Documentary portrait of writer and performer Spalding Gray, tracing his journey from his Rhode Island childhood to his rise as a celebrated monologist. Through interviews, performance excerpts, and reflections, it explores how he transformed personal experience into art. The film highlights his distinctive storytelling style—wry, confessional, and deeply human—revealing the creative process behind his acclaimed stage works.
Tag: USA
Monologuist Spalding Gray talks about the great difficulties he experienced while attempting to write his first novel, a nearly 2,000-page autobiographical tome concerning the death of his mother. Among his many asides, Gray discusses his problems in dealing with the Hollywood film industry, recounts the trips he took around the world in order to avoid dealing with his writer’s block and describes his ambivalence about acting as stage manager for a Broadway production of “Our Town.”
Set in the American Southwest, Othello is a wandering evangelist who happens onto Iago’s remote commune. There he marries the lovely Desdemona much to the chagrin of Iago, who also loves her. The conniving commune leader then manages to quietly pressure Othello until murder and tragedy ensue.
Nicole Larsen is detested by her countrymen because they suspect she is collaborating with the occupying Germans. In reality she is working for the Norwegian underground, risking her life passing secrets to the resistance fighters.
The wealthy “Death Valley” Cora is coming to New York but is kidnapped by con-man Ira Collins who has showgirl Sally Shea impersonating her to fit a scheme he has to get an eccentric millionaire, P.J. Quinterfield Sr., turn over to him coined gold which he will melt down and presented as newly-mined from Cora’s Death Valley mine. Sally is in on the scheme as Collins has told her it is part of the plan to get Quitenfield’s son to finance a show for her. But Sally falls in love with Neil Graham, who is an undercover G-Man.
This film explores the life of harpsichordist Wanda Landowska and her role in reviving the harpsichord as a concert instrument. It features her only filmed appearance, a 1953 television interview, showcasing both her virtuosity and her distinctive persona. Through interviews and vintage recordings, Landowska reflects on her love of music and delivers dazzling performances that transformed how audiences heard the harpsichord.
Filmed study of Bunraku, the classical Japanese puppet art, which uses three-quarters life-sized figures, handled by black-clothed manipulators who remain in plain view of the audience, convention rendering them invisible. These scenes trace Bunraku from the making of the puppets and the way in which their limbs are articulated, to their costuming and reflections on their relationship to kabuki theater. It includes complete performances of traditional Bunraku plays. Commentary by the well-known authority on dance and Asian arts, Faubion Bowers.