Master Harold & The Boys Review

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(More customer reviews)This 1984 filming of the most famous South African play preserves the most accomplished work of the adolescent Matthew Broderick and a heartbreaking performance by the great South African actor Zakes Mokae, who played Sam in the first production (at Yale in 1982).Although very, very talkie, and unabashedly a record of a stage work with three actors on a fairly simple set, the film is not visually static. There are many closeups, seemingly more often of reaction shots than of the speaker.
The play is set in 1950, two years after the enactment of apartheid restrictions in South Africa. The reduction of black adults to a status below that of a bratty, damaged white adolescent is central to the play.
One might wonder if the dismantling of apartheid makes this drama any less compelling. Seeing it both onstage and on video last week, I would answer: not at all. Though I knew what was coming, it still packed quite a punch. The situation of an economically privileged youth being parented by servants is not at all unique to South Africa of apartheid times. Indeed, the play could have been set in the American South of the same time with no change other than making the tea-shop a café. The emotional dynamics of the relationships do not even require racial differences between the boss's son and the workers, though some of the particular force of the last half hour rests on the racism institutionalized by apartheid.

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Recording "The Producers" - A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)Originally shown on PBS, this is a documentary of the recording of "The Producers" cast album. "The Producers," the hit Broadway show that made a sweep at the Tony's, and continues to do so at the box office, has a lot of funny people involved - Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, and Mel Brooks - and this movie captures them in some candid moment. Fortunately, the editors are not the MTV music video-type; we get to see whole songs being recorded, which is often not the case in these behind-the-scenes videos. Many songs are included, as well as interviews with Mel Brooks, who talks about how the show came about, the plot, and the cast members. One can see what a warm person Brooks is. And for those who cannot afford tickets to the Broadway show, or have to wait for months for availability, this is the next best thing. This video contains footage of Broderick doing a Marlon Brando impression, Susan Stroman praising the cast members, and more. We also get to see Lane getting a little nervous in the recording studio - at one point, he complains of not being able to hear himself, and gets snippy (or is he just being funny?) with a woman working the equipment. An extremely enlightening look at the hectic recording (Mr. Brooks keeps remarking, astonished, "I can't believe we only get one day" - every hour of overtime means thousands of more dollars) of a cast album.

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The exuberant atmosphere of the Broadway blockbuster is captured in "Recording The Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks," a new 85-minute film from the Emmy Award-winning director Susan Froemke and Maysles Films. The documentary candidly captures the excitement of translating the show into a complete experience for the recording's audience.

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Life in the Theatre (1994) Review

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(More customer reviews)David Mamet is a playwright that sometimes I like and other times I don't.His "Glengarry, Glen Ross" is perhaps his most known and most stinging satirical look at realtors.Now Mamet takes a similar look at stage actors.His play "Life in the Theatre" he has teleplayed to the screen and added soundtrack as he follows two actors, the aging Robert (Jack Lemmon) and the up and coming John (Matthew Broderick) in and out of their dressing room and on and off the stage.No other characters speak in this word play drama (that is always Mamet) and the dialog stays firmly rooted in the two actors who are dealing with professional jealousies and overinflated egos.Fortunately, this teleplay rune only 78 minutes.Watching two people only can get very monotonous,but the acting of Lemmon is the real heart of this play.He is the most conflicted character.He is the one who "never shuts up." He is the one with the most to fear losing as he ages. Broderick's "John" merely listens and responds with a lot of "yesses." John barely can get a word in.These characters represent the actor on the rise and the actor on the decline and their need to listen and learn from each other.

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