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A14 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 3 June 2022
The pain and beauty of 'Crimes of the Future'

By LINDSEY BAHR all over his body perform-
AP Film Writer ing a modern dance. But,
Pain is a essentially a thing like the first five minutes,
of the past for some in Da- "Crimes of the Future" does
vid Cronenberg's " Crimes not seem to have been
of the Future," a dense, gor- crafted to shock and dis-
geous and grotesque med- turb. Cheap thrills are for
itation on bodies, creation the newbies.
and art. Suffering, howev- Cronenberg has things
er, is still alive and well as he wants to say: About
everyone grapples with the art, about pain, about self
enormity of that fact that sacrifice, about evolution,
human evolution has "gone about creativity, about eth-
wrong." ics, about sex and about
It may be more mystifying beauty.
than illuminating when all is There is a lot of plot and
said and done, but it is cer- conspiracy swirling around
tainly a uniquely captivat- Caprice and Saul, includ-
ing experience with wildly ing a secretive new gov-
imaginative creations, in- ernment department
teresting performances, called the National Or-
challenging ideas and one gan Registry and the two
of the best scores of the weirdos ( Kristen Stewart
year. and Don McKellar) who
Cronenberg, whose name work there. Stewart's rule-
is forever destined and This image released by Neon shows Léa Seydoux, background, and Viggo Mortesen in a scene abiding and small-voiced
doomed to be mentioned from "Crimes of the Future." Timlin, whom Caprice calls
any time any filmmaker at- Associated Press "especially creepy," be-
tempts to put their spin on comes a lusty superfan af-
"body horror," went viral for quite disturbing does hap- invited guests at a hospital, come specimens for dis- ter seeing their show. There
a comment in which he pen in the first five minutes. he and his partner Caprice play. are some strange techni-
predicted that some peo- But the way he depicts the (Léa Seydoux) have turned And it's not nearly as repul- cians, played by Tanaya
ple would walk out of this horrific deed is done with it into an opportunity for sive or punishing as it might Beatty and Nadia Litz, and
film within the first five min- enough gravity to dispel performance art. Invasive sound — take it from this the grieving father (Scott
utes. He didn't mean every any worries about it being surgery and pain manage- extremely squeamish critic Speedman) of a dead boy
audience, he'd go on to there for exploitative shock ment have become things who went in with an empty skulking around their shows,
clarify, just a party-seeking value. It simply makes you that individuals do them- stomach, bracing for the and a detective (Welket
festival audience who ei- intrigued about where this selves, with the help of cus- absolute worst. It could Bungué) adding a noir ele-
ther wasn't familiar with or is all going. And it's helped tom, alien-like machines have been pretty horri- ment to the proceedings.
didn't care to be open to along by Howard Shore's that hold and manipulate fying, too: There's blood While I'll never fault a movie
his work. Still, it's the kind of mournful, masterful score. your body and anticipate and scalpels, expectant for having a lot on its mind,
provocative comment that This is a world in which bod- pain. flesh (Mortensen's torso al- "Crimes of the Future" does
seems like a dare, and not ies are mutating. Viggo Saul's surgery, which Ca- most deserves a support- also often feel like it's about
one to take lightly from the Mortensen, playing Saul price performs, is a pub- ing credit), incisions galore, everything and nothing.
man who made "The Fly," Tenser, forms new and nov- lic spectacle, heavy with pulsating organs, gagging, It's endlessly quotable and
"Crash" and "Videodrome." el organs regularly. Instead meaning and metaphor. drills, purple vomit, cloudy also hard to fully digest in
And, indeed, something of simply removing the un- His extracted organs be- saliva and a man with ears one sitting.q

Prize-winning Texas drama teacher to get special Tony Award

By MARK KENNEDY nizes U.S. educators from The award includes a
NEW YORK (AP) — The spe- kindergarten to 12th grade $10,000 prize and a pair
cial Tony Award that hon- who have "demonstrated of tickets to the Tony cer-
ors educators will go to a monumental impact on emony and gala. A panel
drama teacher in Texas the lives of students and of judges comprised of the
who argues that "musical who embodies the highest American Theatre Wing,
theater has a unique way standards of the profes- The Broadway League,
of bringing people togeth- sion." Carnegie Mellon and other
er." "In theater we accept all, leaders from the theater
Roshunda Jones-Koumba, so you're not afraid to be industry selects the winner,
the theater director at G.W. yourself. And that gives based on candidates sub-
Carver Magnet High School you confidence to do any- mitted by the public.
in Houston will receive the thing you want, enables Jones-Koumba has already
2022 Excellence in Theatre you to work with different received two prestigious
Education Award on June people, and to be a better awards for 2021— the Ste-
Roshunda Jones-Koumba, a drama teacher at G. W. Carver 12 at the Tony Awards in all-around person," Jones- phen Schwartz Musical
Magnet High School in Houston, appears in an undated photo. New York City. Koumba said in a state- Theatre Teacher of the
Jones-Koumba will receive the 2022 Excellence in Theatre Edu- The annual education ment. "Theatre is Life. I'm Year Award and the Inter-
cation Award. award bestowed by the very grateful to The Tony national Thespian Society
Associated Press Tony Awards and Carnegie Awards and Carnegie Mel- Inspirational Theatre Edu-
Mellon University recog- lon University for this honor." cator Award.q