Based on a play, The Deep Blue Sea is predictably at it’s best when two people sit in a room and talk. The middle half hour is a really interesting character piece that works beautifully, unfortunately the beginning and the end stretch interminably, feeling more like a nine hour mini-series studying snails-paced camera moves, melodramatic violin, and the elegance of backlit cigarette smoke.

In post WWII London, Hester (Rachel Weisz, The Whistleblower) walks out on her passionless marriage to William, a wealthy judge (Simon Russell Beale, My Week With Marilyn), to take up with a vivacious and handsome ex-war pilot named Freddie (Tom Hiddleston, Midnight in Paris), who, though poor and uncultured, gives her the kind of romance of which she has always dreamed. As their affair turns into reality, she realizes that his passion for having fun trumps his passion for her. She tries to balance his lust for life with culture and domestication, but he resents her for her constant hovering. William returns to prove that he loves her in spite of everything, but she’s determined that a life without Freddie would be pointless.

The film announces whose side we’re supposed to take when Hester’s painfully clichéd, proper-yet-cruel, British mother-in-law announces, “Beware of passion, Hester, it always leads to something ugly. A guuuuaaaarded enthusiasm is much safer.” But then the rest of the movie makes living for passion look like the longest game of Russian roulette ever. Was the passion worth the pain? I vote no.

Weisz has received a lot of accolades for her performance as Hester, whose pain and confusion she plays very well, but for me, Beale brought all of the life to this movie as her tea-toting, mama’s boy of a husband. The first half swings between extremely long shots of Hester either idolizing Freddie or torturing herself by agonizing over his absence and intentions. Both Weisz and the filmmakers do an excellent job of showing us why she puts up with Freddie by including extended sequences of the delight he brings to her life, but after a short while it’s like watching her repeatedly drive at full speed into a brick wall. When William shows up again, his presence brings with it interesting questions about the ideals of passion and love, what exactly one has to do with the other, and if you had to choose between them, which would it be? Those conversations feel exploratory and worthwhile where the rest of the movie feels morose to the point of stagnation. I always know a movie is slow when I find myself composing the sentences of my review in my head instead of getting lost in the story. I spent probably an hour and 20 minutes of it’s 98-minute running time lining up what you’ve just read.

My personal opinion: If I had rented it, I would have turned it off way before it got to any of the good parts. Skip it. —Jake Jarvi

The Auxiliary of NorthShore University HealthSystem at Evanston & Glenbrook Hospitals Kicks Off 40th Annual Gala at Northfield’s Zapatista

On Monday, March 12, more than 50 members and friends of The Auxiliary of NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) at Evanston & Glenbrook Hospitals gathered at Zapatista in Northfield to kick-off the organization’s 40^th annual Gala, “Latin Nights, City Lights.” The party offered guests a glimpse of the Latin flair and fusion they will enjoy at this year’s highly anticipated event. Guests sipped sangria and margaritas while sampling spicy Latin cuisine. This year’s Gala co-chairs, Julie Karagianis and Gayle Stellas welcomed guests and introduced Demetrius M. Maraganore, MD, Ruth Cain Ruggles Chair of the Department of Neurology at NorthShore. Dr. Maraganore’s visionary research, “The DodoNA Project: DNA Prediction to Improve Neurological Health,” will once again serve as the beneficiary of the Gala.Dr. Maraganore shared his vision for The DodoNA Project, which is ultimately to be able to predict, prevent and halt neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, brain tumors and multiple sclerosis.

This year’s Gala, “Latin Nights, City Lights,” will take place at the Hilton Chicago Grand Ballroom on Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 6:30 PM. The evening will include live entertainment, dinner, dancing, tempting silent and live auctions, and much more! Tickets are $400 and all proceeds will support The DodoNA Project at NorthShore.

For more information about The Auxiliary of NorthShore at Evanston & Glenbrook Hospitals, or to RSVP to the Gala, contact The Auxiliary office at 847-570-5041 or via email at auxiliary@northshore.org. For more information, please visit northshore.org/gala. —Stacy Flannery

A notable name in popular culture, once again, due to the rise in Marilyn Monroe mania courtesy of the success of the Academy Award nominated film My Week with Marilyn and the television show Smash, Arthur Miller is proven to be much more than celebrity fodder with Raven Theatre’s devoted production of one of his latter works, The Price. As Monroe’s one time husband, he is often presented as a genius who misunderstood her intense needs, but as a playwright even his failures, which The Price does not count itself among, have moments of true brilliance.

Nominated for the Tony Award for Best New Play in 1968, The Price explores the complicated undertones of familial devotion and heartbreakingly exhibits the sacrifices that one makes because of it.

On the eve of his retirement, longstanding beat cop Victor Franz arrives at the attic apartment of his deceased father. Victor is urged to get a good price for the remaining belongings by his emotionally strained wife, whom believes Victor gave up a successful future to care for his ailing father. But just as he seals a deal with an ancient broker, his long estranged brother, Walter, arrives on the scene. As Walter, a successful doctor, tries to sway his brother towards a more lucrative tax deal, old regrets and deep hurts are revealed that ultimately may destroy the siblings’ relationship forever.

Lovingly directed by Michael Menendian, The Price is ultimately Victor’s story – a portrait of a man who has done the right thing yet finds himself questioning his acts due to the insistent rumblings of his wife and brother. Interestingly, despite the entire cast’s skill, it is veteran actor Leonard Kraft as the friendly yet wily antique dealer Gregory Solomon who steals the show. Kraft’s honest portrayal never makes you doubt Solomon’s decent sincerity, despite his seemingly predatory profession.

Aided by Amanda Roziarek’s appropriately layered scenic design, Richard Norwood’s moody lighting and JoAnn Montemurro’s character specific costumes, this production of The Price is ultimately a strong tribute to the artistic nature of Miller, rightly considered one of our best, often humanistically passionate modern playwrights.

The Price runs until April 14th at the Raven Theatre Company, 6157 North Clark Street in Chicago. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased by calling 773-338-2177 or by visiting www.raventheatre.com. —Brian Kirst





The latest outing starring modern film’s answer to Audrey Hepburn, Audrey Tautou (Amelie), is a fantastic character piece that explores exactly how easy it should be to fall in love and how hard it can be to be in love. The drama in it feels true, the comedy feels effortless, and the relationships it explores are genuinely interesting. It’s a great matinee movie for anyone who’s ever been in love.

Natalie (Tautou) is completely devastated when her perfect husband, François, is killed in a car accident. Unable to face even her family, she throws herself into her work for years, much to the benefit of her professional standing, but at the cost of any meaningful personal life. Her isolation gets the best of her when she—in a lonely daze—finds herself kissing a homely Swedish co-worker, Markus (François Damiens, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies). The two of them become closer as they start seeing each other outside of work, but must contend with her feelings of betraying her late husband, and her friends and colleagues disbelief that a woman as elegant as Natalie could find anything in an oaf like Markus.

Though the plot doesn’t have any urgency or forward momentum to push the audience ahead of it, Delicacy does a fabulous job of creating characters that we’re pleased to follow as they drift from scene to scene. The performances are wonderful, especially Tautou and Damiens, who made me root for them on their rocky road to a relationship despite how much I felt early on that no one could replace her husband. Even though I’ve lately found myself with a personal vendetta against movies that don’t even attempt to have a conventional plot structure, the characters crafted by writer David Foenkinos, adapating his own novel, feel so personal that I quickly got over it and just went for the ride. The dual explorations of grief after losing a spouse and the hurtful reactions of trusted friends to a relationship between two disparately attractive people are riveting, and more than a little heartbreaking.

My only complaint lies with a few distracting fantasy sequences staged by the film’s two directors. You’ll immediately recognize this kind of whimsical aside as popularized by David E. Kelley in Ally McBeal and perfected by Tautou’s career-maker, Jean Pierre Jeunet in Amélie. Instead of seeing a couple on their wedding day in a church, they’ll stand perfectly still while snow starts to fall around them in a park, a dissolve will get them into their wedding clothes, and they’ll turn around to the sound of applause before we jump cut to the next scene. Not so great. Or a man’s sudden increase in confidence will find him walking up a hill getting eyed up and kissed on the cheek by a string of beautiful women walking the other direction. A little heavy handed. Instead of adding a touch of fanciful flair to the picture, these asides take us out of the story and remind us that we’re sitting in a movie theater. Fortunately, they don’t last very long and they’re accompanied by a few subtle visual sequences that are absolute perfection, like Tautou dancing her heart out alone in the middle of a club surrounded by couples while her best friend looks on, silently mourning for her.

My personal opinion: If you don’t make it to the theater for this one, it’s definitely worth picking reserving when it shows up at your public library. —Jake Jarvi