FILM REVIEW: SAGRADA By: Faiz No comments

A scene from Sagrada.

From The Circle to the steeple

By Ed Rampell

Fresh off The Circle, writer-director Stefan Haupt’s documentary Sagrada, El Misteri de la Creacio (Sacred, The Mystery of Creation) is about one of the world’s most enigmatic, unique, celebrated churches.

In 1882 a then-30 year-old architect Antoni Gaudí took over the process of creating and guiding Sagrada Família (Holy Family) in Barcelona. Although the Catalan architect died in 1926, almost 90 years later his minor basilica remains a major construction site still being built.

Gaudí’s eye-popping, imaginative architecture is iconic, sort-of-gothic aesthetics colliding with Art Nouveau, a cross between the surrealistic paintings of his fellow Catalan, Salvador Dali, and the Watts Towers. The Spaniards’ spires reach for the sky, soaring towards the heavens with curvy topsy-turvy towers and facades melting like Dali’s watches. Woody Allen used it to great effect as a setting for 2008’s Vicky Christina Barcelona.

Sagrada Família really has to be seen to be believed and Haupt’s nonfiction film does a good job in revealing it, as well as the controversies, mysteries and mystique surrounding this unfinished monument to God and Gaudí. The filmmaker also explores the subterranean depths of the creative process.

Haupt, a gifted director, tells his tale through spiritual, sweeping cinematography -- interior, exterior and often aerial -- and with usually subtitled interviews plus narration, which Haupt co-wrote with Martin Witz. The English version is narrated by Trevor Roling.

Sagrada’s cast of characters includes a number of unusual eccentrics who have found meaning in what would otherwise likely be drab existences by attaching their personal fates to that of fulfilling the unfolding of Gaudí’s visionary edifice. The talking head who seems most striking is stonecutter Etsuro Sotoo, a Japanese Zen Buddhist who, while sculpting Sagrada Família, converted to Catholicism in order to understand and pursue what he imagines Gaudí was trying to achieve.

Watching Sagrada may make a true believer out of you. This documentary is especially for those interested in architecture, religion, travel and creativity. Haupt’s latest film proves, once again, that Swiss cinema is a force to be reckoned with on the international stage - or rather screen.

 

 

THEATER REVIEW: CARMEN By: Faiz No comments





Carmen (Patricia Bardon) in Carmen. Photo by Robert Millard.

 

 

Safety net

By Ed Rampell

LA Opera has launched its 2013/2014 season with a glorious Carmen. Experiencing the eye catching sets and costumes, the breathtaking mass spectacle and dramatic story and, above all, Georges Bizet’s entrancing, mellifluous music, aficionados might briefly feel what John Lennon called “instant karma.” When in Act I Irish mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon as Carmen sings her “Habanera” aria in a Seville square or Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as the bullfighter Escamillo performs Act II’s rousing “Toreador Song” in Lillas Pastia’s tavern, spectators may have a transcendental sense that there’s no better place to be in the entire universe at that moment than in his/her seat at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

This could impart a rapturous sensibility of well-being, that all’s well with the world -- but such is not so with the title character (played by Serbian mezzo-soprano Milena Kitic on Sept. 28). Carmencita, Spain’s sultry cigarette factory girl, is a sensuous free spirit, one of the original femme fatales, who lives and loves as she pleases. The high spirited Carmen perfectly expresses her philosophy in the lilting “Habanera” singing: 'Love is a rebellious bird nobody can tame.' But in patriarchal 19^th century Spain this sets Carmen, with her “gypsy” mentality, on a collision course with her soldier lover, Don Jose (tenor Brandon Jovanovich alternates in the role with Brazilian Thiago Arancom, who played the part on Oct. 1 and 4) and the dashing toreador Escamillo (baritone Dwayne Croft played the role Sept. 28), who vie for the enticing Carmen’s affections. Like Jezebel, Juliet and an endless number of film noir dolls, the coquettish Carmen must be punished by the patriarchy for daring to enjoy sex.

The current rendition of this perennial favorite is similar to LA Opera’s 2008 Carmen production by Emilio Sagi, reprising the period costumes by designer Jesus del Pozo, choreography (including some stirring, stylized flamenco numbers, castanets and all) by Nuria Castejon and bravura sets designed by Gerardo Trotti. The latter include a stunning Seville plaza, Lillas Pastia’s watering hole, a mountain set (perhaps in the Pyrenees) and the exterior of a bullfighting ring. There Carmen meets her destiny, but a sharp eyed observer might note that the ending of the previous production is, perhaps, significantly different than in the current version. Whereas in 2008 Carmen seemed to seal her fate by her own hand, in the 2013 rendition it seems to be carried out by another.

The non-traditional multi-culti casting of this opera composed by Bizet in 1875 with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy, based on Prosper Merimee’s novel that takes place in 1820-ish Spain includes the aptly named South African soprano Pretty Yende as Micaela (Kentuckian Amanda Woodbury tackles the role Sept. 28) and South Korean soprano Hae Ji Chang as Frasquita, one of Carmen’s cohorts. When he entered the orchestra pit to wield the baton maestro, Placido Domingo was met with spontaneous ovations by the genuinely adoring crowd. Trevere Ross expertly directs the spectacle, which at times includes the tricky mise-en-scene of 60-ish performers moving onstage at once.

A number of senoritas in the audience wore red gowns and shawls to pay homage to their operatic heroine, the “scarlet lady.” Although set in Spain, Carmen is actually sung in French -- which may be appropriate, as this is sometimes called “the language of lovers.” Carmenhas four acts and is more than three hours long, with two intermissions. Plenty of time for theatergoers to willingly suspend their disbelief and ascend to opera heaven. Judging by this splendid premiere, Angelino opera fans are in for a stellar season. Instant Carmen’s gonna get you, as LA Opera shines on!

Carmen runs through Oct. 6 at 2:00 p.m. at the LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave. For more info: 213-972-8001; www.laopera.com.

 

The new book co-authored by reviewer Ed Rampell, The Hawaii Movie and Television Book, premieres November 20.

LAFF 2013: I'M SO EXCITED By: Faiz No comments

A scene from I'm So Excited.

Flying over windmills

By John Esther

When a writer-director of Spain’s Pedro Almodóvar’s stature titles his film after a banal, albeit apropos, American pop song from the 1980s, you know he is aiming for his lowest common denominator.

The opening night film for Los Angeles Film Festival 2012, I’m So Excited commences with León (Antonio Banderas) and Jessica (Penelope Cruz) working on an airport runway. After a minor accident, León learns that Jessica is pregnant with their child. He is so excited he forgets his job and thus puts all the passengers on the plane in serious jeopardy.

While in flight 10,000 feet above terra firma, the plane suffers a malfunction and needs to make an emergency landing. As it searches for a possible landing spot it repeatedly flies in circles. The lower classes are knocked out by a concoction made by the airline stewardesses. Their fate will never be in their hands.

Meanwhile, the first class passengers – a “drug mule” (Miguel Ángel Silvestre), his comatose bride (Laya Martí), a professional assassin (José Luis Torrijo), a man with a string of mentally unstable girlfriends (Guillermo Toledo), a virgin psychic (Lola Dueñas) plus a few other kooky characters -- along with the hysterical flight crew respond to the dire situation with sex, drugs and The Pointer Sisters.

Filled with frank jokes, remarks and marks about sex, especially gay sex, there are some very funny moments, dialogue, etc., that makes I’m So Excited barely bearable – and a de-light-headed choice to open LAFF 2013. Yet the film has its share of very low moments, especially when some of the crew perform the titular song. Ouch.

I’m So Excited screens Opening Night at Los Angeles Film Festival 2013, June 13, 7 p.m., Regal Theaters. For more information: www.lafilmfest.com