With A Chorus Line (1985), Attenborough once again took on material that seemed intractably theatrical.
His enthusiasm for the game took on material shape in the summer of 2005 when he decided to join, and film, an artist friend, Stefan Bondell, on a trip to Texas to get some dirt from then-President George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tex., to put in a painting.
February, meanwhile, sees the release of Peter Gabriel's covers collection Scratch My Back, featuring his takes on material by Bowie, Radiohead, Elbow, Bon Iver, Arcade Fire and Neil Young, among others.
While the spectacle may hinge on the relationship between visuality and power, this essay observes how signs take on material lives through ludic re-appropriation.
But don't expect sloppy takes on material that was later sharpened: Even here the foursome sounds unusually tight, with Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto's slashing guitars laid over bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty's funky, bottom-heavy rhythms.
At its best it offers the traditional industry a new source of writing talent and a chance to take on material with readerships already established.
Mr. Hallstrom, who broke through in the United States with his Swedish coming-of-age film, "My Life as a Dog," in which the young protagonist is shattered to learn of the death of his family's hound, said he was wary of taking on material that was in any way similar.
As the newspaper business and the political maneuvering were pared away, the personal material took on the weight and the shape of the solution to a mystery.
Is it risky for artists to take on such material?
But Fiona Buffini's production lacks a consistent tone or take on the material, so any contemporary resonance is lost.
And, in any case, it's difficult to feel too much as an audience member when the actors are impressing upon you, with each and every word, and with a vengeance, their own emotional takes on the material.
