Monthly Archives: May 2015

Women in Love

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Mark Stern

Gemma Bovery (Gemma Arterton), a pretty, peaches and cream Englishwoman, casually voluptuous, moves with her new husband, Charlie (Jason Flemyng), a furniture restorer and a kind man, to an old farmhouse in a small village in Normandy–the same village where Flaubert created his famous … Continue reading →

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Tenacious Tree (Stillwater Diary)

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Mark Stern

So much courage and optimism are required to be a maple mini me, two small leaves, parallel to the sky, above a would-be trunk, now just a stem with less stature than a new blade of grass. The seedlings in the woods can succumb … Continue reading →

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The French Connection: Both Sides Now

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Mark Stern

Director/co-writer Cédric Jimenez’s “The Connection,” based on the life/work of a relentless 70s Marseilles magistrate, Pierre Michel (Jean Dujardin), although less compelling than William Friedkin‘s (state)side of the notorious heroin smuggling story is a riveting thriller, and ultimately a tragedy.  The film is buoyed up both … Continue reading →

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The Seventh Extinction

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Mark Stern

Like a grand opera cycle, Priscilla Derven‘s current and previous shows at John Davis Gallery create a world of event, drama, tragedy, conflict, beauty. The paintings in her new exhibit, “DISLAND: Paintings 2013-2015” are gorgeous yet often disquieting abstractions, suggesting landscapes catastrophically disturbed and populations obliterated … Continue reading →

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Leaves Return (Stillwater Diary)

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Mark Stern

Finally, in this slow spring, the dormant sticks are stirring. Chartreuse, green gold, the small leaves seem as if they’re lit from within.

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Man Eaters

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Mark Stern

Director/co-writer John Stuart Wildman’s highly entertaining debut feature, “The Ladies of the House,” a “feminist grindhouse thriller,”  is so riotously over the top that “the top” recedes like earth from the window of a speeding spaceship. Jacob (Gabriel Horn), protective of his large but simple … Continue reading →

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