Bockharn

I came to this film via Thom Fitzgerald's earlier work, the mostly comic pseudo-documentary "Beefcake," so I was unprepared for the many-layered drama of "The Event." There have been a lot of films about gay men with AIDS, most of which are earnest and predictable, but "The Event" is definitely surprising in its story. It is easy to identify with the various points of view in the film, and that raises the viewer's stakes considerably. And what an indie dream of a cast! I viewed this DVD via NETFLIX which inexplicably -- considering their trove of Grade Z films about gay people -- doesn't stock "Beefcake." Thom Fitzgerald doesn't do the same old same old -- for which, hats off and Thanks!

When the father of a Dublin family is transformed into a rat, the family dynamic changes not at all! The daughter is still Daddy's Little Girl, the son -- Pius! -- is piously creepy, his vocation to the priesthood notwithstanding, and the mother alternates (as usual) between wild-eyed outrage and sentimental tears. Writer, director and cast all seem to be making the same movie -- a dissection of some of the more peculiar aspects of the Irish "character" with some of the insight of Huston's/Joyce's THE DEAD -- and even more laughs. Imelda Staunton is devastatingly funny as the mother who views her husband's transformation as just the latest in a series of crosses she's had to bear.

Certainly this movie is not for all tastes, and I can imagine that some viewers would be simply baffled. It helps if you DO understand (sort of) why anyone would name their son "Pius." But if you're Irish-American and have mixed feelings (are there any other kind?) about your "heritage," just sit back and enjoy!

Comedy is hard. BEYOND THERAPY is, arguably, Christopher Durang's best play and Robert Altman's worst film. The casting of the film is not terrible -- on paper. But almost every other aspect of the film -- the direction, the look, the sound -- is wrong-headed, -hearted, and every other relevant organ-ed. Still, going on the principle that an artist should be judged by his best work, not his worst, enough about Altman. Even Homer nodded and I don't mean Homer Simpson, but, come to think of it --. Durang's comedy remains incisive and hilarious. From the perspective of 2004 it seems so embedded in its era that it effortlessly transcends its time -- like Restoration Comedy on a good night. This is nigh-on-impossible to see in the film, but it is happily evident in an audio recording made in 2002, featuring a splendid cast of gen-u-ine comic actors, headed by Catherine O'Hara, David Hyde Pierce, Kate MacGregor, and Richard Kind. It's "pure '80s." It's the "me decade" pressed down and flowing over. The peculiar idiocies of idiotic therapists are skewered on Durang's pen as are personal ads, grotesque drama (Eck! Eck! EQUUS!), let-it-all-hang-out personal interaction, and wildly "inappropriate" therapist/patient relationships. It is laugh-out-loud wonderful on CD and may serve to comfort the Durang and Altman fans who are justifiably horrified at the film.