The Dionne's Birthday. Photo courtesy of Genevieve Thauvette.

He’s tickled by Geneviève Thauvette’s photographic show at Dale Smith Gallery, which says a lot because the whole thing is only six pictures. But Simpson sees vision far beyond Thauvette’s 24 years and is impressed by her international pedigree. But he’s most attracted to the fun in her work: “She sees the theatricality of life and casts herself seamlessly into many roles.”

Animal instinct. Photo courtesy of Stefan Thompson.

Stefan Thompson is a different creature, literally as well as figuratively. There’s strong, animal emotion all over the show he has up at Patrick Gordon Framing (plus a sculptural piece at Patrick Mills’ Group Show). Simpson loves the maniacal sense that percolates through Thompson’s creatures: “The birds and other creatures in Thompson’s work do look to be profoundly, strangely, off — perhaps angry, perhaps fearful, but undoubtedly out-of-sorts.”

“…it is a story that has been playing out on stages for hundreds of years and more, but it recognizes that what makes it interesting is the way eroticism continues to surprise us.”

For a young man, Crary is one of Ottawa’s most-gifted movie reviewers because he’s able to pull the little threads of history and context together to explain clearly what’s happening on the screen. When watching sex in the dark, it helps to know that I’m not the only one seeing theatricality in it.

“In 1996, filmmaker Atom Egoyan directed his first opera production for the (Canadian Opera Company), an adaptation of Richard Stauss’ Salome, at least partly famous for its seductive dance of the seven veils. Chloe is Egoyan’s latest erotic adaptation and it surges with the retreat and advance of operatic themes and timing…”

www.joelcrary.com

Crary is also prolific, reviewing at least five films a week on his site www.joelcrary.com. Chloe is just the most-recent, and his insight on Polytechnique, a film about the 1989 shooting murders at École Polytechnique in Montreal, is one the most perceptive I’ve ever read. Chloe plays at the Bytowne until April 8.