Entertainment in brief
Joan Osborne channels her inner Dylan on album
NEW YORK — Singer Joan Osborne has sung with Bob Dylan several times and she’s covered his songs for years, but this month she goes even further.
The Grammy-nominated singer of the hit “One of Us” has put out an album of Dylan covers. “Songs of Bob Dylan,” released Friday, is equal parts tribute album, musical experiment and fan letter.
The idea of doing an album of Dylan songs was inspired by Ella Fitzgerald’s exploration of the Great American Songbook, covering songwriter by songwriter. Osborne wanted to try an updated version and picked Dylan for her initial attempt.
But she’s not expecting Dylan to offer any feedback. Says Osborne: “No, I don’t anticipate that Bob himself is going to weigh in on it.”
A boy and a horse in ‘Lean on Pete’ at Venice
VENICE, Italy — It’s a rule of cinema that a movie about a boy and a horse will tug at the heartstrings.
Venice Film Festival entry “Lean on Pete” is no exception. Andrew Haigh’s drama is about Charley, a lonely 15-yearold boy who befriends a tired old racehorse and sets out on a perilous journey across the American West.
The movie is set in a contemporary working-class America of motels, diners and grubby racetracks, but Haigh says it also has “almost a fable-esque element about it.”
Haigh says that like his movie, “traditional folk tales are set in very bleak environments, often, but they have a slight beauty to them at the same time.”
“Lean on Pete” had its premiere Friday in Venice, where it’s among 21 films competing for the Golden Lion.
Redford and Fonda show star power is ageless
VENICE, Italy — The older stars are shining the brightest at the Venice Film Festival.
Robert Redford and Jane Fonda have brought undimmed glitter to the festival along with their late-life romance “Our Souls at Night.”
Five decades after they first shared the screen, they play in the Netflix-produced drama widowed neighbors who forge a relationship. Judging by the reaction in Venice, the chemistry that lit up their 1967 film “Barefoot in the Park” remains strong.
Fonda says she loves the fact “that these films bookend our career.”