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Category: films to ponder

November 24, 2014

“Le Jazz Hot” – Henry Mancini‏

John Cage - "Mozart Mix" (1991)

“Mozart Mix“ (1991)

John Cage

_______

in a movie,“Victor Victoria”, that should’ve
gotten more Oscars than it finally did,
“Le Jazz Hot“ sizzles, Henry Mancini
received one for the music, Lesley Anne
Warren should’ve too for her incandescent
moll

lock the door, she says to Julie Andrews,
in an otherwise compromising moment,
a line one should never forget

in Julie Andrews’ category, who could’ve
taken it away from Meryl Streep for
“Sophie’s Choice”

but jazz here is a misnomer, jazz merely
dolls up in this number an otherwise
entirely Classical structure, the melody
is right out of Mozart, rigid rhythm,
unflinching tonality, and repetition after
repetition, you can sing along just as you
can for Mozart, try doing that with anyone
after him, try to hum along with real jazz

but I’ll entirely agree that this
whatever-it-is is hot, steaming

catch the astounding vocal glissando
at the very end, just before the final
whispered recitative, riveting

Richard

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September 18, 2014

Visconti’s Death in Venice‏

William Turner - "Venice Looking East from the Guidecca, Sunrise" (1819)

“Venice Looking East from the Guidecca, Sunrise“ (1819)

William Turner

_______

“Death in Venice“ is perhaps the most
beautiful film I’ve ever seen, just click

Visconti suffuses his masterpiece with
all the colours and textures of Monet,
Renoir, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, and
a host of other Impressionists, and
settles them all upon, nearly inevitably,
the splendours of a Canaletto Venice

Dirk Bogarde has never been better,
his von Aschenbach is definitive,
Silvana Mangano is every single inch
an aristocrat, the epitome of poise,
elegance and propriety, Tadzio is
throughout the very incarnation of a
Botticelli

all is given stately motion by the art
of film and made thereby into another
equal and haunting form of poetry

enjoy, marvel

Richard

psst: Visconti even makes Mahler sound
profound

as does Leonard Bernstein, incidentally,
in the accompanying clip, who is
manifestly transported throughout his
evidently otherworldly experience,
just as you might even be, just click

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July 19, 2014

Glenn Gould‏

Glenn Gould

Glenn Gould

_______


if you think I can talk, listen to Glenn
Gould tell in spades what I’ve only
ever been able to tell in clubs, or,
as we say in French, trèfles, clover,
a piece of music can say more than
just hello, great ones are oracular,
even transcendent

if ever they made a movie of my life
I want Glenn Gould to play me, even
the wonderful Colm Feore, I think,
couldn’t as effectively manage it

Richard

psst: here’s more, incandescent, Bach,
Glenn Gould playing his signature
piece, just click

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April 20, 2013

Schubert – Piano Sonata D959‏

to my utter surprise when I checked I’d never
but only once in the many months I haven’t
been able to shut up since I started spouting
my bristling endorsements, like a very rushing
river gushing with the overflowing bounty of
an inveterate spring, mentioned Schubert, an
incandescent voice from surely heaven

it was about his String Quartet in C major, the
D956, not surprisingly, it is utterly enchanting,
D for Otto Erich Deutsch still, incidentally

here’s an alternate version of it, an utterly
inspired one

but if I’ve reintroduced Schubert it’s specifically
this time to compare him with Beethoven, they’re
easily confounded, I even did it once myself, to
my crushing embarrassment, in erudite and
unflinching company, oof, I cringe to even
remember it

the D959, moments only after the 956 of course,
has all the idioms of a Beethoven, and exercises
them as expertly, the beat, however, is always
on, unlike Beethoven, whose beat is always off,
contrary, rebellious, against the prevailing
order

though this variance might seem slight, one
senses already in the younger and later
Schubert a return to form, elegance, and civility,
the First Empire had indeed taken hold during
the transformation of Napoleon from hero of
the Revolution to a different incarnation of
Emperor, Chopin as well would be beholden
to later similarly reinstated French courts

so seemingly trivial an alteration speaks
volumes when one attentively listens, one
must do this with one’s heart

such a return to aristocratic principles is not
uncommon, incidentally, we seem, indeed, to
thirst for dynasties, if you’ll note the return of
late, of the Bushes, the Clintons, and most
recently the Canadian Trudeaux

Putin is another, though arguably somewhat
less democratic, version of that principle

Beethoven is off the beat then, Schubert on, you
won’t find much else that’s different upon first
listening, you’ll note only that their music is very
much the same, rigorous beat, tonal, essentially,
harmonics, and the return eventually of the
melodies, Classical imperatives, but with the
distinction of the new Romantic,
transformational however, sensibilities

Schubert might’ve even outpaced Beethoven
had he survived, I think, but he didn’t, he died
much too young, at the most tender age of
only 31, younger even than the more
celebrated Mozart, famous for succumbing
prematurely at the still early age of 36

may they rest, may they all rest, Schubert,
Mozart, and the somewhat longer-lived
Beethoven, still early deceased at 56, in
eternal peace, for they have brought us
but wonders

Richard

psst: here’s a movie to go with the earlier
Schubert, “The Company of Strangers“,
the very best film Canada has ever had
to offer, bar none, a gaggle of old women
are stranded in the Laurentians after their
tour bus breaks down, Schubert would’ve
loved it

and been honoured

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February 27, 2013

“Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould”‏

to my mind, one of the best films Canada has
had to offer, a study of the musical giant which
is probing, perceptive, and profoundly revealing,
and the impersonator, Colm Feore, is impeccable,
superlative, rendering the mystery of flights of
inspiration vivid and comprehensible, he is,
seamlessly and completely convincingly,
Glenn Gould     
 
Glenn Gould is of course identified with his
book-end interpretations, his first release and
the interval of not quite thirty years for him to
further appraise these epic pieces, both issues
are considered monumental, defining cultural
moments, both eclipse, have eclipsed, any
other, even celebrated, performance
 
the reference in the film’s title is to these  
Goldberg Variations, of course, composed
of thirty variations on an opening “aria”,
which is repeated as a “coda”, an ending,
a musical last word, for a total of 32
segments
 
but I submit that the place of Beethoven’s own
could not possibly have been overlooked in
the movie’s title, considering especially the
inclusion of that specific number, despite,
incidentally, the missing hyphen, an infelicitous,
I think, literary licence 
 
the “Thirty Two Short Films“ are themselves,
not incidentally, a set of 32 filmic, note, 
variations, on the subject, in this instance, 
of the player himself, Glenn Gould
 
may his star shine bright forever    
 
 
Richard
 
 
 
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January 13, 2013

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”‏

need much introduction, it is the ultimate movie
in the popular imagination about asylum inmates,
people in psychological distress, everyone here 
got Oscars, including the picture, except for the
one who deserved it most, Brad Dourif, who
gives a performance of equal stature, I think,
transcendental, wrenching, and unforgettable
 
of all the entries in this especially fraught field,
the field of mental ill health – see to compare 
for instance the highly honoured, eminently
commendable, but nevertheless imperfect 
Ciff Robertson – Brad Dourif‘s remains to
my mind unparalleled, in my opinion still
untouched, still the most sublimely,
stirringly, incandescent 
 
what do you think 
 
 
Richard
 
 
 
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January 13, 2013

“Charly” / “Awakenings”‏

“Flowers for Algernon“, a book that was
written in 1966, back when I was already
reading everything, was not a book that
I expected could ever be made into a film,
it had been written from the point of view
of a mentally challenged person who’d
been asked to keep a diary of his
progress in an experiment to make him
smarter, eventually seriously smart, the
style therefore follows the infelicities of 
the main character’s misspellings as he 
tries to write proper English  
 
his name is Charly, Charly Gordon 
 
Algernon is the mouse whose promising
treatment Charly would hopefully as
successfully follow 
 
the book is still irresistible, as confirmed
recently again by my mom, who couldn’t
put it down 
 
 
two years later the  movie was made, to
my delight, of course, and surprise,
called, whatever for, instead of “Flowers
 
this one’s therefore for you, Mom
   
 
that year’s Oscar went to the man who
played the lead role, Cliff Robertson
   
  
“Awakenings“, with Robert De Niro playing
a parallel role in the fictionalized true story
of an essentially, however improbably, 
identical case, has Robin Williams playing
Oliver Sacks, who co-wrote the script, and
has also fully acknowledged himself as the 
doctor in the touched-up representation 
 
but more significantly Oliver Sacks is a
very highly regarded scientist for his
penetrating work in especially neurology,
though his writings veer easily towards
more philosophical speculation, as does,
for instance, also the work of Freud  
on that interdisciplinary account
 
Oliver Sacks most famously wrote “The
 
 
the science in “Flowers for Algernon“, or
“Charly“, a fiction, has become with
“Awakenings“,  it appears, fact 
 
well be I’ll flummoxed 
  
 
Robert De Niro didn’t get the Oscar for
that year’s counterpart Charly Gordon
incidentally, to still my dismay,
dissatisfaction and astonishment  
 
what do you think
 
 
Richard

 

 
 
 
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January 3, 2013

“Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs”‏

enchanted movie for children of all ages, that
means especially you, Manolito, that means
especially you, Aidan
 
you might however notice, in a more analytical
vein, the introduction of German Expressionism
already in more popular culture, Nolde, Kirchner,
even some Edvard Munch, the Norwegian, in the
bold, garish colours that expressed horror and
perversion for them following the First World War,
and did the same for Walt Disney later if you’ll
consider the evil queen’s mirror and mask, or
van Gogh branches in the threatening forest, flat
surfaces, notably on faces for instance, touched
with only daubs of colour for only perfunctory
shading and character, prefiguring incidentally,
Andy Warhol‘s Pop Art
 
artists talk to each other
 
  
musical atonalities, also, show up, to attest to
modernity, in the music tooted out by the pipe
organ, delivering ornery pipes and a climactic
cuckoo who can only emit a shrill, discordant 
screech, we can thank especially Prokofiev,
the popinjay among the atonalists, for that,
with necessary nods to, for their more
theoretical groundwork, the more exacting
Stravinsky and the too dour, not to mention
for many too dire, Schoenberg  
 
Walt Disney was introducing modern art not so
surreptitiously at all to the larger popular culture,
acclimatizing children especially to the new
upended and revolutionizing art, crayons at
the behest of individuality 
 
 
you’ll also find interesting that Snow White 
succumbs to an apple, much like Mother Eve, 
both of whom are absolved, it’s worth pointing 
out, by nothing other than transcendental,
transformational, regenerative and ever
inspirational, Love
 
think about it  
 
 
Richard
 
 
 
 
 
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January 1, 2013

“Sergeant York”

to my dismay when I turned to “Sergeant York“
thinking it’d be a short and hopefully sweet 
movie, clocking in at only one hour fourteen,
I’d read, according to the bottom time bar, I’d
only got the first part of the movie I found out, 
where he grows up in the Ozarks, or somewhere
like it, or is it like them, a stretch of film I found
essentially corny, but for Gary Cooper, who is 
consistently impeccable as a principled hillbilly,
and entirely worth watching 
 
but I only turned to the second part cause a 
change of setting, I thought, might hold more
promise, and indeed it did
 
it is however a lesson in how America developed 
its devotion to guns, it seems an early actual
textbook declaration of it, shot through with the
sounds of celestial strings, you’ll note, when the
commander expounds on its philosophical basis,
with instead of a Bible in hand a book called “The
History of the United States”, for maximum moral
suasion  
 
Sergeant York needs to accommodate his pacifist
stance, as delivered by the Bible and his Lord,
to the new paradigm of patriotism, national
defence, which calls of course for killing, in a
rousing call to arms his superior speaks of the
new ideal of freedom, which is worth, in his
impassioned dialectical exposition, dying for, 
in contrast to the traditional, more fraternal,
less annihilating, Word of God 
 
he is given 10 days leave to sort out his objections,
which may as well have been forty days and forty
nights, with next to no food and water on even a
very mountain, much like Moses on Mount Sinai,
to receive his spiritual enlightenment, trumpets
blow, lightning crashes, Biblical parallels rebound 
like echoing thunder
 
 
the movie came out in ’41, I suspect it was made
in view of marching America into the Second World
War, they didn’t commit to Europe until ’42
 
 
the battle scenes are worthy of “Saving Private Ryan” 
 
Sergeant York bumps up against New York, like
the Beverly Hillbillies later hit Los Angeles 
 
Gary Cooper doesn’t miss a single beat on his
way to his fully earned Oscar
 
 
Alvin C. York, the actual war hero, had insisted,
incidentally, that no one but Gary Cooper should
play his part, had had it written specifically and 
incontrovertibly in his contract, Alvin must’ve
known something
 
since Gary Cooper is no longer around to play
my part I’d now let no one other than Joseph  
 
 
         “Sergeant York”, part 1
 
 
 
enjoy
 
 
Richard
 
 
 
 
 
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January 1, 2013

“A TOAST” – Brice Maiurro‏

though I’ve tried to restrain myself from too
effusive appreciation of this inspired poet,
again tonight, a not especially eventful
though completely pleasant New Year’s
Eve night, watchIng the effervescent
movie, “Charade“, with the ebullient
Audrey Hepburn and the equally suave
and captivating Cary Grant, at my mom’s,
inadvertently, a lesson in new, incidentally,
media savvy, foregoing antiquated television
for entertainment from her computer, I got
back home to the following Internet alert 
from evidently my presently favourite poet 
 
how could I wish anyone upon reading it, I
thought, a better New Year
 
I cede therefore to this supremely articulate
poet, who’s taken the time and his gift to
fashion a wish that I couldn’t’ve, nor had I,
articulated any better, had I found, I’m
sure, so instigating and grand a spirit
 
I had to pass it along
 
 
Richard  
 
                 _________________                     
 
 
 
lift up your spirits!
to this cataclysmic evening!
this parade!
of howling wolves! and monkeys!
to the altered perspectives!
of angels!
and their subjective
paradise!
 
let our warped worlds come together!
like pangea in reverse!
  
let all religions reside within us all!
and all around us!
 
this is my wish for you.
and all of you.
 
let us toast!
to the fact our irises
are all different colors!
and our pupils are
all
the
same!
 
let’s get lost!
in the rambunctious sound
of
actual
reality!
 
and remind our souls
that love
is not just romance:
it is
every breath
the flowers give us
and each one
we return to them!
 
parks
that are dead
in winter
and alive
with lush green grass
and wide-
eyed people
in summers!
 
let’s toast!
 
to the smell of rain!
to the taste of laughter!
forever! tonight!
and ever after!
 
 
           Brice Maiurro
 
 
 
 
 
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