Film & Arts - Film Festival Traveler

the traveler's resource guide to festivals & films
a FestivalTravelNetwork.com site
part of Insider Media llc.

Connect with us:

You are here: Home

Film & Arts

Reviews

An Evening With the New York Youth Symphony

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Monday, 14 March 2022 14:16; Written by Jack Angstreich

Soloist Grace Park

At Carnegie Hall on the afternoon of Sunday, March 13th, I had the pleasure of attending a concert, of music by American composers, presented by the remarkable players of the New York Youth Symphony under the confident direction of Michael Repper.

The event began with the conductor asking the audience to stand for a stirring performance of the Ukrainian national anthem, with music by Mykhailo Verbytsky, an eminent nineteenth-century composer. The program proper opened auspiciously with the world premiere of the arresting, beautifully orchestrated Ruach (And Other Delights), by contemporary composer Jonathan Cziner, commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony First Music Program.

The very talented soloist Grace Park then took the stage for an eloquent account of Samuel Barber’s magnificent Violin Concerto. The Allegro begins lyrically and gorgeously but moves in a more sprightly and also dramatic direction with the introduction of the countermelody by the clarinet. The Andante is at first more inward and meditative, then becomes more conflicted, but returns to more soulful inflections before ending softly, while the closing, more flamboyant and propulsive Presto proved to be a virtuosic tour de force. Each movement received applause.

After an intermission, Repper announced the the release of the ensemble’s debut album, which includes music by the underrated Florence Price, a couple of whose marvelous scores have been heard in Manhattan—including at this venue—in recent weeks. The second half of the concert was equally absorbing with a wonderful rendition of the now seldom heard but extraordinary “Afro-American” Symphony of William Grant Still. The opening Moderato, like the work as a whole, is jazzy, delightful and eclectic, while the Adagio is more restrained but also enchanting. The third movement, marked Animato, is more celebratory and ebullient, and the concluding Lento begins hauntingly but soon acquires a more cheerful character. As a gracious encore, the music director repeated the terrific third movement—in the closing measures inviting the audience to clap along—earning further appreciation from the fortunate attendees. I look forward to hearing these impressive musicians again before long.

March '22 Digital Week I

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 02 March 2022 11:23; Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater/Streaming Releases of the Week

Cyrano

(MGM)

In this highly unnecessary musical knockoff of Edmond Rostand’s classic play, Peter Dinklage gives an underwhelming performance in the title role, Haley Bennett fares slightly better as Roxanne, whom Cyrano secretly pines for, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. is a dud of a Christian, the handsome front for Cyrano’s romantic words to Roxanne.

Director Joe Wright displays his usual visual dexterity, and the sets and costumes are rotely spectacular, but Erica Schmidt’s adaptation is an exceedingly bumpy road: her changes don’t help, the songs are interchangeably dull and the story’s tragic arc is missed completely. Better to stick with Fred Schepisi and Steve Martin’s Roxanne, which smartly juggled with the play comedically rather than make it into such a risibly self-important mess.

My Best Part

(Altered Innocence)

In first-time writer-director Nicolas Maury’s self-absorbed melodrama, Maury himself (known to American audiences from the witty French series Call My Agent) plays a self-pitying actor whose personal and professional life is destructing who looks to his own complex relationship with his mother to keep himself afloat.

A powerful performance by the legendary Nathalie Baye as the mom helps gloss over the flaws in Maury’s writing, directing, acting and general approach to a complicated relationships that should have been more brutally honest rather than merely gimmicky.

4K/UHD Release of the Week

The Green Mile

(Warner Bros)

For this 1999 crime drama/fantasy based on a novel by Stephen King, writer-director Frank Darabont finds himself afflicted with Martin Brest-itis, a tendency toward unneeded gargantuanism, as a perfectly serviceable 90-minute story has been stretched out of all proportion to an almost stultifying 188-minute epic. But, like Darabont’s previous overrated feature, The Shawshank Redemption (also based on a King story), The Green Mile has become a cult item.

Michael Clarke Duncan is terrific and touching as the noble black prisoner on death row, while then-unknown Sam Rockwell is good and nasty as a remorseless prisoner. But the film is too studied, too full of itself to be forceful and honest. There’s a first-rate 4K transfer; Darabont’s commentary is on the UHD and Blu-ray discs, the latter also featuring vintage extras: a lengthy making-of feature, interviews, deleted scenes, Duncan’s screen test and Hanks’ makeup test.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

American Underdog

(Lionsgate)

In this routine biopic of Kurt Warner, his amazing story—talented QB who never got a shot in the NFL and who was bagging groceries before he finally did make his debut with the St. Louis Rams, then improbably led them to a Super Bowl win in his first season and eventually make the Hall of Fame—is told competently if unsurprisingly.

Directors Jon and Andrew Erwin have never been known for their subtle touch, but they’re helped by Zachary Levi (Kurt), Anna Paquin (his wife Brenda), and heart-tugging from Hayden Zaller as Brenda’s young, blind son. The film looks excellent on Blu; extras are a good hour of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast, crew and even former Rams coach Dick Vermeil (played by Dennis Quaid in the film), interviewed by none other than Saturday Night Live cast member Heidi Gardner.

Boat People

(Criterion)

Hong Kong director Ann Hui’s shattering 1982 film about the crushed lives of so many Vietnamese refugees following the Vietnam War follows a Japanese photojournalist who finds that, the government’s attempts to paint peacetime as a success aside, families are living in a shocking poverty that is being hidden from the rest of the world.

Hui’s masterly direction dramatizes the squalor, the corruption and the repression that these people are up against without a trace of condescension or sentimentality. The film looks remarkably good on Blu; extras include a new Hui interview; Keep Rolling, a 2020 documentary about Hui’s career; As Time Goes By, Hui’s 1997 documentary self-portrait; and the 1983 Cannes Film Festival press conference.

Dancing Pirate

(Film Detective)

Lloyd Corrigan’s 1936 Technicolor melodrama has few stars (unless Charles Collins and Steffi Duna are names you’re familiar with) and a ridiculous story that gets more implausible as it goes along, but there’s something about the singlemindedness of arriving at the title character’s solo spot that makes this semi-watchable.

There’s a decent hi-def transfer that gives a sense of the early three-strip Technicolor process; extras include an audio commentary along with featurettes on the beginnings of Technicolor and on the film itself.

Edge of Darkness

(Warner Archive)

In this tense wartime thriller set near the beginning of WWII, director Lewis Milestone skillfully draws the various members of the Norwegian resistance against the Nazis and their collaborators in an often vicious and deadly game of cat and mouse.

Made in 1943, Milestone’s film mines this endlessly dramatic subject for melodramatics, propaganda and old-fashioned derring-do; his cast, led by Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan and Walter Huston as resisters, is in fine fettle throughout. The B&W images look spectacular on Blu; extras are a vintage short, Gun to Gun, and vintage cartoon, To Duck…or Not to Duck.

The Three Musketeers

(Warner Archive)

This colorful 1948 adaptation about the swashbuckling quartet—D’Artagnan joins the other three in their exploits—is better at atmospheric entertainment than at telling a faithful version of Dumas’ story.

But who cares, when you’ve got Gene Kelly of all people sword-fighting/dancing with the best of them as D’Artagnan, Van Heflin, Gig Young and Robert Coote as the musketeers, June Allyson as the lovely Constance, Vincent Price as Cardinal Richelieu and even Lana Turner as the duplicitous countess. It’s Hollywood filmmaking at its slickest, courtesy director George Sidney. The film’s vivid colors pop brilliantly on Blu; extras are a vintage travel short, Looking at London, and vintage cartoon, What Price Fleadom.

Don Giovanni

(Opus Arte)

Francesca da Rimini

(Naxos)

These stagings of two operas—an acknowledged classic and a less well-known but respectable love story—are illuminated by strong performances in the lead roles. In Mozart’s Don Giovanni—seen in Oliver Mears’ stodgy 2019 staging at London’s Royal Opera House—Erwin Schrott is a charmingly roguish Don and Malin Bystrom, Louise Alder and Myrto Papatanasiu are a delightful and sympathetic trio of the Don’s conquests.

Last year in Berlin, Riccardo Zandonai’s tragic Francesca da Rimini was staged impeccably by director Christof Loy, helped immeasurably by American soprano Sara Jakubiak’s varied, versatile, vocally and dramatically flawless portrayal of Francesca. Both operas have excellent hi-def video and sound; Giovanni extras are short interviews with cast and creatives.

DVD Release of the Week

Le Chevalier de Saint-George—The Enlightened Violinist

(BelAir Classiques)

This short documentary about the life of a remarkable musician and composer, Joseph Bologne, aka Le Chevalier de Saint-George, fills a hole in part of our history of music—this Black man from Guadeloupe (then a French colony) was born to an enslaved 16-year-old in 1745 and was considered the “Black Mozart” by his contemporaries for his versatility as an instrumentalist and facility as a composer.

Several music scholars and musicians discuss his importance both historically and musically, and the accompanying hour-long concert—which features soprano Magali Leger, who also speaks in the documentary—includes some of his well-crafted music alongside works by Haydn and Mozart, providing a necessary corrective to our current musical trajectory.

CD Release of the Week

George Walker—Piano Sonatas

(Bridge Records)

This excellent disc collects the astonishing piano sonatas by George Walker (1922-2018)—the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for music—all five of them short, compact and captivating statements of musical purpose, with their jazz-like syncopations that even sound at times like free improvisations, but always remaining rigidly structured throughout.

Pianist Steven Beck brings his prodigious technique to tackling these often difficult miniature masterpieces that span five decades of Walker’s composing lifetime, letting listeners hear a truly original and extraordinary musical voice.

Beauty & Tragedy With the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Tuesday, 01 March 2022 21:37; Written by Jack Angstreich

Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Pianist Seong-Jin Cho with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo by Chriss Lee

At Carnegie Hall, on the evening of Friday, February 25th, I heard a magnificent concert—the first of three on consecutive dates—devoted to the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff given by the outstanding Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the marvelous direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, replacing Valery Gerigiev, who could not attend on account of the current Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The program opened beautifully with an impeccable version of the celebrated Piano Concerto No. 2, here played with consummate artistry by Korean soloist Seong-Jin Cho, replacing Denis Matsuev who also could not be present because of the political situation. The lyrical first movement, like the work as a whole, is an expression of the purest Romanticism while the ensuing Adagio is even more inward—solemn, plaintive but with turbulent passages. The finale is melancholic but also frolicsome by turns and features march-like rhythms and soaring melodies but concludes triumphantly. The audience rose to applaud the performers. Cho performed an exquisite encore: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s October ("Autumn Song") from The Seasons.

The second half of the event was even more rewarding, with a fully confident realization of the extraordinary Symphony No. 2. The Largo begins gravely but quickly becomes passionate, even dramatic, in character, although with introspective moments. The following Allegro molto is even more suspenseful, but also suffused with longing, although it ends quietly. Most sumptuous of all is the emotional Adagio while the Allegro vivace is enchanting, if ultimately exuberant. The artists received an enthusiastic ovation.

The following day, on February 26, brought the next day of the stunning ensemble. The remarkably coherent program of lush orchestral music began magnificently with a flawless account of Claude Debussy’s glorious Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, one of the most perfect works ever written.The conductor memorably displayed superb control of tempo. Almost as impressive was Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2. (Several years ago at Alice Tully Hall, I heard Nézet-Séguin lead the Juilliard Orchestra in a ravishing performance of the complete ballet score.) The opening Daybreak movement’s ecstatic atmosphere is strongly reminiscent of the ineffable qualities of Debussy’s Prelude while the ensuing Pantomime is more programmatic in character and less sustainedly voluptuous in its scoring across its length. The concluding Danse générale is propulsive, dramatic and suspenseful with a stunning close that drew ardent applause.

The second half of the event was comparably exciting with a spectacular rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s brilliant, sumptuous fantasia, Scheherazade, which is immensely evocative, exceedingly Romantic and exceptionally coloristic with moments of shimmering intensity and is notable for its sensuous Orientalism. Igor Stravinsky’s early ballet scores have conditioned me to experience this music as their precursor. The piece builds to a wondrous, breathless climax with a magical, serene denouement that elicited a standing ovation.

On the following afternoon, the artists returned for a terrific concert of Russian music beginning with an astonishingly lucid reading of selections from Sergei Prokofiev’s magisterial ballet score, Romeo and Juliet, including the following episodes: the unforgettable Montagues and Capulets; Juliet as a Young Girl; Scene; Friar Laurence; Minuet; Masks; and the stunning Romeo at Juliet’s Grave.

The second half of the program was also enthralling: a sublime performance of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s monumental Pathétique Symphony. The brooding Adagio introductionto the first movement quickly leads into a passionate Allegro with a famous and haunting second theme. The second movement is one of the loveliest of the composer’s numerous exquisite waltzes but is not without its melancholy aspects. The dazzling, ultimately triumphant March of the third movement was continued without pause by the moving finale which was imbued with a deep sense of longing, even despair. Appropriately, a minute of silence for the people of Ukraine was observed before another appreciative ovation. The next appearance of these incomparable musicians is eagerly awaited.

Juilliard Jazz in NYC

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Monday, 28 February 2022 15:17; Written by Jack Angstreich

Conductor David Robertson at Carnegie Hall

At Carnegie Hall, on the evening of Wednesday, February 23rd, the Juilliard Orchestra, under the estimable direction of David Robertson, played in a terrific concert of American orchestral music influenced by jazz.

The program opened delightfully, with a marvelous performance of Leonard Bernstein’s brilliant Three Dance Episodes from On the Town, from his popular 1944 musical with book and lyrics by the wonderful Betty Comden and Adolph Green and choreography by the legendary Jerome Robbins. The music began with the exuberant The Great Lover, followed by the magnificent, lyrical Lonely Town (Pas de deux) and concluding jubilantly with the jocular and celebratory Times Square.

The impressive soloist Yan Liu then took the stage for a superb rendition of Aaron Copland’s extraordinary Clarinet Concerto of 1948 which has an introspective, gorgeous first movement leading into an eccentric cadenza and and a final second movement with dancelike rhythms reminiscent of the composer’s famous ballet scores, but here with virtuosic jazzy inflections. The clarinetist was handed several floral bouquets from members of the audience and was enthusiastically applauded.

After an intermission, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra joined the ensemble to conclude the program with an enthralling account of Wynton Marsalis’s fabulous, monumental Swing Symphony of 2010. This work in seven movements virtually defies description with its exhilarating medley of innumerable styles and genres with many instrumental solos. After the first movement Robertson told the audience, “It’s okay if you applaud” and after the second he said, “We have five more encores.” The musicians deservedly received a standing ovation.

Reviews

An Evening With the New York Youth Symphony

March '22 Digital Week I

Beauty & Tragedy With the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Juilliard Jazz in NYC

More Articles...

Newsletter Sign Up

Upcoming Events

Tweets!