It was a good Sunday afternoon for Vanessa Isiguen. The young soprano who made her debut in the role that day with Florida Grand Opera showed herself well up to the task of bringing to vivid vocal life the character of Cio-Cio-San, the doomed heroine of one of the world’s most popular and beloved operas, Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. A North Carolinian who made her … [Read more...]
The View From Home 61: Friedkin, Kiarostami, Romanian New Wave, vintage Cagney, and a lame actioner
The People Vs. Paul Crump: Made in 1962 for Chicago public television but considered too controversial to air, the prescient documentary The People Vs. Paul Crump finally sees the light of day courtesy of Facets ($27.98 DVD). It is essentially an hour-long interview with Crump, a professedly innocent African-American death-row inmate convicted of murdering in a white security … [Read more...]
Commentary: A day for consumer sports
By Myles Ludwig What best defines an American Legend? Why, it’s Chrysler, of course. The car company (a division of Fiat, by the way) has now placed itself firmly in the pantheon of American idols — movie stars and musicians — with its Super Bowl commercials spieled by first Clint, now Dylan, people so famous they need be known by only one name, like Picasso or Madonna. Or … [Read more...]
‘Labor Day’ ludicrous but beautifully acted
Frank Chambers seems like the ideal man. He’s caring, and he loves children. He can fix a creaky stair and repair a busted engine. He cleans. Did we mention that he can cook like a chef on TV, and that he looks like Josh Brolin? Yes, Brolin’s character in Jason Reitman’s Labor Day is the total package, except for the inconvenient truth that he’s an escapee with a bum leg and a … [Read more...]
The View From Home 49: Bad guys, Westerns, and a violent mess
Warner Home Video has waited near Father’s Day to market and release two exceptional new Blu-ray collections of gangster cinema, old and (comparatively) new. If these are the kind of gifts the studio has prepared for dads, I’d happily take a Father’s Day every month. The Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Classics ($44.98) features four titles from the ’30s and ’40s, when Warners … [Read more...]
New Adès work thrills, but Emerson deserved better from audience
They stand to play, all except for cellist David Finckel. In that, they were just like the youngsters from Palm Springs Middle School who serenaded concertgoers with Christmas carols in the lobby of the Kravis Center on Wednesday night. But there the comparisons end. The four inside the hall were the Emerson String Quartet, who have been together for 35 years. They still … [Read more...]
A day of art overdose: Scenes from Art Basel, 2011
One day is too much and a week isn’t enough. After a full day and night (until 2 a.m.) of seeing Art Basel Miami, one installation and too much walking, one comes to realize that there is so much art, so many shows, galleries, lectures, that even a week would not be enough. Satellite, gallery shows and events are spread throughout the metropolitan area, and parties at hotels, … [Read more...]
A critic remembers the day the world changed
Fittingly, when the Saudi terrorists were flying planes into the World Trade Center 10 years ago, I was at the movies. Yes, even at 8:46 a.m., the time the North Tower was hit, I was sitting in a theater with a pad in my hand, for I was at the Toronto International Film Festival that fateful day. I was watching a press screening of Mira Nair’s festive Monsoon Wedding, which … [Read more...]
The View From Home 26: New releases and notable screenings, May 24-June 10
Andrei Tarkovsky, the Russian New Wave’s most glorified director of rarefied museum pieces, represents, more than any director of his generation, the division between true cinephiles and casual “movie buffs.” The latter enjoys Fellini, some Godard and even an Antonioni picture or two, but Tarkovsky’s art-house pedigree is so pure – so dismissive of the standard that films be … [Read more...]
Baritones win the day at PB Opera’s vocal finals
For the Grand Finals of the Palm Beach Opera’s annual vocal competition this year, technical accomplishment appeared to matter most to the panel of four judges. Baritone Joo Won Kang of Seoul, South Korea, won the top prize in the advanced division (for ages 24-30), and bass-baritone Brandon Cedel, of Hershey, Pa., won the top prize in the junior division (ages 18-23). Both … [Read more...]