Spectacle Theater
-
More Women, Less Men, and a Possible Future of Cinema
[Editor’s note: this is a guest post from director Gina Telaroli. Enough said.] Over the past few months I’ve been spending more time than normal at the gym, getting up at 5:30 AM and arriving there by 7:00 for yoga or a cardio/weights/TCM combo before heading to my job for the day. When I made the decision to kick it up a notch from my usual two days a week, my reasons were probably a New York City cocktail of anxiety, sublimation, and restlessness from having a day job that keeps me at a desk. What I realized after a […]
by Gina Telaroli on Nov 3, 2015 -
“This is The Kind of Thing I Want in a Restaurant:” Vanessa McDonnell on John’s of 12th Street
If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, you may have a sense of the sort of family dynamics the harried environment can rapidly inspire. John’s of 12th Street, a dyed-in-the-wool Italian establishment in the East Village, takes this close-knit enclave to its apotheosis. As rendered in Vanessa McDonnell’s observational documentary of the same name, the restaurant is purely populated by the sort of old school New York characters that can only be regarded as a dying breed. From opening till close, McDonnell captures as many yarns spun over the tables as chicken parms are laid into the oven. In advance of John’s of 12th Street‘s world […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Nov 10, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Vanessa McDonnell’s John’s of 12th Street
Conversation, heaping plates and lots of red sauce — all should be found in Vanessa McDonnell’s documentary on the people behind East Village Italian landmark John’s. The film opens next Wednesday, November 12, at Brooklyn’s Spectacle for five screenings. Here’s the description: JOHN’S OF 12TH STREET is a portrait of a century-old Italian-American restaurant in New York City, one of the last of its kind in a rapidly changing East Village. This observational documentary loosely follows the rhythm of the restaurant’s day, which swings between boredom and frenzy as the old rooms empty and fill. No one who works at […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 7, 2014 -
Contemporary as Repertory: Aaron Schimberg and Jon Dieringer on Go Down Death at Spectacle
Perhaps it’s the fabulist way its characters relay their inverted sense of normality or their ragged way of dress, but something about Aaron Schimberg’s debut feature Go Down Death is unshakably anachronistic — and it’s not just the black-and-white 16 mm. Fitting then, that the film accounts for the first-ever theatrical run at the Williamsburg repertory theater, Spectacle. Screenings begin this Friday, with select showings in Smell-o-Vision, the aromatic brain child of producer-editor Vanessa McDonnell, who considers Go Down Death to be the ultimate vehicle for “the weird perfumes and other odd tinctures I’ve made out of plants, foods, etc.,” aside from […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 25, 2014
