Young and Innocent, The Nun, Wall-E

Michel Roth
Composer, San Diego Rep’s production of production of Doubt

Young and Innocent — early Hitchcock from England — is great. The use of the song “No One Can Like the Drummer Man” to reveal the killer (with the famous tracking shot) is still one of the very best uses of music and song.

Reds is a great film that still holds up, and the DVD transfer is good. All the interviews are interesting too. Although there are a few historically dubious things here and there, it still is a great American epic about our heritage and our failings.

Young and Innocent, (England) 1937, MGM
Reds, (USA) 1981, Paramount

Rosina Reynolds
Sister Aloysius, San Diego Rep’s production of Doubt

L.A. Confidential is in my all-time top ten — an exceptional cast, gorgeous and evocative to look at. Its cleverly crafted script is full of secrets, deceptions, and clever twists. Certainly the secrets and things not being what they appear have echoes in Doubt.

Curiosity about choosing a life as a nun reminded me of The Nun’s Story, with Audrey Hepburn at her most appealing. The conditioning this free spirit goes through to become a nun, the rules she has to live by, and the fascinating reversal she experiences when she finally leaves the order provided wonderful research for Doubt.

L.A. Confidential (Two-Disc Special Edition), (USA) 1997, Warner Home Video
The Nun's Story, (USA) 1959, Warner Home Video

Kimberly Lostetter
Board of Trustee Member, San Diego Rep, sdrep.org

David Mamet’s Redbelt uses the world of mixed martial arts to have the viewer experience a man whose faith is truly tested and is driven to the point of choosing to “be” his faith or settle for less. Mamet creates this world through language and his choice of actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), which completely takes you away.

Wall-E takes me back to the lost art of telling a story through pictures. Little or no dialogue made the Pixar animation that much more amazing. The heartwarming story was simple and yet foretold a more ominous fate if we humans aren’t careful.

Redbelt, (USA) 2008, Sony Pictures
Wall-E, (USA) 2008, Walt Disney