two benefits, two movies, and....

some other things. But first, very odd  for me, that within the space of a week, that I should find myself at two benefits for two "indie" theater groups. One was for the TEAM, a company that I have followed and been friends with since 2007, and the other for Assembly, a company that I discovered summer of 2011 at the Collapsible Hole in Williamsburg via their remarkable production of Home/Sick. I remember when the TEAM was having parties at the theater space right by South Ferry, and Assembly's fund raiser was at a small space between third and fourth avenue in Brooklyn. Both groups have come a long way since them; these two benefits very definitely stressed the fact that both groups had attracted some "high rollers" and that the money of the wealthy was going to help them create their work. . Good or bad? Can't say, but I was struck by the dichotomy (especially at the TEAM benefit) between a theater group whose claim to existence is to "enhance social justice"  (my terms)  and large horde of wealthy people in attendance at their benefit whose income might have depended on working for companies that were exploiting the very people they seem to want their theater pieces to empower. A strange dichotomy indeed, but I suppose funding is necessary, and that is one way to get it. And at both parties I did have a good time, with some good theater conversations with many people. I am just an observer, watching how far things have come in this creative sphere in the last 20 years.
 As for the two movies, the first, Saturday evening was called Synonyms, a film mostly in french, conceived and directed by an Isreli. It was a New York Film Festival selection. An abrasive film, about an abrasive young man, who comes to France penniless to to escape completely his Isreli roots. In the course of the movie, he participates in a menage a trois, joins some Isreli terrorists hunting French neo nazis, disrupts a concert and does some other crazy things. His journey is somewhat sympathetic, but he is so abrasive---the film itself follows him at an intense pace. I admired it more then enjoyed it---the camera work and color are really excellent. Went because I was tired from the day's work and needed to see a movie close to my apartment, that being said, I had planned to see it.
The second movie, Sunday afternoon at BAM (could not bring myself to watch the Gaints-Jets game even for a minute, so I needed structure)  was Downtown 81, a shapeless piece filmed around Avenue C and D and east 14th street, when the area was a wasteland. It was valuable just for that, its story followed a young black artist played by Basquiat. He had a winning and affable personality as he moved from small apartment to small apartment, and encountered hoboes, bands, and other sleazy denizens of the lower east side. In spite of the poverty surrounding him, he sort of ambles through it---but nothing of real consequence happens to him--I guess that is the point, but it does leave on a little cold. Also, it ended kind of quickly---I was ready for another 20 minutes--the ending was abrupt and left me feeling a little cheated.
 So that is it---Tuesday evening unplanned yet, will see how I feel after two sessions, will report soon.