Liars and Saints

 I spent the week reading "Heartburn," which is such a stunner because of its honesty. Nora Ephron looks closely at the lowest point in her life; also, she refuses to make herself a victim. She pokes fun at herself and even seems to show compassion for Carl Bernstein (while also making clear that Carl Bernstein could benefit from professional help). There is an artist with a "Nora Ephron" heart in "The Simpsons"; the artist is Barney Gumble. Invited to submit a short film to a contest, Barney leans in to self-deprecation. He admits that he is wedded to alcohol; it's a problem of his own making; he is in over his head. Barney's iconic film--"Pukahontas"--features its protagonist in "toothless" mode; Barney is lying in a gutter. Bluntly, Barney makes a suggestion to his audience. "Don't cry for me. I am already dead." We also see Barney alone on a couch; the beer spills onto his chin and onto the furniture. The amazi...

  I was somehow dragged into a Bills v. Chiefs discussion. A friend was describing his irritation w/r/t to the Chiefs, and my husband asked, "Would you root against Audra McDonald simply because she already has so many Tony Awards?" This was meant to be a rhetorical question -- but, in fact, it's possible that I *would* root against Audra precisely for that reason. And it's possible that Audra would root against herself. In one interview, she mentioned her first major Tony Award loss. She recalled feeling relieved and thinking, "Great. Now I can just go out and do my work." I feel it would be terrific if Jennifer Simard defeated Audra this year. (There is no universe in which this will happen.) Jennifer Simard is a genius, and she is now giving a performance in which (nightly) she has to let cum dribble from her mouth. This is easily the most startling and inventive moment on any NYC stage -- from Battery Park to Washington Heights -- happening day after day...

 Nicole Holofcener has cited Mike Leigh as a major influence--but I wonder if the current runs both ways. In her film "Friends With Money," Holofcener looks closely at undiagnosed mental illness. Her star, Frances McDormand, is almost constantly bubbling with rage. She picks a fight with the waiter who does not refill the coffee quickly enough. She begins screaming at CVS when someone tries to cut in line. Mike Leigh's new film, "Hard Truths," seems to repackage the Frances McDormand story. Leigh's central character, Pansy, is weighted with so much inner turmoil that she can't really tolerate another person's breathing. Her child leaves out a banana peel; this is objectively annoying, but for Pansy, the moment becomes cataclysmic. At Pottery Barn, Pansy sees someone with her shoes on top of the cushion on a model couch. Pansy takes this as a provocation; a fight begins. What makes Pansy amazing is that she doesn't even need an irritant to become ...

  Ricky Gervais has said there is mainly one foolproof scenario for comedy. Here is the scenario. A character is dropped into a situation for which he or she is completely unprepared. That's all. I have boundless admiration for "Heartburn," by Nora Ephron, for a few reasons. First, it's a novel no one else would write. Ephron was pregnant with her second child when she discovered that her spouse, Carl Bernstein, was having an affair. Most people would shudder before picking up a pen. But Ephron began taking notes. Second, the voice is so odd. Ephron's narrator--Rachel, a writer--worries about being married. She worries because, she says,  things have stopped happening to me . If you're single, you can generate stories by the dozen. But motherhood means many afternoons alone with a toddler and a stack of colorful blocks. Rachel is upset because she has surrendered all of her literary material. Third, the approach to plotting is unconventional. Who are the chara...

  For MLK Day, we read "Martin's Big Words." It's fine. It links Martin's career aspirations to Martin's father; in the "origin scene," we notice Martin carefully studying one of his father's sermons, dreaming of acquiring "big words." This story doesn't grab Susie. It lacks a castle, a parade of fabulous gowns, magical moments of interspecies transformation. At the climax, Martin does sink his hands into big words; "my children" ought to be judged "by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin," etc. Then--moved by a communal response to senseless suffering--Martin goes off to assist with a sanitation-worker strike. And he is shot and killed. The End. At times, I have tried to alter my daughter's wardrobe to feature Harriet Tubman, Marian Anderson, etc. There is a particular line of items--Piccolina--that is celebrated for this trend. But Piccolina has folded. The business model wasn'...

  Jessica Lange has said, when she takes on a new role, she makes time to watch old Kim Stanley films. She does this to remind herself that great acting is undeniable; worthwhile acting is a way of tapping into a universal human truth. A strong performance is evergreen; it's unassailable, year after year after year. "The Sopranos" is the mesmerizing story of Tony--but, also, it's the story of Christopher.  If a less skilled actor had landed the Christopher role, it's possible fewer scripts would have dug into the Moltisanti story. (For a long while, David Chase had no real plan beyond Season One.) But Michael Imperioli is very good; I think he is as compelling as James Gandolfini.  Imperioli wins his Emmy in Season Five; in Season Six "A," he is the one and only cast member (one set apart from Gandolfini, Falco, Bracco, etc.) to earn an Emmy nomination. All this time, Imperioli struggles with addiction; it's easy to imagine that the pain he explores ...

 "The Note" begins with a stranger. Three friends are vacationing in the Hamptons; they have identified a parking space in a crowded area. They wait for the other car to back out. But--suddenly--a third car emerges. The driver of the third car *steals* the parking space. Worse, he seems to smirk at the friends as he walks away. Appalled by this uncivil behavior, the three friends hatch a plan. They will leave a note on the stranger's windshield; the note will say, "He is cheating on you. He always cheats." This will cause turmoil in the stranger's relationship. Don't get mad, get even. Later, on the news, a story interrupts "our normal coverage." A man in the Hamptons is dead--murdered. As the three friends watch, they realize that this corpse is the stranger who stole the parking space. It's clearly important to come forward, share details with the police. But each of the three friends would prefer not to admit to immature behavior. One is...