If nothing else, “August: Osage County” validates Tolstoy’s famous dictum about happy versus unhappy families. The Weston family of Osage County, in the dry, dreary prairies of Oklahoma, actually easily surpasses the concept of unhappy, achieving a level of dysfunction, anger, and sheer toxicity rarely shown in motion pictures, or even real life. The movie […]
Dysfunctional families
Posted inMovies
“Stoker”
The less you know going into “Stoker,” South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s stylishly macabre horror-tale-cum-family-drama, the more fun there is to be derived from sitting back and letting its mysteries unfold. The film marks the English-language debut of the notoriously bloodthirsty filmmaker behind “The Vengeance Trilogy” (which includes the cult-classic “Oldboy”) and the vampire thriller […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
THEATER REVIEW: “August: Osage County”
After it debuted in 2007, Tracy Letts’ drama “August: Osage County” won just about every theater award that matters — Tony, Drama Desk, Pulitzer, New York Drama Critics’ Circle, etc. The play itself is extraordinary, even though the subject matter is about as ordinary as you can get. A far-flung extended family is brought back […]
