Tim Grierson

Great World of Sound: The Music Men

Tim Grierson
When the main character of a film or play is a salesman, he’s never just a salesman. Whether in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the Maysles Brothers and Charlotte Zwerin’s documentary Salesman,or David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, the men in this profession serve as a sort of national economic......
(Margaret Herrick Library)

A Great and Terrible Civility

Tim Grierson
Though derided by some at the time as bloodless Masterpiece Theatre filmmaking, Merchant Ivory Productions was, for a short period, a cinematic sure thing, concocting intellectually satisfying dramas far superior to the eye candy of other art-house costume period dalliances. Producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory — who were......

Shock and Awe

Tim Grierson
As has been the case throughout our interview, his response is measured: “I hope,” says the voice on the other end of the phone, “that the mood of the country now is such that people will be willing to sit through a film that, while I hope is interesting and......
Man on a mission (Magnolia Pictures)

Shock and Awe

Tim Grierson
As has been the case throughout our interview, his response is measured: “I hope,” says the voice on the other end of the phone, “that the mood of the country now is such that people will be willing to sit through a film that, while I hope is interesting and......
Motel hell: Wilson and Beckinsale check in but may never check out (Photo by Suzanne Tenner)

Vacancy: Grand Motel

Tim Grierson
{mosimage} To fully appreciate the merits of Vacancy, you need to have the proper technology. Digitally projected lurid images and THX-amplified creaks and moans are all well and good, but what director Nimród Antal’s creepy cockroach of a thriller really cries out for are the shabby delights that can be......
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Cinnamon

Tim Grierson
{mosimage} To watch the films of artist Kevin Jerome Everson is to be reminded of Mark Twain’s famous preface to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, where he warned what would happen to those foolish enough to go digging for motives, morals and plots. Mixing documentary and performance art with only......
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A Case of Her

Tim Grierson
Neko CaseHenry Fonda Theater, February 17Before last March’s wondrous Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Neko Case risked being typecast as one more female singer with great pipes but no personality. She’s a sharp interpreter of other people’s material, but her own compositions often drowned in torch-singer melodrama and alt-country faux-Americana......
ramos Pocos (Magnolia Pictures)

The 2006 Academy Award–Nominated Shorts

Tim Grierson
Despite brief running times, great short films can evoke universal sentiments just as powerfully as their feature-length counterparts. Unfortunately, the 10 films that comprise this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short and Best Live Action Short too often prefer cleverness to genuine insight. On the whole, the animated films......

Swingers

Tim Grierson
People generally think of the “buddy movie” as a vehicle for two wisecracking men to work together to solve a crime, pull off a heist, or do something similarly brave and/or dangerous. Mike (screenwriter Jon Favreau) and Trent (force-of-nature Vince Vaughn), the heroes of director Doug Liman’s 1996 debut Swingers,......
Directorial vision: Wilson (left) with Otto-Bernstein (Photo by Kevin Scanlon)

Inside Looking Out

Tim Grierson
If you venture past the obvious benchmarks — the homages to German Expressionism, the fiery lighting designs — perhaps the defining quality of theater director Robert Wilson’s work is its air of mystery. With productions like his landmark 1976 opera, Einstein on the Beach, or more recent triumphs such as......