Review №2

Finding Neverland

Cast: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman as Charles Frohman, Julie Christie and others.

Director:  Marc Forster

Synopsys: Searching for inspiration the writer J. M. Barrie meets Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, a mother of four boys, who are careless and believers in miracles because of their age. Mr. Barrie becomes a very good friend for them and creates a famous play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Never Grew Up.  

Review

The action of the film told the story of creation one of the most favorite children’s books Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Never Grew Up. After the failure of the last play James Barrie met the widow Sylvia and four her male children one of whom, Peter, became the main character of James’ play. Firstly, the boy did not like the writer because he though him to replace the father, whom Peter loved and missed so much. However, later friendship between them helped James to fantasy such successful play as Peter Pan. Meanwhile Sylvia got ill and the writer took care for her and the children. He did not left the boys even after her death and his great success.

I guess that success of every film’s atmosphere created mainly by the characters’ clothes and surroundings. Here I mentioned a good job of the costumers because they could show special period of time in which the film took place. Sylvia and her mother’s dress obviously showed their belongings to the upper-class. But I like the costumes for the play “Peter Pan” which were completely suitable in my opinion.

Johnny Depp is one of my favourite actors because he is a man of great talent. He coped with the task to perform an unsuccessful play writer who had lost the inspiration and trying to find it became a necessary friend of the Davies family. Kate Winslet in her turn is not less talented actress who made her best to create such heroine with all Winslet’s charisma. The other actors were also great in their performance and made the film interesting and professional as well. Especially, I would like to note Freddie Highmore’s (Peter) performance who in his young age demonstrated good play.

To enjoy such kind of movies I should have special mood and I was lucky to have it while I was watching “Finding Neverland”. This film deeply impressed me because of the boys’ sorrow, the mother’s courage and the writer’s sympathy and compassion. Loss of the father took real childhood away from the boys and Peter even wanted to grow up because he thought adults do not fell such strong pain. I like the idea, the performance and the visual side of the film. It touched the theme which is closely to me that is why I can point it out from different ones. 

Rendering №7

The article “Spain's microtheatresprovide lifeline for actors as public subsidies dry up” was published on February 28, 2013 in “The Guardian”. The author, Giles Tremlett, discusses that Austerity has led to arts funding halving in three years, but a new can-do attitude has sprung up across the cultural scene. iT is an open secret that two dozen people lurk in the doorways of the Chinese rag trade wholesalers that line a narrow street in the centre of Madrid, awaiting the signal that will allow them into one of the Spanish capital's tiniest, and most successful, theatres. It is pointed out that housed in a ground-floor flat once occupied by the apartment block's doorwoman, the Casa de La Portera is part of a cultural revolution as Spanish theatre, like other arts, finds ways to survive a recession that has seen it sucked dry of what used to be its lifeblood – public subsidies. The correspondence stresses that the theatre was founded by the actor and director José Martret to produce a version of Anton Chekhov's Ivanov that more conservative theatres did not want. Across town, queues form for the €4-a-show tickets on sale at another miniature theatre, with a group of 21 actors and directors who banded together and set up on their own.

It is noted that complex laws governing the running of theatres are circumvented by calling the new spaces "cultural clubs" and selling theatregoers "temporary membership" rather than formal tickets. The microtheatre scene has already spawned one success that has moved up the theatre chain – a one-woman adaptation of American writer Toni Bentley's erotic memoir, The Surrender, has been taken up by the country's National Drama Centre. It is necessary to make clear that with Spain's budget deficit estimated at about 10% of GDP last year, austerity measures have chopped away much of the country's arts funding. Senior cultural administrators, both public and private, report that average budgets have been halved since Spain lurched into the first part of a double-dip recession three years ago, according to a report by Fundación Contemporánea. It is interesting to note that from theatre to film and documentary-making, Spanish creators are finding new ways to live without state funds – and discovering that it also gives them creative freedom.

It is pointed out that the new can-do attitude extends beyond microtheatre, to crowd-funded documentary films and music such as flamenco star Mayte Martín's latest collection of bolero songs, Cosas de Dos. The authors concludes the article by giving an opinion that nobody is getting rich from Madrid's new self-funding cultural scene, but at least actors and others are working. As for my opinion about this situation, I can say that money is very important aspect for every sphere of life and theatres are not exceptions. Economic crisis in Spain adds difficulties to not simple theatre life because to create beautiful decorations and costumes director should funds. 

Rendering №6

The article “UK's best circus performerswill compete in bid to develop a 'British Cirque du Soleil” was published on February 24, 2013 in “The Guardian”. The author, Vanessa Thorpe, informs us about nationwide search for acts in effort to prevent homegrown talent moving abroad for work. It is necessary to note that Britain has lost a generation of highly-trained performers to circus troupes based abroad. The correspondent tells that the first nationwide attempt to keep more skilled entertainers working on these shores will be launched Monday. Circus Space, the only training organisation in Britain that offers a degree in circus skills, will announce a competition to find the best new acts and keep them performing inside British big tops. It is mentioned that the popularity of visiting productions from foreign troupes such as Canada's Cirque du Soleil, Archaos from France and Fuerzabruta from Argentina, combined with the key role played by aerialists in major national events – such as the show in the Millennium Dome on New Year's Eve 1999 and the Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremonies last year – have all helped to establish circus as a contemporary art form in Britain.

Analyzing the situation it is interesting to point out that while a growing number of people of all ages have been drawn to take training courses, few have found work here. The problem has been that this theatre tradition is so text-based, while in Europe there is a strong tradition of visual and circus entertainment and there are very few opportunities for graduates here. The reporter stresses that the hunt to be called Circus Maximus will start this week and is being jointly run by Underbelly Productions and Circus Space. It will culminate in a live competition performed for the public in London, where the best act will win £5,000 as well as the chance to develop a new show with Underbelly, the producers of a number of high-profile circus shows in recent years, including the Australian productions Cantina and Tom Tom Crew. Makin describes Britain as "a hotbed of world-class circus talent", providing acts for the best companies in the world.

It is mentioned that with free entry, potential competitors from both professional troupes and amateur clubs – with skills ranging from tumbling and uni-cycling to globe walking – are invited to come forward before 24 March. The author concludes the article that the winners of the heats, plus a wild card contender to be chosen by the judges, will then perform together in the finals – a full-blown circus show. The overall winner will be announced after the final show on 1 June.  As for me, I think that this type of art is terrific because artists in circus should have very specific abilities. Britain makes a good attempt to engage British people to work in their country. I think this show will attract lots of audience and participants. 

Rendering №5

The article “Jonathan Miller: 'I’d liketo have written more by the time I die” was published on February 5, 2013 in “The Telegraph”. The author, Jasper Rees, discusses Miller’s life, language and his fear of typewriters. It is clear that Jonathan Miller at his 78 has been exploring the no-man’s-land between the “two cultures” of science and the arts for as long as anyone can remember, and telling us all about it. Sir Jonathan since 2002 if we’re being formal – is staging a rare revival of Githa Sowerby’s play Rutherford & Son. The invitation came from Northern Broadsides. It is interesting to note that Miller is not often sighted in the stalls of other people’s productions, so he missed it. Instead he takes his entertainment at home, religiously listening to The Goon Show on Radio 4 Xtra, also doffing his cap in empathy to Jack Dee’s eeyorish sitcom Lead Balloon.

Speaking about the theatre it is necessary to mention that it’s the task which interests Miller rather than the experience of watching it. In fact he rarely goes to see even his own shows. He explains that if it’s a good production it’ll get better under its own development. If it’s not any good it gets worse and there’s nothing you can do about it. It is an open secret that Miller’s operatic productions continue to be revived with gusto – most recently The Mikado and Rigoletto at the ENO, Così fan tutte at Covent Garden – but he has not directed a play since Hamlet in Bristol five years ago. Compare and contrast with Miller, who has been in public life since even before Beyond the Fringe – as a star of the Cambridge Footlights, the Daily Mail reported on his marriage in 1956. It is necessary to point out that indeed by now his public may well have felt that they know everything that needs knowing. That changed this month with the publication of Kate Bassett’s exhilarating new biography. It is stressed that In Two Minds is the product of ten years’ research and Miller’s blessing, although he insists he’s not read it.

Analyzing the book it becomes clear that it shines a keen new light on his childhood as the first son of successful but unloving parents. Speaking about his peculiarities it is necessary to note that he can’t get anything down on paper – by the time he’s typed the first three words his brain is already at the start of the next paragraph. He tells that he’d like to have written more by the time he dies. There are lots of things which he’d like to say which he can say when he talks which he finds quite hard to write down. He gets paralysed when he’s opposite a typewriter or computer. In conclusion the author mentions about Miller’s interest in the anthropology of language, the anthropology of behavior and only hopes he leaves his brain to science. Or the arts. As for me, I think that Jonathan Miller is a man of a great talent, he is a man who aims to write more and more before his death despite he has publicity and fame. He is a great example to admire.