The Footlights blog gives readers a glimpse behind the scenes at Foothills Performing Arts Center in Oneonta, NY. On this blog, you'll read news about upcoming performances, interviews with artists, reviews and the occasional cultural rant.
It's all part of our mission to bring more fearless performances to the Central and Southern Tier regions of New York. We invite you to be a part of that quest.
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Horror films are not everybody’s bag, but there is definitely a market out there, just as there is definitely a market for anything under the sun. In my opinion, most horror films fall into one of two categories: useless (abysmal acting, cheapo production values, ludicrously unbelievable, baaad) and “good fun.” In the latter, one concedes that the narrative is not meant to be real, the acting is usually surprisingly believable, the filming quite expert, and the storytelling suspenseful, quirky, and nominally “scary.”
Warming up to Halloween, Foothills has scheduled horror movies for the entire month of October. The first, “Dead Silence,” was solid entertainment. I did not expect the complete surprise ending for one second. That was good. It was coherent and consistent and moved along nicely. Too bad if you missed it.
The next two selections, “See Jane Run” (October 12) and “Creature of the Night” (October 19), are also good old-fashioned horror stories, just creepy enough to make you squirm a tiny bit. Surprises and twists and sudden shocks abound. Avowed exaggeration, plenty of lipstick without the beeswax (movie blood), sinister angle shots, it’s all there. As Eve said to Adam when she gave him the apple: “Enjoy.”
The final movie in the series, “Martyrs” (October 26, approaching Halloween) is something different altogether. It is the only horror movie I have seen worthy of the name.
“It’s truly disturbing,” the knowledgeable salesperson at Blockbuster told me when I was prowling around the horror section.
“Good!” I said. “That’s what we’re looking for.”
“No. I mean truly disturbing.”
“That’s what we want.”
I was truly shocked, not to mention disturbed. I am still, a week after viewing it, shuddering at the depth and truth of the violence, brutality, suffering, and utter horror.
The difference here is the stark realism. Nothing is done for laughs. It’s dead serious, no pun intended. No tongue-in-cheek whatsoever. This is not “fun.” But it is unbelievably good. It’s art.
Directed by Pascal Laugier and hailed at the Cannes Film Festival as a standard-setting milestone in horror cinema, “Martyrs” tells the story of two young women bent on revenge for the unearthly suffering inflicted on one of them as a young girl. The narrative is baffling, quick-moving, absorbing and breathtakingly frightening. Even when I (repeatedly) reminded myself that “it’s only a movie,” I couldn’t steel myself for my reactions. It makes every other horror movie I have come across seem as harmless as a nursery rhyme. Truly.
Come see for yourself.
And write a response to this assessment. We welcome your views, opinions, criticism, praise…
Sam Goodyear
Barbara Apoian, were she a man, would be described as “one heavy dude.” She is cosmopolitan, intelligent, witty, well-informed, articulate, well-read, and wields one mean pen. And we don’t mean maybe. (She also happens to be extraordinarily open and modest, which, in our experience, is normally unheard of with such attributes.)
Two years ago she entranced a full house of listeners one bright summer Sunday afternoon at Foothills with the reading of several episodes from her memoirs. Some had surprise endings a la O. Henry. Others recounted true adventure tales. In still others, she shared personal trials, or expressed some hard-won philosophy, or evinced political feelings about women candidates for office. No two were alike and you never had an inkling of what she would come up with next. Clever lady. She sat in an armchair on stage, simulating the intimacy and informality of a living room. She smiled warmly, invited complicity, and very clearly enjoyed every minute of her presentation.
Barbara was born in England, lived (barely) through the London Blitz, in the 1950s started a love affair with France which endures to this day (she met her American husband there at the same time), successfully took on corporate life in New York City for decades, and lives now with her (same) husband in the peace and quiet of the Catskills. That is, when she’s not gadding about Palm Springs, or Cannes, or Morocco.
Her audience that afternoon laughed. Uproariously. And cried, too. (A good gentle cry is good for the soul, every now and then.) And then roared its approval at the end with endless bravos and standing applause .
We are just lucky enough to have a return engagement on Saturday, October 3rd at four o’clock. I personally guarantee full satisfaction. And I will personally refund your money if you feel in any way shortchanged.
Deal?
Kleenex is advised. Mainly for the emotion you will feel at the astonishing selflessness and unquestioning devotion on the part of thousands of volunteers to ensuring the safety, health, and happiness of tens of thousands of animals stranded and marooned by Hurricane Katrina. Tom McPhee’s multiple-award-winning documentary film chronicles the heroic efforts to retrieve beloved pets owners were required by officialdom to leave behind in the aftermath of the storm. The tone is mostly upbeat, though there are sequences about bureaucracy and brutality that give one pause for serious thought. The soundtrack is hip and contemporary. The final segment focuses on Barkus, a pet parade in New Orleans celebrating the rescue mission’s triumph and man’s deep connection to the Animal Kingdom.
**** Four (bold) Stars
“An American Opera” is being shown in collaboration with area SPCAs at Foothills Performing Arts Center on Monday 28 September. Doors open at 7 PM for a Pre-Show Forum. Screening at 8.
Tim Treadwell spent 13 summers in the Alaska wilderness, most of the time by himself, living among grizzly bears. It is giving nothing away to say that he was, along with a girlfriend, ultimately mauled and devoured by a member of the species he had committed himself to protecting, a sector of the animal kingdom he came to love deeply and with which he identified.
Werner Herzog produced and narrates this film using footage shot by Treadwell himself, interspersed with interviews of people closely involved with the history of this tormented soul who found his calling in the wild. There is beauty and purity. There is hubris. There is heartbreaking questing for life’s meaning. At the heart of it all there is love, albeit one that is finally betrayed. Thought-provoking, inspiring and unsettling.
**** (four stars)
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