Light From the East
D: Amy Grappell
Documentary Feature Lone Star States
When a New York acting troupe went to Kiev in August of 1991, they expected to “participate in the first American/Ukrainian cultural exchange theatre project in history.” But they didn’t expect to witness a coup. Two weeks after their arrival, the military took control of the state, and the freedom promised by perestroika suddenly looked dim. The Americans, video cameras in hand, recorded the reactions of their Ukrainian hosts while pressing on with their play, and now filmmaker Amy Grappell has squeezed the 14-year-old footage for all its worth, managing to turn a string of seeming nonmoments into a meaningful, if understated, story of the chasm between East and West: most vividly realized in the relationship between actress Grappell, who fits too well at times the role of the blissfully naïve and ditzy American, and her Ukrainian host and foil, Natalia, a stubborn and sometimes bitter woman teetering between resignation and hope.Alamo S. Lamar, 7:45pm
This article appears in March 18 • 2005.