An adaptation of John Adam's opera 'The Death Of Klinghoffer' which tells the story of the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship the Achile Lauro.
Britten: Gloriana (Elder ENO Orchestra/Chorus Walker Johnson)
Saint Francois D'Assise (3 Dvd)
Mickey Shane and Keoni live to surf but theirs is not merely a search for the elusive wave it's a solemn pact with nature to take things to the extreme. World Class surfers Patrick Shane Dorian Matt George and Matty Liu star in a dramatic adventure of friendship and courage featuring some of the most spectacular footage ever filmed. From Madagascar and Bali to Hawaii and Mexico director and co-writer Zalman King takes us on action-filled tour of the most exotic and dangerous s
This new film of Leonard Bernstein's music-theatre piece Trouble in Tahiti, produced by BBC Wales and Opus Arte and directed by Tom Cairns, makes a strong case for a neglected work. Bernstein wrote his satire on American materialism in 1952, drawing on elements of opera, revue and musical comedy to tell a story of a marriage that's turned sour amid the trappings of suburban prosperity. The brevity of the piece, which flashes by in 39 minutes, perhaps accounts for its rare appearances, making this version specially welcome. Tom Cairns directs with style and panache, moving the camera effortlessly to and fro between the seven scenes. Amir Hosseinpour's choreography recalls with affection the heyday of the MGM musical then at its zenith. The film opens with a Greek-style chorus singing in scat jazz fashion to a montage of 1950s imagery: flickering television adverts, manicured lawns and white picket fences. Characters within the narrative appear in flash-back in home video footage. This is all highly diverting and possibly a ruse to mask some dramatic weakness in the story written by Bernstein himself. The wife never offers an explanation for her visit to the cinema to see Trouble in Tahiti instead of attending her son's school play, nor do we see the boy again after witnessing his parents having a tiff. The two principals, Karl Daymond as Sam and Stephanie Novacek as Dinah, are well cast and sing in a natural and pleasing manner with clear diction. The scat vocal trio is well matched and the City of London Sinfonia under Paul Daniel catch the spirit of the jazz inflected score as if it were second nature. On the DVD: Trouble in Tahiti is shot in wide-screen, appropriate for the era that gave us CinemaScope. There are subtitles in German, Spanish and French. A full translation in English is printed in the booklet. The extras include an introduction that partly overlaps with "A Very Testing Piece", in which Paul Daniel touches on the parallel with Bernstein's own unhappy childhood. Humphrey Burton in "Not Particularly Romantic" elaborates on this theme and goes on to offer a further fascinating commentary on Bernstein, whom he knew well. --Adrian Edwards
Olivier Award winner James Dreyfus stars in this quick-witted comedy as the bitter Jake a self-professed 'artist and filmmaker' who can't quite keep life together in the face of other people's success. Jake's life changes when small-time thief Jojo (Tom Farrelly) breaks into Jake's car and steals his briefcase containing a book on screenwriting and Jake's filofax of 'contacts'. Jojo's new script ensures he quickly becomes the talk of the town. Jake meanwhile decides to 'drop out of
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