Catching up

I’ve seen three of the Nakadai films at the Film Forum, Harakiri, Goyokin, and High & Low. Not yet convinced we need a seven-week long festival for the guy. I like him when he’s second fiddle, facing off against Mifune. As the unflappable police inspector in High & Low, he’s good, but it’s really an ensemble piece.

On Saturday, the Adventuresses journeyed to the Figment fest on Governor’s Island. Location, location, location! But the festival wasn’t very inspiring. However, OHS turns out to be a demon with the hula-hoop. All three of the women whirled like dervishes, actually, while I panted (it was the heat).

The Waterfalls project is disappointing. Scaffolding with water pouring down. Who’s idea was this, again? From what I’ve heard about the artist, he wants us reconnect with the waterfront. How something looking like a construction site accident are supposed to do that, I don’t know, unless it’s a question of made-you-look. I (ever hopeful) looked. Only one of them is interesting, the one under the Brooklyn Bridge, where it seems as if the anchorage is spouting the water. That mighty edifice ennobles anything. Comparisons to The Gates have been made, but The Gates were kind of mediocre too, when you get right down to it, only made interesting by the interaction of all the people in the park in winter. The event was more exciting than the work -- and perhaps the event is the artwork -- but since the Waterfalls are cordoned off land and sea, there’s precious little interaction with them.

Best views of the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall that I’ve had so far came from just north of Pier 17, the South Street Seaport/mall. North of that on Sunday was the New Amsterdam Market, a prototype fancy food market. The crowds suggest success. I saw a familiar face at the unfamiliar Queens County Farm Museum stall. K said they had 47 acres! It’s in Floral Park. Queens, of course, used to be, as not so long ago as the early 20th century, one vast agricultural heartland. Meet you at the fair? September 20-21.