I rewatched The Limey this week, a film that completely knocked my socks off when I saw it in the theater three years ago. This time I was a little quick to notice how stilted the dialogue is at times, and I missed the nifty moments of revelation and surprise I got the first time when I didn't know how the story worked itself out. However, Soderbergh is a brilliant director, Terence Stamp kicks ass, and Luis Guzman is always great. Together they make the potentially grim story of a father seeking vengeance for his daughter's death into a movie that is both darkly humorous and intensely moving. Those who have seen both The Limey and Mulholland Dr. might appreciate that Melissa George, the actress who plays Jenny in The Limey, was Camilla Rhodes in Mulholland Dr.

More vengeance and questions about justice Saturday night at Zellerbach when I took in the Abbey Theatre's incredible production of Medea, starring Fiona Shaw as the woman scorned. In case you aren't familiar with the myth, Medea is known for killing her children to get back at her husband Jason (he of golden fleece fame) after he dumps her for a princess and gets her banished. Euripides's Greek audience would not have had a lot of sympathy for a character who was unfortunate enough to be both female and foreign, much less one who perpetrates such horrifying acts against her husband's heirs. However, Euripides was not content to settle for a one-dimensional character in his Medea, and instead he wrote a woman who cries out in pain and jealousy and shakes with indecision as she cradles her children. It is exactly these complexities that most interest a modern audience, and, even though I've read Medea, studied Medea, written about Medea, seen Medea, sat in front of a panel of my professors and talked about Medea, Shaw's performance in the lead role held me spellbound. The action was set in a sparse construction site with a pool of water in the center of the stage that cast flickering patterns onto the cement walls, setting the scene for ominous doings. Medea was in trainers, Jason was in jeans, and the chorus was a gaggle of frumpy housewives. Shaw's Medea was uncomfortably accessible. Her reputation as a witch seemed uncertain at best—until the horrible things really started to happen. At the end, instead of hovering cold and detached in the Chariot of the Sun, an unbalanced Medea stays on the earth to bathe the bloody bodies of her sons and to grapple with Jason one last time.

After all of that I needed something light and fluffy, so I headed over to the Mission for Tactility's Full Fashion show. I dutifully donned the hazmat suit I was handed at the door, though because I was wearing a skirt I just slipped the top on over my shoulders and then tied the legs around my waist obi-style. The house was pumping and the crowd was gathering, so I found a perch in the balcony right above the catwalk and tried not to get grumpy as the hour grew later and later and still no show. The speed-freak Fendi chick who elbowed me aside and then proceeded to whack me repeatedly with her purse as she spasmed to the music nearly earned herself a quick trip to the ground floor. The very moment I had decided to give up and go home, the lights came up, the music shifted to hip-hop, and out came the skinny models. The clothing was worth waiting for, everything from raver fashion to all-out glamor, garb for punk princesses and video game chicks. My hands-down favorite was Kayo Mitsuyama's anime clothing, especially her living embodiment of a Gama-Go t-shirt design.

I wrapped up the weekend with a viewing of To Have and Have Not with Laura, Mikko, and Gideon. Chemistry just doesn't get any better than that what goes on between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

The Limey
The Abbey Theatre
Full Fashion