VISION PORTRAITS, from p.30
him from taking pictures — with
the assistants’ aid. Dugdale explains
the “freedom” of being blind.
He is able to create because he can
still picture things he once saw.
The next portrait, of dancer Hamilton,
describes the sensations she
has when performing. She closes
her eyes when she dances, which
helps her focus on her movement.
When Hamilton describes a pivotal
appointment with an eye doctor
that changed her life, the effect is
profound, not played for tears. She
interestingly explains how she will
ask the audience to experience her
sightlessness by viewing her performance
through one eye.
Before “Vision Portraits” presents
its last artist, Evans addresses
issues such as “passing as
sighted,” to consider when and how
he chooses to reveal his visual impairment
publicly and professionally.
He questions how the stigma
of being blind might affect his future
career plans and the shame
and fear disabled people sometimes
bring to their encounters in society.
He also laments that as a 40-something
gay man with a disability his
efforts to fi nd a partner-caregiver
are not easy. Evans admits he was
nervous about discussing his own
condition in “Vision Portraits,” but
it is precisely his openness about
self-evaluation that makes the fi lm
so poignant and heartfelt.
The fi nal portrait is of writer
Knighton, who also has retinal
deterioration. Evans juxtaposes
a story of Knighton struggling to
read a book he was holding — he
could not see the text on the pages
(and neither can viewers) — with
a dazzling monologue he presents
on stage about a rattlesnake rodeo
he attended. These episodes demonstrate
the power of storytelling,
something both he and Evans obviously
hold near and dear and is a
source of their palpable bond.
“Vision Portraits” offers the message
that visually-impaired artists
can create work meaningful to
themselves and to viewers. Evans
has done that very thing with this
remarkable documentary.
VISION PORTRAITS | Directed by
Rodney Evans | Stimulus Pictures|
Opens Aug. 9 | Metrograph, 7 Ludlow
St., btwn. Canal & Hester Sts. |
metrograph.com
ONCE... IN HOLLYWOOD, from p.30
excess. Tarantino shows his ability
to build tension by throwing comedy
into the buildup to bloodshed.
Back in 1994, “Pulp Fiction” was
one of Miramax’s fi rst major successes
after its acquisition by Disney.
If “Pulp Fiction” turned “indie
fi lm” into big business the way Nirvana’s
“Nevermind” did to alternative
rock, the 2019 version of Disney
doesn’t have much interest in fi lms
that aren’t sequels, reboots, and/
or comic book adaptations. “Once
Upon a Time in…Hollywood” isn’t
exactly waving a fl ag for realistic
fi lms about adults — its sensibility
seems derived from nerdy adolescent
fantasy about how cool it’d be
to work in Hollywood as well as a
feeling of middle-aged burnout. But
as a Hollywood release, it’s leftfi eld
next to “Toy Story 4,” “Spider-Man:
Far From Home,” “The Lion King,”
and even “Yesterday.” If Tarantino
weren’t already well established as
his own franchise, Sony wouldn’t
be releasing it on 2,000 screens.
While “Once Upon a Time in…
Hollywood” is very entertaining, it
comes across as a mechanism to
keep anxiety about mainstream
American cinema’s decline at bay.
If the Manson family’s murders
are seen as an apocalyptic portent
of the end of the ‘60s dream, they
serve here as a symbol of change
in the fi lm industry. Yet Tarantino
seems too complacent. This is his
fi rst post-#MeToo fi lm, and his reputation
has sunk after revelations
he knew about Harvey Weinstein’s
sexual abuse while making seven
fi lms with him as well as the fact
that his negligence on the “Kill Bill”
set led to Uma Thurman suffering
permanent injuries in a stunt. None
of this rises to the surface of “Once
Upon a Time in… Hollywood,” but
it lingers in the fi lm’s placement of
Tate on a pedestal and fear of ditzy
“hippie chicks” lurking on LA’s
fringes Seen in this light, the fi lm’s
contempt for the counterculture
and lack of interest in the coming
New Hollywood come across as a
defensive move.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN… HOLLYWOOD
| Directed by Quentin Tarantino
| Sony Pictures
an evacuation
“ I have sure
plan. I will make does too.”
ZONE my family 3
Bushra QUEENS
Visit NYC.gov/knowyourzone or call 311 to find out what to do
to prepare for hurricanes in NYC #knowyourzone
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GayCityNews.com | August 1 - August 14, 2019 31
/metrograph.com
/knowyourzone
/GayCityNews.com
