Page 30 - aruba-today-20181020

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 20 OctOber 2018

Melissa McCarthy in ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’

By JAKE COYLE holding her tongue — a dis-
Associated Press tinctly New York creature if
The early 1990s New York ever there was one. And
of Marielle Heller’s “Can her fear of slipping away is
You Ever Forgive Me?” isn’t painfully real.
so long ago but it already That McCarthy is utterly
feels staggeringly distant. at home in a more dra-
It’s a New York of publish- matic part comes as little
ing industry cocktail par- surprise. She was the best
ties, of book stores, lots of thing in 2014’s misjudged
them, and of scheming, “St. Vincent” and even her
foul-mouthed eccentrics. broadest of comedic per-
Lee Israel (Melissa McCar- formances tremble with
thy) and her partner-in- tenderness and soul. She’s
crime Jack Hock (Richard E. simply one of the best ac-
Grant) are two such dyed- tors working today, and it
in-Zabar’s characters. Life didn’t take a drama to see
has been kind to neither of that.
them. Israel’s latest book, a This image released by Fox Searchlight Pictures shows Melissa McCarthy in a scene from “Can “Can You Ever Forgive
biography of Estee Lauder, You Ever Forgive Me?” Me?” sings best — or rath-
lies stacked on the 75 per- Associated Press er, grumbles spectacularly
cent-off table. now her agent (Jane Cur- With nowhere left to turn, memoir of the same title. — when McCarthy and
When she runs into her old tin, brilliant) won’t return Israel begins forging celeb- Heller’s film, adapted by Grant are together. They
friend at a bar (it’s still day- her calls. A 51-year-old gay rity letters from the likes of Nicole Holofcener and are kindred misfits and mal-
light outside but both are woman who lives with her Franny Brice, Noel Coward, Jeff Whitty, has brought to contents happy for each
well on their way), Lee asks cat in a small apartment on Dorothy Parker and Louise the screen all the strange other’s company. It’s been
Jack, a former actor, what the Upper West Side, Israel Brooks. Sometimes adding ironies of Israel’s famous more than three decades
he’s been doing with his is struck by writer’s block or, to real letters, sometimes fraud. (Her forgeries even- since “Withnail and I,” and
life. “This and that,” Jack possibly, is just drinking too faking the stationery alto- tually attracted the atten- Grant remains the best
says brightly. And then much. Her sad predica- gether, she’s able to con- tion of the FBI and she was drinking buddy in movies.
with a chagrined grimace: ment infuriates her, and vincingly mimic their voic- sentenced to six months As the even-more-down-
“Mostly that.” caustic wit fires out of her es. They fetch her a decent house arrest. Israel died in on-his-luck Hock, Grant is
Israel has penned well-re- indiscriminately. Nothing paycheck from book stores 2014 at 75.) a paragon of debauched
ceived biographies on Tal- arouses her fury like Tom and collectors. She’s good “Can You Ever Forgive decadence, tragic and
lulah Bankhead and Doro- Clancy; she bitterly curses at it, too. “I’m a better Me?” has justly won praise magnificent at once. His
thy Kilgallen, but interest in his millions while being be- Dorothy Parker than Doro- as one of McCarthy’s best regal bearing crackles with
her books has dried up and hind her rent. thy Parker,” says Israel with and most dramatic perfor- a sly wickedness. “Do not
genuine pride. mances. underestimate sparking
The story is a real one, first As Israel, she’s a gloriously blues eyes and a little bit of
recounted in Israel’s glee- embittered, hard-drinking street smarts,” he tells Israel
fully unrepentant 2008 curmudgeon incapable of in mid-hustle.q

Banksy posts video

saying incomplete

shredding a malfunction

By The Associated Press Sotheby’s did not name
Banksy posted a new video the buyer.
to his website Tuesday im- The partial shredding drew
plying the partial shredding speculation that the act
of his “Girl With Balloon” at was a stunt to increase the
a London auction was sup- value of the painting of a
posed to have been com- young girl reaching for a
plete. The video shows the heart-shaped red balloon.
famously anonymous art- The canvas was shredded In this undated photo
provided by Sotheby’s the
ist constructing the shred- to right above the girl’s spray-painted canvas ‘Girl
ding mechanism inside an head, leaving the balloon with Balloon’ by artist Banksy
ornate frame and pushing intact. The end of the new is pictured.
a button in a black box to video notes: “In rehearsals Associated Press
activate the destruction at it worked every time...” A the mechanism in a studio
Sotheby’s in London earlier complete shredding of the space, then it rolls on to the
this month. The act shocked same design is then shown. outside of Sotheby’s before
the crowd, but the winning The nearly 3-minute long the auction. People mill-
bidder, a European col- video is titled, “Shred the ing about sipping Cham-
lector, went ahead and Love, the Director’s cut.” It pagne and nibbling hors
bought it anyway for $1.4 shows hands and a hood- d’oeuvres are next up, in-
million, according to the ed figure (Banksy is fond cluding some standing in
auction house. of hoodies) constructing front of the painting. q