This So-Called Disaster
Dir. Michael Almereyda. 2003. N/R. 89mins. Documentary.

Put Sean Penn, Nick Nolte and James Gammon in a play written and directed by Sam Shepard and you're pretty much guaranteed a cogent essay on contemporary masculinity, whether it's present in the text or not. Almereyda's intimate backstage documentary, alas, doesn't amount to a cogent essay on anything in particular, despite the director's all-access pass to rehearsals of Shepard's The Late Henry Moss, produced by San Francisco's Magic Theater in late 2000 and starring all of the above plus Woody Harrelson, Cheech Marin and Sheila Tousey. Not without interest, especially for fans of the principals and theater buffs in general, the film is consistently engaging but far from revelatory—an intriguing trifle.

Part of the problem may be that Henry Moss simply isn't very good. TONY's review of the Off Broadway production called the play "mediocre," and what we see of it here makes it look like an unfunny parody of Shepard's work: tyrannical, drunken father; hotheaded brothers coming to blows; etc. Still, a crummy play doesn't necessarily preclude a fascinating rehearsal process. We do get a smattering of insight into Shepard's creative method, as he rewrites scenes over and over ("Let's get rid of this Joseph Conrad shit") and struggles to find the language that will convey his intentions to his actors. But the result isn't even one tenth as rich, evocative and compelling as Topsy-Turvy, Mike Leigh's fictional look at the creation of The Mikado. Neither disaster nor triumph, then. At least in my so-called opinion.—Mike D'Angelo