Average Rating: 7.3/10
Reviews Counted: 29
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 13
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
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In 2000, director Michael Almereyda brought his film crew to San Francisco to document the rehearsal process for the Magic Theater's production of Sam Shepard's play The Late Henry Moss, as directed by the playwright himself. The resulting film, This So-Called Disaster, is partly a study of the magic of theater, as well as a study of the fascinating Shepard, who is nearly universally considered one of the most influential American dramatists of the past century. Shepard and Almereyda's first
Apr 21, 2004 Wide
Dec 14, 2004
IFC Films
All Critics (34) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (3) | DVD (3)
One of the finer peeks into the creative process of staging a play.
In its vision of the push-and-pull of rehearsal and the revelation of how a play comes to breathing, snorting life onstage, Almereyda's video brings us close to the act of creation.
Theater lovers are likely to find the film interesting even when it zigs and zags.
It's fun to see actors doing what they do and to see them through the eyes of a director.
An unbridled orgy of uninhibited Stanislavsky.
Not as insightful as Topsy-Turvy or Vanya on 42nd Street about the process of putting on a show, it's nonetheless a fascinating meeting of the minds.
Will appeal mostly to those who love theater and relish the opportunity to see a production being built, scene by scene.
Consistently engrossing, with nary a dull moment, and very enlightening on what is popularly called "the actor's process."
A fractured but compelling piece of reality theater.
Lets us hang out with, and really meet for the first time, artists we thought we already knew.
In the end, what takes shape is not just a significant unraveling of Shepard's taciturn mystique, but a potent sense of the pain and rigor of revealing oneself through art.
Ultimately, you leave This So-Called Disaster with renewed respect for Shepard, who comes off as a kind of quiet hero: a man of words, confronting his past with little fuss, and from it creating a legacy.
As a portrait of a collaborative artist at work, the film is an invaluable document, not to be missed by anyone with more than a passing interest in theater.
One of the most pleasurable documentaries in recent memory.
"This So-Called Disaster" is a documentary directed by Michael Almereyda about the 2000 San Francisco production of Sam Shepard's play,"The Late Henry Moss", which was inspired by his father's life. Shepard directed Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson, James Gannon, Cheech Marin and Sheila Tousey(what a cast!) in
August 9, 2005Super Reviewer
Following the play rehearsals is only mildly entertaining. It's the reminiscent interviews with Shepard and Nolte that make it. And yes, Sean Penn really is a jerk.
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