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November '22 Digital Week II

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Friday, 18 November 2022 14:23; Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

Lost Illusions

(Music Box Films)

French director Xavier Giannoli—whose masterly 2003 debut, Eager Bodies, remains criminally unseen in the U.S.—turns his considerable talents to this sumptuous adaptation of a Balzac novel about a provincial young man, Lucien, in 1820s France whose affair with an older, married noblewoman, Louise, changes his life in ways he couldn’t dream of. Lucien eventually becomes one of Paris’ most popular (and feared) newspaper writers—and Giannoli perceptively shows the seductive parallels between yesterday’s yellow journalism and today’s “fake news.”

A superior cast led by Benjamin Voisin, Cecile de France, Jeanne Balibar and Gerard Depardieu, stunning photography by Christophe Beaucarne, and expert editing, costumes and sets, are harnessed by Giannoli on a large social, political and personal canvas that fills every one of his film’s 150 minutes with intelligent and grandly entertaining storytelling. The film’s luminous images look stunning on Blu-ray; too bad the only extras are brief interviews with Voisin, de France, and other cast members along with a superfluous short featurette showing off the cinematography.

Daisies

(Criterion)

Czech director Vera Chytilova—who went on to make several good, and a few great, films in a distinguished career before her death in 2014 at age 85—is best known for her 1966 debut feature, an unfortunately dated piece of empty surrealism and experimentalism, flashing its admittedly inventive colors, costumes, photography and editing at the service of a heavyhanded satire of materialism and feminist stereotypes.

That she got the poseurishness out of her system is the best takeaway from this clever but shallow film. There’s a stunning-looking hi-def transfer; extras comprise two early Chytilova shorts; an audio commentary; interview with programmer Irena Kovarova; featurette about Chytilova’s collaboration with her Daisies cinematographer and screenwriter; and a 2002 documentary about Chytilova.

Earth Girls Are Easy

(Vestron)

Julien Temple’s fizzy 1988 musical is a colorful piece of lunacy about aliens coming to California and falling in with the manicurist (Geena Davis) whose pool they land in. Davis is as adorable as she’s ever been, Julie Brown provides the movie’s funniest lines and best music segments as her coworker and friend, and the aliens are amusingly portrayed by Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans.

The movie is mainly forgotten after it ends, but it has share of bright, loopy moments. There’s a terrific hi-def transfer; extras include new and archival interviews with Temple, Brown, Rocket and crew members, along with a commentary and deleted scenes.

Starstruck

(Opus Arte)

Gene Kelly created the ballet Pas de Dieux for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1960, and now it’s been beautifully resurrected by the Scottish Ballet, which premiered its own version last fall in Edinburgh and newly choreographed by Christopher Hampson, which has been filmed for posterity.

This story of Greek gods has been set to the music of Gershwin’s Concerto in F and Chopin’s Les Sylphides, and the dancing is as physical and athletic as it is in such Kelly films as Singin’ in the Rain. The spectacular dancers are led by Sophie Martin and Christopher Harrison. There’s first-rate hi-def video and audio; lone extra is a making-of featurette.

Three Thousand Years of Longing

(Warner Bros)

From a short story by A.S. Byatt about an intellectually rigorous but emotionally distant scholar whose encounter with a Djinn gets her three wishes in exchange for his freedom, director George Miller’s adaptation is, as usual, visually splendid and imaginatively conceived, but it remains as remote as its protagonist initially is.

Although the movie extols the virtues of storytelling through the Djinn’s many extravagant tales, it ends up dramatically inert, despite the best efforts of Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton in the leads. Of course, it all looks fantastic on Blu; no extras.

Streaming/In-Theater Releases of the Week

Black Notebooks—Ronit

(Panorama Films)

Ronit Elkabetz, a remarkable Israeli actress and filmmaker who made several provocative works with her brother Shlomi, died of cancer in 2016 at age 51—a shocking and sad loss for the world of cinema.

Luckily, we can still savor her many multilayered performances, and we can also be grateful that Shlomi created this emotionally shattering love letter to his sister that shows them working on their last film together, Gett, along with promoting it around the world while knowing that her sickness was in the process of slowing her down.

The Estate

(Capstone)

It’s the most familiar of comic setups—family members battle among themselves to get on the good side of their dying wealthy old aunt—and if writer-director Dean Craig doesn’t go anywhere new with his clichéd, stereotyped characters, his cast is attuned enough to make it entertaining and even occasionally hilarious.

Kathleen Turner is a hoot as the bedbound rich aunt, Toni Colette and Anna Faris are first-rate as the scheming sisters, David Duchovny amusingly slimy as a desperate cousin, with Rosemarie DeWitt and Ron Livingston rounding out the droll ensemble—it’s recycled black comedy, no doubt, but it has moments of inspired hilarity.

Paul Taylor—Creative Domain

(First Run)

One of the true giants of modern dance, Paul Taylor (who died in 2018) was a choreographer nonpareil, and Kate Geis’ 2014 documentary was the last time anyone would record how Taylor created his singular works from the ground up.

It’s a fascinating look at how art is brought to life, showing how Taylor painstakingly built a single dance through not only movement but also his observational genius, something that’s been dynamically filmed by Geis and renowned dance cinematographer Tom Hurwit.

Peaceful

(Distrib Films US)

French actress Emmanuelle Bercot has also written and directed interesting films that closely study fraught relationships, including her latest, in which she chronicles the last months of Benjamin, an acting teacher with terminal cancer and how he deals with his illness, his students, his doctor and his domineering mother.

Although she goes full-blown sentimental—especially in an egregious subplot about a son Benjamin didn’t know he had—Bercot’s instincts are always unerring when it comes to casting: Benoît Magimel is phenomenal as Benjamin, and Catherine Deneuve (mom), Gabriel Sara (a real-life doctor playing Benjamin’s doctor) and Cecile de France (his loyal nurse) are as real and vital as he is.

See How They Run

(Searchlight)

In this harmlessly lighthearted whodunit that riffs on the popularity of recent Agatha Christie adaptations, Sam Rockwell and Saiorse Ronan play mismatched investigators of a murder onstage at Christie’s long-running mystery play, The Mousetrap, with no shortage of suspects.

Director Tom George and writer Mark Chappell are not as clever as they think they are, so the movie just ambles along to its preordained denouement, but it’s helped along by Rockwell, Ronan and a capable supporting cast including Ruth Wilson, Adrien Brody and David Oyelowo.

CD Release of the Week

Tchaikovsky/Rimsky-Korsakov—Orchestral Works

(LSO)

Both Russian composers on this recording were brilliant orchestral colorists, as these splendid performances by the London Symphony Orchestra under conductor Gianandrea Noseda so excitingly demonstrate. Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s sixth symphony was his obvious masterpiece, and so the fifth symphony always suffers by comparison; still, it’s an attractive, absorbing and ultimately substantial work in its own right.

Meanwhile, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov is best known for his fantastical operas whose music is usually more memorable than the mythical stories they tell. While his magnum opus, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, is filled with beautiful melodies and exquisite orchestral tone painting, the four-movement suite included here distills three hours of Rimsky’s aural poetry into 21 exquisitely crafted minutes.

Broadway Musical Review—“Almost Famous,” From Screen to Stage

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Monday, 14 November 2022 01:51; Written by Kevin Filipski

Almost Famous

Book and lyrics by Cameron Crowe

Music and lyrics by Tom Kitt

Directed by Jeremy Herrin

Opened November 3, 2022

Bernard Jacobs Theatre

227 West 45th Street, New York, NY

Almostfamousthemusical.com

Casey Likes and Solea Pfeiffer in Almost Famous (photo: Matthew Murphy)

There doesn’t seem to be any compelling reason for Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous to make the transition from screen to stage—the Broadway musical is basically just the movie enacted live for an audience. Scenes play out with identical dialogue and music cues, while Tom Kitt’s new songs intrude on the proceedings at various intervals, making the musical slightly longer than the original film.

Almost Famous—which tells Crowe’s own coming-of-age story in semi-fictional form—follows William Miller, a 15-year-old high school student living in San Diego with his mother and older sister. Miller has aspirations of becoming a rock journalist, so befriending infamous writer Lester Bangs gives him entrée into the rarefied world of musicians, particularly up-and-coming band Stillwater, which he joins on tour to write a cover story for Rolling Stone magazine. He also meets Penny Lane, the legendary leader of a group of groupies named the Band-Aids, and he soon finds himself maturing in ways he never would have imagined so far away from his protective mom back home.

Crowe’s semiautobiographical movie, which won him a 2000 Oscar for best original screenplay, is alternately amused and bemused by the excesses of the rock’n’roll lifestyle; William’s mom, Elaine, is a conventional counterweight to what she assumes are hedonistic goings-on. More mild than edgy, the film at least has an original point of view.

The carbon-copy musical, however, doesn’t do much with the same material except regurgitate what worked—and what didn’t—onscreen. Even Kitt’s songs, mostly repetitive and interchangeable, aren’t a patch on the movie’s Stillwater songs or—most obviously—tunes from real artists of the era (Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Stevie Wonder) that are shoehorned in at crucial times. The film’s famous bus scene of arguing band members bonding while singing Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” is actually used as the first act’s climax, where it misses the original’s resonance.

Even when one of Kitt’s songs has a chance to bust out of the constricted structure, it falls short. In the movie, as Elaine teaches her class, she blurts out, “Rock stars have kidnapped my son!” It’s a funny line that also contains a grain of truth, but Crowe wisely cuts to the next scene. Onstage, however, Elaine gets to sing “Elaine’s Lecture,” where she repeats the “kidnapped” line several times, to diminishing comic and dramatic returns.

In two instances the musical improves on the movie. The movie’s Band-Aids—which, led by the unappealing Kate Hudson, seemed like naïve teens who were happy to hang out with rock stars, not enticing young adults—are more realistically sexualized onstage, especially as led by the magnetic and winning Solea Pfeiffer, whose Penny Lane is both wise older sister to and tantalizing love interest for William (the plausibly youthful Casey Likes) in ways Hudson never convincingly portrayed in the film. Pfeiffer also has thrilling vocal chops, which she radiantly uses to make all of Penny’s songs, like the mournful “The Real World,” highlights of the show.

Also, Lester Bangs gets a larger part in the musical: he shows up for a few scenes in the movie, but onstage he hovers about far more as a sort of grungy guardian angel to his teenage protégé, providing snarky commentary on the commercialized rock world. Rob Colletti is a humorous Lester, but even more of his sardonic spirit would have greatly helped.

Director Jeremy Herrin and choreographer Sarah O’Gleby adroitly capture the onstage and backstage frenzy at rock concerts, but the more intimate moments elude their grasp. The crack band of design veterans—ace costumer David Zinn, lighting whiz Natasha Katz and scenic genius Derek McLane—conjures up a perfectly fizzy early ’70s atmosphere.

As a musical, Almost Famous hits most of its marks, yet ends up like an OK cover version of a favorite tune: close but no cigar.

Broadway Play Review—“Walking with Ghosts” with Gabriel Byrne

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Friday, 11 November 2022 12:17; Written by Kevin Filipski

Walking with Ghosts

Written by and starring Gabriel Byrne

Directed by Lonny Price

Through November 20, 2022

Music Box Theatre

239 West 45th Street, New York, NY

Gabrielbyrneonbroadway.com

Gabriel Byrne in Walking with Ghosts (photo: Emilio Madrid)

A generous and wise presence is Gabriel Byrne, whose one-man Broadway show Walking with Ghosts is based on his recent memoir of growing up in Dublin before becoming an acclaimed actor of stage and screen.

Unlike many solo performers, Byrne is often low-key and understated, which might be why his show has not been pulling in audiences (it was supposed to run until December 31 but now will close November 20). But there are pleasures to be had from Byrne’s approach, his laconic delivery, and his diverting if familiar storytelling.

Even if the show seems unstructured—the first act, comprising anecdotes of his childhood, bounces around pleasantly yet fuzzily, while the second act, in which Byrne recounts becoming an actor, is more sharply focused—Byrne remains resolute in his determination not to overdo, to overemphasize or to overact. The Irish gift of gab and charming accents continue apace, yet are grounded by his ability to make them serve his stories.

If there’s little in the way of originality in these anecdotes of a young lad growing up in a working-class neighborhood and attending a far-off seminary to study, the warmly intimate family scenes are nicely sketched in—particularly his elation when he remembers going to the movies with his beloved grandmother—as are the mildly humorous descriptions of the real characters populating Dublin’s streets.

It’s the second act, when Byrne joins a third-rate theater company and learns how to act, where the memories get more pointed and even poignant. Somewhat surprisingly, he rarely drops the names of the many playwrights, directors and fellow performers he’s worked with. When he tells a particularly engaging story about one of his acting heroes, Richard Burton (with whom he starred in a 1983 TV miniseries about composer Richard Wagner), it becomes far more urgent when he confesses his own realization that alcohol took hold of him as easily as it did Burton himself.

That confession—along with earlier ones about the shocking drowning of a childhood friend and physical abuse by a priest who taught him at the seminary—is integrated somewhat awkwardly into the framework of chatty raconteur that Byrne and director Lonny Price have created. But that, too, is part of the actor’s onstage appeal: he is bright, witty, handsome—if not Brad Pitt level—someone you’d see in a pub, trading barbs with his buddies while kicking back a few pints.

Composer/Singer/Songwriter Randy Edelman Performed Heartfelt Compositions at City Winery Offering a Preview of His Shows to Come in December

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Thursday, 10 November 2022 14:36; Written by Brad Balfour

Along with Randy Newman, Paul Williams and Van Dyke Parks, among others, pop singer/songwriter Randy Edelman has established himself as a member of the snarky, eccentric songster sub-genre. The 75-year-old tells tales of failed love, unresolved relationships and unfulfilled dreams. Yet through it all, he sings of hope for the future.

Edelman recently scored the upcoming film “Skelly” with Brian Cox (“Succession”) and the demonic thriller “The Beast Inside.” For the first time, Sony Classical has issued Pink Slime vinyl, digi- and CD versions of his classic score to “Ghostbusters II.” New Edelman songs for the musical "Shortcut" are now available. And Post-covid, the single "Comin' Out The Other Side" is out on Tribeca Records.

Along the way, Edelman has made visits to this town, gracing audiences with his uniquely crafted song stylizations and performances. Thanks to a surprise invite last August, I experienced his most recent NYC excursion. Gigging at the relaunched City Winery, relocated at Pier 57 on the city’s far westside, this fabulous space provided the ideal environment for getting close and personal to such a musical talent.

I had seen him before and every time I did, his performance just deepened the experience. Thankfully, there won’t be such a gap between Edelman's last session and his next shows here. They’ve been booked in December, right before Christmas, at two other fine venues – Don’t Tell Mama (10 pm, Dec. 22) and Chelsea Table + Stage (9 pm, Dec. 23) where I had first seen him maybe a year ago.

Tickling the keys throughout the Pier 57 show, Edelman displayed a low-keyed pride in his achievements while rattling off historic details. The Teaneck, New Jersey native is a fine-honed songwriter/vocalist whose quirky tunes have a commercial tinge while being fatalistically romantic.

As a young boy, Edelman transcribed sounds into piano pieces. As he aged into college, he turned from pre-med to studying piano and composition at the Cincinnati Music Conservatory. He then jump-started his career with an arranging assignment at James Brown’s Cincinnati-based King Records.

By 1970, Edelman had relocated to NYC becoming a CBS Records staff writer while playing piano in Broadway orchestras. Randy also began writing and recording his own LPs granting him an audience and a spot on “Top of the Pops.”

Then a move to L.A. led him to make several albums. A myriad of artists started covering his originals. Examples: “Weekend in New England” (Barry Manilow), “I Can't Make Music” (The Carpenters), and “My Place” (Nelly) which reached Number 1 on the Billboard Hip Hop charts.

Other tracks that have been covered include “Down in the Everglades” (Willie Nelson), “Isn’t it a Shame” (Patti LaBelle), “If Love is Real” (Olivia Newton John), “Blue Street” (Blood, Sweat & Tears) and Royal Philharmonic’s “Grey.” Additionally, Edelman has opened live in huge arenas for such icons as Frank Zappa and The Carpenters.

Which brings us back to that recent performance. Alternating his patter between self-effacing humor and snarkiness, Edelman sat at the piano as if there were no other place he’d rather be. He opened the show with his forceful yet plaintive tune, “Don’t Forsake Me Now” which tells a story of travel and time. Nice descriptions driven by the pulse of the piano and capturing grit in just a phrase.

Next, Edelman followed that one with “The Farmer,” the opening cut from his first album of 50 years ago. A fine composition which encapsulates a feeling of loss, its rich cascade of piano chords drives his point home.

Edelman then related a story about two kids who heard his album and took him on tour. That brother/sister duo, The Carpenters, loved a song of his, “You,” so much that they recorded it, becoming a hit for them. Edelman’s version is singularly touching, thanks to his emotive piano playing.

IMG 9918-copy-2 med After beginning with songs that convey such an air of innocence, his next tune more cynically tells of a downtown guy who finds his uptown woman. It turns into a story of a doomed relationship, flawed but hard to let go of. As Randy sings, he leaves his “Uptown, uptempo woman” because he’s just a “Downtown, downbeat guy.”

Then Edelman told of going back in the day to the offices of song publishers on West 56th Street. While schlepping his songs around, he met a guy who had worked with Joan Rivers and had a close relationship with Clive Davis. As Edelman noted, although the song was in 3/4 waltz time (which no one seemed to think would work), it got sent over to that guy, Barry Manilow, and was perfect for him. His hit, “Weekend in New England,” was a tune of yearning, about the pain of love and the need that goes along with it.

Surprisingly, Edelman next performed a cover — Unit 4+2’s 1965 hit, “Concrete and Clay.” A classic ‘60s pop tune not often heard, it’s likely been an influence on Edelman’s composing style. With a sweet-as-roses feeling, it’s romantic and tender but with an edge.

From this set of tunes Edelman turned to performing, strictly on piano, his comedy movie medley which demonstrated another striking element of his career. Besides song-smithing, he’s a remarkably successful composer of symphonic soundtracks and other cinematic compositions.

Edelman has been creating many of the world’s best known soundtracks such as “Ghostbusters II”, “27 Dresses,” “While You Were Sleeping,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Kindergarten Cop,” “XXX,” “Twins,” “My Cousin Vinny” “The Mask” “Beethoven,” “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story,” “Anaconda,” “Mummy 3,” “Billy Madison,” “Leap Year,” “EdTV” and an array of others.

In addition, he’s scored numerous TV shows and series including “MacGyver,” “Mr. Sunshine,” Netflix’s “Backdraft 2” and HBO’s “Citizen X.” He’s also written music for HBO’s NASA’s final shuttle launch “Dare Mighty Things,” ESPN’s “Wimbledon, Grand Slam Tennis Series,” “ESPN Sports Century” and even NBC’s on-air Olympic theme.

After a few more songs, the busy-haired pianist performed another instrumental medley — this time, of his adventure films scores. Again, they demonstrated his composing power. Tight and driven by a broad melodic range, he illustrated why he’s been so successful at getting on-going scores.

Aside from Edelman’s skill at crafting and orchestrating cinematic compositions, his song set demonstrated a sweep that displays a cinematic narrative. As he wound down his show with a few other tunes, he did another cover — of the classic “Mack The Knife” — that further illustrated his unique flair. Despite having presented a show loaded with a range of moods and styles, the entire playlist fell under the distinct banner of “An Evening with Randy Edelman.”

For a discography and other details, check out:
randyedelman.com

For details on his up-coming shows go to:
www.donttellmamanyc.com
 www.chelseatableandstage.com

Reviews

November '22 Digital Week II

Broadway Musical Review—“Almost Famous,” From Screen to Stage

Broadway Play Review—“Walking with Ghosts” with Gabriel Byrne

Composer/Singer/Songwriter Randy Edelman Performed Heartfelt Compositions at City Winery Offering a Preview of His Shows to Come in December

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