Ovation opens just as members of a small Hollywood-based theatre company are taking their bows for a show that is well-received by the small paying crowd. What their fans don't realize is that the company is on the verge of a financial meltdown where each performance may be their last. It's the latest in a long line of very independent films from the fertile imagination of Henry Jaglom, an indie pioneer of such early-1980s edgy comedies as Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?, which featured a breakout role for Jaglom discovery Karen Black.
An indication of where this production is rooted creatively comes in a small scene in which a female manager receives a tarot-card reading from a member of the production staff. The scene would feel at home in one of Woody Allen's less ambitious productions such as Small Time Crooks. But Woody would be sure to let you know he was only kidding.
The atmosphere in this shot-on-video production will strike an authentic chord with fans of small struggling theatre companies, troupes that rank above dinner theater but well below the standards of even Off-Off-Broadway. Ovation benefits from a spontaneous, live-as-we-watch-it feel, but at same time, the quality of the acting and line readings are more akin to cable-access TV. At one point a middle-aged performer starts wailing, "There's a spirit in this building, a bad spirit!" Amen to that, sister! Sadly, the quality of the production gets shakier as we pass the half-hour mark. The camerawork is okay, but what the camera is recording wouldn't pass muster for your average high school senior play.
At the center of the film is Jaglom regular Tanna Frederick as the fictional ensemble's featured actress Maggie Chase. Unlike earlier Jaglom productions shot on film in the manner of a Sundance Festival independent production, Ovation was filmed with a high-definition videocamera that gives the proceedings the feel of one of the remaining network-TV soap operas. At times I half-expected Dustin Hoffman's character from Tootsie to put in an appearance.
Ovation's odd hybrid quality is illustrated by a small moment in the loft that serves as the company's sound booth where Maggie is hanging out with Miles, her baby brother and the company's sound technician.
Maggie: "It's so peaceful up here. It's a great place to think. It's like your own little man-cave. Do you have everything you need?"
Miles: "I'm fine."
Maggie points to a small tattoo on his finger. "May I ask?"
"My phone?"
"No, that tattoo in the form of a question mark."
"When I look at this, it reminds me of the power of my thoughts to change every single part of my experience. I mean, you don't control your reality, your reality controls you."
Miles takes charge of backstage reality when he beats an actor who's attacking one of the actresses with a two-by-four. What ensues after this "assassination" takes Ovation over the cliff it's been heading for all along. Henry Jaglom fans are advised to rent one or more of his earlier productions, such as 1989's New Year's Day or 1990's Eating, a film that explored the food disorders experienced by many modern women. Jaglom is also the author of My Lunches with Orson, a 2013 publication from Metropolitan Books detailing his long-running association with the troubled film genius Orson Welles. Ovation opens Friday for a week's run at San Francisco's Opera Plaza Cinemas and the Camera Three Cinema in San Jose.