbara’s guide and inner compass. Smith has taken Barbara’s revelation that strippers “listen” to their customers while giving lap dances to heart.

To read the rest of my review visit Theater Online.

For HALF PRICE TICKETS THIS THURSDAY, JUNE 11th at 10PM email

tbb.productions@gmail.com

with “Half price tickets: The Burning Bush!” in the subject line.

Save 6/11 for Rambo

My friend Zack Oberzan whose one-man, off-B’way show Rambo Solo I raved about at Theater Online is unveiling “Flooding With Love For The Kid,” his film version of “First Blood” shot entirely by himself playing all the characters in his Manhattan studio apartment for 96 bucks. It’s pure cinematic genius – and it’s free! See the invite below – and hope to see y’all there…

"An outsider-cinema masterpiece...Oberzan's mania knows no bounds."
-DAVID COTE, Time Out NY

"An absolutely amazing concept. Wildly creative and energetic."
-DAVID MORRELL, NY Times bestselling author of First Blood

Hello, Friends:

I'd like to invite you to the NYC premiere screening of my movie, Flooding with Love for The Kid.

I adapted David Morrell's novel, First Blood, word for word, into a feature film and shot it all here in my apartment, by myself. It's a one-man cinematic war.

It's going to play at Monkey Town on Thursday, June 11th, at 7:30 PM. Admission is FREE.

Monkey Town is a wild experimental place in Williamsburg that projects its films on four screens, while you sit in the middle. You can have dinner there, and drinks. (Reservations recommended for dinner.)

For more info about the movie click here.

For directions click here.

And of course...the trailer is here.

Hope to see you there!
Zack

http://www.zacharyoberzan.com

Unmistaken Child

“Unmistaken Child” follows Tenzin Zopa, the lifelong disciple of the recently deceased Tibetan Master Lama Konchog, in his quest to discover that to which the title refers: the unmistaken child who is the reincarnation of Zopa's beloved master. The documentary was shot verité style over the course of four years, with its director Nati Baratz receiving unprecedented access to a process not often documented. Unfortunately, the straightforward, fly-on-the-wall approach Baratz takes doesn't do justice to the supernatural aspect of such an incredible tale.

To read the rest of my review visit Slant.