by michael s. goldberger film critic · despite the soap opera sensibilities and uninspired,...

A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES Thursday, September 6, 2018 Page 15

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Starts in september Starts in september

www.arthousefilmfestival.com

Preview the best & smartest new films before public releaseenjoy surprise visits by filmmakers & actors

REGISTER EARLY & SAVE

7 3 2 - 8 7 0 - 6 0 1 2

FILMMAKERSS Y M P O S I U M

ARTHOUSE

FILM FES

TIVAL

chuck rose presents filmmaker symposium’s

Arthouse Film FestivalBegins September 24

AREA — On September 24,Arthouse Film Festival will return for10 weeks to its home base New Jerseytheatres: AMC Mountainside andAMC Monmouth Mall.

If you are not one of the thousandsof New Jersey film buffs who haveattended in years past, just imagineseeing a festival-winning gem beforerelease to the public, then the lightscome up, and there in front of you arethe creators of the film, ready to an-swer questions and discuss their work.

Oscar winners and nominees DannyAiello, Alan Arkin, Frank Darabont,Jesse Eisenberg, Ethan Hawke, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Melissa Leo, ViggoMortensen, Chazz Palminteri, JohnSayles, Aaron Sorkin, Fisher Stevensand David Strathairn have joinedDylan Baker, Jim Breuer, FamkeJanssen, Danai Gurira, Joseph Gor-don-Levitt, Derek Luke, Mary StuartMasterson, David Morse, ConnieNielsen, Joe Pantoliano and KevinSmith as guest speakers who havecome to share their insights with fes-tival participants.

The festival has hosted 1,868 moviepremieres with 1,165 live guest ap-pearances over the past 27 years.

“The program will always be flex-ible in order to take advantage ofopportunities as they arise,” said fes-tival director Chuck Rose. “Wonder-ful surprises and fantastic celebritiescan pop up out of nowhere, so we tryto keep the schedule as fluid as pos-sible.

“Even before we started in 1990, Ibegan working to create an interna-tional VIP network of actors, direc-tors, screenwriters, producers, jour-nalists and film industry pros whosejobs involve creating and evaluatingthe cream of Sundance, Cannes,Toronto, Telluride, Venice, Berlin,SXSW and the other important filmfestivals. We also work to ferret outpotential hits in the development andproduction stages so we are ready topounce on the best films first.

“Last fall, we premiered Three Bill-boards Outside Ebbing Missouri, TheFlorida Project and many more out-standing films which went on to re-ceive numerous awards. Over the past

three years, we have premiered 85movies which later earned a total of25 Oscar, 27 Spirit, 23 Golden Globeand 24 British Academy Award nomi-nations.”

For information, to see which filmswere screened in the past, or whichones may be screened this year, or toregister, visitwww.ArthouseFilmFestival.com orcall (732) 870-6012.

The festival is open to anyone, butseating is limited, so early enrollmentis advised. Subscriptions are $139for five weeks or $245 for all 10weeks. After September 19, rates willgo up. Also being offered is a spe-cially priced flex ticket so users maychoose any eight out of 10 nights fortheir convenience.

Confirmed films and those underconsideration for the upcoming festi-val include: A Star Is Born with LadyGaga, Sam Elliott, director BradleyCooper; At Eternity’s Gate with Os-car Isaac, Willem Dafoe, directorJulian Schnabel; Beautiful Boy withTimothy Chalamett, Steve Carrell,director Felix Groeningen; Becom-ing Astrid with Alba August, TrineDyrholm, director Pernille FischerChristensen; Chasing the Blues withGrant Rosenmeyer, Jon Lovitz;Dogman with Marcello Fonte,Edoardo Pesce, director MatteoGarrone; The Favourite with RachelWeisz, Emma Stone, director YorgosLanthimos; First Man with Ryan Gos-ling, Clare Foy, director DamienChazelle; Green Book withMahershala Ali, Viggo Mortensen,director Peter Farrelly; The Guiltywith Jakob Cedergren, JessicaDinnage, director Gustav Moller; TheLast Race with Marty Berger, MikeCappiello, director Michael Dweck;On Her Shoulders with Amal Clooney,Nadia Murad, director AlexandriaBombach; A Private War withRosamund Pike, Jamie Dornan, di-rector Matthew Heineman; RobinHood with Taron Egerton, Jamie Fox,director Otto Bathurst; Shoplifterswith Lily Franky, Kirin Kiki, directorHirokazu Koreeda; and Wildlife withJake Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan, di-rector Paul Dano.

ARTHOUSE FILMS...The Favourite, First Man, The Guilty and many more not-yet-released movies will premiere in the Arthouse Film Festival beginning Septem-ber 24 at AMC Mountainside and AMC Monmouth Mall. Pictured is actor RyanGosling, who stars in First Man. For information, call (732) 870-6012 or visitwww.ArthouseFilmFestival.com.

NJFO Announces DynamicNew 2018-2019 Season

Author Meet and GreetOn Saturday

WESTFIELD -- The Town BookStore will be hosting a meet and greetfor Gerard Farrell, author of The LastThunk, on Saturday, September 8,from 2 to 4 p.m.

The Last Thunk, is one part pre-recession satire, one part diary of amarketing man coming undone. It is astory of betrayal and friendship, loveand survival in the crazy, gritty, glam-orous world of magazine advertising.

THUNK! It’s the sweet sound anad-packed magazine makes when it’sdropped on a table. At glitzy CarlyleNash Media, it’s the sound of suc-cess. And star publisher Mitch Blakehas been happily hearing it for a de-cade. But when the heavily hypeddebut issue of World Magazine getspanned in the press and advertisersstart to flee, Mitch must control thedamage. Can he right the ship andprotect his reputation? Or will bothbe sunk by Paul Cavanaugh, a hard-drinking, paranoid, stress-pronestaffer who has stolen an item Mitchneeds back to avert disaster: a minia-ture beach ball.

Meet Mr. Farrell at The Town BookStore, located at 270 East Broad Streetin Westfield. If you are unable toattend this event, feel free to call TheTown Book Store at (908) 233-3535to reserve an autographed copy ofThe Last Thunk.

Mr. Farrell has worked in the maga-zine industry since the late 1990s forbrands including The New Yorker,Rolling Stone, and Allure.

By Michael S. Goldbergerfilm critic

There you are, standing on your porch,looking for either a pickup truck or a vanto pull up, something a handyman mightdrive. It’s just a little job…the repair andpainting of the front steps. Twenty min-utes pass, as do numerousworkmen…none of them looking for yourhouse. ‘He said he’d be here,’ yougrumble, steaming about the déjà vu of itall. More time passes. Finally, as it be-comes apparent he isn’t showing, youissue the bourgeoisie lament: ‘If I werecrazy rich he’d sure be here.’

I mulled this example of class-influ-enced helplessness following a viewingof director Jon M. Chu’s moderately en-tertaining Crazy Rich Asians, which ismore a spending spree than the romanticcomedy the advertisements lead you tobelieve. The title dramatis personae, andhow they carry on in a constant celebra-tion of their wealth and privilege, makethe glittering fiefdom Gatsby created toimpress Daisy look like Dogpatch. For allthese moneyed folks know, the manse’sfront steps are maintained by the Divinityhimself.

The inherent appeal of showcasing richpeople, which reached its zenith in Ameri-can films during the Great Depression, isobvious. It’s the vicarious thrill of powerthat comes with outrageous wealth. Tothe adage espoused by my rich sister Ann,that “Money can’t buy you love, but it cantake you to a lot of places to find it,” I’vesince conjectured, “Money gives you theluxury to worry about things more pro-found than front steps.”

Mr. Chu’s film, written by PeterChiarelli and Adele Lim, pays lip serviceto a time-honored chestnut. In a variationon the theme where one party in a stardust-sprinkled affaire de coeur is rich and theother poor in comparison, economics pro-fessor Rachel Chu, winsomely played byConstance Wu, is the saga’s Cinderella.Her handsome prince, portrayed by HenryGolding, is Nick Young, the unpreten-tious heir to the Singapore Youngs’s vast,global fortune.

Back in New York, when Rachel ac-cedes to accompany her boyfriend/NYUhistory prof to Singapore, so he can be hischildhood friend’s best man, she has noidea that he is well-heeled. Gee, I mean heexercises at some ratty gym. We are tointerpolate, considering their youth andthe nascent status of their relationship,that they haven’t gotten around to ex-changing, besides name and favorite food,their social rank and the number of digitsvaunted in their checkbook.

The first hint comes at the airport,where Nick has upgraded their coachseats to Reason for Revolution Luxury.Whoopee! He’s such a dashing sort, aChinese Cary Grant in looks if not suavityand wit…and oh so kind and polished.Maybe he saved coupons. However, whenpressed by the economics professor, whoknows her way around the Benjamins, herelents and yes, the awful truth is that heis a member of a wealthy real estatefamily. He doesn’t embellish, leaving outthe near royal esteem in which his familyis held.

They arrive in Singapore, our unas-suming beauty soon the subject of ram-pant rumor and scrutinization. It dawnson me that I was lucky. My mom’sstorybook counsel, part idealistic andperhaps part social welfare plan, was,“Marry a poor, beautiful girl.” Heedingthe beauty part, I felt no option but toforgive my better half’s middle class sta-tus. But remember those old yentas wholiked to cynically cluck the unromanticadvisory, “It’s just as easy to fall in lovewith a rich girl (or boy) as a poor one.”That’s the mantra to which Nick’s sternmater, Eleanor, subscribes.

Bereft of a quixotic advocate, his quan-dary is: To be happy but cut out of the

P O P C O R NP O P C O R NP O P C O R NP O P C O R NP O P C O R N

One Popcorn, Poor — Two Popcorns, Fair — Three Popcorns, Good — Four Popcorns, Excellent

will, or to drive a Ferrari and foreverbemoan what might have been. Hmm.Thus we are left to wondering, in a sce-nario otherwise obsessed with displayinghow even Singapore’s Old Money likesto conspicuously consume, whether ornot love does indeed conquer all. So,despite the soap opera sensibilities anduninspired, storyboard direction, our in-ner fantasist dictates that we must hang inthere to see if fairy tale wins out overfiscal sense.

It’s the uniqueness in era and demo-graphics that can make a new iteration ofthe same romantic conundrum a welcomeupdate. I suspect there’s a cave wall thatrecounts the first such fable, of how Ooga,daughter of Bim and Glough, had a star-crossed love affair with Leo, son of Ber-tha and Oop, who considered fire andcooking meat to be sheer kleglach (sacri-lege). And, they painted their own steps.Pity is, though Rachel and Nick’s pre-dicament does a gossipy delve into theculture of Crazy Rich Asians, it fails todeliver the sociological insight the titleimplies.

…. Crazy Rich Asians, rated PG-13, is a

Warner Bros. release directed by Jon M.Chu and stars Constance Wu, HenryGolding and Michelle Yeoh. Runningtime: 120 minutes.

Crazy Rich AsiansPoor Little Rich Millennials

2 & ½ popcorns

WESTFIELD — The New JerseyFestival Orchestra (NJFO) has an-nounced its exciting new program forthe 2018-2109 season. The beauti-fully crafted new series promises avariety of spectacular concerts thatcelebrate composers and artists whocame to the United States from abroadand were inspired by what they foundhere.

The season showcases highly an-ticipated appearances by a series ofinternationally acclaimed guest per-formers, including Chinese cellistJaipeng Nie, Metropolitan Opera’sJohn Easterlin, and Serbian superstarand audience favorite StephanMilenkovich. Presiding over the rep-ertoire is United Kingdom-born Mae-stro David Wroe, who has just cel-ebrated 20 years as NJFO conductorand music director.

“This season is about people whocame here and were changed by allthat embodies the American experi-ence. I can speak to that – I am one ofthem!” explained Mr. Wroe.

The NJFO season begins on Octo-ber 13 at 7 p.m. in Westfield withMade in America. Featured is a cock-tail of American music in motion thatincludes the African-Americanrhythms of Porgy and Bess, America’spremier folk opera, the driving pulsesof the Symphonic Dances by SergeRachmaninov, one of America’s mostfamed immigrants, and a performanceby renowned Chinese cellist, JiapengNie.

Audiences are invited to welcomein the holiday season with some ofNew Jersey’s most popular holidaytraditions. In December, NJFO pre-sents The Three Holiday Tenors, fea-turing a selection of tenor fare, sym-phonic pops and wintertime favoritesguaranteed to make the season merryand bright. This year’s celebrationstars award-winning MetropolitanOpera tenor John Easterlin fresh off atwo-year run on Broadway in Phan-tom of the Opera. Many will remem-ber Mr. Easterlin, whose voice hasbeen described as “majestic,” singingthe role of “Goro” in NJFO’s MadamaButterfly to huge acclaim last season.

The NJFO holiday festivities con-tinue on New Year’s Eve, this seasonfeaturing a new-style event that com-bines two genres, Singing and Danc-ing the Blues Away. NJFO’s NewYear’s Eve celebration takes on abrand new dimension as its tradi-tional Broadway guest vocalists arejoined by Dance Theatre of Harlem’sDa’Von Doane and friends to recre-ate the magic of MGM musicals andmore.

The NJFO classical season contin-ues in March with one of opera’s mostbreathtaking masterpieces, Puccini’sTosca. A cast of internationally ac-claimed guest performers joins NJFOto present, acted and in costume, thisgripping tale of love, lust, corruptionand ultimate struggle for survival.

The 2018-2019 season comes to aconclusion with Music That MakesHollywood, featuring a presentationof the classic Chaplin movie The Im-migrant, accompanied by a full sym-phonic soundtrack by Carl Davis per-formed live by NJFO. The music willilluminate the newcomer experiencefrom moment to moment as live or-chestration meets onscreen clarity ofrestored cinematography.Multicultural groups then battle it outin Bernstein’s Symphonic Dancesfrom West Side Story. The seasonfinale also includes a return perfor-mance by Serbian superstar violinist,Stefan Milenkovich, now a residentof Chicago. Many will remember Mr.Milenkovich’s dazzling performance

of Paganini’s “La Campanella” lastseason.

As in prior years, NJFO music his-torian Michael Rosin will conduct apre-concert lecture before most con-certs, offering compelling insights andinformation one hour before perfor-mances. His lectures enrich the liveconcert experience and are an engag-ing way to learn about the showcasedmusic and music makers. Lecturesare open to all ticket holders, free ofcharge.

Concerts will take place on Satur-day evenings in Westfield and Sun-day afternoons in Madison orMorristown. An additional perfor-mance of The Three Holiday Tenorswill take place on Friday, December14, at DeBaun PAC, Stevens Instituteof Technology, Hoboken.

Watch for featured performancesby NJFO in other special events atvenues throughout N.J., including theCeltic Woman – The Best of Christ-mas Tour at the Mayo PerformingArts Center, Morristown, and theBergen Performing Arts Center,Englewood, and with ManheimSteamroller at the State Theater, NewBrunswick, and Count Basie Centerfor the Arts, Red Bank.

“Our beloved NJ Festival Orches-tra has once again created a superbseason with new experiences and lotsof surprises. I hope that you will joinme at the concerts and save the datefor our grand celebration gala on April6, 2019, at Shackamaxon CountryClub,” commented NJFO BoardPresident Keith Hertell,

Tickets to all concerts, starting at$30 (students $15), are on sale now.Discounted ticket packages, savingconcertgoers up to 20 percent overregular prices, are also available.Single tickets and “mix and match”packages may be purchased directlyfrom the NJFO office (224 East BroadStreet, Westfield) or by calling thebox office at (908) 232-9400, or onlineat njfestivalorchestra.org.

For further information, call (908)232-9400, emailinfo@njfestivalorchestra.org, or visitwww.njfestivlaorchestra.org.

MUSICAL CELEBRATIONS...New Jersey Festival Orchestra, led by MusicDirector David Wroe, has announced the return of Serbian violinist StephanMilenkovich and a 2018-2019 season of classics, new venues and special events forWestfield and beyond starting October 13.

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