Latest news with #ThankYouVeryMuch
Sky News AU
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin torches Australia's creative industry and its minister Tony Burke after backflip on controversial artist
Arts Minister Tony Burke has been lashed for backflipping after a controversial artist was reinstated to represent Australia at the prestigious 2026 Venice Biennale art festival. Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin rebuked Mr Burke and Creative Australia for re-adding Khaled Sabsabi, whose art has depicted a former terrorist leader and 9/11 archival footage. Creative Australia, the nation's top arts council, moved to reinstate Mr Sabsabi and his curator Michael Dagostino as representatives to a prestigious art festival on Wednesday, later issuing a lengthy public apology. They were dumped in February due to concerns over historic artworks, with one artwork, titled 'Thank You Very Much' (2006), depicting archival footage of the 9/11 attacks. The second piece titled 'You' included footage of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declaring 'divine victory'. The sacking prompted outrage from the artistic community and became a public relations nightmare for Creative Australia's board. Mr Ryvchin said the reinstatement of Mr Sabasi 'raises a lot of questions about process' after his works were deemed too controversial in February. 'Suddenly something has transpired in the intervening months to make him fit again, and worthy of an apology and reinstatement,' Mr Ryvchin told Sky News on Thursday. 'His artwork … (is) at best ambiguous and at worst flattering and honorific.' The Jewish leader said he thought the artist needed to explain his intentions, particularly during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Mr Ryvchin said Mr Sabasi had not clearly explained that he did not want to depict the terrorist leader in a glorifying way, but rather wanted to 'stoke controversy and create debate'. The Jewish leader defended artistic freedom of expression, but questioned if Mr Sabasi was the best Australia had to offer. 'It's a question of whether this guy is the best that we have to represent Australia on the world stage,' he said. 'Is this the best we can do? 'What does it say about our artistic scene, about our cultural scene, and what does it about the arts as being a place of inclusion and tolerance, which it professes to be?' Mr Ryvchin said the artistic sector had increasingly become eroded as its people harbour a 'very narrow political agenda'. The Jewish leader scolded the Arts Minister for being ambiguous and undecisive, and questioned if the move to reinstate the artist was odds with Australia's values. However, Mr Burke said the artworks were the 'exact opposite of something that could be seen to promote terrorism,' and pointed to Creative Australia's report to justify the artist's reinstatement. Asked about Mr Burke's backflip, the Jewish leader said the Arts Minister referred to the report as revealing that the art was never intended to glorify terrorism. 'But when you actually read through the report, it doesn't say anything of the sort. It talks about processes and the need to do things a little bit better and so forth,' he said. 'But in terms of the art itself and how it's interpreted and whether it accords with Australian values and whether he should have been nominated in the first place to represent Australia, (it) doesn't say anything about that. 'So the fact that he's now been given this lavish apology reinstated, it's a great victory not only to the artist himself, who appears to be of dubious character and integrity given the nature of his works, but also to people that revel in this sort of thing, that believe that the arts should be going more and more in a particular ideological direction.' Mr Ryvchin said the artist representing the country at the Vienna Biennale was a 'blight on our Australian culture." He said the country had 'many wonderful, talented artists' who were far more deserving than someone who held veiled views towards terror leaders and atrocities.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Andy Kaufman Is Me' Review: Solid but Unrevelatory Doc Uses Puppetry to Tackle the Iconic Comic
I've sat through enough duplicative documentaries over the years to know that there's very little harm, but also very little illumination, in viewing multiple projects about Fyre Festival or that ill-fated submarine or Woodstock '99. Just because I watched Alex Braverman's Thank You Very Much, which launched at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, doesn't mean that it's bad to rehash most of the same biographical plot points and pivotal TV appearances of the enigmatic Andy Kaufman in Clay Tweel's new documentary, Andy Kaufman Is Me, premiering at Tribeca. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Surviving Ohio State' Review: HBO's Sexual Abuse Doc Is Thorough and Persuasive, but Lacks a New Smoking Gun 'A Tree Fell in the Woods' Review: Josh Gad and Alexandra Daddario in an Uneven, Occasionally Insightful Relationship Dramedy Jim Sheridan's 'Re-creation' Puts One of Ireland's Most Troubling Murder Cases Back on Trial It happens that the two Andy Kaufman documentaries are nicely complementary texts, featuring basically no overlapping talking heads and landing on mostly different life events as pivotal to Kaufman's development, even if they exert a lot of effort in coming to the same self-evident conclusion: Because so much of Andy Kaufman's life was performance art, and because Andy Kaufman died in 1984, we may never know the real Andy Kaufman — but darned if we aren't going to attempt extremely rudimentary psychiatric analysis in our failed attempt to unravel the mystery. Andy Kaufman Is Me, which at least has a distinctive visual approach that Kaufman probably would have appreciated, is narrowly the better of the two fine documentaries. That said, I think we've hit a brick wall in this thesis on the highly influential, thoroughly unknowable icon. We can maybe wait a decade or two for our next Andy Kaufman documentary, at least until somebody has a fresher idea. Boasting the credit 'Produced in Consultation with The Estate of Andy Kaufman,' Andy Kaufman Is Me absolutely feels like the more 'authorized' documentary. Tweel — and producers including Dwayne Johnson, for whatever reason — is able to build his version of Kaufman's story around extensive interviews with siblings Michael and Carol; Kaufman's own audio journals; and a wide assortment of recorded conversations between biographer Bill Zehme and Kaufman's father Stanley as well as other key figures. The immediacy of these relations and connections contributes warmth and poignancy, but not necessarily deep insight into the man that Kaufman actually became. The Braverman documentary, with its interviews with Kaufman's longtime creative collaborator Bob Zmuda and longtime girlfriend Lynne Margulies, had much better representation from the individuals closest to Kaufman at the peak of his fame and infamy — hence my feeling that these two documentaries nestle nicely into each other, even if there's an inherent staleness to watching people attempt to solve the same riddle over and over again. It's as if Sherlock Holmes had failed to solve the crime in A Study in Scarlet and had spent the rest of his life explaining that he hadn't exactly been wrong, that it was just a really difficult case. Andy Kaufman Is Me doesn't offer much that counts as surprising, but how could it? This documentary has a better perspective, for example, on Kaufman's time at community college and how it shaped his goals, but once his career accelerates, even casual fans know the key beats. He exploded as perhaps the original alt-comedy star, with his off-putting sets that were, as several people observe, more theater than standup. He became a huge sensation thanks to Saturday Night Live and regular late-night appearances that left the various hosts as perplexed as they were amused. With Taxi, he became an even bigger deal, but not really the star he wanted to be, because he was ill-suited for scripted sitcom containment. He alienated friends and fans alike with his alter ego Tony Clifton and with his notorious incursions into the world of wrestling. Then he got cancer and either died or faked his own death, if your participation in the Andy Kaufman Memorial Complex hinges on that conspiratorial interpretation. Tweel's point of entry is Kaufman's semi-autobiographical novel The Huey Williams Story, seeds of which feature heavily in the 84 hours of personal tapes the director was able to acquire. The book was published as a work-in-progress by his brother in 1999, but Tweel treats it as a snapshot into Kaufman's brain, one that can only be captured through puppetry by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. The use of dead-eyed versions of Kaufman and Clifton is suitably eerie and alienating, suggesting that the best way to learn the truth about Andy Kaufman might be to view him through another artificial and fictional remove. The puppetry is whimsical and creepy, connecting well with the ABC special in which Kaufman met Howdy Doody, a pure and beautiful moment that both recent documentaries correctly assess as a mid-career Rosetta Stone. It's a worthwhile aesthetic swing for Tweel to take, but I'm not sure the attempt to give Andy Kaufman Is Me a four-act structure that semi-mirrors the hero's journey in the book adds much, and it never becomes as confrontationally surreal as Kaufman's writing clearly aspired to be. It isn't like Tweel is fully committed to the puppetry and structure anyway. At some point, the documentary just pauses its forward momentum to let people like David Letterman (another executive producer here), Eric Andre and Tim Heidecker explain why Andy Kaufman was influential, which is both completely accurate and completely self-evident in this context. I will never object to spending 100 minutes remembering Kaufman's defining sketches and marveling at the ambitions that his death left unfulfilled. It's time, though, for documentarians to take a break from offering interpretations of Kaufman's life that claim to be unprecedented — at least until one truly is. 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The Age
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Creative Australia chair retires after Venice furore
The chair of the federal arts agency, Robert Morgan, has stood down three months after the board's controversial sacking of Australia's appointed representatives to the Venice Biennale. Morgan's retirement from Creative Australia was announced by Arts Minister Tony Burke late Friday just weeks before an independent review is to publicly report on the process that led to the sacking of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino. The leadership change has raised hopes in the arts sector that the sacking could be revoked in time for Australia to attend the Venice Biennale in 2026. Morgan and Creative Australia chief executive Adrian Collette have borne the brunt of criticism over the board's decision in February to abruptly cancel the Biennale invitation of Sabsabi and Dagostino. The move had followed questions in parliament that day about Sabsabi's historic works. The pair told Senate estimates the decision had been taken to avoid 'the worst kind of divisive debate', and 'an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia's artistic community'. It was the discovery of an 18-second 2006 video artwork, Thank You Very Much featuring images of the 9/11 attacks on the US that Collette told senators had prompted him to call an emergency meeting of the board the evening of February 13. Collette said there was a possibility the agency might be unable to find a replacement in time, leaving Australia without a presence at the event. Collette announced Morgan's departure in a note to staff.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Creative Australia chair retires after Venice furore
The chair of the federal arts agency, Robert Morgan, has stood down three months after the board's controversial sacking of Australia's appointed representatives to the Venice Biennale. Morgan's retirement from Creative Australia was announced by Arts Minister Tony Burke late Friday just weeks before an independent review is to publicly report on the process that led to the sacking of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino. The leadership change has raised hopes in the arts sector that the sacking could be revoked in time for Australia to attend the Venice Biennale in 2026. Morgan and Creative Australia chief executive Adrian Collette have borne the brunt of criticism over the board's decision in February to abruptly cancel the Biennale invitation of Sabsabi and Dagostino. The move had followed questions in parliament that day about Sabsabi's historic works. The pair told Senate estimates the decision had been taken to avoid 'the worst kind of divisive debate', and 'an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia's artistic community'. It was the discovery of an 18-second 2006 video artwork, Thank You Very Much featuring images of the 9/11 attacks on the US that Collette told senators had prompted him to call an emergency meeting of the board the evening of February 13. Collette said there was a possibility the agency might be unable to find a replacement in time, leaving Australia without a presence at the event. Collette announced Morgan's departure in a note to staff.
Chicago Tribune
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Column: ‘Thank You Very Much' tries to understand comic Andy Kaufman
What to make of a man who admits that Howdy Doody was the first friend he ever had and who devoted some of his final years in professional wrestling, wrestling women for amusement? The man was Andy Kaufman and those questions are but two of many that linger decades after his death, as people have spent much time and energy trying to explain what made this distinctive character tick. The latest attempt is 'Thank You Very Much,' a 90-minute documentary that gathers some of Kaufman's contemporaries to share memories. It gives us much old footage that displays some of his classic characters and routines, such as Elvis and playing conga drums, and shows his legendary Carnegie Hall performance in 1979, which ended with him taking thousands of audience members out for milk and cookies. It's a well-made movie, watchable but not particularly enlightening. Under the direction of Alex Braverman, we get some interesting opinions, witness some humor and, in the case of Kaufman's boorish and loud Tony Clifton, a glimpse one of the most grotesque characters in entertainment history. You may laugh. You may not. You will hear that Kaufman's brand of comedy was odd indeed, or as he said, 'I have never told a joke in my life.' The film, indeed the life it tries to distill, is shadowed by sadness. Howdy Doody was not really Kaufman's best friend. That role was his grandfather's and when he died, his parents didn't tell little 5-year-old Andy and so he would sit for hours, staring out the window of the family home in Great Neck, Long Island, waiting for his grandfather, who never arrived. He later transferred that loneliness into performing for pint-sized pals. OK, lonely child, we get that. You will learn (or remember) that Kaufman was, roughly from the mid-1970s until his death in 1984, a frequent and often confounding presence. He performed in some clubs and on college campuses but most people saw him on television, with appearances on 'Saturday Night Live,' various late night talk shows and as a regular cast member of the television series 'Taxi,' on which he played a variation of his Foreign Man character named Latka Gravas. I saw him and found him amazing, confusing, irritating, fascinating, obnoxious … but enough with the adjectives. Let's hear from the late Robin Williams: 'Andy was traveling at the speed of life.' That life ended when he was buried at Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, Long Island. He was 35 years old. The cause of death was lung cancer. It was cloudy and chilly, the temperature in the 50s and many in the crowd were convinced that the coffin was empty, such was the Kaufman image that they believed, fueled by the fact that Kaufman never smoked, that this was just another in the series of stunts and put-ons that peppered his career. Most (myself included) never believed that, but it was easy to understand that the resurrection that began soon enough, sparked by the highly rated 1995 NBC special, 'A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman' on NBC. The band R.E.M. had earlier paid tribute to him in the 1992 song 'Man on the Moon,' which songwriter Michael Stipe called 'a funny, sad eulogy to a very great man.' That song provided the title for a 1999 film. It was such a big deal, directed by Milos Forman, and the title character was so coveted that such stars as Tom Hanks, Nicolas Cage and Edward Norton expressed interest. Jim Carrey took the unusual steps of making an audition tape to get the part and gave up about half his usual $20 million fee to play the role of Kaufman. One of the frequent talking faces in 'Thank You Very Much' is that of Bob Zmuda, played in the film 'Man on the Moon' by Paul Giamatti. A child of Chicago's Northwest Side, Zmuda was a struggling actor/comic when he met the then-unknown Kaufman by chance one night at a Manhattan improv comedy club in 1974. They were 'kindred spirits' and spent the next 11 years making mischief on stage and off, 'hell-bent on 'slaughtering' the status quo.' Zmuda wrote a couple of books about his pal. Along with Lynne Margulies, an artist, filmmaker and the last companion of Kaufman's life, he gives this documentary a personal punch. Zmuda's first book, 1999's 'Andy Kaufman Revealed! Best Friend Tells All' (written with Matthew Scott Hansen), came just before what is the definitive Kaufman biography, 'Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman,' written by the late Chicago author Bill Zehme. He had the cooperation of Kaufman's family, did extensive research and interviewed more than 200 people to provide what he called 'the march of a genius from the time he was a child.' As I wrote when it was published, 'One can almost feel his exuberance at being unshackled by the constraints of his previous books. One can feel it is his prose. 'Much of the book is composed of alternating voices and that takes some getting used to. There are sure to be some readers who won't be able to hack it, especially when Zehme seems to enter Kaufman's mind. But for those willing to make the trip, there are great rewards. The material on Kaufman's early years is fascinating and it soon becomes clear that Zehme's plotting and style are meant to be a reflection of, or an attempt to match, the inner workings of his subject's mind.' Zmuda said he spent 11 years in close, sometimes collaborative contact with Kaufman to create what he called 'the story of my relationship with Andy. Nothing more.' His next book, 'Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally,' written with Margulies, offered such limp insights as, 'Fun was everything with Andy. Breakfast was fun. We'd play the card game Crazy Eights for hours at breakfast because it was so much fun.' You might be drawn to one of these biographies after watching this documentary. More likely, you'll wander over to that immortality machine, YouTube. There you will find plenty of Andy. But after watching, you will still have questions for which there will never be any answers.
