“Love, Cecil” (Seth Shire)

June 27, 2018.  “Love Cecil” is the new, remarkably detailed and researched documentary, by director Lisa Immordino Vreeland, about the life and work of Cecil Beaton (1904 – 1980), an artist who was many things: photographer of Hollywood and British royalty, New York City street photographer, war photographer, fashion photographer, designer, theatre director, stage designer, insecure social climber, foppish dandy, writer, costume designer, seeker of style and glamour and a serious diarist (155 volumes).  Beaton was a three time Oscar winner, for Best Costume Designer for “Gigi” (1958), then won two more Oscars for Costume Design and Art Direction – Set Decoration for “My Fair lady” (1964).  He was a dedicated scrap book creator (77 volumes), friend of Garbo, a fan of Edwardian bravura, contributor to “Vogue” and “Life” magazines.  All of these melded into one point of view – that of Beaton, a talent in so many areas.  “It’s always Beaton’s look, Beaton’s touch,” one interviewee explains.

The result is “Love, Cecil,” a kaleidoscopic portrait of artistic talent tied to a man, an outsider to English high society who desired, and received, the company of what he called “Bright, Young Things” (mainly code for closeted, gay, upper class), of the then fashionable British society.  Beaton was never confident that he had been truly accepted into this upper class stratum, as he was not “to the manor born,” something which actually may have been a driving force for his art, in which he continually tried to prove himself.  Beaton was also gay at a time when homosexuality was against the law – another aspect of his life which made him feel like an outsider.  Beaton was a complex artist whose life itself was, perhaps, a performance of sorts.

Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema (continued)

August 9, 2017. The ”Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema,” continues now through August 13. Film festivals remind me of the story of three blind people describing an elephant. The person at the pachyderm’s trunk describes it one way. The person at the tail has a different point of view. Still, the person in the middle has a completely different experience. Considering that the festival is presenting 150 films from 24 countries, over a 10 day period, everyone who goes will come away with a different point of view.