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PERSONALS | MOVIE CLOCK | REP CLOCK | SEARCH
'BUT HE'S GOT the loveliest legs," my mom would say, pouting, when we discussed the freak merits of Thoth, a street violinist who used to perform his soloperas around BART stations in plaid miniskirts or leather loincloths. He usually had on a pair of slutty, high-heeled boots, which highlighted his remarkably taut calves. I was always a little afraid of him, but also deeply in awe of his intrepid fashion sense. Now that Thoth is living in New York and has hit the big screen in a documentary titled Thoth, it appears he's ditched the old plaid miniskirt option for loincloths exclusively. Of course, one burning question remains: whatever will he wear to the Oscars? Will Marc Jacobs loan him an au courant hippie maxidress, or will Donatella Versace drape him in gaudy Vegas whore gear? As the Bay Area's collective champagne glasses are poised to toast Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes for their nomination in the least sexy of categories, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, let us not forget one more entry grown from Bay Area soil: Thoth, who is a most sexy category all his own. The director of Thoth, Sarah Kernochan, has said that "he's the embodiment of the human potential." We, too, would like to think so, and with that in mind, we'd like to offer Thoth – S.K. Thoth, a.k.a. Stephen Kaufman – some thoughts on just how to maximize that potential come Oscar night. The loincloth may define the Thoth persona, but it's not the most trend-inspired or convenient look to work on the red carpet, and unfortunately, his vision is not exactly Spring 2002. Now that the Western nations are all pumped up for war, mainstream fashion suggests the opposite. Cheery, innocent, romantic, and soft are the looks, with free-flowing pants, poofy skirts, and not much thigh. Clearly, Thoth's in trouble. Not to mention that eyelet fabric is all the rage – this peek-a-boo look would transform the loincloth look into a mortifying pube-poking faux pas. Accordingly, we'll have to opt for a solid light blue cotton. The good news is the return of the espadrille, a beneficial style for those with fabulous legs. Thoth can entwine his ripe calves with the shoe's ribbons, thereby drawing attention to the extraordinary amount of lithe muscle he has acquired over the years, working that violin into madness. His best chance for wowing the crowd will take place as he walks up to the podium, should he be invited, so we must make the most out of this important journey. We're not worried that Thoth might resist our fashion guidance – after all, he's not opposed to slipping out of the gold-colored loincloth every now and then. On his Web site (www.skthoth.com) our fashion hero posts a photo of himself in something very 2002, and he writes, "Do I ever where [sic] anything but the gold loin cloth? Check it out! Blue hot pants!!" Thoth, we wish you well, and we hope you make the most out of your 15 minutes. (Amanda Nowinski, with comments from Susan Gerhard) Close-Up and
personal Chicago's indispensable Facets Multimedia has just released Abbas Kiarostami's masterpiece, Close-Up, on video and DVD. There has never been a film quite like this one. Part documentary, part re-creation, it centers on Hossein Sabzian, a poor and unassuming Tehran man who in 1990 passed himself off as the real-life filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf after being mistaken for him by an elderly woman on a public bus. Invited to her upper-class north Tehran home, Sabzian enchanted her entire family with the idea that he was considering making a film about them. When the ruse finally collapsed under the weight of the family's growing suspicions, all participants ended up in court. Enter real-life filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, who came across the story in a newspaper while preparing to shoot another film. As he says in the DVD's accompanying interview, Sabzian's story so captured his imagination that he could not sleep. Postponing his scheduled work, he instead took a camera crew with him to speak to Sabzian, then awaiting trial in jail. Next, Kiarostami ingratiated himself with the judge, who allowed him not only to film the proceedings but even to interrupt them to ask his own questions of the defendant! Still more astoundingly, Kiarostami convinced Sabzian and the Ahankhah family to re-create the events for his camera, all of which led to a surprising ending as exquisite and memorable as anything in film. Folding reality into filmmaking and vice versa, Close-Up ruminates on the transforming power of art with the most subtle and profound philosophical, social, and political implications. "Close-Up is the only film I really like among my films," says Kiarostami. Suggesting why, he points to Sabzian, his situation, his will to self-respect in the role of artist. "This identification I sensed with Sabzian was something I thought I alone felt. But whenever a festival shows the film, people who have nothing in common with him relate so deeply to him that they approach me and ask about how he is doing today. They are deeply concerned about him. This is the best way a film can affect its audience." Dignity is a universal urge, and art may be the last truly democratic avenue for achieving it in our world. For ordering information go to www.facets.org. (Robert Avila) |
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