Me and Orson Welles (review)
The best ever love letter/horror story about the seductions and anxieties of life in the theater is the Canadian television show Slings & Arrows. This enchantingly bittersweet little film might be the second best. Based on the novel by Robert Kaplow [Amazon U.S.] [Amazon U.K.] and brought to the screen by Richard Linklater -- one of the masters of modern melancholy, if only for his diptych of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset -- this is an acerbic coming-of-age story, a warmly yearning nostalgia piece, and a smartly uproarious farce all in one. The year is 1937, and Orson Welles is about to launch Broadway’s first production of Shakespeare: a modern-dress fascist take on Julius Caesar. Into the histrionic fray of drama onstage and off at the newly formed Mercury Theater strolls 17-year-old Richard Samuels (the ever delightful Zac Efron: 17 Again), who charms and bluffs his way into a small role in the show... only to discover that his new boss is the master of the, well, mercurial. British actor Christian McKay absolutely steals the movie as Welles (he had previously portrayed the legend in a one-man stage show of his own) but the entire cast -- which also features the underappreciated Eddie Marsan (Happy-Go-Lucky) as Welles’ business partner John Houseman, Claire Danes (Stardust) as the administrative wiz Richard woos, and Ben Chaplin (The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep) as a nervous Mark Antony to Welles’s Brutus -- is perfect. Bravo. Disqus commentsblog comments powered by Disqus |
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Wed Dec 09 09, 4:28PM categories: reviews > 2009 theatrical releases permalink Disqus comments infoMPAA: rated PG-13 for sexual references and smoking viewed at a public multiplex screening official site IMDB trailer more reviews at MRQE dvdAmazon U.S. Amazon Canada Amazon U.K. tip jarshare
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Before Sunrise
arthouseBefore Sunset Ben Chaplin Broadway Christian McKay Claire Danes Eddie Marson John Houseman Julius Caesar life in the theater Me and Orson Welles Mercury Theater Orson Welles Richard Linklater Robert Kaplow Slings and Arrows William Shakespeare Zac Efron based on a book coming of age dramedy historical teen related· trailer break: ‘Me and Orson Welles’ · December 23-25: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings · Tyrannosaur (review) · question of the day: What Canadian films and TV shows should I be reviewing? · the further adventures of Nigel (Thursday and Friday) · off to England again · Weekend (review) · March 12: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings · North American box office: Sandra Bullock rules, vampires drool · totally quotable! 2009 bloggyprevious post: trailer break: ‘Youth in Revolt’ redband next post: watch it: “IF YOU USE CONDOMS YOU WILL NOT BE RAPTURED” |









