SEX, DRUGS AND FESTIVALS | August 26th 2008

Marco Nouryby in "Désir", photographed by Joan Marcus

Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE

Our guide to what's on around the world, compiled by Jessica Gallucci and Ariel Ramchandani

SEX BY THE SEAPORT

Past the chain stores and hot dogs of the South Street Seaport, you'll find a touch of anachronistic opulence with a carny flair. "Spiegelworld"--a "circus for grown-ups"--is back in New York for its third summer, offering nights of titillating cabaret in something called a spiegeltent (Flemish for "tent of mirrors"). This elegant teak pavilion, filled with velvet drapes, bevelled glass and art-deco fixtures (and topped with a festive circus spire), dates from the 1920s and enjoys a continental glamour. Its small circular stage hosts two shows of burlesque and dare-devilry through early November--"Absinthe" and "Désir" (which is new). "The space is just so sexy", exclaimed Wayne Harrison, director of "Désir", to this correspondent. "It just gives license to deal with sex." That the performers are so uniformly beautiful, as they swing from the trapeze or balance on one arm, tends to leave audiences feeling simultaneously aroused and inadequate. Patrons can nurse both sensations at the glitzy "Spiegelworld" bar, where people can be seen dancing in the chandelier-like glow of the East River until late at night. ~ E.B.

"Spiegelworld", until November 2nd, Pier 17, New York City

FREEBASING, WOMAN-BEATING, TRUTH-SEEKING

"The Night of the Gun", a new memoir by New York Times columnist David Carr, is the latest debut in a genre ridden with bullet holes. If memoirs always fudged the line between fiction and reality, lately they seem to be the preserve of every Pinocchio with a pen. ("Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story", a punchy publisher friend used to advise.) Not so for Carr, who has been hailed as a "white knight, galloping in to show how a personal story can be engrossing, shocking and true." Indeed, it's the story James Frey wished he could have written (and backed up). An accomplished journalist, Carr approaches his own life with the meticulousness of a reporter, using personal interviews, objective sources, public records and even another reporter to compile material for his book. The result is riveting: a shocking story of substance abuse coupled with career ambition, all capped with a hero's ending. (Carr is now both clean and successful, with a happy marriage and healthy children.) Some critics worry that Carr will inspire lesser journalists to approach the memoir in a similar way, but most herald the book as an artful work of redemption. ~ A.R.

"THE NIGHT OF THE GUN", Simon & Schuster, August 5th

CONVENTION ATTENTION

Denver, the Mile High city, hopes to capitalise on all the attention it is getting this week by proving it is also a culturally rich metropolis. Plenty of public art has been commissioned--from Dialog:City, among others--to coincide with the Democratic convention. The intent is to spark political dialogue. Consider stealing a moment away from the auditorium to take in "Hindsight is Always 20/20", showing at the Denver Performing Arts Complex through Friday. The artist, musician and professor R. Luke DuBois has taken past State of the Union Addresses and fashioned eye test charts from the words, arranged according to their frequency in a president's speeches. What Dialog:City terms "the lexicon of each presidency" can be instructional and chilling: Lincoln's leads with "Emancipation", George Bush's with "Terror". Denver has plans for more permanent cultural riches: a comprehensive new exhibition about the human form, called "Focus: The Figure", will soon have a fixed home at the Denver Art Museum (in a relatively new wing designed by Daniel Libeskind), and a new Clyfford Still Museum is scheduled to open in 2010. ~ A.R.

"HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS 20/20", through August 29th, Denver

A PARADISO OF CINEMA, STRIKERS BE DAMNED

Venice’s private water-taxi drivers have been threatening to go on strike for the duration of the city’s 65th International Film Festival, which begins tomorrow. In the event, locals could find themselves sharing vessels with Brad Pitt, George Clooney or John Malkovich, the stars of “Burn After Reading”, a witty crime romp from the Coen brothers, which inaugurates the festival. Only five English-language films, all from America, are up for competition (the festival’s director says the programme originally included ten American films, but half dropped out owing to delays caused by the Hollywood writers’ strike). The doe-eyed Anne Hathaway--who is best known for her affected naiveté in turns as a Disney princess and a beleaguered magazine assistant--is at last an adult, and a delightfully unhinged one, in “Rachel Getting Married”, a family drama directed by Jonathan Demme. Of the non-English entries, “Akires to Kame”, by Takeshi Kitano and “Birdwatchers”, by Marco Bechis, are not to be missed. ~ J.G.

VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, through September 6th, Lido Island, Venice

YET MORE CELLULOID

Marketed as the "UK's biggest Independent Film Competition", the Portobello Film Festival, opening this Thursday, features over 700 new "features, shorts, documentaries, music films and animation from all over the world", packed into 18 film-filled days. Thursday's kickoff includes "Babylon", a film about black youth and reggae in South London, which was originally released in 1980. The Italian-born director, Franco Rossi, has pointedly described his film as not "in the tradition of English cinema, no way". Another opening highlight is "The Town that Boars Me" (A Close Encounter of the Perverted Swine), a 15-minute musical short from Ben Charles Edwards, a fashion and nightlife photographer. The quirky film features an all-star cast that includes Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Kelly Osbourne and Sadie Frost. According to Edwards, in an interview with the Times' Dominic Wells, his film about a "hybrid pig-boy" who steals women's shoes offers a mix of "glamour and filth". But of course this isn't considered "English cinema" either, which Edwards dismisses as "either about football fans or some lout bashing people’s heads in.” ~ A.R.

PORTOBELLO FILM FESTIVAL, through September 14th, London