Six Degrees of Stockard Channing

By Spencer Coile 

John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation is a finely tuned satire of the rich and elite, inviting its audience into the lives of Flan and Ouisa Kittredge, an art dealer and his wife. Through a mixture of broad comedy, close examination of "how the other half lives," and an honest depiction of race relations in the 20th century, his work was not only a Best Play nominee at the 1990 Tony Awards, but was a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is no surprise that his creation would soon find its home on the screen as well, being adapted into a 1993 film of the same name, directed by Fred Schepisi and written for the screen by Guare. 

Indeed, much can be said about both its stage and screen representation (Nathaniel even wrote about the play's current revival here), from its kooky premise to the performances. Considering the revival's Tony success (nominations for Best Revival of a Play and Best Leading Actor in a Play), not to mention many of its timeless qualities, let's dive into Guare's work and find out what connects us all. 

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Cannes Day 1: The Netflix Battle and "Ishmael's Ghost"

by Nathaniel R

Maren Ade, Will Smith, Agnes Jaoui, and Pedro Almodóvar at the Jury Press Conference today

Though we aren't in the South of France we'll try to keep an eye on the proceedings across the pond there these next two weeks. If you're relatively new to movie obsessing (We keep hoping more young people will tune in to TFE. We used to attract baby cinephiles... not sure where they congregate now!) Vox has a terrific heavily expository overview of why Cannes is so important, how to pronounce it ("can" not "cans" or "cahn"), why so many famous people go, why everyone is so dressed up, and some other myths and mysteries that surround the festival.

Jury Press Conference & the Netflix Divide
Because juicy click-bait headlines drive traffic most websites are framing the Jury Press Conference as a bloody war between the president Pedro Almodóvar and his most famous juror Will Smith. They may well eventually come to artistic blows in jury deliberations (who knows) but this is already grossly overstated. They merely have different feelings about Netflix, a famous "disruptor" as a company. Will Smith is very pro Netflix (basically because he has kids who like it). Almodóvar is very pro theatrical exhibition, because you know, he's a filmmaker who cares about movies. That's about the extent of the "war"...

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Cannes Jury: Almodóvar, Chastain, Fan Bingbing, and more...

The complete jury for the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival has been announced. As previously noted, Pedro Almodóvar will preside over the jury. To celebrate, The Film Experience will have "Almodóvar Week" from May 9th through the 15th so catch up with a few of his movies you've always wanted to see. We are currently planning to hit the following pictures in some capacity: Pepi Luci Bom, Dark Habits, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, All About My Mother, Volver, All About My Mother, and The Skin I Live In... though there might be alterations in that schedule or additions. 

But, yes, the Cannes jury. They are...

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Ten Little Links

People Mag Julia Roberts named "World's Most Beautiful" for record fifth time in the magazine's annual list
i09 new Fahrenheit 451 movie adaptation coming. To star two Michaels, Shannon and Jordan
Tampa Bay Times a street in Florida renamed "Moonlight Way" - how wonderful!
Towleroad Stranger Things "Barb" actress Shannon Purser has come out as bisexual
Variety Chris Pratt admits he was taken off guard by the harsh criticism of Passengers
In Contention Fox Searchlight lines up multiple Oscar hopefuls a year after the Birth of a Nation debacle
Playbill Anika Noni Rose set to play a who, along with her daughters, becomes the center of a hacking media storm in Assassination Nation 
Tracking Board Will Smith circling the genie role in the live action remake of Disney's Aladdin musical
Playbill the Drama League Nominations for 2017  
Film School Rejects on Hollywood's fascination with de-aging its stars and why, storytelling wise, this is generally a bad idea 

Exit Videos
We're just under a year away from the debut of the superhero TV series Cloak & Dagger but they've released a trailer anyway. Seems kinda early!

We've already covered The Beguiled teaser but here's the full trailer (which is very similar in structure but with extra footage). Having seen the 1971 film I wasn't worried about spoilers but you absolutely shouldn't watch this if you haven't seen the original film. For my taste it's a little too revealing. 

Review: "Collateral Beauty"

by Chris Feil

When the aliens discover Earth, long after the ice caps have melted, I hope we leave a time capsule that includes Collateral Beauty to explain ourselves. No seriously: there's something to the film's off-handed cruelty and blasé emotional platitudes that shows how dunderheaded we humans can be. However this is only one of the film's many accidents, coming from its lack of self-awareness rather than its content. Collateral Beauty thinks itself holistic and clever, but its actually deeply, fundamentally stupid.

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