The play is based on the true story of David Hampton, who in the early 1980s posed as the son of the movie star Sidney Poitier to dupe some well-connected Manhattan residents to give him money and invite him as a guest into their homes. On the most practical level, the play is dated because the specific scam is far less likely to happen in the age of Google. Even the most privileged amongst theatergoers are no longer necessarily drawn to a world on stage that takes privilege as a given - everybody’s assumed point of view - even if that privilege is subtly mocked. The new production, still set in the 1980s, feels dated, and not just because of some now-obscure 1980s references. The play was also given the 1991 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. It achieved a place in our culture for having popularized the concept of its title – that each human being on earth can be connected to every other human being through a relationship chain of six or fewer steps.
This judgment contrasts with the acclaim that Six Degrees of Separation received when it was first produced.
And, while the play touches on such matters as race and class and the struggle for connection in modern life, it does not offer the profound insights that the playwright evidently intends.
But it does not add up to the significant experience that Allison Janney’s character feels. It is funny – sometimes very funny - well crafted, coated with a patina of sparkling sophistication, even at times pointed and almost poignant. Corey Hawkins, Allison Janney, John Benjamin Hickey in Six Degrees of Separation (Photo: Joan Marcus)Īll production photos at With its theatrical roots, it certainly isn't for everyone, but interesting enough to give it merit.Near the end of Six Degrees of Separation, Allison Janney, portraying the first rich white victim of a young black con man, tells her husband that she doesn’t want to turn the experience into an anecdote, “with no teeth and a punch line you’ll mouth over and over for years to come.” But it was an anecdote that John Guare heard from friends, reportedly at a dinner party, that inspired him to write Six Degrees of Separation in the first place, and his 1990 play, now being revived on Broadway for the first time, in fact feels like the theatrical equivalent of a dinner party anecdote. This can certainly be considered a failing, as the film seems lost in itself often times, a bit too bogged down on its own cleverness. The exact tone of the film can be a bit unnerving, in that we're never quite sure if it's being tongue-in-cheek, or unabashedly preachy. The humor is inconsistent, but also undeniable at times. Instead, the film weaved the narrative such that we are painted a portrait of New York socialite life, while also taking the time to give some social commentary (albeit a little on-the-nose). What I appreciated most was how the film incorporated all of the characters, and weaved a story that connected all of them, yet not in an obvious or melodramatic way. The story itself is undeniably intriguing, however. Thus, the film never fully makes the transition from theater to film, many of the situations simply feel more at home in an art house, not a movie. To be sure, capturing the finer points of modern intellectual discourse is tricky, especially in a comedic format (perhaps they should have consulted with Woody Allen), but doing so properly is essential. The acting seems fine, but the lines the characters have to deliver never quite feel true. Six Degrees of Separation manages to give the script a cinematic flavor, changing up the scenes, keeping the story kinetic, but still has a stylistic and affected dialogue which is simply not befitting of a film drama. If done correctly, this can be work, but if done poorly, it can be a disaster. It's very talky, and completely dialogue-driven. That the film is based on a theatrical play is evident throughout. It's a very unique film, though not entirely successful. Six Degrees of Separation is one in a long line of 90s film adaptations of a stage play, centering around a young man, played by Will Smith, who enters the lives of two socialites, both confounding and informing the people he crosses paths with.
0 kommentar(er)
