For Immediate Release
Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Contact: Ally Bates
Tel: 203.520.7759
Email: ally@thebijoutheatre.com

A Double Dose of Vincent Price at Bridgeport’s Bijou Theatre
Bedlam at the Bijou Returns with two of the horror legend’s most memorable films.

February 21, 2013 – BRIDGEPORT, CT – In the wake of Valentine’s Day, Brian Solomon of The Vault of Horror will be showing major love for horror icon Vincent Price in the latest edition of his double feature series, BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU: The “Price” Is Right. On Thursday, February 21, beginning at 7pm, The Bijou Theatre in historic downtown Bridgeport will be the site for a Price love-fest that will feature two of the actor’s finest pictures, Theatre of Blood and The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

Vincent Price was more than a legend of the horror film genre. He was its ultimate ambassador for all the things that go bump in the night. On this night, the Bijou pays tribute to the man who filled our hearts with fright and made us love the dark, and did it all with a wry smile and an irresistible laugh. By the 1970s, Price was the elder statesman of horror, and as such, made some of the most memorable films of his entire career. In Theatre of Blood, he gives us the implacable Richard Lionheart, a hammy
Shakespearean out for bloody revenge against his worst critics. And then comes Dr. Phibes, the role Vincent Price was born to play. Pure joy from beginning to end, The Abominable Dr. Phibes may just be the ultimate Vincent Price picture, and just about the most fun you can have at the movies.

“Vincent Price was a phenomenon, and his movies have brought joy to so many horror fans,” said Brian Solomon. “I picked these two films because they really epitomize what he was all about as an actor, and why he had and has such a passionate fan following. It will be a pleasure to share an evening with a room of both Price fanatics and soon-to-be Price fanatics!”

Solomon will be joined by special guest Kevin Maher, the Emmy-nominated comedy writer behind 92YTribeca’s acclaimed Kevin Geeks Out series. A fellow Price aficionado, Kevin will also be bringing several other highly entertaining Price-related clips to show during intermission, including the rare and beloved “Vincent”—an animated short that represents the first film made by visionary director Tim Burton.

As moviegoers have come to expect from BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU, there will indeed be a trivia contest, although Brian is keeping the topic a secret for now. He only hints that patrons should pay close attention to the movies. There will be prizes for the winners.

This is the sixth monthly installment of BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU, with previous double features focusing on such topics as giant monsters, zombies, Dracula and Frankenstein. BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU is scheduled to return in March with a night of so-bad-they’re-good B-movies.

BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU: The “Price” Is Right takes place at The Bijou Theatre at 275 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport. The evening begins at 7pm, and tickets are $10. Call 203-332-3228 or go the thebijoutheatre.com for more information.

For Immediate Release

The Princess Place to open in Bridgeport.
The Bijou Theatre Announces its Fairytale Princess Experience.

BRIDGEPORT, CT—It’s the once-in-a-lifetime…of a lifetime! As the first installment in the new Children’s Programming at The Bijou Theatre, The Princess Place will open its royal doors on Saturday, March 16th.

Beginning in March, The Princess Place will offer an enchanting Princess experience—Step inside the magical carriage lobby and theatre filled with fairytale whimsy. Be charmed by this season’s musical presentation, Eugenia, A Princess Story—The Bijou’s very own reluctant princes tale. And be greeted by all of the royal Princesses.

After Eugenia takes the stage and as the regal bugle sounds, the storybook fantasies continue as guests of The Bijou Kingdom are greeted by the Belles of the Ball. A missing glass slipper and a kiss from a true love bring all of these fairytale Princesses to life for individual photos and autographs with guests. The Princess Place…where smiles fill your heart.

Saturdays beginning March 16th two performances each day at 11:00 AM and 2:30PM. Doors will open one half hour prior to each performance.

INDIVIDUAL ADMISSION
($20.00) Includes admission for one person. Applies to all ages and all seats.

GROUP PRICING
(10% Discount) Groups of fifteen (15) or more who reserve theater or cabaret seating will receive a 10% discount off each ticket.

CONCESSION PACKAGE
($15.00) Includes one (1) large popcorn, one (1) non-alcoholic drink, and one (1) princess crown.

PRECIOUS PRINCESS PARTY PACKAGE
Includes premiere cabaret seating, beverages, pizza, cupcakes and a Princess Birthday serenade. Email princessplace@thebijoutheatre.com for pricing and availability.

To purchase tickets online click here. To inquire about a birthday party or make group reservations, please call the box office at 203-332-3228. See you at The Princess Place!

Royal Princess Parties is not affiliated with any trademark or copyright.
All Characters are look-alikes and impersonators.

Written and Illustrated by Evan Pullman Neidich

At first I assumed “Liberal Arts” was going to be another in a long line of self-indulgent white-guy writer/director/star shenanigans (Zach Braff, I’m looking at you. Woody Allen, you’re cool.)  And to some extent it is. But there’s something authentic and sweet about it (albeit in an privileged white-guy sort of way).

There is both a deep wisdom and rabid stupidity in every stage of life.  “Liberal Arts” is about the intelligence of youth – open inspiration, faith in endless possibilities, and the nonsense and pretention of it all. “Liberal Arts” is about the struggle to retain the wisdom of youth without being stunted by it.

When I was 18 and brutally depressed – you know, in that romantic, existential sort of way – I chatted with a bushy-bearded Psychologist. His office was surrounded by different types of chairs.  He told me to picture myself at each different age that I had been and would be in the various chairs, like a convention of me(s) having a chat. I think I literally scoffed. I’m not even sure what scoffing sounds like, but I’m positive I did it. But ever since then, I haven’t been able to get the concept of those chairs out of my head.  There is both wisdom to hold onto from childhood and youth and to seek out in adulthood and old age.

As far as the whole movie review thing goes, Radnor creates likable and funny characters with a detailed texture that brings them to life. Elizabeth Olsen is adorable and clever as Zibby, an inspired, precocious college sophomore. Zibby makes me think of this great article, “Flick Chicks,” that Mindy Kaling wrote for The New Yorker about ridiculous constructions of women in Romantic Comedies. Zac Effron makes a couple of comical cameos, as does a scene-stealing Allison Janney. A moment to look out for in “Liberal Arts” is a post-coital argument between Josh Radnor and Allison Janney that ends in them flipping the mutual bird. Oh, how I madly love Allison Janney (any “West Wing” fans out there?).

“Liberal Arts” is definitely worth a see.  It sets in motion a worthwhile reflection about ones college days and current days, and it’s an all-around good time.

WNYC Conversation with Radnor and Olsen

Rador on the Sundance 2012 Red Carpet

“Liberal Arts” “Twilight” Argument” Scene

Trailer for Radnor’s First Film: HappyThankYouMorePlease

P.S. I adore “Garden State” and Zac Braff, for the record.

By Evan Pullman Neidich

“Monty Python and The Holy Grail” is galloping into The Bijou Theatre this Wednesday (accompanied by the sound of coconuts clapping together).

The Pythons have often been referred to as the Beatles of Comedy – and not just by virtue of their goofy British accents. Monty Python’s impact on comedy is akin to The Beatles influence on music. Their surrealist sensibilities and unrelentingly ballsy humor play a huge role in contemporary comedy. Even now, their work seems to be in the vanguard – such as when they brought dead Python Graham Chapman’s ashes onto the stage on the Live At Aspen special and “accidentally” knocked them over.

In “The Holy Grail” the absurdity starts in the opening – when they sack the people making the credits three times before the film starts. As is the way with all art, the avant guard becomes the norm. Bill Maher recently pointed out that when Monty Python’s “The Life of Brian” was released in 1979, there was significant protest due to is “blasphemous” nature; yet at the 2012 Olympics, “Always Look On The Bright Side of Life” was belted out by Eric Idle, accompanied by the entire stadium crowd.

Monty Python and The Holy Grail” Trailer/ voice over tests

Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving, is the unofficial holiday pack-into-awful-hometown-bars-and-make-small-talk-with-people-from-highschool…day. This great SNL skit pretty much sums it up:

BUT Instead of being a “bardine” (packing into a crowded bar like a sardine), come get a healthy dose of laughter this Wednesday night. Laughter is good for you – and before the clogged arteries and raised blood pressure associated with Thanksgiving – seeing Monty Python is really the only responsible course of action.

Some highlights from the flick:

“I fart in your general direction!”

“I’ll bite your head off”

“She turned me into a newt!”

“Help! Help! I’m being repressed!”

Brilliant Animation

PS: ” A Liar’s Autobiography,” a film adaptation of late Python Graham Chapman’s fictionalized autobiography, has just been released!  The film is a collaboration between fourteen animation studios and the five remaining Pythons.  Cannot wait to see this!!!

The premise of “The Birds” makes me wonder if Hitchcock didn’t lose a bet… It’s absurd even in the competitively ridiculous context of horror movie scenarios. But damn if I haven’t been keeping a closer eye on the seagulls and pigeons on my walk to work. Hitchcock is able to create the texture of apocalypse with a few flocks of crows. It’s the questions left unanswered and the images left outside of the brilliantly framed shots that move us to the edge of our seats.

I find myself praising how awesomely bad old trailers are yet again…This one is the Shakespeare of bad trailers.

“Blondes make the best victims,” Hitchcock famously said. “The Birds” is a film that is difficult to separate from the biography of its creator. Hitchcock was both physically and emotionally abusive to the film’s star, Tippi Hedren during the making of “The Birds.” Hitchcock’s troubling and fascinating relationships with his lead actresses are detailed in Donald Spoto’s book “Spellbound By Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies.” The new HBO film, “The Girl,” specifically explores Hitchcock and Hedron’s relationship.

Hitchcock actually had Hedren attacked by real birds in the final scene of “The Birds”, only telling her about it right before shooting. You know the scene; She goes up to the attic by herself to check on a noise and becomes trapped as she realizes that birds have filled the room. When her character is rescued she seems convincingly, almost too convincingly, traumatized. Knowing that the actress was truly attacked, abused and exhausted changes ones reading of the film. I can’t help but link the claustrophobia of the boarded up house to how trapped Hedron must have felt in her situation.

I’ve found myself struggling with the possibility of separating art from it’s creator before (I’m looking’ at you, Picasso) and I’ve come to the conclusion that troubling biography never illegitimizes a work of art, but rather complicates our reading of it. “The Birds,” becomes ripe for discourse about gender constructs, power dynamics and misogyny.

Talk amongst yourselves…

Great NPR clip about “The Girl”

Read the short story “The Birds” is based on by Daphne Du Maurier

AFI Tippi Hedren talking about The Birds

To Kill A Mockingbird is rescheduled to Thursday, November 29th, at 7:00pm!

“…Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”
– Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird

I called my father today to tell him that I was writing about To Kill a Mockingbird in this week’s blog. I had remembered him saying some years ago that Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch played a significant role in constructing his concept of what it meant to be a good man. He isn’t alone in this sentiment, AFI lists Atticus as the top movie hero of all time.

My father is teaching To Kill a Mockingbird to his sophomore classes this year, just like thousands of other English teachers across the country will, just as they have since the book was written over 50 years ago. School is a powerful mechanism for socialization, a venue for creating shared cultural contexts; the story of To Kill a Mockingbird has existed in the collective consciousness of over two generations of Americans.

Check out one of my favorite scenes from the film

For the 50th anniversary of the book’s release a few years back, NPR’s Lynn Neary explored the lasting relevance of the story. This year is the 50th anniversary of the film’s release.  It has been screened and honored at The White House as well as all over the country. The 50-year anniversary of the film has encouraged discussion about the state of race relations in America today.

How is my reading of this book different than my mother’s, and my grandmother’s, and one day my daughter’s reading of it? Racism looks different today than it has before. Today it is realized in Trayvon Martin rather than Tom Robinson. Misogyny is often still experienced in the form of domestic abuse just as Mayella Ewell was subject to it in the story. Without knowing the narrative of To Kill a Mockingbird, or other accounts of that era, we cannot understand the legacy of racism we are entrenched in today. We cannot apply the lessons of the past to new, pernicious forms of prejudice.

The film itself is gorgeous of course, regardless of the important values espoused and vital history it captures. Gregory Peck is always Atticus Finch to me, no matter where else I’ve seen him. His velvety voice and humble strength are synonymous with the character. The film has some unbelievable performances by children. Even as an adult woman I can’t help but look up to Scout’s bravery, kindness and sense of self. Horton Foote, who adapted Harper Lee’s book into the Screenplay for the film, won the Oscar for best adaptation. The film is still upheld as one of the few book-to-movie experiences that no one can complain too much about (I’m lookin’ at you Harry Potter movies…)

If you are interested in Harper Lee, the enigmatic Author of the autobiographical story who has still not published another work since To Kill a Mockingbird, you should check out the new PBS documentary Hey Boo, or the book Scout, Atticus and Boo, or read about Harper Lee’s Sister.

Some more great links:

AV CLUB Article
Hilarious Robot Chicken Book Report
Seriously…. How Bad Are Old Trailers?

By Evan P. Neidich

Cosmopolis is The Odyssey in a white limousine. Our Odysseyus (Eric Packer played by Robert Pattinson) is leaving Wall Street, seeking a haircut across town. This archetypal structure, as old as transcribed stories, is set in a decaying late-capitalist New York, in the midst of assassination attempts and protests relevant to the corruption of the day. And it is, in some strange and unexpected way, funny.

The lines are a poetic, intricate verse, which doesn’t seem interested in resembling natural dialog. It’s beyond “Sorken-esque.” The dialogue is epic and darkly melodic, but detached– yet it works. The characters are symbols; venues and vessels for philosophical conversations about money, capitalism, corruption, death and the search for meaning (or the finding of the void, rather.) Cosmopolis is based on a novel written twelve years ago with the same name by Don DeLilo.

The film opens with a quote from the Poem “Report From the Besieged City” by 20th century Polish Poet Zbigniew Herbert. The poem (in which a rat becomes the unit of currency) is also discussed in one of the first scenes of the film.

Report from the Besieged City

Too old to carry arms and fight like the others -

they graciously gave me the inferior role of chronicler
I record – I don’t know for whom – the history of the siege

I am supposed to be exact but I don’t know when the invasion began
two hundred years ago in December in September perhaps yesterday at dawn
everyone here suffers from a loss of the sense of time

all we have left is the place the attachment to the place
we still rule over the ruins of temples spectres of gardens and houses
if we lose the ruins nothing will be left

I write as I can in the rhythm of interminable weeks
monday: empty storehouses a rat became the unit of currency
tuesday: the mayor murdered by unknown assailants
wednesday: negotiations for a cease-fire the enemy has imprisoned our messengers
we don’t know where they are held that is the place of torture
thursday: after a stormy meeting a majority of voices rejected
the motion of the spice merchants for unconditional surrender
friday: the beginning of the plague saturday: our invincible defender
N.N. committed suicide sunday: no more water we drove back
an attack at the eastern gate called the Gate of the Alliance

all of this is monotonous I know it can’t move anyone

I avoid any commentary I keep a tight hold on my emotions I write about the facts
only they it seems are appreciated in foreign markets
yet with a certain pride I would like to inform the world
that thanks to the war we have raised a new species of children
our children don’t like fairy tales they play at killing
awake and asleep they dream of soup of bread and bones
just like dogs and cats

in the evening I like to wander near the outposts of the city
along the frontier of our uncertain freedom.
I look at the swarms of soldiers below their lights
I listen to the noise of drums barbarian shrieks
truly it is inconceivable the City is still defending itself
the siege has lasted a long time the enemies must take turns
nothing unites them except the desire for our extermination
Goths the Tartars Swedes troops of the Emperor regiments of the Transfiguration
who can count them
the colours of their banners change like the forest on the horizon
from delicate bird’s yellow in spring through green through red to winter’s black

and so in the evening released from facts I can think
about distant ancient matters for example our
friends beyond the sea I know they sincerely sympathize
they send us flour lard sacks of comfort and good advice
they don’t even know their fathers betrayed us
our former allies at the time of the second Apocalypse
their sons are blameless they deserve our gratitude therefore we are grateful
they have not experienced a siege as long as eternity
those struck by misfortune are always alone
the defenders of the Dalai Lama the Kurds the Afghan mountaineers

now as I write these words the advocates of conciliation
have won the upper hand over the party of inflexibles
a normal hesitation of moods fate still hangs in the balance

cemeteries grow larger the number of defenders is smaller
yet the defence continues it will continue to the end
and if the City falls but a single man escapes
he will carry the City within himself on the roads of exile
he will be the City

we look in the face of hunger the face of fire face of death
worst of all – the face of betrayal
and only our dreams have not been humiliated

My first reaction to Cosmopolis was uncertainty at whether it wasn’t a little pretentious. I’m still not completely sure, but the film’s themes and scenes have been bouncing around my neural pathways ever since, trying to make connections and find meaning. Pretentious or not, I would like to see it again. The boldness it takes to write, direct or star in a film that is set 80% inside a white limousine is commendable. This one is definitely worth checking out.

By Evan P. Neidich

‘Tis the season….no, not that one, the other one! The Bijou Theatre will be celebrating Halloween by screening two classic horror films, “White Zombie” (1932) and The Last Man on Earth” (1964) on Thursday, October 26th.

As your friendly, neighborhood Bijou Blogger I feel compelled to come clean: I’m not a horror fan. Seriously, I more or less stopped sleeping post-viewing of Scream. After I saw Psycho, I could hardly take a proper shower because I was ripping the curtain open every thirty seconds just to, you know, be sure.

When I saw these classic horror flicks on the Bijou agenda I was a bit nervous because I’m rather attached to both sleep and showers, but I womaned-up and watched them both for you, Bijou fans…and they were brilliant. Classic horror has very little to do with the trends of excessive gore and torture-porn we often see in contemporary horror.

“White Zombie” is credited as being the first zombie film ever. It is also the inspiration for Rob Zombie’s band name. Vassar Professor Mia Mask says horror movies reveal social anxieties of the time. Mask asserts that Zombies are often used to represent our rampant consumerism. “White Zombie” takes place in a colonized Haiti, where zombies are forced to work in the sugar mill as laborers. The Heroine is turned into a Zombie because of a very rich man’s desire for her. The film is full of gender, colonial and racial commentary and criticism, whether it is conscious of it or not. The campiness and datedness of “White Zombie” are a good time – you don’t want to miss Bela Lugosi’s naughty voodoo master faces – and eyebrows.

“The Last Man on Earth” is the first film rendition of Richard Matheson’s novel “I Am Legend.” The fact that there have been four feature length renditions of the book suggests that there is something important, some cultural archetype displayed, or individual need met in this story. In addition to the four films, “I Am Legend” is also said to have influenced “Night of The Living Dead” and “28 Days Later.” The film causes us to contemplate isolation, loneliness and loss: the true horror of being abandoned, of surviving tragedy. Vincent Price carries the film wonderfully – it’s difficult to be a proper actor when you are essentially the only character. The most significant words spoken out-loud are to a black poodle. This one is really worth seeing.

Why is horror such a lasting and successful genre, anyway?  What does it have to offer in a world overflowing with true horrors and through a medium that’s primary purpose is arguably to help us escape from reality? Perhaps in a civilization where we are no longer running from saber tooth tigers on a day-to-day basis, our Basal Ganglia brain-parts crave that mix of terror and adrenaline.  Maybe it’s a psychological need we have to come face to face with our death and to live through it, or sometimes to even laugh about it.

All of this contemplative nonsense aside, come check out The Undead Among Us Double Feature. Zombie expert (yes, that’s definitely a thing) Dr. Kim Paffenroth will be joining us and there will be a costume party!!! Grab your popcorn and your Superman footy pajamas and come celebrate Halloween at The Bijou Theatre!

By Evan P. Neidich

Hitchcock creates a Scooby-Dooesqe tension between the supernatural and the psychological. Vertigo’s wild twists and turns are such that I half expected someone to rip off a mask and bemoan that they “would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you darn kids.” The film is so successful that as the audience we too feel a sense of unease, of anxiety, of vertigo.

Vertigo has been in the spotlight quite a bit in recent years. First, for knocking Citizen Kane down a peg and stealing the “best film of all time” spotlight and then for the controversy over the film The Artist’s appropriation of a section of Bernard Herman’s score for Vertigo.

One of the best assignments I was given back in my art school days was to watch anything by Hitchcock and pause at random to sketch. This assignment is a master class in contrast and composition. As just about anyone who has heard of movies will tell you, the man knows his stuff.  Vertigo is as gorgeous as it is tense. The sweeping views of San Francisco, the crashing and spraying waves, etherial lighting, bright flowers and extraordinary beauty of Kim Novak are transportive. When revisiting the film this week I couldn’t help but think of that assignment and pick out some of my favorite visual moments in Vertigo:

Come to Bijou’s Flicks and Fizz where film scholar Joe Meyers will be joining us for a screening and discussion of Vertigo on Wednesday, October 17th at 6:30. Share the experience and discussion of this great film with a great community of film-lovers. Check out what Mr. Meyers has to say on his blog HERE.

I feel compelled to throw a SPOILER ALERT in at this point, but honestly you’ve had like fifty-something years to see this film…

Vertigo stars James Stewart (Rear Window, It’s a Wonderful Life) and Kim Novak (The Man with the Golden Arm, Picnic). The film has a traditional Noir set-up: an Ex-Detective turns PI-  here is a beautiful and deeply troubled woman who he is asked to protect, but falls deeply in love with…then the film takes a pretty swift left turn… Reality in the world of Vertigo is in a liquid or gaseous state- nothing is solid. The ground is regularly out from under the characters (both figuratively as well as literally on several occasions). The story exists in an immoral universe and by the end of the film it’s hard not to hate just about everyone. You feel for them, yes, but you don’t like them all that much.  Scotty reveals himself as a proper misogynist, both in making Judy over to look like Madeleine and for rather abusively forcing her up the tower. Judy is comfortable killing a woman and psychologically damaging a man she claims to love- she’s a stones throw away from being a proper sociopath. Her love for Scotty redeems her just enough to make her plummeting to her death not sit quite right as the camera pans out in the final shot of the film. The truest villain, Gavin Elster, is presumably skipping and cartwheeling his way through Paris at that moment… the whole thing is unsettling in the most wonderful of ways.

P.S.  Listen to the ramblings of someone significantly smarter than I on the subject:  NY TIMES A.O. Scott on Vertigo.

P.P.S. Just for fun… If you want to see a humorously/ outlandishly dated trailer for the film, check this out!

by Evan P. Neidich

Manhattan Short is a veritable United Nations of Film Festivals.  The 10 finalist films feature artists from Spain, The United States, Romania, France, Peru, The UK, Ireland, Russia, The Netherlands and Norway.

Good film has a special capacity to communicate across cultures– and Manhattan Short ambitiously exemplifies this.  The winner is chosen by the audience of 100,000 people in over 300 cities across 6 continents.  The Festival creates a global community among filmmakers and filmgoers.

MSFF Trailer

Manhattan Short is an innovative way of bringing together the local and global in a film festival. The Festival is being screened and voted on in Asia, Australia, Europe, South America and North America, including venues in all 50 States of the United States.  Come to The Bijou Theatre on Saturday, October 6th at 8:00pm and be a part of this International experience.

There are many exciting films in the running this year.  I am particularly looking forward to A Curious Conjunction of Coincidences, a quirky, stylized piece Directed by Joost Reijmers of The Netherlands.

A Curious Conjunction of Coincidences

Rejimers says of the Film, “It starts in present time and jumps back further and further. That was something I hadn’t seen that much of in short films. (The writer and I) love films like Pulp Fiction that screw around with timelines. I thought this could be something really special if we found a way to visualize this in an interesting way.”

Another short that I am very much looking forward to is Voice Over, A film in French by Spanish Director Martin Rosete.  Mr. Rosete was recently named one of Variety Magazine’s “Directors To Watch,”  we will be seeing more from him very soon in feature’s and shorts alike.  VoiceOver is a spirited, philosophical film with a sense of humor.

VoiceOver

Other films to watch out for at the 2012 Manhattan Shorts Film Festival:
Cluck
Behind the Mirrors
The Elaborate End of Robert Ebb

See you this Saturday at the Bijou Theatre as people gather all over the world to vote for the 2012 Manhattan Short Film Festival Winner!

By Evan P. Neidich

Sleep Walk With Me is a sweetly earnest and hilarious film that is above all about honesty – honesty with ourselves, with each other, and in art.

Mike Birbiglia wrote, directed and stars in the film as Matt Pandamiglo, a struggling and lost stand-up comic who is dealing with an increasingly tense relationship and developing a serious sleep disorder. The significantly autobiographical story came out of Birbiglia’s stand-up and story telling, which evolved into a one man show and then a book before he co-wrote the screenplay with NPR’s Ira Glass.

There are moments in Sleep Walk With Me where Birbiglia looks at the Camera and speaks directly to the audience. This device is a nod to his roots as a stand-up and story teller, it is also thematically connected to honesty and openness as values in art.

Veteran comedian Marc Maron plays an older, wiser stand-up who Birbiglia’s character meets at a point when he is floundering. Maron helps him realize that pretense isn’t working for him- that he is only funny (and ultimately happy) when he is being genuine. Marc Maron is the host of the popular and respected comedy podcast WTF.  Everyone in contemporary stand-up has been on WTF and getting asked on the show lends legitimacy to a performer.  Marc Maron’s humor is based in honest self-reflection and openly baring his soul.  He doesn’t seem to have patience for artificiality. Maron is the contemporary standard barer for authenticity to self in comedy.

Listen to Mike Birbiglia on WTF with Marc Maron

Sleep Walk With Me won the Audience Choice Award at Sundance Film Festival and has found tremendous success by virtue of its merit as well as a thoughtful and inventive marketing campaign. Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass and This American Life have created a grass roots campaign, using honesty and humor through youtube and social media to sell the film.

This direct appeal to their fans to come out and support Sleep Walk With Me successfully sold out every showing of the film at the IFC Center in NYC.

This joke “beef” with Avengers director Joss Whedon helped to raise awareness about the film:
Joss Whedon on Sleep Walk With Me

Ira Glass and Mike Birbiglia’s Response to Joss Whedon’s Youtube Video:

I was lucky enough to get tickets to one of the NYC premiers of Sleep Walk With Me this summer where Ira Glass and Mike Birbiglia did a Q & A on the film. They continued their creative marketing campaign by asking the audience to take pictures of the event and to post them on Facebook and Twitter.

This is an image of Mike Birbiglia and Ira Glass bribing the audience with a “Pizza Pillow” (You will have to see the film to get the joke). The audience member with the best question got the Pizza Pillow and the second runner up received Ira Glasses old cup of Coffee.

More Links:

Mike Birbiglia on This American Life

Mike Birbiglia on Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me

And as always, if there is a RadioLab even vaguely about my blog topic, you know I’ll be posting it….
Listen to Sleep from WNYC’s Radiolab.

Illustration and Article by Evan P. Neidich.

This cast could turn a shake weight infomercial into fine art.

The cast includes Roberto Benigni, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Page, Penélope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Alison Pill and the list goes on.

Woody Allen is so prolific that even his biggest fans don’t feel particularly precious about his work. I’ve been reading a lot of blogs and reviews from Wood Allen cultists bemoaning how To Rome With Love “is not as good as…”

Many critics were annoyed with the film’s casual disinterest with a sensical construction of time or continuity… I wasn’t too bothered.

It’s fun, it’s fantasy, it’s neurotic poetry.

To Rome with Love follows four completely unrelated stories, each more outlandish than the last. The film taps into relatable fantasies about celebrity and recognition, desire to go back and converse with with a younger version of ourselves, and sexual desires, particularly surrounding infidelity, which is a common theme for Allen.

It’s a clever script and capably acted in a mixture of english and Italian with subtitles. Allen knows how to showcase his actors in a way that feels like the roll was written for them.

Be prepared to laugh and have a good time.

Though I enjoyed this film, the thing I haven’t been able to get out of my mind was a trailer that appeared before it for the upcoming documentary The House I Live In. Keep your eye out for this one.

Fore More:

Great NY TIMES Article

NPR: Some particularly interesting criticism comes from Italian Film Critics

Illustration and Article by Evan P. Neidich

The Bijou Theatre, as we now know and love it, has been open for one year. It has been a year full of independent films, dance, opera, live music, theater, and events of all sorts. Though the theater has been around for over one hundred years, this iteration has framed The Bijou as a player in creating community and bringing high art into Downtown Bridgeport.

What is so special about the community in Downtown Bridgeport is that we are a cast of strange and wonderful characters. This is a place where your face doesn’t get lost in the crowd. In Bijou Square you matter and you can really make a difference. Though the Bijou hosts big acts, it often feels like a small town community (basically we’re Cheers down here).

Instead of waxing philosophical about the meaning of art in community building as I am wont to do, I’ve decided to celebrate Bijou’s one year anniversary by having a chat with a few of my favorite characters. Amanda Bowman is the Bijou Theatre’s marketing director. She is a hip, young movie buff with a wicked sense of humor. Marcella Kovac is the owner at The Bananaland, she is a brilliant artist and graphic designer, responsible for the Bijou website, brochures, E-blasts and more. Marcella is representative of the new community of artists that are infusing Bridgeport with new life. Christine Donahue Brown and her partner Kathy Reynolds are the reason why the Bijou Theatre feels like a family. They have taken an old theatre and, with significant effort and intelligence, helped it realize it’s massive potential. These are all people I am happy to know – and I hope you will come down to meet them and other Downtown Bridgeport characters!

Q: What are some of your favorite events during Bijou “year one”?

AMANDA: Live Comedy is my favorite. Improv, LEM Presents, America’s first “plomedy” Sit Down, Shut Up, and Eat, Brad Zimmerman’s Jewish Tragedy.

MARCELLA: Manhattan Short Film Festival, Lisa Lampanelli, and Yellow Dubmarine stick out the most for me at first thought. I love shorts and the fact that everyone from around the world can vote for their favorites, such a cool concept. Also, Lisa had us in hysterics! Yellow Dubmarine rocked all my favorite Beatles tunes with a reggae twist, and we danced all night! Although, I have to say, any given night there is something to enjoy. A visit to the theatre is becoming a staple to our girls nights out!

CHRISTINE: One of my favorite events is the Bijou Blender – the collegiate a capella competition. I also went crazy for Javier Colon and Taylor Hicks – huge talent, and the sweetest guys!!

Q: What are you looking forward to most in the coming year?

AMANDA: Bedlam at the Bijou! Because the only thing I love more than watching a horror classic, is watching a horror classic with a bunch of freaks. We love you film nerds!

MARCELLA: Bedlam at Bijou! Really puts me in the mood for the fall and Halloween. Can’t wait to see all the costumed zombies and walking dead. Also who doesn’t love Godzilla?

CHRISTINE: I am really looking forward to our spoken word series which we hope will serve to motivate and inspire our guests.

Q: What does the Bijou mean to you? Why is it important to you to be a part of it?

AMANDA: I am continually inspired, intrigued and challenged by the Bijou family and the talent that comes through. But you don’t have to work here to know what I mean, just walk through the doors any day of the week.

MARCELLA: It is one of my most treasured spots. It is where I see all my favorite indie films, get my culture fix without having to travel to NYC, share good times with friends, memories with family, work with some of my favorite people… the list goes on. I hope that my part allows other people to develop similar feelings about this special place.

CHRISTINE: The Bijou is our second home. We love welcoming old and new friends. We feel so privileged to play a part in creating a vibrant, interesting, and high quality energy in our downtown.

Q: What does Bijou mean to Bridgeport?

AMANDA: Bijou means “gem” in French. But this is America. The theatre is a historically important landmark poised for Bridgeport’s Renaissance. The Bijou is family-run and dedicated to bringing quality entertainment to a city brimming with potential. Maybe I watch too many movies, but if this isn’t a beautiful underdog story, then I watch too many movies.

MARCELLA: A wonderful piece of nostalgia. An entertainment venue that is unlike any other. One of the keys to unlocking our city’s amazing potential.

CHRISTINE: The Bijou has played host to many of the organizations and businesses in Bridgeport allowing them to host wonderful meetings and parties and great shows. The theatre is a place for them to be proud to bring their guests.

Q: What does Bijou mean to the wider community of Southern Connecticut?

AMANDA: Look out world (and Fairfield county)! We look forward to building a neighborhood together bursting with art, culture and pride.

MARCELLA: It is starting to paint a more positive picture of downtown Bridgeport to neighboring communities. I think as more time goes by, it will be one of the major factors in a complete revitalization. A luxurious way to watch a film.

CHRISTINE: To the community at large The Bijou Theatre is just one more reason to come downtown to see great quality entertainment, and contirbute to the arts industry and surrounding businesses.

Come down soon and become a part of the Downtown Bridgeport Renaissance!

Lauren Greenfield’s new film, “The Queen of Versailles”, tells a story that Kurt Vonnegut and George Orwell might have written if we could only figure out how to create zombie-dream team-writing partners.  The film has the texture of satire and science fiction— and hints at an emerging dystopia.

Only it’s not fiction…

“The Queen of Versailles” tells the story of Jackie and David Siegel, an eccentric, billionaire couple who are building a 90,000-square-foot mansion inspired by the Palace of Versailles.  The film was made leading up to the 2008 financial crisis and in the wake of it.  David and Jackie lose their wealth and nearly their home.  Their story echoes the massive foreclosure epidemic but also is a glimpse at the cause of the larger cultural and political problem.

Queen of Versailles Trailer

As a maker and proliferater of images, Director Lauren Greenfield is constantly conscious of and questioning the media’s awesome influence on culture.  Her work deals with power, privilege, poverty, inequity, sexuality and ultimately cultural pathology.  Greenfield is at once a cultural critic and a humanist.  We are disgusted and saddened by the portraits she creates, but ultimately we feel a complicated empathy.

The last real Queen of Versailles, Marie Antoinette, famously responded “let them eat cake,” when told that her subjects had no bread and were starving to death.  Antoinette has become a symbol for a ruling and elite class living in a universe completely detached from reality, while the people suffer.

In the context of the pending 2012 Election and in a post Citizens United era, the film brings up questions about money, power and influence that permeate the zeitgeist.   In the exposition of the documentary David Siegel brags that he “personally got George W. Bush elected president.”  He thoughtfully laughs and shrugs off the possibility that without him the United States may never have gone to war in Iraq.  When money equals speech and 40% of the country’s wealth is owned by 1% of our population, at what point does Democracy become Neo Monarchy?

Other Notable works by Lauren Greenfield:

Girl Culture
Thin
Kids and Money

For More Information on Queen of Versailles:

NY Times: David Seigel’s Multiple Law Suits against “The Queen of Versailles”
All Things Considered with Lauren Greenfield
Great Interview with Lauren Greenfield on KCET Cinema Series

It’s the kind of music you physically feel. The brass sinks in your stomach, the violin winds through your lungs, the guitar hooks in your ribs and pulls you up above yourself.

Howard Fishman has performed everywhere from New Orleans to New York City. He has rocked-out in the bowels of the NYC Subway and played Lincoln Center. This guy is prolific, ambitious and real. His experimental and original sound is a mix of blues, jazz, country, folk and gospel.

“ A Ghost”
“Crash on the Levee”
“In Romania”

Listening to this music reminds me of the few months that I spent down in Potts Camp, Mississippi.  I discovered the blues in a way that I had never developed a relationship with music before: In the flesh. I met the blues in bars bathed in red light in Oxford, Mississippi and church parking lots in Memphis. To me, the blues taste like moonshine and dry-rub.  They feel like sunburn and left-over adrenaline from getting too deep in the blackberry bush before remembering that it’s a favorite spot for the kind of snakes we don’t have in Connecticut.  The blues feel like dancing with extra curves on my hips.  For me, this music is a full sensory experience of exploding electrical impulses that create neurological webs of memory.

I danced to the blues with an old man with a prosthetic leg wrapped in moth-eaten cloth.   It was late morning in Memphis.  I’ve danced to the blues by myself, with friends and with strangers.

This strong music and memory connection is something many of us have experienced in a profound way.  Neuroscientists and psychologists have started to investigate the phenomena.  In the 2009 study “The Neural Architecture of Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories”  Petr Janata, associate professor of psychology at UC Davis’ Center for Mind and Brain, compiled fMRI research on the subject.

Howard Fishman’s music is juicy, rough and raw.  It is brimming with magical realism– I feel as though I could meet the devil at the crossroads, or that magnolias might bloom from between the fingers of the guitarist.

Fishman has some great insight into the profound experience that live music can create for the performer and audience: “Live Music As A Spiritual Experience” by Howard Fishman

More on Howard Fishman:

Rubin Museum Interview
WNYC Sound Check

I suspect even the most groove-phobic among our audience will become full-fledged dance zombies.

“Storytelling: The World’s Second Oldest Profession.”
- Danny Harris, Storyteller

“Every story well-told changes both the teller and the listener.”
- Ina Chadwick, MouseMuse Productions

“There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you.”
-Maya Angelou

Across culture and time, the sharing of stories is a constant.

Whether to fulfill our desire to communicate, connect, or attempt to grasp where we come from, storytelling is an important aspect of the human experience.  It can quiet anxiety, while at the same time allow us to “hear” self-reflection.

Storytelling is at the core of film, theatre, and music– of everything that we do at The Bijou Theatre.

It is vital to who we are, how we define ourselves, express ourselves, and make sense of our realities.

What is it about storytelling that is so vital to our species?

As a student of “RadioLab” I explored this question in as many contexts as possible:  Science, philosophy, history, anthropology and art.  Thanks to my good friend, the Internet, I found some meaningful musings to share with you on the subject:

Video: Phil Kaye on Why We Tell Stories/ Exchanging Narratives
“We like to think we can plot our lives out but there is this big, deep unknowing out there…this deep chance.  And I think…that makes us feel vulnerable, it’s scary, and in the face of that great vulnerability that’s where that impulse to tell stories comes from.  To share, connect, to figure out what it is to feel alive”

Video:  Why We Tell Stories:  The Science of Narrative
“Stories have existed in many forms—cave paintings, parables, poems, tall tales, myths—throughout history and across almost all human cultures. But is storytelling essential to survival? Join a spirited discussion seeking to explain the uniquely human gift of narrative—from how neurons alight when we hear a tale, to the role of storytelling in cognitive development, to the art of storytelling itself, which informs a greater understanding of who we are as a species.”

Click to watch

Video: Author Margaret Atwood on Why We Tell Stories
“Language is one of the most primary facts of our existence.  It’s something that you say, what is human? …it’s right dead, smack in the center of what it is to be human, the ability to tell a story. “

Click to watch

Upcoming Storytelling Events at The Bijou Theatre

In constantly expanding our scope at The Bijou Theatre as a space for a plurality of arts, and in exploring the deeper roots of storytelling, we have connected with Ina Chadwick’s MouseMuse Productions to provide powerful programming.

The upcoming series organized by Chadwick is storytelling in its purest form. As MouseMuse’s tagline reads, “Real People.  Real Stories.” The events will showcase engaging, funny, brave and thoughtful storytellers whether they are onstage as an ensemble, or solo, their stories can help us understand ourselves, laugh at, and have compassion for the human experience, and possibly metabolize trauma into wellbeing.

“Under the Covers”
September 29th, 8:00pm
Jill Jaysen’s Center Stage Theater’s original work, written and performed by women throughout Fairfield County, many of whom have played to sold-out audiences at the Westport Country Playhouse in The Vagina Monologues. Under the Covers is an ensemble dramatic performance by women for all sexes. There is tragedy and triumph. Real-life stories. Poignant and honest. No socio-economic or age barriers keep these women from the elixir of telling the truth. They have something to say.

“The Untouchables”
October 18th, 7:30pm
No one has blown away the highly discerning Moth judges as many times as Adam Wade has.   Eighteen-time Moth slam winner, Adam Wade has gone on to be a Storyteller on late night TV and has been featured in TED videos as a motivational speaker who “tells” from the heart.  Join a riveting round-robin of Storytellers who will try to keep up with Adam Wade in ten minute tales told from the heart: Joe Limone, Bill Bosch, and MouseMuse’s very own Ina Chadwick.

Ina Chadwick at the Fairfield Museum

“Totally Kimleigh”
Two shows!  December 8th, 2:00pm & 8:00pm
In a powerful, one hour theater piece, Kimleigh Smith takes the audience through a journey that is totally uplifting, totally heartbreaking, and totally powerful.

Listen to the RadioLab on Laughter!

Numerous studies have shown that laughter is important to our physical and emotional health. Well, it turns out that laughter can also help our community’s well being too…

This Thursday’s Live Comedy Night featuring Tom Cotter and Marion Grodin will benefit The Bridgeport Police Memorial dedicated to officers who have been killed in the line of duty. Tom Cotter is currently in the semi finals on America’s got talent and is Howard Stern’s favorite. Cotter somehow manages to take a swift left turn with every sentence to end up somewhere unexpected and hilarious. He has a brilliant and strange mind.

Tom Cotter on the perils of childhood games
Tom Cotter on a triathlon for chronic smokers and chess for cocaine addicts
Tom Cotter’s current girlfriend really takes his breath away — because of the asthma

Marion Grodin says of herself “I’m very autobiographical. I’m very personal. I’m edgy, very self-revealing. … I’m not particularly observational in that removed way. I’m very much coming off my own struggles, angst, insecurities.”

Read Full Article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette

Grodin is especially hilarious when interacting with the crowd. She is so quick on her feet that she can construct a comprehensive “bit” just by engaging with whoever happens to be in the audience.

Marion Grodin on the Empire City Casino audience
Marion Grodin on not wanting to do stuff she doesn’t want to do

The Bijou Theatre this Thursday, July 19th at 8:00pm.

Why Is Laughter So Important?

Laughter is Good For the Heart
Laughter Feels Good
Laughter Burns Calories

“I didn’t want to make a film with any heroes and villains.  I wanted to make a film with deeply good but deeply flawed characters,” Sarah Polley says of her new film ‘Take This Waltz’.

Listen to full Interview from All Things Considered

Polley creates a texture of truth with the little details we can’t help but see ourselves and our own relationships in. Those intimate and mundane moments we share with our “others”: waking up, going to sleep, cooking, eating, bathing, brushing teeth.  We get to see these characters the way we see only a few people throughout our lives- their tenderness and callousness, their neediness and selfishness, their best and worst.

The cinematography is sensuous, radiant, it evokes a kind of heartbreaking loveliness. There is a painterly and emotive sense of color and light- the universe glows and whirls at times.

‘Take This Waltz’ Trailer

Perhaps the best part of ‘Take This Waltz’ is the surprising and brilliant casting decisions. Seth Rogen, who plays Lou, recalibrates his humor to create a loveable, flawed and relatable character. Michelle Williams, who plays Margot, delivers a subtle and complicated performance. I was enamored and annoyed with Margot, empathized with her and was frustrated for the ways in which I saw myself in her. Sarah Silverman gives a nuanced performance as Geraldine, Lou’s sister and Margot’s close friend, who is a recovering alcoholic. Silverman plays the “fool” in the Shakespearean sense. Her character possesses a clarity and has several well-delivered lines that capture some of the themes of the film.  After a seriously funny scene in a water-aerobics class she thoughtfully muses, “New things get old just like the old things do”.  Later in the film she has a moment of acute consciousness mid-bender and asserts, “Life has a gap in it, it just does.  You don’t go crazy trying to fill it…”

We are faced with questions about the nature of love, about the difference between falling and being, our own expectations, failures, and inability to fully transcend the loneliness that is just part of what it is to be a person.

Polley says the film is “…at its root about emptiness, and about life having a gap in it…”

Sarah Polley’s A.V. Club Interview

‘Take This Waltz is funny, sexy, painful, beautiful and above all, honest.   It is an experience worth having.

Watch New York Times ‘Anatomy of a Scene’ with ‘Take This Waltz’ writer and Director Sarah Polley

Playing at The Bijou Theatre:

Fri 7/20 7:15pm
Fri 7/27 5:30pm
Thu 8/2 5:30pm

The Bijou Theatre is now permanent home to the The Westport Youth Film Festival, an empowering and inspiring outlet for young artists. What makes them unique is that they not only showcase the art of local, national and international teenagers in a professional setting, but the local youth have a hand in every aspect of the production of the festival.

Because town lines tend to divide us into more homogeneous groups, we often forget about the incredible socio-economic, ethnic, cultural and philosophical diversity that exists in Connecticut. WYFF brings together students from Norwalk, Westport, Bridgeport, Wilton, Stamford, Fairfield, New Haven and Weston to create a dynamic, professional level film festival.

Their mission is to provide young artists with agency for their voices and in doing so to foster the next generation of great filmmakers. They aim to bring teens from different places and experiences together to take part in the creation of a professional level film festival. WYFF empowers young people to expand their concept of what they are capable of doing.

The 2012 Westport Youth Film Festival will be held June 2nd. To purchase a full day pass, click here. The festival centers around screening the art of teen filmmakers. Submissions come from local, national and international youth artists.

The Westport Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation and your donation is fully deductible as provided by law.

The Bijou Theatre joins Film Society of Lincoln Center, Unifrance Films, and Emerging Pictures in presenting “Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.” Seven French films will screen in Bridgeport, CT and 50 other US cities during March. This year marks the first collaboration with Emerging Pictures and the “Rendez-Vous with French Cinema” series, and the first time that audiences in cities across the country will have the opportunity to see these films in local theaters.

17 GIRLS (17 FILLES)
Directed by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin
France – 2011
Running time:  90 min.
Based on a headline-grabbing incident in the U.S., sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin’s provocative debut feature follows the fallout in a sleepy French coastal town when a group of teenage girls all decide to become pregnant at the same time.
Showtimes and Tickets

THE LAST SCREENING (LA DERNIÈRE SÉANCE)
Directed by:  Laurent Achard
Starring Pascal Cervo, Charlotte van Kemmel, Karole Rocher, Brigitte Sy
France – 2011
Running time:  81 min.
CINEMA PARADISO meets PSYCHO in a provocative genre film about the dutiful manager/projectionist of a repertory cinema in the French provinces…and the many secrets he holds.
Showtimes and Tickets

MOON CHILD  (LA PERMISSION DE MINUIT)
Directed by:  Crystel Fournier
Starring Vincent Lindon, Emmanuelle Devos, Quentin Challal.
France – 2011
Running time:  min.
Romain is a “moon child,” afflicted since birth by a rare genetic deficiency that makes him unable to stand exposure to daylight.  Since infancy he has been cared for by David, a consultant dermatologist who is fascinated with his case and with whom he has developed an unusually close relationship.  Now David has to leave, and doesn’t know how to tell Romain.  The day of the separation draws near… a new ordeal for them both.
Showtimes and Tickets

PATER
Directed by Alain Cavalier
Starring Vincent Lindon and Alain Cavalier
France – 2011
Running time:  105 min.
Synopsis:  France’s most unpredictable filmmaker, Alain Cavalier, teams up with actor Vincent Lindon for a witty, semi-improvised look at men, power and politics, starring Cavalier himself as a fictional French President and Lindon as his newly appointed Prime Minister.
Showtimes and Tickets

THE SCREEN ILLUSION (L’ILLUSION COMIQUE)
Directed by and starring:  Mathieu Amalric
France – 2011
Running time:  77 min.
Commissioned by La Comédie-Française, actor-director Mathieu Amalric’s wildly inventive update of Corneille’s popular 17th century tragicomedy follows a hotel concierge on the trail of a missing young man who seems to have left many a young female heart aflutter.
Showtimes and Tickets

THE WELL-DIGGER’S DAUGHTER (LA FILLE DU PUISATIER)
Directed by:  Daniel Auteuil
Starring:  Daniel Auteuil, Jane-Pierre Daroussin, Sabine Azema, Kad Merad
France – 2011
Running time:  107 min.
Daniel Auteuil, veteran of Marcel Pagnol adaptations JEAN DE FLORETTE and MANON DES SOURCES, returns to Pagnol for his first work as a director, telling moving story of a hardscrabble well digger, his eldest daughter and her passion for the son of a local shopkeeper.
Showtimes and Tickets

SMUGGLERS’ SONGS (LES CHANTS DE MANDRIN)
Directed by:  Rabah Ameur-ZaÏmeche
France – 2011
Running time:  97 min.
The 18th century folk hero and bandit Louis Mandrin is the inspiration for this strikingly relevant period tale, tracing the efforts of Mandrin’s followers to distribute his songs and stories in the build-up to the French Revolution.
Showtimes and Tickets