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November '23 Digital Week I

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 01 November 2023 21:37; Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater/Streaming Releases of the Week

The Holdovers

(Focus Features)

Alexander Payne teams with Paul Giamatti for their first collaboration since the droll 2004 comedy Sideways, but it suffers from a streak of self-seriousness largely missing from their earlier pairing. Giamatti plays Paul Hunham, an ornery professor at a New England prep school stuck babysitting the students who have nowhere to go during the holidays—he soon becomes friendly with bored but bright Angus, ignored by his family.

Giamatti is always terrific and newcomer Dominic Sessa is even better as Angus, but Payne overstuffs his film with incidents and subplots that he didn’t want to part with; a good 20 minutes could have been cut with no loss of integrity. Also worthy of mention is Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who gives a subtle portrayal of Mary Lamb, the school’s cook whose beloved son has just been killed in Vietnam.

Thunder

(Dekanalog)

Writer-director Carmen Jaquier’s quietly unsettling drama follows Elisabeth, a novice nun sent home from the convent after her older sister commits suicide. After discovering her sister’s secrets, Elisabeth follows her own path to personal, spiritual and sexual freedom.

Jaquier and the remarkable young actress Lilith Grasmug as Elisabeth have made a provocative and intelligent study of psychology and faith. Cinematographer Marine Atlan’s stunning camerawork shows the beauty of the natural world and the ugliness of the interior one in a way that alludes to, but doesn’t ape from, the philosophical musings of Terrence Malick.

4K Release of the Week

Blue Beetle

(Warner Bros)

The original story of DC superhero Blue Beetle—young Jaime Reyes, who is transformed into the title character by a powerful scarab—is recounted in this intermittently entertaining popcorn flick, with a boisterous George Lopez as Jaime’s uncle Rudy and a one-note Susan Sarandon as villain Victoria Kord.

Still, there’s an undeniable chemistry between Xolo Maridueña as Jaime and Bruna Marquezine as his love interest (and Sarandon’s antagonistic niece) Jenny, making this watchable until the explosive but routine finale filled with excessive CGI. There’s an excellent UHD transfer; extras are a making-of documentary, Generations: Blue Beetle, and two featurettes.

Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning, Part One

(Paramount)

Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt, the intrepid and seemingly immortal operative who this time goes up against not only the usual array of criminals and traitorous insiders but also A.I., which throws an almost impossible-to-fend-off wrench into the usual proceedings. Director Christopher McQuarrie and cowriter Erik Jendresen cram in as many repetitive action sequences as possible, including a car chase on the narrow streets of Venice or, in the film’s main set piece, a runaway train through the Austrian Alps.

It’s all breathtakingly filmed, and if it goes on far too long—more than two and a half hours and this is only part one—there’s a game cast led by the too infrequently seen Hayley Atwell as well as Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny and Ving Rhames, all outdoing Cruise except for his own stunts. It all looks vivid and immediate on UHD; extras include McQuarrie’s and editor Eddie Hamilton’s commentary, several making-of featurettes and a montage of unused shots.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

Lakmé

(Naxos)

French composer Léo Delibes is known for a couple ballets and this opera that’s the last word in romantic tragedy, about a Hindu priestess who falls in love with a British officer who kills herself after he decides the military means more to him.

It’s carried along by shimmering music that reaches its zenith early, when Lakmé and her servant Mallika duet on the justly famous “Flower Song.” Laurent Pelly’s 2022 Opéra Comique staging in Paris is centered by Raphaël Pichon conducting the excellent orchestra and chorus, and as the title heroine, Sabine Devieilhe is heartbreakingly good. There’s first-rate audio and video.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

(Universal)

For the third—and, one expects, final—installment, Toula’s family travels to Greece for a reunion, which—to no one’s surprise, considering the title—turns into an excuse to have another of the title ceremonies, with camaraderie, laughs, romance, and food and drink.

If episode 3 is stretched very thin—even at a scant 92 minutes—it has a capable cast again led by writer-director Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Andrea Martin and Elena Kampouris, along with the always glorious Greek locations, which look even more spectacular on Blu-ray. Extras comprise Vardalos’ commentary, a gag reel, deleted and extended scenes and on-set featurettes.

Robin Hood/The Black Pirate

The Three Musketeers/The Iron Mask

(Cohen Film Collection)

These double-feature releases bring together some of legendary Douglas Fairbanks’ 1920s ouput, with the first disc including Robin Hood (1922) and The Black Pirate (1926), a two-color Technicolor adventure; of course, he plays the eponymous hero in both pictures. The second disc finds Fairbanks playing the dashing D’Artagnan in both The Three Musketeers (1921) and The Iron Mask (1929), based on the classic Alexandre Dumas novels.

All four films are choppily entertaining; the restorations give them added luster, there’s a commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer on The Black Pirate, and there are 47 minutes of Pirate outtakes, 18 of them with additional Behlmer commentary.

CD Release of the Week

Weinberg—Dawn/Symphony No. 12

(Chandos)

Soviet composer Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-96) died before his musical renaissance began with his emotionally shattering Holocaust opera The Passenger, several productions of which were soon followed by the dozens of recordings of his varied orchestral and chamber music.

Of the 22 symphonies he wrote, No. 12, subtitled “In memoriam D. Shostakovich” and composed right after Shostakovich’s death in 1975, is among his most personal, since Shostakovich was a mentor and close friend of Weinberg. John Storgårds conducts the BBC Philharmonic’s raw, compelling account of the symphony along with Dawn, a stirring tone poem Weinberg composed for the 40th anniversary of the Russian Revolution that was never performed in his lifetime.

"Fanfare Ritmico" With The Philadelphia Orchestra

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Monday, 30 October 2023 14:03; Written by Jack Angstreich

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Philadelphia Orchestra. Photo by Chris Lee

At Carnegie Hall on the evening of Tuesday, October 17th, I had the incomparable pleasure to attend a superb concert presented by the outstanding musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra under the brilliant direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The program began auspiciously with an excellent performance of Jennifer Higdon’s propulsive, impressively orchestrated Fanfare Ritmico from 1999. I include the composer’s comment on the piece here:

Fanfare Ritmico celebrates the rhythm and speed (tempo) of life. Writing this work on the eve of the move into the new millennium, I found myself reflecting on how all things have quickened as time has progressed. Our lives now move at speeds much greater than what I believe anyone would have ever imagined in years past. Everyone follows the beat of their own drummer, and those drummers are beating faster and faster on many different levels. As we move along day to day, rhythm plays an integral part of our lives, from the individual heartbeat to the lightning speed of our computers. This fanfare celebrates that rhythmic motion, of man and machine, and the energy which permeates every moment of our being in the new century.

Also remarkable, and even more memorable, was a masterful realization of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s extraordinary Symphonic Dances, his final work. The first movement, marked Non allegro, is dynamic and rhythmic following a brief, quiet opening—and with a more meditative middle section—but ends softly. The succeeding Andante con moto is charming and playful with some dramatic moments while the finale is exuberant for much of its length but with unusual, lyrical interludes and ends climactically.

Even stronger was the amazing second half of the event, a fabulous account of Rachmaninoff’s magnificent Symphony No. 2—with this composition, musical Romanticism reached its apogee. The Largo introduction to the opening Allegro moderato is subdued and solemn but the movement is leisurely for most of its development but acquires great emotional intensity as it becomes more turbulent. The eccentric ebullience of the ensuing scherzo—its tempo is Allegro molto—is offset by the movement’s song-like second theme and its Trio too is especially exciting. The stellar Adagio is incredibly beautiful in its melodious sumptuousness and features some pastoral echoes while the closing Allegro vivace is affirmative if with somber undercurrents.

The artists deservedly received an enthusiastic ovation.

Quartetto di Cremona Perform in NYC

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Friday, 27 October 2023 18:02; Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Pete Checchia.

At Weill Recital Hall, on the evening of Thursday, October 26th, I had the exceptional pleasure to attend an astonishing concert featuring the extraordinary Quartetto di Cremona, the members of which include violinists Cristiano Gualco and Paolo Andreoli, violist Simone Gramaglia and cellist Giovanni Scaglione.

The program began marvelously with a sterling account of Hugo Wolf’s wonderful Italian Serenade, his most famous piece outside the genre of the lied. Even more remarkable was a stunning rendition of Maurice Ravel’s glorious String Quartet—one of the supreme masterpieces of the form—the shimmering textures of which strongly recall the composer’s orchestral works. The initial Allegro moderato has a surprising intensity becoming more lyrical in passages and ending quietly, followed by an especially bewitching, briskly paced and energetic movement—markedAssez vif—with evocative, impressionistic sonorities. The subdued, reflective slow movement that succeeds it is solemn and more unconventional in structure while the dynamicfinaleis the most turbulent of the movements.

The second half of the event—devoted to a magisterial performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s awesome, ambitious String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132—was maybe equally memorable. Much of the opening Allegro is highly charged music although it is interlaced with that of a lighter, more graceful character, preceding an Allegro ma non tanto that is more cheerful, almost Mozartean, but with some intimations of greater seriousness. The weighty, exalting, slow movement—with a tempo of Molto adagio—has a religious gravity but with interpolations of melodious, quasi-Baroque episodes. The fourth movement—Alla marcia, assai vivace—is spirited and charming with contrasting interludes of an almost tragic cast while the exhilarating finale—marked Allegro appassionato—is exultant. An enthusiastic ovation was rewarded with an amazing encore: the incomparable First Counterpoint from Johann Sebastian Bach’s final work,The Art of the Fugue.

October '23 Digital Week III

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Thursday, 26 October 2023 02:55; Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater Releases of the Week

Killers of the Flower Moon

(Apple/Paramount)

Martin Scorsese has had a miraculous late artistic resurgence: in the past decade alone, he has made The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, The Irishman and now Killers of the Flower Moon, all expansive, meaningful moral tales. Killers, the longest fiction film of his career at 206 minutes, absorbingly chronicles the tragic true story of the multiple murders of members of the wealthy Osage Nation in Oklahoma in the 1920s by white men wanting their oil money.

Unlike David Grann’s superbly immersive book, which recounts how the FBI solved the crimes, Scorsese and cowriter Eric Roth begin with the plotting and planning and meticulously work their way through every horrific moment of this painful and shameful chapter in our country’s history. Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio are brutally effective as the Osages’ main antagonists—and there are equally striking performances by a large supporting cast led by Jesse Plemons, Jason Isbell, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow and Cara Jade Myers—but it’s Lily Gladstone who, as next Osage woman on the killers’ hit list, is the heart and soul of this unforgettable but sorrowful epic.

Anatomy of a Fall

(Neon)

In Justine Triet’s slow-burn of a thriller, German author Sandra (Sandra Hüller) is the chief suspect in the death of her French husband Samuel (Samuel Theis), who is found by their blind 11-year-old son Daniel (the formidable Milo Machado-Graner) outside their rural chalet one day—did Samuel fall or was he pushed?

Triet builds fascinating layers upon layers—the tantalizing use of French and English, scenes playing out as they occurred while being recounted at trial, Daniel’s precocious intelligence, Sandra’s friendly defense lawyer Vincent (Swann Arlaud) who may not believe in her innocence—and there memorable sequences, notably the couple’s final argument, in which Hüller provides the film’s most gripping moments. But, since it seems that neither Triet nor Hüller have a clue whether Sandra is innocent or guilty, their shaggy-dog story never reaches the tragic complexity it strives for.

4K/UHD Releases of the Week

Barbie

(Warner Bros)

Any movie that opens with a lumbering parody of 2001: A Space Odyssey can’t be trusted, and indeed, it’s no surprise director Greta Gerwig and her cowriter/husband Noah Baumbach have created an occasionally diverting but relentlessly one-note parody-cum-empowerment fable about the titular character leaving Barbieland for the Real World, where she discovers her unique femininity. Disappointingly, the movie is far less clever and insightful than it thinks; even the aggressively bright colors, cartoonish sets and garish costumes pall quickly. It ends up as a nearly two-hour mashup of lame SNL skits and ugly-looking music videos. (And why do Barbie Land and the Real World have such similarly awful music?)

Of course, any movie with Margot Robbie at its center is watchable—except Babylon—but eventually she too is defeated by Gerwig’s gimmickry. Although Ryan Gosling is initially fun as Ken, even he begins to glumly repeat himself; Will Farrell’s schtick wore thin years ago. The glittering colors pop all over the screen in UHD; extras include several making-of featurettes.

Meg 2—The Trench

(Warner Bros)

After The Meg—in which a massive prehistoric shark mauls whomever gets in its way—how can a sequel become even more monstrous? Director Ben Wheatley goes in the direction of doubling down, introducing not one but three such creatures along with an enormous octopus terrorizing the populace, all while returning hero Jason Statham does what he can to save the day.

It’s all nonsensically goofy but it’s done with such singlemindedness that, when Statham on his jet ski goes up against the behemoths in the open water, it’s entirely possible you will root for him as a kind of second-rate Chief Brody from Jaws. The film looks spectacular in UHD; extras are two making-of featurettes.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers

(Criterion Collection)

Tod Browning might be best known for his 1931 Dracula that made Bela Lugosi famous, but his creepy classic Freaks (1932) is the centerpiece of this three-film set comprising Browning’s unsettling studies of those forgotten people on the margins. Along with Freaks—which retains its power to shock and make viewers uncomfortable nine decades later—there are 1927’s The Unknown, with Lon Chaney and a young Joan Crawford in a sordid story of an armless knife thrower infatuated with his attractive assistant, and the 1925 rarity The Mystic, another offbeat (and downbeat) melodrama.

All three films have been meticulously restored and—in the case of The Unknown—reconstructed; extras include audio commentaries, interviews and featurettes putting Browning’s films—which some might consider worth canceling—in their proper context.

My Father’s Glory/My Mother’s Castle

(Film Movement Classics)

French director Yves Robert’s two lovely 1990 memory pieces, adapted from the great director and writer Marcel Pagnol’s autobiography, follow the young Marcel and his family—loving mom, hard-nosed dad and pushy older brother—in Marseille and Provence in the early 1900s.

With wonderfully lived-in performances by the entire cast—especially Julien Ciamaca, who’s spot-on as the young Marcel, and Nathalie Roussel, who’s heartbreaking as his doomed mom Augustine—Robert has made two humane films tinged with humor, drama, tragedy: life itself. There are superb new hi-def transfers; extras are two informative featurettes.

Passion

(Film Movement)

Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi made his mark with the mammoth character study Happy Hour and last year’s international breakthrough—and Oscar-winning best international film—Drive My Car. That notoriety led to the release of his 2008 student film, in which the themes and directorial hallmarks of his later works are given rough, choppy form.

Unlike his mature features, where dialogue is meaningful and has its own kind of narrative propulsiveness, here the characters falling in and out of relationships don’t have much to say that’s memorable. Still, this is an interesting blueprint for what would be (mostly) perfected later. The film looks good on Blu; extras are a Hamaguchi introduction and a video essay, From Passion to Fortune.

CD Releases of the Week

Krzysztof Penderecki—Symphony No. 6, “Chinese Songs”

(Naxos)

Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki began as an avant-garde destroyer whose atonal works of the ‘50s and ‘60s made his reputation, but he morphed into a modernist who also harkened back to older forms, and this disc collects three memorable titles from the last 15 years of his composing career (he died at age 86 in 2020).

The Trumpet Concertino (with soloist David Guerrier) and Concerto doppio (with cellist Hayoung Choi and violinist Aleksandra Kuls) are magnificent showcases for those instruments, while his Symphony No. 6, “Chinese Songs,” is one of Penderecki’s most luminous vocal works—it’s sad to realize the imposing soloist, Polish bass-baritone Jarosław Bręk, died two years ago at age 46. Antoni Wit ably leads the Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra in these energetic performances.

George Walker—Five Sinfonias

(NSO)

Culminating his lengthy and impressive career, George Walker (1922-2018) wrote a series of sinfonias—short, compact works that are weighty without being ponderous—over the course of his final three-plus decades of composing.

The first three sinfonias each have two or three movements, but the last two are even more compressed, single-movement works; the shattering fifth, written after the murder of nine Black members of a Bible study group by a racist gunman in a Charleston church, is the only one with a vocal section. These five sinfonias make a remarkably coherent artistic statement, and these gripping performances by the National Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Gianandrea Noseda, provide Walker with a wonderful musical epitaph.

Reviews

November '23 Digital Week I

"Fanfare Ritmico" With The Philadelphia Orchestra

Quartetto di Cremona Perform in NYC

October '23 Digital Week III

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