a line of refuse in the ocean

Land. Sea. Air.

Landfills. Incineration. Sea-dumping.

Oscar winner Jeremy Irons narrates with personal depth the visceral truth of waste, the inefficient methods used to dispose of it, the harmful pollutants, and the health risks that attend those exposed to it. It is a global phenomenon, and British documentary filmmaker Candida Brady does not flinch in her ecological examination of the casual gesture of throwing things away and its repercussions on the environment. The documentary is called Trashed, and even though Brady refrains from an all-out pedantic tirade, she, nevertheless makes clear her intent to educate the public about the devastating effects of trash, be they in Vietnam, Indonesia, Lebanon, France, San Francisco, or North Pacific Gyre.

Jeremy Irons sits amid a pile of trash

Trashed is loaded with facts, and each factoid is backed-up by experts in the field. The presentation of the harrowing effects of the toxic chemical compounds called dioxin evokes guilt but calls for active responsibility. Through the eyes of Jeremy Irons, Brady takes us inside a Vietnamese hospital, for instance, and the camera scans rows of deformed fetuses in formaldehyde jars, and takes a hard look at living children deformed from Agent Orange sprayed during the war. Trashed makes it point without any visual relief from the waste with which we have strewn across the earth.

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Ed Koch

“Whenever I would fly home … there was the city of New York … And I thought … this belongs to me. Thank you God.” The incomparable Edward Irving “Ed” Koch loved New York City with abandon. The former Mayor is the subject of Neil Barsky’s documentary simply named Koch. We know his signature taglines, “How’m I doin’?” or “None of your fucking business” to questions on his sexuality or “No! The people threw me out, now they must be punished” on his defeat to Mayor David Dinkins in 1990. Along the way, Barsky sprinkles in ‘Koch’ a study in the yearning to be liked, recognized, and appreciated by a fickle public.

Koch’s beloved city, New York

The pugnacious city of New York is the backdrop, and Barsky plays the story well as he moves through the crags and crevices in the life of this controversial political figure. Bella Abzug, Mario Cuomo and Bess Meyerson, his companion in the 1970s, among others, make appearances, along with high-profile events, most notable, the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and the 1989 murder of Yusef Hawkins in Brooklyn. Barsky decorously illustrates Koch’s formal engagement then marriage to politics forming a sturdy couple that endured for better or worse; yet, one cannot help but to want to strangle Koch’s better half to get to Koch, the man. Koch’s history in politics, however, is overwhelming—even tedious–and the Mayor’s fidelity to his lifelong partner leave Barsky no choice but to cram it all in.

Koch plays through March 21 at the Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln.

Audio version from Friday Live! at the Mill @ 39:47 http://tinyurl.com/c88fdlq

Sisters Jennifer (Laura Prepon) and Penny (Dreama Walker) having a conversation about life.

Jennifer Parker is distressed, and it is no wonder. Paul, her ex-boyfriend, cheated on her with two of the women who are celebrating her 30th birthday; one of the women gives her earrings as a present out of guilt; her name is misspelled on her birthday cake; she’s unemployed and wants to open an art gallery featuring an artist whom no one appreciates; she feels unattractive; and, among other things, her sister, Penny, may have an abortion.

Paul (Bryan Greenberg)

All of these ingredients stir the pot in Ishai Setton’s ensemble feature The Kitchen.

Laura Prepon is endearing as Jennifer, and she sensitively walks the line between pessimism and hopeful expectancy in the awareness of this 30th turning point in her life. Dreama Walker, plays her adorable but mildly sarcastic sister Penny, who, even in her sarcasm, betrays a sliver of embarrassment and vulnerability as a single pregnant young woman. Jennifer’s and Penny’s conversations generate provocative insights into what it means to be at a crossroads not knowing what the future holds.

The audience will thank Jim Beggarly profusely for the script since the film’s score by American Indie rock band, Fun. will gnaw you to the bone!

The Kitchen plays through March 21 at the Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln.

Abridged Audio version from Friday Live! at the Mill @ 41:52 http://tinyurl.com/c88fdlq

Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) and Georges (Jean-Louis Trintingnant)

Austrian director Michael Haneke’s Oscar winning film Amour, is cold and raw, and music director’s Cecile Lenoir’s meager score intensified Haneke cinematic chill. Amour is a film that is so spare that we are strained to feel every nuance and every exasperating waking moment. Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) and Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) are old and married and in love.

Theirs is a simple compassionate love story that becomes compromised by Anne’s paralysis which eventually renders her immobile. Both Anne and Georges are retired music teachers who have cultivated a love for the arts. A joyous evening at a piano recital, a blissful ride home on the bus, and easy talk upon their arrival thereafter suggest that this couple has managed well their marriage. It is effortless. It is fluid. It is lovely; but this is just about all of the ‘romance’ the audience gets. The morning after ushers in the beginning of the end, and no matter how much Georges tries to order his and Anne’s life, control of it creeps out.

Georges and Anne are visited rarely by neighbors and occasionally by their daughter Eva (played by Isabelle Huppert). A former student of Anne’s, played with restraint by French classical pianist Alexandre Tharaud, pays the couple a visit but the conversation is quite uniform—even flat. It is obvious Alexandre is nervous to see the paralyzed hand of his former piano teacher, and Anne does nothing to put him at ease.

Anne

Cinematographer Darius Khondji emphasizes the haunting echo of Anne’s illness that seizes the ambiance of the apartment. Every inch of space in their home has surrendered to the inevitable: Anne will not get well. Yet, Jean-Louis Trintignant’s performance demands our trust that he will deliver Anne back to some semblance of the wife he has known; and we believe in him; and so does Anne.

Amour plays through March 7 at The Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln.

Abridged audio version @ 33:41 http://www.netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/none/friday-live-arts-soul

The Women Make Movies at 40 Festival, runs through March 14.

This weekend’s MetHD Live at Wagner’s Parsifal.

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters opens at The Ross on March 8.