Kevin's Digital Week 18: Sophie and Swordplay

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 29 March 2010 05:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-Rays of the Week

Yojimbo
Sanjuro
(Criterion)
The 100th anniversary of Akira Kurosawa’s birth was March 23rd, and there’s no better way to celebrate one of the greatest of all film directors than with this dual release of two of his greatest samurai adventures. What’s best about seeing Yojimbo and its lighter-hearted companion piece Sanjuro on Blu-ray is that they hold up beautifully. In a role he was born to play, Toshiro Mifune brings a gruffness and deadpan humor to Sanjuro, swordsman for hire, whether pitting rival factions against each other in Yojimbo or helping a group of fledgling samurai against stronger adversaries in Sanjuro. Kurosawa's extraordinary black and white widescreen compositions, whether detailing characters' movements before, during or after fighting or artfully placing Mifune’s loner against imposing landscapes (which is how both films end), have never looked more spectacular than on Criterion‘s flawless new high-def transfers. 

Yojimbo and Sanjuro are unusual in that you needn’t see the original to enjoy the sequel. Both classics have darkly comic visions that the sequel carries further, up to the startling bloodletting in its coda. In the prime of a brilliant career, Kurosawa was unafraid to give characters for whom he felt affection a necessary kick in the behind; that complexity contributes as much to these films’ ongoing durability as their memorable battle sequences. Each Blu-ray includes an insightful commentary by Kurosawa expert Stephen Prince and an informative episode about Kurosawa making each film from the series It Is Wonderful to Create.

DVD of the Week

Sophie’s Choice
(Opus Arte)
Before he died last May at age 73, British composer Nicholas Maw was best-known for his four-act opera based on William Styron‘s novel Sophie‘s Choice, which premiered in 2002 and had its only American performances in Washington, DC in 2006. To date there has been no CD recording of Maw’s magnum opus, so this belated DVD release of the London premiere is welcome indeed. It’s another chance to see and hear the excellent mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager in her element, acting and singing the hell out of the demanding title role: imagine Meryl Streep with a real singing voice (not what you heard in Mamma Mia).

Although the Holocaust scenes contain astringent music, much of Maw’s opera is lyrical and romantic, with a tinge of the melancholy and tragedy always lying underneath. His opera comes much closer to catching the troubled spirit of the novel than the mediocre film version did back in 1982, despite Streep’s bravura acting. Along with Kirchschlager’s  lovely presence, Gordon Geitz (Stingo), Rodney Gilfry (Nathan) and Dale Duesing (Narrator) all register strongly. Trevor Nunn’s shrewd staging loses effectiveness on TV; happily, the surround sound audio gives clarity and lucidness to conductor Simon Rattle and the Royal Opera Orchestra and Chorus’ reading of this estimable modern opera. The lone extra is a short Rattle interview; too bad we couldn’t hear from Kirchschlager or Maw himself (there’s a printed composer interview in the booklet).

• < Prev
• Next >