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"Outside" and Jewish envy
Aug. 18th, 2004 12:26 pmHad a great night last night, a lull of non-stress in a stressful week.
Doug and I went to see a show at HERE called "Outside"--this is the show that utilizes interview footage of Doug and other former soldiers of various types. There were actually two shows on the program last night, "Outside" and another shorter show that preceded it, "Border." I quite liked "Border," a show about two Israeli soldiers, although Doug didn't care for it. I thought the actors were very strong and the writing was pretty tight as well. "Border" was told pretty straightforwardly whereas "Outside" was MUCH more abstract, to the point that most of the time I had no idea what was supposed to be happening. Also, most of actors were not very good, especially this extremely tall guy that used his hands very strangely. As you can tell, I didn't like it nearly as much. My directorial side was taking mad notes in my head--there were two scenes that were similar, where this guy on crutches makes a painfully long entrance...and proceeds to cross BEHIND the huge pole in the middle of the playing area. In the first scene, there was a lot of sustained yelling which annoyed me because of the poetry in the scene--you really have to modulate your delivery with such heightened language, or the audience just tunes out. The taped interviews were far and away the best and most compelling parts, because they grounded the excessive abstraction (and, frankly, self-indulgence) of the rest of it.
Afterward we walked around SoHo and ate at a BBQ restaurant called Tennessee Mountain. I had some bourbon baked beans that were pretty good. We were talking about Jewish holidays--I've never been to a seder and Doug has--*envy*--and he was talking about not understanding what was was being said at a Hanukkah menorah lighting. I said "Baruch ato adonai, elohenu..." He looked at me and said "You really want to be Jewish, don't you!" It just made me laugh.
Doug and I went to see a show at HERE called "Outside"--this is the show that utilizes interview footage of Doug and other former soldiers of various types. There were actually two shows on the program last night, "Outside" and another shorter show that preceded it, "Border." I quite liked "Border," a show about two Israeli soldiers, although Doug didn't care for it. I thought the actors were very strong and the writing was pretty tight as well. "Border" was told pretty straightforwardly whereas "Outside" was MUCH more abstract, to the point that most of the time I had no idea what was supposed to be happening. Also, most of actors were not very good, especially this extremely tall guy that used his hands very strangely. As you can tell, I didn't like it nearly as much. My directorial side was taking mad notes in my head--there were two scenes that were similar, where this guy on crutches makes a painfully long entrance...and proceeds to cross BEHIND the huge pole in the middle of the playing area. In the first scene, there was a lot of sustained yelling which annoyed me because of the poetry in the scene--you really have to modulate your delivery with such heightened language, or the audience just tunes out. The taped interviews were far and away the best and most compelling parts, because they grounded the excessive abstraction (and, frankly, self-indulgence) of the rest of it.
Afterward we walked around SoHo and ate at a BBQ restaurant called Tennessee Mountain. I had some bourbon baked beans that were pretty good. We were talking about Jewish holidays--I've never been to a seder and Doug has--*envy*--and he was talking about not understanding what was was being said at a Hanukkah menorah lighting. I said "Baruch ato adonai, elohenu..." He looked at me and said "You really want to be Jewish, don't you!" It just made me laugh.
