Vanya on 42nd Street
In the late 1980s, noted theatrical director Andre Gregory assembled a group of friends and actors and began rehearsing a new translation of Anton Chekhov's +Uncle Vanya by David Mamet, not with any specific performance in mind but as a way of exploring the beauty and precise construction of Chekhov's play. Louis Malle, a friend of Gregory's, became interested in the project and spent two weeks filming Gregory's actors as they performed +Uncle Vanya without an audience in a run-down theater near New York's Times Square. In these performances, the line between theater and real life is blurred as conversations between actors -- juggling take-out cups of coffee and wearing street clothes -- slowly grow into a superb performance of Chekhov's classic, with Wallace Shawn as Vanya, Julianne Moore as Yelena, Brooke Smith as Sonya, and Larry Pine as Dr. Astrov. With a certain sad irony, this marvelously realized adaptation of a play about people wondering what they've done with their lives proved to be Louis Malle's final film; he died of cancer in 1995. more..
Director: Louis Malle
Starring: Wallace Shawn, Julianne Moore, Brooke Smith, Larry Pine, George Gaynes
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Best Actress
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards (1994)
Best Actor
Chlotrudis Awards (1995)
Best Supporting Female
Independent Spirit Awards (1995)
Louis Malle
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists (1995)
Best Director
National Society of Film Critics Awards (1995)
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