Thursday 13

Benefit reception

The Eleanor Friedberg Art Scholarship Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation presents their 13th Annual Benefit Reception from 5-6:30 p.m. at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, 1815 Metropolitan St., Manchester. The reception raises funds for the scholarship that is awarded to graduation Pittsburgh public high school seniors. Along with the reception there will be an All City Arts Showcase presentation, a silent auction and more. The art presentation will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $75. For more information, visit efriedbergartscholarship.com.

by Dwight Brown

“Sometimes I feel like a motherless child…”

The gift of life is examined through the eyes of three women, three disparate souls who are haunted by their past, apprehensive about their future and living life today walking on emotional eggshells.  History binds them.  Destiny assures that though they don’t know each other now, someday they will. And, when they do, it will be a revelation.

Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) is an over-ambitious, thirtysomething lawyer, new to a firm and eager to make her mark, sans friends or the support of workplace colleagues. Like a heat-seeking missile she targets the firm’s owner, Paul (Samuel L. Jackson), an older widower with a weak libido. Karen (Annette Bening), a physical therapist, takes care of her elderly mother.  She too is unable to form bonds with just about anyone. Untrusting, terse, emotionally crippled she doesn’t know how to handle the advances of a Paco (Jimmy Smits), a well-meaning suitor.  Lucy (Kerry Washington) is determined to have a baby, but she cannot give birth herself. She is hell-bent on adopting, even if her husband Joseph (David Ramsey) and her mother (S. Epatha Merkerson) may be ambivalent.

Complications are poured on to the characters like a torrent of rain, adding levels of pain that can only be seen by looking deep in their eyes.  Elizabeth never knew her real mother or father.  Karen was forced by her mother to give up a child for adoption 37 years ago.  Lucy’s insecurities are boundless. The three ladies live within minutes of each other but are oblivious to each other’s presence. Credit writer/director Rodrigo Garcia for creating the characters, writing their lines, weaving them together and painting a picture that caresses forlorn mothers and children. His script, themed around adoption, has a lyrical feel. His direction of a multi-cultural, multi-generational, ensemble cast that revels in subtle performances that resonate long after the final credits, is thoughtful and sensitive.

Watt’s cold persona has such complexity and masks deep hurt.  Bening’s love-deprived Karen has a shield around her heart. Washington’s need to be a mother rings true.  And for once a story clearly designed around women’s needs does not scapegoat men.  Jackson’s austere turn as the father figure Elizabeth never had is his most supple performance to date.  Smits, as the angel of mercy assigned to pierce the armor of a crippled woman who is old beyond her age, is saintly.

The original music by Ed Shearmur, and classy cinematography by Xavier Pérez Grobet give the film the feel of an exquisite string quartet with pleading music that peaks at all the right times.

In the wrong hands, this film could have been a piece of grating melodrama. Under Garcia’s watchful eye, this is an ode to mothers and children who are lost but not forgotten.

Visit NNPA Film Critic Dwight Brown at www.DwightBrownInk.com.

Embattled golfer Tiger Woods, President Barack Obama, Michael Jackson and women were topics of conversation for funnyman Damon Wayans.

The comedian-turned-actor performed at the Improv April 22-25.

“I connect to my audiences by being relevant and engaging them in my act. It starts with hello,” said Wayans, 49.

DAMON WAYANS

That’s exactly what he did.

His set, which lasted longer than an hour, had the audience doubled over in laughter as he tackled such universal subjects as traveling to other countries and being proud to be an American and the ever- changing stages of life.

Stephanie Moye takes pride in enhancing a woman’s natural beauty.

“I love anything connected with the beauty business including make up and anything that requires getting women involved in the latest trends,” said Moye who resides in Penn Hills and is affectionately known as the “Hair Goddess.” “When I was about seven years old, I had baby dolls and I would do their hair in braids, roller sets and all kinds of up-do’s. I knew I wanted to be creative and do hair.”

PROUD WINNER—Stephanie Moye holds the second place trophy she won in the fantasy section of the International Hair Show in Atlanta.

That’s why she took a step of faith and opened Moye Hair Etc. in 2002 after leaving a 15-year career as a nurse in the Washington, D.C. area.