The Romanian Film Festival

The other night, we went to the opening night of the Romanian Film Festival, mostly to see the film, and partially to see what the crowd was like.   The film, "Of Men and Snails", was a kind of Romanian version of "The Full Monty";  set in 1992, it chronicles the attempt of some workers to save their factory from being shut down.  They propose to raise money to buy the factory by donating sperm to a sperm bank (Romanian humor!).  The French buyers pretend to propose to turn the factory into a snail canning facility.   It was entertaining, but didn't really have the pitch black humor that we enjoy in contemporary Romanian films.  But not coming to a theater near you.   And we got to see Romanian film stars and directors.

Wanderings in the Metropolitan Museum

I went to the Metropolitan Museum the other day to see a  small exhibit of Klee paintings.   (The Met has quite a large collection of them.)   They are wonderful to see in person, because the texture and character never really come across in reproductions.  It is surprising to me how delightfully messy Klee's work is.  In one painting, the canvas is nailed to the frame, and the nails are not painted over.  There are sometimes little punctures, leftover globs of paint, and the painting board itself may be warped.  And the lines, of course, are never straight.

I took a quick look at the new Matisse show, which received rave reviews in the NY Times, but there were so many people there that one could barely see the paintings.

Then I wandered, and saw a small exhibit about the interaction of American artists and African art in the early 20th century; different from the European story that we know, because African art also became an inspiration for African-American artists.

Then I saw this Mayan 8th century painted limestone, which made me think of Klee in its color palette and texture.

Then, an icon painting, which turns out to be from 17th century Ethiopia.  I never would have guessed.

I can never get tired of wandering in the Met.