Monthly culture, September 2024
Tuesday, October 29th, 2024 09:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth06SEP24: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Burton, 2024) -- Greenwich Picturehouse
I'd watched the original 1984 film in preparation, and have to say it didn't stand up well: the reboot, on the other hand, was a delight. I especially enjoyed the monochrome, Spanish-language flashback in which Beetlejuice's origin story was revealed. Great use of disco classics (Tragedy! MacArthur Park!) and melodrama overload. More forgiveness in this one (though not for Jeffrey Jones, who played Lydia's husband Charles in the original: following conviction for child pornography, his character had died (and been partially eaten by a shark) before the start of the film).
12SEP24: Crew (Krishnan, 2024) -- Netflix
Heist movie featuring a trio of flight attendants who, not having been paid for months, take matters into their own hands. Geeta is supporting husband, brother and sister-in-law; Jasmine is fond of expensive things and social media; Divya trained to be a pilot and hasn't told her parents she's a stewardess... They're very different but each brings a different talent to the heist -- which is largely planned on the fly. (Pun only partly intended.) This was immense fun, nicely structured, and decidedly feminist. Also, someone reads the manual when they don't know how to do something...
13SEP24: Sahra Halgan, Greenleaf Baptist Church
Somalian singer with a fabulous voice and a French rock band, who aren't afraid to play a variety of instruments including the kora (a Malian / West African stringed instrument). Tiny venue, which was not at capacity -- which meant that Sahra Halgan came down into the audience and danced with us -- which was sheer delight.
15SEP24: Berlioz / Rachmaninoff / Saint-Saens -- Barbican Hall
I was mostly there for the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony, with Anna Lapwood on organ, and was not disappointed (though Pappano took the last crescendo rather fast, and the piano wasn't as audible as I'd have liked). We also heard Berlioz' Roman Carnival Overture and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto number 1 (which I don't love as much as the later ones) played by Yuja Wang who came on stage in white silk, dark glasses and very high heels.
26SEP24: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Sciamma, 2019) -- Netflix
Marianne (Noemie Merlant) is a painter, Heloise (Adele Haenel) is an aristocrat due to be married. Marianne is hired to paint Heloise for her future husband: they fall in love: they part. Which sounds slight, but this is a beautifully observed film, with layered light and excellent music. Men have no importance in this film: it's gynocentric, and there is a great deal of kindness between the women. Fascinating soundscape, too, especially at the all-female ?solstice celebration. What’s the Deal With the Song at the Center of Portrait of a Lady on Fire? [Slate].
28SEP24: Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni, 1890) -- Blackheath Halls Opera
Another excellent performance from the Blackheath Halls community opera project: I don't think I'd ever seen a production of Cavalieri Rusticana before, and it is really rather bleak. None of the major characters is especially likeable, though Santuzza (brilliantly sung by Katherine Broderick, in a dowdy nunnish costume) has the best reason to be vengeful. Love is a terrible thing, here, but Turiddu -- who came home from war to find his fiancee married to someone else, so seduced Santuzza instead -- blames the wine for everything. As one does.
29SEP24: Lee (Kuras, 2023) -- Greenwich Picturehouse
Kate Winslet stars as war photographer Lee Miller, who is determined to get to the front line and refuses to look away from the horrors of war. She's one of the first photographers to enter a concentration camp; she feels shame at not being able to help collaborators in Paris (where nobody knows what's really happening in Germany); she has a close and supportive friendship with fellow photographer David Scherman (Andy Samberg) and marries Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgard). Many of the scenes from the film are based on Miller's photographs -- which I hadn't realised were taken for Vogue magazine! -- so felt weirdly familiar. Interesting framing narrative with a reporter interviewing her: this scenario is not what it seems.
I'd watched the original 1984 film in preparation, and have to say it didn't stand up well: the reboot, on the other hand, was a delight. I especially enjoyed the monochrome, Spanish-language flashback in which Beetlejuice's origin story was revealed. Great use of disco classics (Tragedy! MacArthur Park!) and melodrama overload. More forgiveness in this one (though not for Jeffrey Jones, who played Lydia's husband Charles in the original: following conviction for child pornography, his character had died (and been partially eaten by a shark) before the start of the film).
12SEP24: Crew (Krishnan, 2024) -- Netflix
Heist movie featuring a trio of flight attendants who, not having been paid for months, take matters into their own hands. Geeta is supporting husband, brother and sister-in-law; Jasmine is fond of expensive things and social media; Divya trained to be a pilot and hasn't told her parents she's a stewardess... They're very different but each brings a different talent to the heist -- which is largely planned on the fly. (Pun only partly intended.) This was immense fun, nicely structured, and decidedly feminist. Also, someone reads the manual when they don't know how to do something...
13SEP24: Sahra Halgan, Greenleaf Baptist Church
Somalian singer with a fabulous voice and a French rock band, who aren't afraid to play a variety of instruments including the kora (a Malian / West African stringed instrument). Tiny venue, which was not at capacity -- which meant that Sahra Halgan came down into the audience and danced with us -- which was sheer delight.
15SEP24: Berlioz / Rachmaninoff / Saint-Saens -- Barbican Hall
I was mostly there for the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony, with Anna Lapwood on organ, and was not disappointed (though Pappano took the last crescendo rather fast, and the piano wasn't as audible as I'd have liked). We also heard Berlioz' Roman Carnival Overture and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto number 1 (which I don't love as much as the later ones) played by Yuja Wang who came on stage in white silk, dark glasses and very high heels.
26SEP24: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Sciamma, 2019) -- Netflix
Marianne (Noemie Merlant) is a painter, Heloise (Adele Haenel) is an aristocrat due to be married. Marianne is hired to paint Heloise for her future husband: they fall in love: they part. Which sounds slight, but this is a beautifully observed film, with layered light and excellent music. Men have no importance in this film: it's gynocentric, and there is a great deal of kindness between the women. Fascinating soundscape, too, especially at the all-female ?solstice celebration. What’s the Deal With the Song at the Center of Portrait of a Lady on Fire? [Slate].
28SEP24: Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni, 1890) -- Blackheath Halls Opera
Another excellent performance from the Blackheath Halls community opera project: I don't think I'd ever seen a production of Cavalieri Rusticana before, and it is really rather bleak. None of the major characters is especially likeable, though Santuzza (brilliantly sung by Katherine Broderick, in a dowdy nunnish costume) has the best reason to be vengeful. Love is a terrible thing, here, but Turiddu -- who came home from war to find his fiancee married to someone else, so seduced Santuzza instead -- blames the wine for everything. As one does.
29SEP24: Lee (Kuras, 2023) -- Greenwich Picturehouse
Kate Winslet stars as war photographer Lee Miller, who is determined to get to the front line and refuses to look away from the horrors of war. She's one of the first photographers to enter a concentration camp; she feels shame at not being able to help collaborators in Paris (where nobody knows what's really happening in Germany); she has a close and supportive friendship with fellow photographer David Scherman (Andy Samberg) and marries Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgard). Many of the scenes from the film are based on Miller's photographs -- which I hadn't realised were taken for Vogue magazine! -- so felt weirdly familiar. Interesting framing narrative with a reporter interviewing her: this scenario is not what it seems.
