Cindy Kleine's ANDRÉ GREGORY: BEFORE AND AFTER DINNER opens at Film Forum

Cindy Kleine is no Louis Malle. And ANDRÉ GREGORY: BEFORE AND AFTER DINNER is no My Dinner With André, though the reference to that earlier work is not accidental. Ms Kliene is, however, the wife of André Gregory, and as such is in a position to know her subject pretty damn well. She is also the filmmaker who gave us a couple of years back that rather incredible documentary, Phyllis and Harold, about her parents, a couple who, it turns out, she did not know as well as she once thought.

It is difficult to imagine another documentary being as surprising and eye/mind/spirit-opening as Phyllis and Harold -- which you should seek out, if you have not yet seen it. Her André Gregory movie is nowhere as involving or shocking, perhaps because Mr. Gregory is still alive. (Her father was already gone by the time the earlier movie was being made and her mother was not in the best of health or mental state by then, either.) Presumably, Ms Kliene (shown above) wants to keep Mr. Gregory healthy and happy as long as possible, and so I suppose we cannot expect to get too up-close-and-personal with the man. (We do see him briefly full-frontal, if that's consolation.)

TrustMovies has generally found Gregory (on-screen, acting, or in interviews) to be a very smart, literate and funny fellow, and so spending time with him now, in his late 70s, is still a lot of fun, not to mention the chance we have, thanks to some archival footage, to see him in his early years and some of his early work that was captured on film. Much of Gregory's reputation (that's he, above, in the old days) rests on his innovative theatrical work as a director, and we do see a little of that, as well as hearing from some of the actors who worked with him (Gerry Bamman, for one).

And of course we revisit briefly My Dinner With André and Vanya on 42nd Street, the landmark Malle films that were and remain such a treat, and on which Gregory collaborated with his longtime friend and maybe muse Wallace Shawn. (They're most likely mutual muses.) We also see rehearsals taking place for a new Shawn/Gregory collaboration on Ibsen's The Master Builder, which Jonathan Demme is currently filming and which we'll get to see maybe later this year.

After a start, during which Kleine explains/shows how the two met and became friends and lovers, we get somewhat into the life and mind of Mr. Gregory. Upfront in all this would be his feelings about and for his very strange parents, European Jews who neglected to let their offspring know that they were all Jewish. (Somewhat understandable, given its time frame during the Holocaust.) Still, these particular parents were unusual, and Gregory's coming to learn more about the "work" his father was perhaps engaged in during Hitler's rise to power and madness makes for surprising, unsettling stuff.

The sections showing us Gregory's theatrical "technique" became, for me, a little tiresome after awhile. Rehearsals tend to drag for audiences, performances not so much (though part of the Gregory technique appears to be that one is always performing, so this at least keeps the energy level high). The movie finally, perhaps reflecting its subject, is rather disorganized and all over the place. But Gregory's personality helps keep us interested. He can be a grand raconteur, as proven by his tale of his experience "acting" in the would-be blockbuster Demolition Man, along side Wesley Snipes and Sylvester Stallone. For his explanation alone of the small misunderstanding with the twatty little director of the film (barely heard from again, I might add), the movie is worth its price of admission.

In addition to his talent, Gregory (with the help of Ms Kleine) comes off as quite a likable man. Late in the movie he tells that everything we may most fear as our lives proceed does indeed comes to pass: that first day at school, sex, college, employment, cancer. It's all life imitating art. Or vice versa. Yet, for a fellow who managed to get all the way to college without ever having been "touched" (never once hugged by his parents or relatives, let alone romantically kissed or touched by a girl or another boy), he's grown up and done all right. And Ms Kleine lets us see this.

André Gregory: Before and After Dinner -- a Cinema Guild release running 108 minutes -- opens this Wednesday, April 3, for a two-week run at New York City's Film Forum. The exclusive Los Angeles engagement begins Friday, May 3rd at the Laemmle Music Hall 3 in Beverly Hills. To see other currently scheduled playdates, click here.

PAUL WILLIAMS STILL ALIVE: Stephen Kessler's celebrity doc works on all levels

How rare is it to watch a documentary about a celebrity that manages to avoid just about every pitfall in the book? The beauty of Stephen Kessler's documentary about the diminutive song-writer/singer/enter-tainer/celebrity Paul Williams, out now on DVD and elsewhere, rests in its willingness to tackle its subject every which way -- including the manner in which the filmmaker wants to tell it and the way Williams himself insists on it -- resul-ting in a documentary that adheres to the rules (this is no hybrid narrative/docu mash-up) and ends up seeming extraordinarily honest about, well, everything it touches.

The filmmaker (shown at right) doesn't touch everything, mind you -- Mr. Williams won't go into certain subjects, which is his call, and he flat out argues with the director about certain other ones -- but what the documentary does encompass, it makes genuine and in-the-moment. And it gives us a remarkably rich look at a very talented celebrity, then and now, and lets the man (and us) muse on the rewards, drawbacks and meaning of this kind of in-the-spotlight life.

The surprise here, and it is quite a surprise, is how Mr. Williams looks at his past career, his present one (yes, he's still going fairly strong), and what has happened in between. He turns out to be not just a talented guy but a smart one, too, and some of the things he has to tell us are more than a little thoughtful and rewarding. My favorite is his off-the-cuff remark about his current (and, I believe, third wife): "She got the man that the former two wives imagined that they had gotten." Only with a lot of growth and change, however, has the younger man becomes his older and more responsible counterpart.

What about those terrific songs Williams wrote, and all the famous celebrities with whom he was constantly rubbing shoulders? Ah, they're here, and we get to revel in those 70s TV shows and hair styles, and the smart, often touching lyrics and memorable tunes the composer came up with. The movie is impressionistic, as it jumps from this to that and the next big thing, and although Kessler is a huge fan of Williams, the latter never allows the former to gush. Hence the tone, which is admiring (hell, there's a lot to like about this guy and his work) is kept nicely in check by the subject of that admiration.

As documentaries about celebrities (particularly living celebs) go, PAUL WILLIAMS STILL ALIVE, may be the one to beat. It just about perfectly balances nostalgia with now, and at 86 eminently watchable minutes, it's a model of intelligent concision and inclusion. It also demonstrates how a filmmaker can approach and work with a celebrity to produce something of which both can be proud -- and viewers can bask in and learn from.

The documentary is available now on DVD, VOD and various digital sources. Or you can download it here.

In Angelina Maccarone’s THE LOOK, Charlotte Rampling gives it -- and gets it

How unusual is the new documentary THE LOOK by Angelina Maccarone, which tracks some time in the current life of one of our favorite actresses, the riveting, beautiful and – as it turns out – highly intelligent Charlotte Rampling. The filmmaker simply points her camera at and her sound mic on this art-film icon, following her around various cities (New York, Paris, London) and letting her talk about, well, nearly everything you might want to ask or hear.

These subjects include exposure, age, beauty, resonance, taboo, desire, demons, death and love (that pretty much covers it, no?) and while TrustMovies found that certain portions might fit a bit better under one or another of the subject headings than the one chosen by Ms Maccarone (shown at right), this is of little importance because there’s really nothing Ms Rampling (shown below and further below) has to say that isn’t worth hearing, and sometimes quite worth some pondering, as well.

The film's full title is Charlotte Rampling -- The Look:  a self-portrait through others, and so along the way we meet some other intelligent people. Rampling seems to surround herself with these, including her son (shown with her, below, as gorgeous as she is and a budding theater director); a photographer or two who’ve know her for quite a spell (the actress, with 97 appearances under very small size belt, has been working consistently for nearly half a century); novelist and filmmaker Paul Auster (shown with her, two photos down); and a few more.

Because she’s been around for so long and worked so consistently in the kind of challenging movies that attract art-film audiences and keep them returning for more, Ms Rampling would seem to be an ideal choice for this kind of probing documentary. She does not disappoint. And with footage from a number of her films cut into the interview portions – including The Damned, Georgy Girl, The Night Porter, Heading South, Under the Sand, The Verdict and Max mon amour – we also see her then and now, and hear her thoughts about the films (and sometimes their directors and/or why she chose to perform in them).

From the beginning, when she and her photographer friend talk about performing, photography, wrinkles, plastic surgery (and her lack of it -- or much of it, anyway), and we see this then-young woman in Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories, we’re hooked but good. Spoilers here would include Ms Rampling’s interesting musings, so I’ll just say that the lady comes off as incisive, smart, genuine, decent and realistic. I wish I knew her, but should I ever run into her during her wanderings around her favorite cities, I think I’ll smile and just say “thank you” as I pass, rather than intrude on her privacy.

The Look (perfect title for a film about Rampling), from Kino Lorber and running 98 minutes, makes its official New York debut at DOC NYC this Thursday, November 3, then opens theatrically Friday, November 4 at the Cinema Village and the Lincoln Plaza Cinema. Click here to learn playdates in other cities/theaters.

DVDebut--NEW YORK STREET GAMES: how kids had fun in dad's (and grand-dad's) day

As someone who did not grow up in New York City (even if he had, he probably would not have taken part in many of the games shown and recalled here), TrustMovies was nonetheless shocked at how interesting -- fascinating, really -- the new straight-to-DVD documentary NEW YORK STREET GAMES proves to be. Directed, co-written and co-produced by a fellow named Matthew Levy (shown below), the movie brings to grand life a dozen or more of these games, described and remembered, oh, so fondly by a bunch of guys (and a few women) including artists, actors, politicians, sportsmen and more: Ray Romano (shown second photo from bottom), Hector Elizondo, Keith David, Robert Costanzo, Regis Philbin, Curtis Sliwa, Whoopi Goldberg, David Proval, Robert Klein and even former Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop (shown center, two photos below).

Nostalgia stands foremost here, followed by the joy of youth, sports, and simply being ultra-active with a bunch of like-minded and -bodied compatriots. The idea of kids playing in the streets might horrify most of today's parents, the filmmaker tells us, yet a couple of generations past, parents trusted their local community enough to leave their kids to their own devices. Back then the world was certainly different: a parent's whistle, one of the interviewees maintains, could locate a child playing several blocks away.

Levy gives us some centuries-old history, too -- showing us the famous painting Children's Games by Pieter Bruegel that, 450 years ago, offered some of the same games the movie covers.  Others, such as Stoopball, still reign supreme in places like Wisconsin, where the Stoopball League of America now thrives.  You'll discover the history of the Spalding ball (pronounced Spal-deen in NYC), the meaning of "seconds," and, of course, the games themselves.

Punchball and Slapball (joyous, simple and cheap: you just needed the ball - and the players); Kick the Can (and its various incarnations such as KTC Hide-and-Seek); Hit the Penny; Skully (also called Skelly, and the making of those bottle caps into functional works of miniature art); Ringo-Levio, with its hunters and hunted.  Then come the games at which your mother would tell you, "You'll hurt yourself!"  (And of course you did.)  Johnny-on-a-Pony (shown at bottom), War (shown above), Buck-Buck and more.  Double Dutch jump-rope made use of girls and wordplay, while Posse was just another name for Hopscotch.  And so far as Stickball is concerned, if you've ever wondered what a "three-sewer man" was, you'll find out here.

As you might imagine, the fellow and gals who do the remembering in New York Street Games are all great raconteurs (some of whom are shown above).  It's a pleasure to listen to them, as they bring back the 1930s, 40s, and some of the 50s -- until the lure of suburbia began to draw families out of the cities and their lively communities into a somewhat stultifying period of the private nuclear family.  The wonderful old photographs by Arthur Leipzig capture these games remarkably well, and Levy and his crew have done a bang-up job of finding, compiling and editing them, together with the remembrances, into an informative, entertaining whole.

The movie ends with a plea for greater and better physical activity for today's children  -- who have probably grown even more obese in the time it took you to read this review.  I wish Levy has not ended his film with quite such a heavy-handed plea, important as it may be.  His movie so good that the proselytizing only seems to reduce it somehow.

New York Street Games is available for sale via the film's official site or from Amazon.  I couldn't find it for rent on either Netflix or Blockbuster (a mistake, I think, if the filmmaker wants his film to be widely seen).   But perhaps a TV showing is in the offing; the documentary seems to me a perfect fit for public television. And with Father's Day coming up soon, the film should double as a great gift for a lot of dads/grand-dads out there.

The black-and-white photos above are copyright and courtesy 
of Arthur Leipzig and are to be used exclusively 

in association with New York Street Games.

The color photos are from the filmmaker's own blog.