Change Your Image
madinpursuit
Reviews
White Irish Drinkers (2010)
Great acting in a hackneyed plot
The movie is well done and the acting stellar. But it is burdened with a hackneyed plot: talented kid seeks to escape the stranglehold of his low-life culture, but family loyalties are ties not easily broken. This version takes us into the clutches of 1975 Irish-Americans, living their dreary lives in Brooklyn. The talented misfit is an artist with a drunken father, a weak mother, and a gang-banger older brother. The only question for the audience is whether it will end in despair or with a little Hollywood high-five.
Yes, the plot is a universal one: you love your family, but you need to escape it and find your own way... A coming-of-age story. This one bothered me because the mother Margaret (Karen Allen) was such a beat- down martyr. Bad enough that the father (Stephen Lang) was the worst kind of put-your-dukes-up cliché of an Irish drunk. But the movie didn't live up to the flip side of the stereotype: the Irish woman who takes charge and who goes all out on behalf of her sons... or at least screams good and loud about it.
In the end I just wound up being mad at the whole lot of them.
Herb & Dorothy (2008)
Art Collecting As Love Story
In an era when hoarders are seen as sideshow freaks, Herb and Dorothy Vogel are hoarders with heart... and a sharp aesthetic. Herb and Dorothy wanted to be artists. Instead, the postal worker and librarian filled their Brooklyn apartment with the best of American contemporary art, amassing nearly 5000 pieces, which they have now donated to the National Gallery. I like this documentary because it is a love story. Herb and Dorothy are an intimate team, who share a deep passion. They collect by "adopting" artists and supporting their work not only through purchases but through interest and enthusiasm. They give collectors a good name. They give humans a good name.