Long Day's Journey Into Art

Depending on exactly how you count the week and whether it wraps or not, I have been incredibly busy.

Last Sunday, I saw Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf over at Canadian Stage.  I was not pleased when they said in the program that it was now closer to 3.5 hours (instead of 3), as I had to run back to Union Station and catch the Kitchener train over to Bloor (West) in order to see La Dolce Vita at the Revue.  I only had one regular train I could take, though I guess I probably could have taken the next UP Express, but it would have been cutting it close.  In the end, they got through the play in 3 hours and 15 minutes, so it wasn't that hard to get back to Union in time.  I thought the acting was good (interestingly some reviewers think only Martha Burns was amazing), but it is a hard play to actually enjoy.  Mac Fyfe who was playing the younger academic had some medical emergency, so they brought in an emergency replacement, but he had to carry around a script made to look like a personal notebook.  It is just an actor's nightmare to be thrown into that situation, particularly with a play as long as Virginia Woolf.  I thought he did well under the circumstances, but of course wish that Mac Fyfe was on stage.

Switching gears almost immediately to another long-form work of art (but one overall more palatable), I forgot just how cynical and awful Mastroianni's character is by the end of La Dolce Vita, once he succumbs to cynicism after the death of Steiner.  He certainly doesn't treat his fiancée well either, perhaps realizing that they are heading down the path of the couple in La Notte.  But overall it is still quite an interesting movie.  I think this time watching it, I felt the most compassion for Mastroianni's father, even though he is a bit of a letch.  Clearly the apple didn't fall far from the tree...

Monday, I was back at the Revue to see Antonioni's L'Avventura.  I wasn't quite sure how long this was.  It's another long film, only about 15 minutes shorter than La Dolce Vita!  I'll cut right to the chase; I didn't like this movie at all.  I never plan on seeing it again.  As I was digging through my DVDs (looking for Huston's The Dead, which still hasn't surfaced), I realized that I have 5 movies by Antonioni: L'Avventura, La Notte, L'Eclisse, Red Desert and Blow Up!  I think they are all Region 2 imports from the UK, no less!  Anyway, I will wait to see if the new Blu-Ray of La Notte shows up, and then I will try to sell off the DVD of La Notte and L'Avventura.  BMV will occasionally buy Region 2 DVDs, though you get peanuts for them.  I think it's pretty clear that I just am not on the same wavelength as Antonioni, with the partial exception of La Notte.

Tues. I ran over to the west side of town to see Talk is Free's production of For Both Resting and Breeding.  It's a play set in the future after society has been completely remodelled and made essentially genderless, and then a group of people decide to restore a house from the old days and act out these old gender roles.  I don't think it was quite as profound as it thought it was, but it was interesting, and it was a super intimate space.

Wed. was a heavy movie night.  I had to watch A Traveller's Needs because I wasn't able to see it last Sat.  Then I stuck around to see Blade Runner, which was amazing.  The special effects look like they have all been upgraded.  But it was a long night.

Thurs., I went to see the Jack Quartet doing contemporary pieces, including Philip Glass's String Quartet 5, which I believe was originally commissioned by Kronos Quartet.  I don't think I ever saw Kronos play this, but I did see them play Glass's 6th quartet out in Vancouver.  (It was amusing walking past the Meridian Centre to get to the concert.  The lines to get in to see Taylor Tomlinson were just huge!  I had wanted to squeeze this in, but it was essentially sold out and the few remaining tickets were all over $100, which I thought was just a bit over the top...)

Friday, I went to see the TSO performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and a Vaughan Williams's symphony.  In addition, I had to get there early because they were doing a pre-concert show - Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence.  (It was interesting that Jonathan Crow wasn't performing in the pre-show or in the main concert and Clare Semes filled in for him; she's at the very far left below.)  I enjoyed the Vaughan Williams's symphony.  While I am not going to get obsessed by it, I should try to see more of these symphonies when they come up.  (In fact, I found out the Hart House Orchestra was going to do Vaughan Williams Symphony #1 but because they added a full choir, there were literally no tickets available for the general public which seems incredibly daft.)  

Friday was actually a day that I risked biking because it was supposed to get above freezing.  I think when I left in the morning it was exactly freezing, but I stayed out far too late, and it was -3 on the way home and my hands hurt (and the bike lock kept freezing up!).  So I think I really need for a much longer stretch of warm weather (at either the tail end of Feb. or March before I try biking again).

Sat. was an extremely packed day.  I did get in my swimming, then went over to Carlton and watched Moonrise Kingdom, then went over to work for a couple of hours, then walked very briskly back to St. Lawrence Market to see The Last Showgirl.  Then I made a pitstop at Robarts to drop off a bunch of books on tourism, then headed out west to see Ripcord at Village Players.  I wasn't entirely sold on the play in the first half but the second half was stronger.  One of the actors had come down with COVID and they had a replacement who was reading directly off a script, but much more openly than the "understudy" in Virginia Woolf.  (I suppose two years ago or even last year, just the whiff of COVID in the cast would have caused the whole production to shut down, so I suppose in that sense we're fortunate that life doesn't completely grind to a halt due to COVID any longer...)

Sunday I wasn't quite as successful in squeezing everything in, but it was still a pretty busy day.  I started off going to the gym and getting groceries on the way back.  I got about halfway through making a red lentil dish when I had to leave.  I went over to Spadina to see Tafelmusik, which was incredible, including some Korean pieces to celebrate their successful tour of South Korea.  

After the concert, I ran into BMV (but they didn't have the titles I was looking for), Bulk Barn and then Seeker's Books.  I was able to sell my copy of Maqroll to them.  I made a quick stop at Dollarama, then hopped on the train to Dundas West.  It was back to the Revue to see The Conversation.  This was interesting as they had a Q & A about privacy beforehand.  (About the only thing I didn't get to in the end was stopping by Robarts to drop off Ginzberg's Family Lexicon, which I have just wrapped up.)

Aside from Hackman's very unconvincing miming on the saxophone, this was a very interesting film.  While I'm sure it was largely inspired by Blow Up, particularly the way the main character's evidence is stolen right out from under his nose, I just think it succeeds so much more (at least for me).  It looks like the Revue is showing Rashomon in March.  Now it is going to be another tight squeeze, since it is right after a Roy Thompson Hall concert (in fact it is the Vancouver Symphony on a cross-Canadian tour), so I have to hope that it doesn't run long!

Needless to say, I am a bit weary after running myself ragged this past week.  I don't have quite as much going on next week, but I'll probably run over to Carlton and see at least one TSO concert (and I'm still deciding on another...).  But Sat., I am seeing Linklater's entire Before trilogy in one go!  I guess I just never learn my lesson...  (And I'll probably see if I can make it over to Bau-Xi and 401 Richmond before the first movie.)