The Movie House in Millerton hosted a special screening of “The Millers in Marriage,” a film written and directed by Edward Burns. Burns and fellow actors Gretchen Mol, Campbell Scott, Benjamin Bratt and Brian d’Arcy James were in attendance and participated in a question-and-answer panel after the screening. The panel was moderated by Mol’s husband, filmmaker Kip Williams. Audience members got to ask questions of the veteran actors of stage, film, and television.
The film centers around the three Miller siblings; played by Gretchen Mol as Eve, a former “indie rock” singer and song writer; Edward Burns as Andy, a painter; and Juliana Margulies, as Maggie, a writer. All three are over fifty, with the sisters facing empty nests after their children are grown. All three have problems in their marriages and are dealing with the death of their mother the year before.
Kip Williams opened the question-and-answer period by saying to Burns “I can’t think of another film about this moment in life. It’s an original window. Thank you for that.”
Burns said he chose that subject matter for that reason. “There are no films about us,” referring to people of “generation X” now being over fifty. “I am invisible now,” he said. “Our stories have no value now.” It was important to him to make a movie about this stage of life.
Ed Burns, Gretchen Mol, and Benjamin Bratt on the red carpet at The Millerton Movie House on Dec. 21. They were there for a special screening of “Millers in Marriage” which Burns wrote, directed and acted in. All three costarred in the film. Robin Roraback
Mol’s character, Eve, was just becoming successful when she got pregnant and gave up her career to marry her manager and raise their children. Now, she wonders if it is too late to start her career again. When a writer for a magazine — played by Benjamin Bratt — contacts her and reminds her of her past, his character acts as a catalyst for her to begin to think again about her music and her life.
Mol said when she read the script it was like “a conversation I’ve been having with my friends.” She loved about her character that “she changed. She’s still on the journey.”
Kip Williams commented to Mol, “When I look into the eye of the character, I don’t recognize you at all,” describing how completely she had been able to assume her role.
Campbell Scott plays Nick, husband of Margulies’ character. Scott said that as an actor, his challenge in the film was “How unattractive can we make this guy? How whiney? And still keep him human?” Nick is a writer struggling with writer’s block while his wife, also a writer, is finishing another book.
Bratt said of Campbell’s performance, that it was “nuanced” and left him “wondering how he does what he does.” He admitted, “I have a desperately bad actor crush on Campbell Scott.”
Brian d’Arcy James’ character, Dennis, is a caretaker who comes into play when the siblings go to the country for the weekend. The panel said of his character, “He’s an outlier, he lacks some moral structure. He opens things up and creates a problem.”
Moderator Williams commented that the themes of aging, parental death, and surviving as artists were “delicately worked.”
Audience members remarked that the film was “So much fun to watch, great actors.” “Well crafted, melancholy.” “I wanted it to keep going.”
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‘The Laundry Room,’ a painting by Maira Kalman from the exhibition “Shaker Outpost: Design, Commerce, and Culture” at the Shaker Museum’s pop-up space in Chatham.
“I always approach my work from an aspect of love,” she said. “I fall in love with a face or a chair or a shoe. And then it is my pleasure to paint. That is how I approached the pieces I chose for the installation. They spoke to me. They SANG to me.”
Her selections for the Shaker Outpost include clothing of daily life — hats, shoes, socks, gloves — alongside objects shaped by hand and necessity. A pair of bear fur mittens, a glove form, a forged iron stake. Items that once moved through ordinary days now sit in conversation with Kalman’s paintings, which draw from the museum’s photographic archive. “As I looked at the photo archive, I gravitated to images that made me happy,” she said. “The Shaker work is so full of delicate elegance and superb utility. I love that.”
Maira KalmanPhoto by Kimisa H.
The idea of utility that is elevated to poetry is at the center of the show. Kalman described the impulse to “edit your life” after encountering Shaker design, and here that instinct becomes both curatorial method and invitation. “After seeing their work, you want to run home and throw out everything you have,” she said. “You want to edit your life. You only want what is essential. The simplicity and beauty of Shaker design are rarely equaled… They have wit and wisdom. Clarity and kindness. They are practical and they sing. You just cannot go wrong.”
The exhibition also marks a return. After more than two years at the Kinderhook Knitting Mill, the museum’s programming comes back to Chatham — if only temporarily — before the opening of its future permanent home.
The pop-up exhibition at 4 Depot Square in downtown Chatham extends beyond the gallery walls. A small, carefully assembled General Store — also curated by Kalman — offers books, textiles, notecards and handmade goods by local artisans. Like the Shakers’ own public-facing shops, it blurs the line between commerce and ethos, asking what it means to buy something made with care. It is, deliberately, a place to linger.
Kalman sees the Shakers as kindred spirits. “Even though my mother was a Russian born Jew, she could have been a Shaker,” she said. “But then all of the women in my family could have been. A sense of beauty, care, simplicity and love imbued all that they did. They were frugal and fastidious.”
That inheritance feels newly relevant. “Today we have a very fast-moving day. Never enough time,” she said. “And I think that the sense of taking time to make beauty resonates very much these days. It restores the soul.”
Kalman worked closely with her son, Alex Kalman, on this exhibit. “Working with my son Alex Kalman on this installation has been a joy,” she said. “He curates for his museum MMUSEUMM, in a defunct elevator shaft on Cortland Alley in Manhattan. He is always looking for the intersection of humor and human expression and endeavor. That is how I approach the installation at the Shaker Outpost. Everything should matter.”
Shaker Outpost: Design, Commerce, and Culture runs through July 5 at 4 Depot Square in Chatham, with subsequent installations by Paula Greif and Kiki Smith later in the year. For more information, visit shakermuseum.us.
The Ticking Tent Spring Market returns to Spring Hill Vineyards in New Preston on May 2.
Juarez is president of Christina Juarez & Co., a communications and business development consultancy. Reynaert is market director at ELLE DECOR, an interiors stylist and author of “The Layered Home,” which he will sign at the event.
Benjamin Reynaert and Christina Juarez, co-founders of The Ticking Tent. Their one-day Spring Market returns to New Preston on May 2 at Spring Hill Vineyards on Bee Brook Road.Jennifer Almquist
“The Ticking Tent is about reimagining the joy of discovery — bringing together antiques dealers, artisans and design enthusiasts in a setting where community and creativity thrive,” Reynaert said.
Among returning vendors is Rhonda Eleish of Eleish Van Breems Home, with shops in New Preston, Roxbury, Westport and Nantucket. “The Ticking Tent is a fun event where you can shop curated goods, meet friends and enjoy the setting,” she said.
The market partners with ELLE DECOR as national media sponsor, along with Home & Garden CT & NY, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, New England Home CT and Litchfield Magazine.
For information and tickets, visit thetickingtent.com or follow @thetickingtent.
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