Tag Archives: Lincoln Center

Christian Marclay’s The Clock

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I stood in line the next to last day that Christian Marclay’s The Clock was screening at Lincoln Center, and I really lucked out. The line was only 2 and half hours. My friend from Georgia was suitably impressed by the lengths New Yorkers will go to for an experiential art film.

The film consists of thousands of spliced clips from cinema, put together so that each minute is filled with references to that minute, with clocks and watches, which is then played on that minute of the day, in a 24-hour cycle. The clips were largely English and French films, old black and white, last year’s blockbusters, and some b-cinema with a few Asian or Swedish film clips thrown in.

Remarkably, what ought to have been a disjointed, jarring experience by the very nature of it proceeded with some degree of flow and linearity, largely owing to the great sounds transitions, which were carefully managed. This makes sense; the person ahead of me in line shared some of the artist’s early sound work in the 80s. He spliced mechanically rather than digitally then.

I saw 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, always hyperaware of the time. The clips made me wonder “Is this what people do a 6:30? Miss trains? And do they eat soup at 8 o’clock? Is this life?” I enjoyed recognizing the clips. Immediately one knows so much even in never-before-seen clips–who the protagonist is, roughly when it was filmed, the mood of the piece. It’s remarkable and would create a magnifiscent time capsule for someone to discover in 1,000 years, so much of our common consciousness is bound up in it.

I enjoyed, or rather disenjoyed, the continual interruption of the narrative, which would begin to drag you in only to end. It harasses the viewer with his status as a viewer, never letting him forget what and where he is. Or, of course, when it is.

And naturally everything you can think to say about the nature or passage of time is relevant to this piece which makes you hyperaware of the passage of time as you live it.

Also, see twitter for a variety of bad or better puns and jokes on the meta-ness of having to wait for hours to see this film.

South Pacific at Lincoln Center

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Nellie Forbush singing HoneyBun

I know you’ll be happy to hear that the parents’ trip to New York was capped yesterday afternoon by South Pacific, the musical revival on at Lincoln Center. I had seen parts of the movie before, and was looking forward to it. My dad, on the other hand, apparently has been idolizing the musical ever since his parents went up to New York to see the original production and left him behind. The music, the actors, the stage; he was in heaven.

Granted, South Pacific is a Rogers and Hammerstein classic from 1949 and generally considered one of the greatest musicals. The story is set in the South Pacific around a naval base during WWII, and the stories of nurse Nelly and Lieutenant Joe falling in love with people from the island inspire some classic Broadway songs, like Some Enchanted Evening and Happy Talk.

Lincoln Center’s production is the first time it has been back to Broadway and yet, judging from the audience, it might have been the second time many of them have seen it. It hasn’t changed much (from the movie version at least) and the production is flawless.

The musical itself has aged well: rather than being dated, it is charmingly vintage. The cast has been well-chosen for their parts, and the music of Rogers and Hammerstein is still a joy to hear. If you want to revisit some classic Broadway, this traditional and well-executed revival is a pleasant way to do it.