Thursday, November 21, 2013
Zzzzz
Actually it is pretty good. Not a snoozer. I watched Liza with a Z (1972) because Bob Fosse directed and conceived it. At the time, it was a breakthrough for concert television. Nothing but the singing, music and dancing. And Liza. He did it on film which had never been done and while there are obvious breaks from time to time as well as a little lypsynching, the whole enterprise is shown with sweat and puffing. It is hard work. This was a breakout film for Minnelli who then had a kind of second wind with it when it appeared at festivals here and there in the early aughts. Minelli was and is a very talented if quirky performer. Here she is pre-schtick. The fake laughs and batting eyes. Before she kind of became a caricature of herself. Fresh and very good. The songs are good and the dancing wonderful. A textbook of Fosse moves. A 4 out of Netflix5.Cleaning the house today. Them not me. It means some upset and displacement but it is always good to have things fresh and smelling good. I have never had men before. Less fussy, if I may say so. I get to review the work each time. They want feedback and some direction. We are about finished with the extra stuff which has been going on for a few months. We started with a top to bottom clean with four people and now are down to finally cleaning the heating vents and that will be about it. The garage is even clean. We did this ourselves for three years and it began to show. Less fussy. But the "client" was fussier and didn't like the fact that there were some grimy corners. Now, I get to direct. To stand back. To be the fault finder, although I try to be nice about it and to pace things out.
