Marianne and Leonard: Words of Love - Leonard Cohen doc. with Little Interest but for Him

The verbose, disjointed doc. on the life of Leonard Cohen (b Canada 1934) is structured around the love story of the legendary poet/singer/song writer and his muse Marianne Ihlen (b Norway 1936).  The fractured biopic begins with Cohen living on the Greek Isle Hydra in 1960 where he meets Marianne. She's married with an infant at the time.  Marianne's marriage soon falls apart with her heart falling overboard to Leonard, a struggling, impoverished novelist.  Their love story is highlighted with archival footage of the handsome dark haired Leonard & fair haired beauty smiling, sailing & living a blissful bohemian lifestyle.  Marianne made it possible for Leonard to devout full-time to writing.  The intimate photos & homemade movies hold little interest to an outsider.  The voice overs are from friends & artists living in Hydra.  Marianne modestly claims she never found herself beautiful ,"my face is too round."  I agree with her assessment and puzzle over the circular lissom construct of the film.  Ihlen & Cohen's relationship was solid prior to his fame as and ebbs away with Cohen's rise to celebrity.  Their gossamer connection over the lifetime were only 7 years in the 60s.  Both passes away in 2016.  Although their loose thread acts as the ark for delving into the many fascinating incarnations of Cohen's life.  His battle with depression was omnipresent along with  an insatiable appetite for women &hallucinogens.  Judy Collins is the first to get Cohen onstage to sing one of his songs.  He suffered severe stage fright but achieved an immensely successful career writing, recording & performing his poetic/folksy songs spanning decades.  Acad. Award winning Amer. documentarian, D. A. Pennebaker & BAFTA winning British director Nick Broomfield  needed serious editing with many of the garrulous interviews from people on the periphery of Cohen's life especially the wife of an author friend.   Too much irritating time is allotted her as a self-proclaimed expert on Leonard's love life and the incapability of great artists to maintain stable relationships.  The recollections from band member Ron Cornelius (who sounds like Bill Clinton) are riveting and revealing.  Cohen's evolving genius as a writer & performer and his eccentric inhabitations from living in a monastery and his rise back from poverty & obscurity in his 70s are ample reasons for appreciating this doc.  It's dubious why the film attributes itself an iconic love story.  It serves as a zeitgeist into the 60s and loving tribute to a profound artist.  Cohen is a captivating character whose an amalgamation of Keats, Dylan, Simon, Guthrie and Dustin Hoffman yet an astoundingly talented & unique individual.

Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" Stars DiCaprio, Pitt and Margot Robbie

"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is written & directed by Quentin Tarantino.  I'll save you time & cut to the chase - the film is ho-hum & lackluster despite an excellent cast & creative re-writing of events surrounding the gruesome Hollywood murders of movie actress Sharon Tate.  Tate was married and pregnant with director Roman Polanski's child.  While 8 months pregnant, Polanski was abroad while Tate was in their Hollywood home.  She was not alone and her guests were also victims of this brutal & scandalous melee included in the zeitgeist of the late 1960s.  Tarantino draws out terrific performances from a cast that probably needs little direction including DiCaprio, Pitt, Margot Robbie, Daniela Pick (Tarantino's wife who plays DiCaprio's wife) and Bruce Durn in a small but unforgettable turn.  The look & sound both on the set and off the TV stage set where Rick Dalton (Leonard DiCaprio) is playing an aging, "useless" western actor shadowed by his unflappable stunt double and hired lackey, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).  Dalton's career is becoming washed up (thanks in part to his heavy boozing).  Booth is clinging to his stunt-man career at the heels of Booth.  Needless, Booth's self-defense skills & wherewithal serve both him & Dalton well.  Dalton lives next door to Sharon Tate & Roman Polanski.  Their neighborly paths are sure to cross.  The buildup to the high noon shootout massacre that occurred at the Tate home on August 8th, 1969 is tedious and dried up.  Quentin adds his fairytale rewriting of history around the Manson clan and Tate mansion murders.  Fans of Quentin's bloody fights will not be disappointed nor will fans of this epoch.  In fact, the fabricated ending is inordinately preferable as was his ingenious ending in "Inglorious Basterds."  However, the events in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" are shallow and unsatisfying in their build-up to the expected twist to historic twisted event.  The film begs to be revered but it's too helter-skelter to feel ignited.

Melinda's Suggested TV Series Viewing You May Want to See - or Not!

If you're looking to binge or do some watching from home this summer, here are my favorite picks in preferential order:

1.  Fleabag (Season 2) - British series written/starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge
2.  Big Little Lies
3.  The End of the F--king World - British series
4.   Pose - Season 1 - Billy Porter is phenomenal and a Reminder of AIDS in the 80s
5.  Killing Eve - (Season 1) British series written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge
6.  Dead to Me
7.  Fosse/Verdon
8.  The Baker & The Beauty an Israeli series
9.   Dark - German sci-fi time travel series hard to follow but it draws you in

Here are a few that I just couldn't get through in descending order or interest:

1.   Game of Thrones (I know - most Emmy nominations Ever)
2.   This is Us
3.   Sharp Objects
4.   Russian Doll
5.   Orange is the New Black
6.   Euphoria
7.   Chambers
8.   Stranger Things

"Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am" An Artful Biopic Flick that Makes You Think and Feel

The biopic doc. on Toni Morrison (TM) is an insightful, immersive and artistic reflection of one of the world's most brilliant writers.  And, in doing so, it's a testimony to the omnipotence of words with their capacity to embody lives & experiences intensely that are outside one's self.  From the onset, the film establishes its flair for meshing creative visual artistry which frame the literary genius of Ms. Morrison.  There's a montage of photographs & images dissected and refigured in a stunning compilation spanning images of TM's life.  TM is the author of her own life on screen.  She is candid, eloquent, direct and delightful in her interviews off-camera along with footages of other recorded interviews.  Legendary literary figures & iconic individuals bring their insightful commentaries about TM, their relationships to her and the impact of her extraordinary work.  Some of the exceptional interviews are from Walter Mosley, Sonia Sanchez, Hilton Als, Farah Griffin, Russel Banks, Angela Davis and Oprah Winfrey.  TM exclaims her writing as focusing on the black experience in America is in a unique clear voice told free from the "white gaze,""without the non-white judgmental eye."  TM's narrative is driven by deep interior pain of the poor, made to feel inferior class of blacks' point of view.  Although TM describes her upbringing in OH as a cordial melting pot.  Her desire to attend college was to expand her horizons and put distance from home.  This artful & absorbing doc. is punctuated by paintings & photographs by mainly African Americans illustrating an epoch of slavery & segregation in our country which TM confronts in her writings.  The film points out literary awards weren't bestowed TM in a timely manner.  TM's laughs off this push for honorary recognition which have been given including the Amer. Nobel Prize & Pulitzer Prize in Literature & the Presidential Medal of Honor.  The artists whose work highlights this film were for the most part overlooked during their lifetime.  In addition to being a prolific and magnificent writer, TM was also an editor,  college professor and single mother of two sons.  The film retains an intimate & ebullient tone throughout.  TM tells us "I'm smart early in the morning."  She's up before sunrise, "the most glorious part of the day" and gets in 3 productive hours of writing.  Feeling overwhelmed TM construed a list of all she was doing and whittled it down to the only 2 that mattered: being a mother to her sons & writing.  There is an earned luminescent hubris engulfing TM.  There's no barriers between TM's narratives and her reader.  TM identifies as a black writer, exploring race, history and the black experience.  Her rapport with the camera instills a fresh directness that feels conversational while stirring controversial dialogue.  This doc. is a must see film.  It's directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.  Toni Morrison's literary prowess is immeasurable.

Top 10 Cultural Picks for the First Half of 2019 from Around the Apple

Here is my list of my favorite cultural happenings that were happening around the Big Apple in alphabetical order:

1.   AILEY II - An all new program

2.   Siah Armajani's Iranian/Amer. Artist - Retrospective at the Met Breuer

3.   Jean-Michel Basquiat's Artworks at the Brandt Fdtn.

4.   INK - by British playwright James Graham

5.   Juilliard Spring Dance Performances

6.   Marcus Miller Electric Miles at Jazz at Lincoln Center

7.   Socrates by playwright/actor Tim Blake Nelson at The Public

8.   The Pink Unicorn a One Woman Show with Alice Ripley

9.   What the Constitution Means to Me written and starring Heidi Shreck

19.  Whitney Biennial

Special mention to the prescient off-Broadway play AFTER about bullying and gun violence

Melinda's Top Ten Movie Picks for the First Half of 2019

Here are my picks for the best films since Jan. 1, 2019 in alphabetical order:

1.   Amazing - A doc. of an Aretha Franklin concert filmed in LA Jan. '72 over 2 days

2.   Arctic - Brazilian dir. Joe Penna's film based on a true story of survival

3.   Booksmart - Written by Emily Halpern & directed by Olivia Wilde.

4.  Fighting with My Family Based on a true story of Prof. Women's Wrestling with Dwayne Johnson

5.   If Beale Street Could Talk - Based on James Baldwin's novel

6.   Late Night - Mindy Kaling writes & co-stars with Emma Thompson

7.   On the Basis of Sex - based on Ruth Bader Ginsburg

8.   The Biggest Little Farm - A doc. written/filmed/starring John Chester; CA organic farming

9.  They Shall Not Grow Old - A WWI doc. with restored original footage

10.  Yesterday - A musical fantasy homage to The Beatles

Special commendation to Spanish dir. Pedro Almodovar's doc. The Silence of Others

HBO - Two doc. films not to be missed

FOSTER - the Foster System in LA

On Tour with Aspergers are US - 4 comics with Aspergers on a road trip