Annaleigh Ashford, who played Helena in the Public Theatre production, with a zest that recalled a young Goldie Hawn — wry slapstick shot through with Betty Boop incredulity — told me, "I've learned that, like film, Shakespeare is mostly a director's medium.
De Heer - who writes, and co-directs with Peter Djigirr - begins with a simple, beautiful image: a winding river in lush country, whose course is followed by an overhead shot with a wry, playful voiceover from actor David Gulpilil, who explains that the story he has to tell, so far from being simplistic, is a complex and sophisticated affair with as many ramifications as branches on a tree.
"You have a wry smile when one of them puts a shot on you but no one's giving a yard.
"Many times," he recalled, "I've been onstage only to see Ken's beady left eye drilling through me with that wry grin under his camera and know he's got the shot he was after".
But more importantly, the character of Martin David is so very many things and Willem Dafoe could be all of them: A leading man, old enough for this to be his last shot at redemption, young enough to explore the wilds, possessing a wry intelligence, able to portray isolation and tragedy, but also a deep connection with the family he discovers.
From a stash of aerial shots of German suburban homes he creates -- in a wry nod to Bernd and Hilla Becher -- a subset of houses adjoining cemeteries.
Time magazine wrote a favorable review of the show; "the real appeal of Feasts... is her unfussy, wry, practical approach to entertaining and quality comfort food.... between the luscious camera shots and Lawson's sensual enjoyment of eating, Feasts will leave you wishing for an invite".
Sumptuous color shots of designer homes are punctuated by jarring black and white intrusions, often with wry overtones, like a wallowing pig on a dining room wall.
A few shots later we see them moving Elling's bed into Kjell Bjarne's room: a wry and touching indication of the fear and discomfort they share in their strange new surroundings.
