Author Archives: basiltsiokos

Coming to PBS’ Great Performances tomorrow, Friday, October 21: HAMILTON’S AMERICA

Alex Horwitz’s behind-the-scenes look at the acclaimed musical debuted at the New York Film Festival earlier this month.

There’s no denying that HAMILTON has resonated with audiences, critics, and cultural gatekeepers, bestowing the show and its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, with multiple Tony awards, as well as a Grammy and the Pulitzer Prize. Horwitz reveals both the inspiration behind and the impact of the show, drawing on footage of Miranda as he develops his groundbreaking musical starting more than two years before its debut at The Public Theater, and following his efforts as it came together, originally inspired by a random vacation read of a biography of Alexander Hamilton. Interwoven with this behind-the-scenes creative process is more recent, but very manufactured-feeling, footage of cast members exploring some of the history behind the show in visits to places like Valley Forge and Mt Vernon, as well as commentary from admirers like Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Sondheim, and even George W Bush and Elizabeth Warren. Plus, of course, a meeting with President Obama, who famously hosted Miranda when he performed the very first rap number from the show, a performance that went viral. For fans of the show or its soundtrack, Horwitz’s uncritical tribute will be much appreciated; but for those who don’t understand the hype, don’t care for musicals, or just don’t see HAMILTON as the second coming, little here will be convincing.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, October 21: BEFORE THE FLOOD

Fisher Stevens’ look at Leonardo DiCaprio’s work as the UN’s environmental ambassador made its debut at Toronto last month. The film has also screened at BFI London and the Hamptons.

DiCaprio has been an outspoken advocate for environmental messages for much of his career. In 2014, he was named a Messenger of Peace by the United Nations, using his high public profile to raise awareness on the urgency of combatting human-made climate change. Stevens follows him as he fulfills his duties, traveling around the world to witness the consequences of fossil fuel addiction, while also reflecting on his own carbon footprint and the sobering reality that his efforts might not be able to affect any real change. While the film trades in the very familiar – covering topics addressed in any number of other environmental docs, from tar sands to melting polar ice to deforestation for cheap palm oil production – it makes effective use of its charismatic subject and his ability to open doors, gaining audiences with not only President Obama but Pope Francis, and, perhaps, leading his fans to pay attention and potentially change their habits. Still, as DiCaprio himself uncomfortably admits when chastised by an Indian activist about the developed world’s rampant overconsumption, that’s not likely to change…

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 18: A COURTSHIP

Amy Kohn’s look at the modern-day practice of Christian Courtship made its debut at Tribeca last year. Its fest circuit also included Traverse City, Rocky Mountain Women’s, Iran’s Cinema Verite, and Thessaloniki Doc, among other events.

Christian Courtship is viewed by its adherents as a corrective and alternative to secular dating, which is considered inappropriate if not ungodly. Investing trust in God’s intentions, and all decision-making power in the hands of her father, a woman’s prospective suitors must first win over the latter before being allowed to get to know her – and even then, under constant chaperoning until their wedding day. In this conception of courting, a woman doesn’t just save her virginity for her future husband, but also her first kiss, causing much consternation for any who come to Christian Courtship after leading a secular life, such as Kohn’s protagonist, Kelly. In her 30s, Kelly has turned to the Wrights to become her spiritual parents, overseeing her courtship – her own parents’ divorce was responsible for her turn to religion, and they do not understand her passivity in seeking a mate. After much praying the Wrights agreed to serve in this role, taking Kelly into their home until her husband is brought to them by God – if ever. Through the course of the film, Mr Wright is shown too-gleefully interviewing and rejecting one suitor – possibly because of the latter’s acceptance of celibate homosexuals in the clergy – and falling for another one, until a disagreement over religious interpretation relegates Kelly back to a likely future as an old maid. While a frankly backward practice, Kohn seems to want to present it sans judgement, though she undercuts this with some distractingly goofy music choices, and an introduction of the Wrights which immediately paints them in a negative light, encouraging their young daughters not to go to college or have any dreams aside from marriage and motherhood. Regardless, in offering a glimpse into this regressive custom, the modest film indulges a strange curiosity.

Coming to PBS’s American Experience tomorrow, Tuesday, October 18: TESLA

David Grubin’s portrait of the eclectic inventor makes its debut on the long-running PBS history series.

As argued in Grubin’s biography, Tesla should be a household name – not as the name of an electric car, but for the man for whom that commercial vehicle is named, Nikola Tesla. Born in Croatia in 1856, Tesla displayed an early interest in tinkering and invention, developing a motor that could run on alternating current, long thought to be impossible. His idol, Thomas Alva Edison, has been unable to crack AC, and instead invested his energies in a far less efficient direct current system to create the first electrical grids in NYC. Heading to America in 1884, Tesla began working for Edison, but soon struck out on his own when his employer failed to embrace the younger man’s competing system. After some struggle, he found a supporter in industrialist George Westinghouse, who bought Tesla’s patents and surpassed Edison’s electrical distribution system. Celebrated as a forward-thinking inventor, Tesla became a celebrity, but prone to flights of fancy, he soon squandered the public’s good will, and the interest of potential investors, as he made dodgy claims about communicating with Martians as he pursued sadly unsuccessful plans to develop wireless communication and free energy for the masses. While hewing to the PBS strand’s very conventional narration and talking heads format, Grubin’s film succeeds in paying due to the inventor’s accomplishments and appeal.