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May '24 Digital Week I

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 01 May 2024 12:41; Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater Releases of the Week

Challengers

(MGM)

If a menage a trois among a female tennis player turned coach and the tennis pros in her life, each on opposing career trajectories, sounds like fun, director Luca Guadagnino and writer Justin Kuritzkes make sure it’s anything but. The flimsy, impossibly cutesy rom-com is crammed with flashbacks within flashbacks to try and present some variety, but even that doesn’t help—something that Guadagnino is obviously aware of, since he uses a surfeit of camera tricks and ridiculous angles to keep things bouncing.

Then there’s the awful use of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ pounding electronic score, which always seems to begin and end at the wrong time, as if the music cues are slightly but obviously off. The threesome enacted by Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist is impressive on the court (they all look and move like tennis players) but off the court the trio is saddled with stilted dialogue and must deal with desperate symbolism like a windstorm of Biblical proportions that actually happens twice. It’s all about as sexy as a celebrity doubles match.

The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

(Magnolia)

Lena Dunham’s shallow confessional fingerprints are all over this feature debut by Joanna Arnow, which is both self-effacing and extremely self-absorbed in its leaden look at Ann, a 30ish Brooklynite, whose boring life is also meaningless.

It’s one thing for Arnow to show Ann’s roundelay of overbearing parents, dull corporate job, robotic S&M play with male doms and a tentative new romance quite different from her other relationships—but it’s quite another to provide neither insight into nor an explanation for how Ann ended up here. Maybe a 15-minute short would have handled the material more succinctly and less tediously than 85 minutes do.

Terrestrial Verses

(KimStim)

In this daring piece of advocacy filmmaking, writer-directors Alireza Khatami and Ali Asgari brilliantly dramatize how Iranian officialdom (governmental, cultural, even religious) tamps down individualism through several self-contained vignettes that pit ordinary persons—a man registering his baby’s name with the authorities; a woman wearing a hijab and a tattooed man each interviewing for a job; a young girl in a store who must wear a school uniform that completely covers her—against a person of authority.

Each segment is shot with a fixed, unmoving camera and begins normally, even informally, then soon morphs into a theater of the absurd as the invisible interlocutor pushes back at each individual’s individuality. The resulting horror grows cumulatively until the end, when an impending, if symbolic, event becomes all too awfully real.

Uncropped

(Greenwich Entertainment)

The life and career of photographer James Hamilton—whose masterly portraits were done mainly for the Village Voice but also other publications like Harper’s Bazaar and the New York Observer—are recounted in D.W. Young’s richly entertaining documentary, in which Hamilton narrates his own fascinating story from his beginnings at the Voice to the esteemed elder statesman he is considered today, an influential chronicler of pop culture and alternative journalism in New York.

There are interviews with his wide circle of friends and admirers, from Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and director Wes Anderson to journalists Joe Conason and Alexandra Jacobs, all adding anecdotal detail to his legendary journey, along with a copious amount of his classic photos.

4K Release of the Week

Frivolous Lola

(Cult Epics)

Italian director Tinto Brass, in his titillating, not-quite-hardcore sex comedies, relied on finding a young beauty with screen presence to shoulder the load, so to speak.

For this 1998 entry, he cast the beguiling Italian actress Anna Ammirati as the free-spirited Lola, a magnet to every man in town, from her boyfriend to local priests; Ammirati’s refreshing naturalness unsurprisingly dominates this slight but amusing film, whether she’s clothed or unclothed. The UHD transfer looks excellent; a Blu-ray disc also includes the film, and extras comprise an interview with Brass and an audio commentary.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

The Beekeeper

(Warner Bros)

In Jason Statham’s latest revenge flick, he plays Adam, who takes care of the bees on the farm of retired teacher Eloise, who kills herself after an online scam robs her of her considerable life savings and charity funds. Adam immediately jumps into action, tracking down the scammers and destroying their offices—but that’s just the beginning, for he is part of a dangerous group, the Beekeepers, secret and highly skilled operatives.

It’s all risible, which Statham and director David Ayer know, so they keep upping the ridiculous ante as the hero takes care of wave upon wave of bad guys—including the corrupt son of the U.S. president. There’s a first-rate hi-def transfer, but no extras.

Stigmata

(Capelight)

In this creepy 1999 horror entry, Father Andrew (Gabriel Byrne) fights the church hierarchy as he tries to help atheistic hairdresser Frankie (Rosanna Arquette), whose mystifying stigmata stems from a rosary she got from her mother.

Director Rupert Wainwright puts his cast through its paces well enough; Nia Long, Jonathan Pryce and Rade Šerbedžija lend able support, while Byrne and Arquette intermittently make this silliness—Frankie tries to seduce Andrew at one point—watchable. There’s a fine hi-def transfer; extras include Wainwright’s commentary, making-of featurette, deleted scene and an alternate ending.

Tormented

(Film Masters)

The definition of a guilty pleasure, Bert I. Gordon’s 1960 B-movie take on Edgar Allan Poe’s chilling short story, The Tell-Tale Heart, follows jazz pianist Tom Stewart, who sees his ex Vi fall to her death and is haunted by her ghost (in the form of her disembodied head) as he tries to resurrect his music career and marry Meg, his current girl.

It’s borderline inept at times—and the cheesy effects don’t do justice to Vi’s ghostly presence—but those who are the target audience for this sort of thing will get something out of it. The film looks decent on Blu; extras include Mystery Science Theatre 3000’s 1992 version of the film, archival Gordon interview, documentary about Gordon, visual essay on the film and an audio commentary.

CD Release of the Week

Ligeti—Concertos and Other Works

(Alpha Classics)

If Hungarian composer György Ligeti (1923-2006) is best known for the otherworldly music so memorably used by Stanley Kubrick in three of his most unsettling films—2001, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut—the composer’s genius consists of an unclassifiable oeuvre whose singular vision always looked forward even while it nodded to the past.

And the magnificently curated works on this splendid two-disc set brilliantly demonstrate Ligeti’s musical ethos; in fact, the three concertos on disc one—for violin (1990-92), cello (1966) and piano (1985)—may lay claim to the most astounding concerto set of the second half of the 20th century. Of the five striking works on disc two, the pair of early ones for piano only give a hint of the shattering sounds to come. Then there are the Chamber Concerto (1969-70), Solo Viola Sonata (1991-94) and the Horn Trio (1985), each marvelously unique in their sound world, all innovative and vital. The performances by members of Ensemble Intercontemporain led by Pierre Bleuse are thrillingly intense, especially the concerto soloists: Hae-Sung Kang (violin), Renaud Déjardin (cello) and Dimitri Vassilakis (piano).

Bamberg Symphony Play Carnegie Hall

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Monday, 29 April 2024 14:22; Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Chris Lee.

At Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium on the evening of Wednesday, April 24th, I had the privilege to attend a fine concert of 19th-century Germanic music presented by the admirable Bamberg Symphony under the distinguished direction of its Chief Conductor, Jakub Hrůša.

The program began auspiciously with one of its highlights, a marvelous account of Richard Wagner’s magnificent Prelude to his beautiful 1848 opera, Lohengrin, about which Franz Liszt said, “With Lohengrin,the old world of opera has come to an end.” Also rewarding was an accomplished reading of the superb Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90, from 1883 of Johannes Brahms, about which the eminent critic Eduard Hanslick wrote:

Many music lovers may prefer the titanic force of the First, others the untroubled charm of the Second. But the Third strikes me as artistically the most perfect. It is more compactly made, more transparent in detail, more plastic in the main themes. The orchestration is richer in novel and charming combinations.

The initial Allegro con brio movement opens passionately but then swiftly becomes song-like—even pastoral—in character before recovering its original intensity and finishing quietly, while the Andante that follows is more inward in orientation although at times dramatic, also ending gently. The succeeding, extraordinary, melodious Poco allegretto that concludes softly too—the primary theme of which was the basis for the haunting Serge Gainsbourg song, “Baby Alone in Babylone,” which was originally recorded by Jane Birkin—was another of the night’s most memorable experiences, and the work’s finale begins tentatively but rapidly acquires an urgency but amidst some turbulence soon turns affirmative on the whole—even exuberantly so—before another subdued close.

The second half of the evening was also impressive, starting with a brilliant, even dazzling performance of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54, completed in 1845, played by the wonderful soloist, Hélène Grimaud. Annotator Jack Sullivan reports that:

The first movement, composed in 1841, was originally labeled a “Phantasy for Piano and Orchestra.” Clara Schumann—who earlier had composed her own piano concerto—played it in two private run-throughs, writing at the time, “Carefully studied, it must give the greatest pleasure to those who hear it. The piano is most skillfully interwoven with the orchestra; it is impossible to think of one without the other.” Schumann tried to publish it as a separate piece, but no one would buy it.

Rather than abandoning the Phantasy, Robert revised it four years later as the first movement of a piano concerto, adding two more movements. Clara finally premiered the entire work in 1845, with Felix Mendelssohn conducting.

About it, the esteemed critic, Sir Donald Francis Tovey, averred, “It attains a beauty and depth quite transcendent of any mere prettiness, though the whole concerto, like all Schumann’s deepest music, is recklessly pretty.” The first movement, marked Allegro affettuoso, is exciting at its outset but abruptly becomes lyrical and Romantic with tempestuous episodes, and concludes forcefully; in the development section, a brief interlude for the piano, clarinet and strings is particularly exquisite. The ensuing, largely reflective Intermezzo—an Andantino grazioso—is elegantand enchanting; it seamlessly transitions into the animated, often propulsive, ultimately triumphant finale, an Allegro vivace with a dynamic close.

Another pinnacle of the concert was what completed the program proper, a thrilling realization of Wagner’s ambitious, glorious Overture to Tannhäuser from 1845. The composer described its middle section thus:

As night falls, magic visions show themselves. A rosy mist swirls upward, sensuously exultant sounds reach our ears, and the blurred motions of a fearsomely voluptuous dance are revealed. This is the seductive magic of the Venusberg, which appears by night to those whose souls are fired by bold, sensuous longings.

Enthusiastic applause elicited two short but delightful encores: Brahms’s Hungarian Dances Nos. 18 and 21, both orchestrated by Antonín Dvořák.

New York Philharmonic Perform Olga Neuwirth

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Friday, 26 April 2024 19:01; Written by Jack Angstreich

Thomas Søndergård conducts the New York Philharmonic. Photo by Chris Lee.

At Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall on the evening of Saturday, April 20th, I had the great pleasure to attend a superb concert played by the New York Philharmonic under the brilliant direction of Thomas Søndergård in his debut performances with this ensemble.

The event began splendidly with an elegant account of Lili Boulanger’s exquisite Of a Spring Morning from 1918, one of her last works and one with strong affinities to what has often been described as Impressionism. Less satisfying to me was an admirably realized US Premiere presentation of Olga Neuwirth’s ambitious and challenging Keyframes for a Hippogriff — Musical Calligrams in memoriam Hester Diamond, for Countertenor, Children's Choir, and Orchestra, the final version of which was completed in 2021, and which featured the excellent Brooklyn Youth Chorus led by Artistic Director, Dianne Berkun Menaker as well as—in another debut appearance with this ensemble—the outstanding soloist Andre Watts. According to the program note by Dirk Wieschollek, “The piece is a tribute to Neuwirth's friend Hester Diamond (1928– 2020), an American art collector and interior designer who brought together traditional art and modern design in a unique way.” The program also records that:

Olga Neuwirth's Keyframes for a Hippogriff was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic through Project 19, the multi-season initiative to commission and premiere 19 new works by 19 women composers — the largest women-only commissioning initiative in history — to mark the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which established American women's right to vote. The project's goal was to give women composers a platform and catalyze representation in classical music and beyond. The planned World Premiere by the NY Phil was made impossible by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the second of three premieres of Project 19 works this season; the others are by Melinda Wagner (which was premiered April 7) and Mary Kouyoumdjian (being unveiled May 10).

This is not the first time that the NY Phil has performed Neuwirth's music. In May 2014 the Philharmonic gave the US Premiere of her Piazza dei Numeri on Mario Merz's Ziffern im Wald, conducted by Matthias Pintscher and featuring soprano Jennifer Zetlan, at The Museum of Modern Art.

Wieschollek adds:

This extensively scored vocal work is based on a collage of texts from a wide range of eras and styles. Fragments from the writings of Ariosto, Blake, Dickinson, Zinaida Gippius, Edward Lear, Nietzsche, Melville, Stein, Whitman, Neuwirth herself, and graffiti are interwoven into a dialogue between countertenor and children's chorus, the latter representing hope, the former the futility and loneliness of the individual in a dystopian world. Neuwirth describes the underlying idea thus: “We try to tell the diverse stories of our small lives against the white noise of information, in which technology already seems to have overtaken human interaction.”

Impressively orchestrated throughout—and containing some demotic elements—the composition has some powerful and rewarding passages, but much of it is beyond my competence to evaluate, especially much of the vocal writing.

The second half of the evening was even more memorable, a sterling version of Sergei Prokofiev’s magnificent Symphony No. 5. After the work’s premiere, the composer wrote:

I regard the Fifth Symphony as the culmination of a long period of my creative life. I conceived of it as glorifying the grandeur of the human spirit … praising the free and happy man — his strength, his generosity, and the purity of his soul.

The remarkable opening of the initial Andante movement has a spacious, almost leisurely quality; the music steadily builds in intensity, concluding forcefully. The scherzo that follows—marked Allegro marcato—is brisk, playful and ebullient, ending abruptly. The succeeding Adagio is solemn, if at times impassioned, with some reflective, if also song-like moments; it finishes quietly. The predominantly energetic and affirmative Allegro giocoso finale—after a brief, slow, serious introduction that recycles material from the first movement—also has a ludic character as well as some lyricism and a few dramatic episodes; it closes triumphantly and exuberantly.

The artists were enthusiastically applauded.

April '24 Digital Week IV

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 24 April 2024 20:09; Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater/Streaming Releases of the Week

Civil War

(Neon)

In Alex Garland’s dystopian nightmare, the U.S. has degenerated into war pitting rebel forces from Texas and California—now there’s an unlikely alliance!—against remnants of federal troops that are disintegrating, as several intrepid journalists record the actual breakdown of America in real time. Garland gets the particulars right, from the intense opening of a suicide bomber on a Manhattan street to the final, prolonged shootout as the rebels storm the White House and root out a cowering president.

But there’s no overarching theme or point, while visually and narratively, much is borrowed from Full Metal Jacket, with reporters and photographers following the fighting to the documentary-like visuals: one of the photographers even falls into a pit filled with dead bodies, a seeming homage to Kubrick’s classic. Although filmed and edited for maximum tension—and with good performances topped by the peerless Stephen McKinley Henderson as a veteran NY Times reporter on his last legs—Civil War is ultimately less than the sum of its parts.

Kim’s Video

(Drafthouse Films)

The legendary lower Manhattan video store closed shop in 2009, and directors David Redmon and Ashley Sabin—the former a particularly gregarious fan of the store’s legacy and cinema history—track down the collection to, of all places, a rural Italian town in this engagingly messy documentary.

On visiting the collection, Redmon gets into a bit of trouble with the authorities, before teaming with the small chain’s owner, Youngkin Kim, to return the discs and tapes to their rightful place in New York. It’s breezy and clunky in equal measure, but by padding the narrative with clips from dozens of movies Redmon alludes to throughout ironically moves the focus away from Kim’s Video and its legacy, making for a strangely unsatisfying film.

LaRoy, Texas

(Brainstorm Media)

I’ve never been a fan of the Coen brothers, but their most pernicious influence may be the copycats who have tried to remake, say, Miller’s Crossing or No Country for Old Men, blackly comic tales of revenge and murder. The latest wannabe, writer/director Shane Atkinson, checks all the familiar boxes—at times, it’s as if an overeager novice got his hands on the first draft of a Coen script and decided to film it.

The twists, the turns and the relationships all come across as arch and forced, while the occasionally biting dialogue is more often than not crude. The acting follows suit, so that even good actors like Dylan Baker and Megan Stevenson can’t create plausible characterizations.

Sweet Dreams

(Dekanalog)

This parable about the perils of colonialism, written and directed by Bosnian Ena Sendijarevic, is a witty look at a family that owns a Dutch East Indian plantation: when patriarch Jan dies suddenly, his widow Agathe, their son Cornelius and pregnant daughter-in-law Josefin hope to keep the estate in the family—but Jan’s beloved servant Siti bore him a son, who’s been named the lone inheritor.

Shot in perfectly boxy Academy ratio, Sendijarevic’s deadpan satire might lose its grip at times but remains an intelligent exploration of how history’s horrors keep reverberating.

4K/UHD Releases of the Week

Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker

(Severin)

A true horror relic, this risible but occasionally entertaining 1981 flick follows the Oedipal relationship of high-school student Billy (Jimmy McNichol) and his overprotective aunt Cheryl (Susan Tyrell), whom he’s lived with since his parents died when he was young (we, of course, get to see the gruesomely fatal car crash).

The plot involves dead bodies, a gay basketball coach (Steve Eastin), a homophobic detective (Bo Svenson) and student Julia (Julia Duffy), whom Billy is dating; if director William Asher and three (!) writers can’t make this more than a serviceable genre exercise, it never reaches the depths of its ungainly title. There’s a fine UHD transfer; extras include three audio commentaries, new and archival interviews with cast and crew, including McNichol, Tyrell and Svenson.

Cathy’s Curse

(Severin)

In the vein of The Exorcist, The Omen and It’s Alive, this crudely made 1976 Canadian entry into the “evil child” genre doesn’t even try very hard as young, seemingly possessed Cathy causes her nanny’s demise out of a second-floor window and makes things dangerous for her parents, especially her weak mother.

Director Eddy Matalon can barely muster the energy to make his movie competent-looking, and is further defeated by laconic performances and truly lazy writing. There’s a decent 4K transfer; extras include an audio commentary and interviews.

The Departed

(Warner Bros)

Martin Scorsese won his lone best director Oscar for this 2006 crime drama (which also won best picture), set in Boston among the Irish underworld and crooked cops—it might not be one of his best films but it has Scorsese’s essential traits in, if anything, overabundance.

There are the well-placed rock tunes, opening with the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”; the closely observed world of crime and punishment; the vicious and sudden violence—even the final image is an obvious if nasty joke. It’s brilliantly done, with spectacular performances by Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and even mark Wahlberg, even if there’s a sense of déjà vu after 2-1/2 hours. The film looks magnificent in UHD; extras include a new featurette with a new Scorsese interview, along with two featurettes and deleted scenes (with the director’s intro) from previous releases.

Motley Crue—The End

(Mercury/Universal)

Once upon a time, you couldn't turn on MTV without seeing and hearing Motley Crue in heavy rotation. For those still-loyal fans, this concert in the group’s hometown of L.A. on New Year’s Eve 2015—billed as The End, even though the Crue has since reformed—brings back those good old days, hitting on every phase of the band’s career: they began as a Kiss wannabe, became huge arena-rockers, then stumbled through new singers and drummers before returning to the original lineup.

No true fan will be disappointed with this hit list, including much time-capsule material: “Looks That Kill,” “Girls Girls Girls,” “Dr. Feelgood” and “Home Sweet Home” all contain big hair, makeup, tight pants—from the band and their sleek female dancer-singers. The 4K video and surround sound, are crisp and clear; extras include band interviews and closeup footage of the flame-throwing bass and drum rig.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

The Doom Patrol—Complete Final Season

(Warner Bros)

In the final season of this weird but always watchable superhero series, the disposable, deplorable outcasts once again take on the mantle of being simultaneous saviors and survivors, battling adversaries from without and within.

The terrific ensemble, led by April Bowlby, Brendan Fraser and Dianne Guerrero, stays on the edge of being tongue-in-cheek and unabashedly sentimental throughout, and this unlikely blend prevents it all from becoming too sappy or satirical. This season’s dozen episodes look remarkable in hi-def; extras include three featurettes.

Drive-Away Dolls

(Lionsgate)

I had just watched LaRoy, Texas, the latest Coen brothers’ rip-off, when I encounter a new movie by one Coen brother (Ethan) and his wife (Tricia Cooke)—it’s so cartoonish and insistent on being a piece of blackly comic juvenilia that it has the feel of something from the early Coen years a la Blood Simple or Raising Arizona.

It’s also no better than those two films, with annoying characters acting annoyingly while spewing offbeat, deadpan, obnoxious lines of dialogue. On the plus side, Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan make an amusing pair of lesbian friends on the run with some inept crooks’ stash in their trunk of their rental car, and the movie’s only 84 minutes long. It has a very good Blu-ray transfer; extras comprise three making-of featurettes.

Monolith

(Well Go USA)

The nameless protagonist tries to resurrect her flailing career by hosting a podcast about conspiracy theories—and is soon caught up in an insane alien conspiracy that she realizes she is also intimately involved with.

Matt Vesely’s initially taut thriller unfortunately loses it about two-thirds through, but Vesely and writer Lucy Campbell’s portrait of conspiracist thinking hinges on Lily Sullivan, the only person onscreen (there are voices on phone calls), and she responds with a brilliantly crazed portrayal. There’s a fine hi-def transfer; lone extra is a behind the scenes featurette.

CD Releases of the Week

Frederick Delius—Hassan

(Chandos)

English composer Frederick Delius (1862-1934) wrote music of great variety, from the tone poems In a Summer Garden and A Song of Summer to the operas A Village Romeo and Juliet and Fennimore and Gerda and the choral works Sea Drift and A Mass of Life.

His incidental music for the prose play Hassan comprises about an hour’s worth of a colorful if at times meandering musical atmosphere that’s heightened when accompanied by a chorus or, in its most memorable moments, the haunting tenor voice in the melancholy final scene. This estimable recording combines the stellar singing of the Britten Sinfonia Voices, the first-rate narrator Zeb Soanes, and the fine playing of the Britten Sinfonia, all led by the adept conducting of Jamie Phillips.

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich—Symphony No. 5 and Orchestral Works

(BMOP/Sound)

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s music is full of bountiful imagination, and this disc, comprising one of her very best works and three other orchestral pieces, shows her at the pinnacle of her artistry. The centerpiece of this superb recording is her Symphony No. 5, which I was fortunate to hear at its 2008 Carnegie Hall world-premiere performance by the Juilliard Orchestra. It’s an inventive, zesty, vital achievement, buoyed by Zwilich’s brilliance at writing melodically and vigorously for the orchestra as both an ensemble and a group of first-rate soloists.

The other works on this disc range from the effervescent opener, the perfectly titled Upbeat!, to the subtle coloring of two concertos: Concerto Elegia for flute and orchestra and Commedia dell’arte for solo violin and string orchestra. Flutist Sarah Brady and violinist Gabriela Diaz are perfection in their showcase works, while Gil Rose skillfully leads the Boston Modern Orchestra Project throughout.

Reviews

May '24 Digital Week I

Bamberg Symphony Play Carnegie Hall

New York Philharmonic Perform Olga Neuwirth

April '24 Digital Week IV

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