Review – Page 7 – Ted Mills

Wasteland – Post-war tale ‘Lore’ features Nazi youth

March 8, 2013November 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Lore” belongs to several sub-genres, one of which is the “children fending for themselves” storyline where an absent or dead parent forces the oldest of siblings to take on duties beyond their age range. Only in this case the children are Hitler Youth, two daughters and two sons of a high ranking Nazi official who are left alone when their parents are arrested for war crimes.

The other sub-genres in Australian director Cate Shortland’s second feature include the coming-of-age tale, Holocaust film, and teen romance, all combining into a hypnotic 90 minutes that nearly achieves the depth it hopes to reach.

All of Your Beeswax – A Rare Art Show at Lotusland, ‘Swarm’ Mourns the Dead Bees

March 8, 2013November 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

The bees are dying, even in Montecito. Colony collapses are the thing of apocalyptic news reports, with everything from pesticides to cellphone use as the culprit. So with this new and rare art show called “Swarm” at Lotusland, the question can be asked: Is this a celebration or a memorial? Nancy Gifford, artist, collector, and curator, got a chance to turn several rooms in Madame Ganna Walska’s house into a place to examine what bees mean to art, humanity and nature. The results are worth your time to attend.

The centerpiece of the show is Penelope Stewart’s beeswax tiles, which completely cover one side of the entrance room and serve as a gateway into the other rooms. Using pounds upon pounds of beeswax, which in this enclosed space smells lovely, Ms. Stewart has used Lotusland as inspiration for the shapes that jut out of the bas-relief installation. Lotus pods, succulent blooms, decorative doorknobs, candelabras and more have been molded from wax and now stick out of the wall. The various colors of wax, based on the bees’ location and diet, make for fascinating exploration alone.

More than Zero : Ojaiyes brings Zero Mostel to life with One Man Show

March 1, 2013November 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

FROM TOP : From left, Steve Grumette, director, and Howard Leader Howard Leader as Zero Mostel Frank Eller photo — FROM TOP :
From left, Steve Grumette, director, and Howard Leader
Howard Leader as Zero Mostel
Frank Eller photo

I have done quite a few plays, and I wanted a challenge,” says Howard Leader.

The actor has gotten what he wanted. Tonight he stars in a one-man show based on the life of Zero Mostel, the gregarious but tormented star of such films as “The Producers” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” as well as the original Tevye in the Broadway production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

This new production of Jim Brochu’s award-winning 2006 stage play, “Zero Hour” opens tonight at Ojai Youth Entertainers Studio, directed by Mr. Leader’s frequent collaborator, Steve Grumette.

Hot for Knowledge : Just like today, ‘A Royal Affair’ shows’ politics made strange bedfellows in the 19th century too

March 1, 2013November 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

If you waited ages and ages to get in to see “A Royal Affair” at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival you may be disappointed to know you only had to wait a few more weeks to skip the lines. And if you didn’t get in to see it, well here’s your chance. Nikolag Arcel’s lavish costume drama follows the real-life affair that happened between the English-born Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark, and the King’s physician, Dr. Johann Struensee. It’s the kind of sweeping film history-lovers love, but it’s also a complex tale of good intentions and hubris on top of its love-affair plot.

The time is the 18th century, and the place is one of the last European countries trying to stave off the rising tide of the Enlightenment. And we soon see why writers like Voltaire and Rousseau questioned a system that could lead to the childish and insane King Christian VII (Mikkel Boe Folsgaard) running a country. Or at least pretending to: the true power resided in the king’s council, who handed the king laws to rubber stamp, protecting their own interests and damning the peasants.

Reach Out and Touch – ‘Object’ at Wall Space gets 3-D with photography

March 1, 2013November 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Wall Space Gallery owner Crista Dix continues to confound expectations of what a gallery of photography can mean in this latest show, “Object.” The gallery has only been in the Funk Zone for a short time, but it has been tweaking minds since it opened. “Object” may be the most tactile of the shows so far.

The three artists are all women: Sue Van Horsen, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Yvette Meltzer. All use photography as a tool, and explore its chemical uses. One makes you rethink surfaces, one mashes a 2-D art form into 3-D sculpture, and the other plays with the concept of abstract art.

Climbing the Mountain of Film – 37th Annual Banff comes to the Arlington

February 22, 2013December 3, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Once upon a time, there was a film festival in a far off distant land called Alberta, and when it was finished with its selection of short features, it would gather the best of the best and send them out into the world on tour, for other people to see. At first only a few people knew about this tour of festival films, and a place like, say, Campbell Hall at UCSB could comfortably hold those fans of mountaineering, skiing, and environmental travel videos.

But word of mouth spread, and now we find ourselves this coming week with two different film programs on two different nights — Wednesday and Thursday — filling the Arlington. It’s time for the Best of the 37th Annual Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Once the Mayor, Always the Mayor – Fine doc on three-term NYC mayor Ed Koch

February 22, 2013December 3, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Ed Koch in the office of his campaign manager, David Garth, September 1977. The New York Post — Ed Koch in the office of his campaign manager, David Garth, September 1977.
The New York Post

All due respect to the former mayor of New York, but when the DVD screener of “Koch,” the documentary on NYC’s polarizing and transformational political figure, turned up on my doorstep I couldn’t help but think back to good old Video Shmideo in Victoria Court, and their section “Newly Dead.” Mr. Koch died only three weeks ago, so this is either amazing (or the worst) timing or the distributor Zeitgeist Films is striking while the street vendor’s pretzel is hot.

Ed Koch started life as a reformer on several difficult issues, including sodomy, in the early ’60s. He didn’t do well, but then he went on to win a seat in state legislature. As the doc opens, he is campaigning for mayor of New York in 1977, going up against other candidates like Bella Abzug and Mario Cuomo, speaking to potential voters as they stream out of the subway, asking “How am I doing?” and holding up a placard, all black Helvetica font on white, which seems just so NYC and so mid-’70s.

All in the Rhyming

February 16, 2013December 9, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Currently, a very silly rap track about thrift store shopping holds the number one place in the pop charts. The newsworthiness of this event centers on its indie stature — breaking into a corporate dominated chart through new media means. But the other story — and why Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s “Thrift Shop” got passed around Facebook and Twitter — is how we all still love the humor and thrill of rhyming, especially when it makes us laugh.

This thought bubbled up while watching Ensemble Theatre’s latest production, “The Liar” at the Alhecama this last Sunday. David Ives updating of Pierre Corneille’s Restoration farce has kept its iambic pentameter and its rhyming scheme, and earns so many of its belly laughs with rhymes.

So Many Films, So Little Time – Recommendations for this year’s SBIFF

January 18, 2013December 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

I figure there’s two types at the SBIFF that don’t overlap, but I could be wrong. Those who stand in line, in the cold, to catch a glimpse of a celebrity arriving for the red carpet; and those who stand in line, in the cold, waiting to get in to a cozy theater for a film they know nothing about. Well this is going out to the latter, those who love this long list of films in the guide with very little idea — no TV or magazine review, no publicity campaign — of what they’re in for apart from a few keywords and an intriguing publicity photo or poster. That’s some film love, my friends.

The guide below represents my own choices of what to see, based upon previous festival performances, directors’ resumes and word of mouth. There’s so much more, but here’s a good place to start.

In Memory of Mike – SBIFF Honors Filmmaker Michael DeGruy with retrospective and more

January 18, 2013December 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

It’s been nearly a year to the day when nature filmmaker and friend of the SBIFF, Mike DeGruy, went down in a helicopter accident while filming off Australia. It happened during the 2012 Fest and the shock waves of his death cast a pall over the rest of the week more than any storm could do. In all the years of covering the Fest, the only vaguely equivalent tragedy was the 1999 passing of Stanley Kubrick, but this was completely different. This was close to home; this was one of the festival’s own, a man who not only had started the Reel Nature film sidebar, but also Field Trip to the Movies, bringing school kids out to see films, creating who knows how many film buffs.

And so this year the SBIFF will honor their fallen friend with a retrospective of Mr. DeGruy’s films, spanning over thirty years.