"UN/A" by Ballet BC

(The Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 24 April 2014)

When consuming science, one attends to others' questions. To art, one comes with one's own questions, superimposes them onto art, and scans for answers. This superposition works best with art that uses a universal language and is not literal. Because it inflects bodies, dance is the most evocative such language.

Ballet BC are not constrained by the need (actual or perceived) to conform to ancient prejudices as to what ballet ought to be. Hence, they succeed at venturing beyond sport and deal in art. In "UN/A," their vocabulary is apt, but the narrative is mostly shallow, except in “Lost and Seek” (by Gustavo Ramirez Sansano), which praises sociality without succumbing to socialism.

To be appreciated, some art requires formal training. Pure mathematics does. Popular art does not; it relies on common experiences instead. A programme that instructs how one should feel when confronted with ambiguity and what the choreographer would have said in plain English were he not trapped in the contractual obligation to express himself through mute avatars misprizes popular art.

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

The realisation that science could be used to satisfy the material needs of the many---not just to intellectually gratify the few---had been a major innovation. Scientists and engineers---not poets or revolutionaries---are called upon to build spacecraft, hospitals, and cities. By contrast, the practice of calling upon experts---in addition to passionate demagogues---in matters of politics and economics has not yet universally caught on. Among the reasons for this omission may be the tyranny of special interests and the popular illusion that passion replaces expertise in matters that (one thinks) one encounters in one's daily life. Passion and empathy may be necessary to lead a social-design team, but they cannot replace expertise.

The motion picture is protracted and schematic. Its protagonists lack the charisma of the figures they are supposed to grow into by the end of their journey.

Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

Whatever one chooses to do or be may not work out. When it does not, one gets a chance at another life. Most have just one; for most, one is enough. Multiple lives liberate or ruin the individual; they educate the rest.

One can make up in intensity what one lacks in continuity.

Idiot's Delight

(Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 8 February 2014)

The play's protagonist is an idea, not any one person. This idea is the absurdity of national allegiance. The Great American Songbook is identified as a viable alternative to the Internationale. Even though this 1936 play has not caught on, its ideals have.

The Groundhog Day (1993)

Boredom invites to think, change, and correct. In film, it is hard to convey boredom engagingly. The film-maker must compromise. The hundred and one-minutes of "The Groundhog Day" are too few to advance the plot while showing the boredom that leads to despair. The sought monotony of the routine might be convincing on repeated viewings.

Andie MacDowell's acting is restrained---perhaps, to make sure that she does not appear to be out of her suitor's league. Nor does Bill Murray steal any scenes (although he tries). The movie is even, timidly light-hearted.

There is only one world, that which one must change.

Débora First (2010)

In this fictional vignette, three friends design friendship in a series of café conversations.

Her (2013)

Among the ideals of equality, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the last is quintessentially American. An American devours any idea that promises a chance of greater happiness. If this idea fails, undaunted, he moves on to another. The pursuit of happiness has installed the taste for perpetual design into America's DNA.

Liberty cultivates tolerance, which encourages social experimentation. A degree of equality ensures that no life that one can usefully learn from is wasted.

"Her" can be watched without sound (or alternatively, without visuals). The movie's representation of the near future is loyal to the original. The improvements are in interior, sartorial, and urban designs; the make-up is subtler; the manners are milder; the age is post-advertising and the better for it. The movie is set in the America whose success has ushered a post-American era.

Individuals waste their time with pets. The time spent with an OS would at least cary the promise of personal growth. As flight simulators make better pilots, OS friends would make one better at interacting with humans. The menial aspects of psychotherapists' and child psychologists' jobs would be outsourceable to machines. When with other humans, humans would devote themselves to the art, not the predicament, of human communication.

The casting and acting are impeccable. Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson develop characters, not personalities. Joaquin Phoenix (Theodore) is careful (and carefully chosen) not to make his character bigger than his intended part. Rooney Mara is skilfully miscast as Theodore's ex-wife.