OH, THE HUMANITY and other exclamations

***1/2

The Flea Theater

Like in his Thom Pain (based on nothing), here in Will Eno's hour of 5 short plays, we are again exposed to his very unique, hyper-philosophical voice and characters who are struggling to make sense of themselves and world around them. When a playwright's voice is so startlingly original (a marriage of deep, harrowing insight and a conversational, matter of fact tone), it takes a while for the audience (or at least me) to learn the language and I have found his work to alternate between thrilling and confusing, moving and boring. Enter The Spokeswoman, Gently about an inexperienced airline representative making a speech about a recent plane crash, and The Bully Composition about a photographer and his assistant taking a photograph of the audience shimmered with sadness and humor and were the best of the five. Unlike in her current film, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, Marisa Tomei's oozing sexuality is muted honing in on the very down to earth and naturalistic actress that has always been present underneath the eyeliner and the boobies. She is perfectly cast here as is Brian Hutchison who shoots out fear like laser beams through his blood-shot, watery eyes.