Editorial
Front Page - Friday, September 24, 2010
River City Roundabout
Fall film series begins with “A Piece of Work”
Erica Tuggle
“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” was the first movie showing for this year’s fall Independent Film Series hosted by the Arts and Education Council. A different film in the series will be shown each week at the Majestic 12 to allow local audiences to see movies that normally wouldn’t show in Chattanooga.
- Photo provided
The fall Independent Film Series hosted by the Arts and Education Council at the Ma-jestic 12 downtown theater is in full swing. Furthermore, the movie to kick-off this series is a real eye-opener and full of interesting facts about funny gal Joan Rivers.
It’s about time someone made a film to document the rocky road comediennes live. For those who don’t know, a comedienne is the female version of a comedian, and in the already tough business of comedy, these women have to dig harder to prove they are something to laugh at. The Last Comic Standing reality series gave the world an idea of a beginning comedian’s life, but the details of the business once someone has been in it for many years has not been explored.
This film about the brutal reality of aging in a business that is unkind to everyone, premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival in May of this year. There are several reasons to see this film, although if you missed it at the Majestic, you will have to catch it on DVD or out of town, because the films in this series only run for one week.
One reason to go is for the intellectual value. The younger generation may not realize that Rivers is a big deal, but after seeing this film, she makes sure you don’t forget it. Rivers started doing stand up comedy in the 1960s to fund her career as an actress. When Johnny Carson said to her, “You’re going to be a star,” upon her first visit to The Tonight Show, it launched her career as a brash and bold woman doing a standup routine that no one could touch.
This film highlights her rise to “semi-legend” status, mixed in with her hurdles of conquering the bias against her age (she turned 75 at the time this film was made) and the need to reinvent herself. What makes this movie good is that we see Joan Rivers as a real person. There are times we see her passionately angry at being unable to get the industry to recognize how difficult it is for a woman and a woman her age to stay in their good graces. We see her crying and realize that even stars get self-conscious, too. We even see Rivers minus the makeup. This makes the movie good because we love stars the most when we can relate to them and see their human side.
This film also allows Rivers to show off her many hats. Not only is she a laugh out loud comedienne, but also an author, a mother and she wants people to notice that she’s an actor, too, with 22 films under her belt. The film may comes across as an aging star whining about all the work she has to do to upkeep a lavish lifestyle, but that’s only face value. Rivers also wants people to know her, yet wants to be anonymous, in a way, because of her fear of rejection.
By waging war on her life to make a comeback, she is fighting several forces, many of which she may never be able to overcome. The associations with her age, her use of plastic surgery and the prickly things she says makes it hard to welcome her in with open arms. Plus, trying to disassociate her with her mike shoving on the red carpet is almost impossible.
At one point in the film, an audience member openly criticizes her for a joke she makes, but, in one of the most powerful scenes in the film, she handles the situation beautifully. Director Ricki Stearn and co-director Annie Sundberg do a brilliant job of opening eyes and minds about this woman.
Other films in this fall selection for the Independent Film Series are something to get excited about as well, because local audiences will not get another chance to see these fresh movies in theaters again.
Films in this particular
series include (in order of appear-
ance) “Wild Grass; ” “Coco Chanel” and “Igor Stravinsky; ” “Animal Kingdom; ” “The Girl Who Played With Fire; ” “Cairo Time; ” “Heart Breaker; ” “Lebanon; ” “Howl; ” “Mesrine: Killer Instinct; ” “Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1; ” “A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop” and “Tamara Drewe.”
The best deal to see them all at any time is to buy the $15 AEC Film Club card. This gives the purchaser access to tickets for all of these films at matinee price, a subscription to the AEC film club newsletter and discounts at many local businesses. More importantly, it supports the AEC film series so that these unique and inspiring pictures can continue to be a part of Chattanooga culture.
For more information visit www.artsedcouncil.org. Email Erica Tuggle at reporter@hamiltoncountyherald.com.
|
|