Soprano Emalie Savoy Interview

New York Philharmonic

Music by Falla and Orff

May 31, June 1 and 2, 2012

Avery Fisher Hall, 65^th Street and Broadway, New York, NY

nyphil.org

Composer Manuel de Falla

When Spanish composer Manuel de Falla died in 1946, he left unfinished his magnum opus, the patriotic cantata Atlántida, which he had been working on for the last 20 years of his life. Although it was finished in 1958 by Ernesto Halffter and premiered at Milan’s La Scala in 1962, it’s rarely been performed or heard—I have a recording on Allegro of the world premiere—so that the New York Philharmonic and conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos will perform it at all (even if it’s only a scant 25 minutes’ worth of excerpts) is very welcome.

With the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and Spain’s Orfeón Pamplonés providing the extensive choral singing (also prominent in the main work on this program, Carl Orff’s Carmina burana), Atlántida—based on a work by Catalan poet Jacinto Verdaguer,  which tells the story of the lost continent of Atlantis through the prism of Greek mythology and Columbus’ voyages to America—also has golden opportunities for soloists, including young American soprano Emalie Savoy, who sings one of the score’s  most memorable sections, “Queen Isabella’s Dream,” at these performances.

Savoy—a fearless interpreter early in her career who recently sang Gluck’s baroque opera Armida and Janacek’s 20^th century masterpiece The Makropulos Case in New York already this year—spoke about coming to terms with this unfamiliar but masterly work.

Kevin Filipski: How difficult has it been to work on such an obscure work as Atlántida?

Emalie Savoy: This is such gorgeous music, but it’s not done very often. In terms of preparation, it’s a very interesting project for me because I’ve never sung anything in Catalan, which is very unique and sounds beautiful. It’s not just a Spanish dialect; it’s actually its own language with its own heritage and history. To prepare, I had to approach it from a linguistic standpoint first of all and track down a Catalan specialist; it took awhile to find someone who knows the language! 

Soprano Emalie Savoy

KF: Can you talk about singing this work and Falla’s music in general?

ES: My part is Queen Isabella–she has one solo where she recalls a dream while sleeping in the Alhambra (in Granada), then sends Columbus out on the high seas to discover America. It’s a very long section of the work, and it’s absolutely beautiful music. Falla was a very strong Spanish nationalist composer, and this particular piece was written in a neo-Renaissance style with dance rhythms and syncopations that “feel” old. The poem it’s based on has archaic words and a very exulted, flowery prose. It too has a strong sense of nationalism: it’s about the glory of Spanish history. I’ve sung some of Falla’s songs, but not any of his larger works. The songs were in Castilian Spanish which is very different from singing in Catalan, so I didn’t need to learn a new language!

KF: You’ve performed a lot of 20^th century music, like Leos Janacek, Erik Satie and now Falla. Is it the kind of music you like to sing?

ES: It’s more scheduling, really. I did a lot of early music while a student (at Juilliard), and I just sang Gluck at Juilliard and I did a great deal of Mozart while studying there. It’s fascinating to jump from one country to the next as well as languages and centuries. I from singing in Czech for the first time at the Met in Makropulos to singing in Catalan for the first time. It’s fascinating to find out how many different ways music can be used to express something: I’ve had the privilege to watch my father compose and how he’s inspired by different texts and what styles he ultimately ends up composing in. Every piece by every composer is unique, and I like to find out a great deal about each composer and what was going on during his life—the research aspect is fascinating to me.

May '12 Digital Week IV

Blu-rays of the Week

Certified Copy

(Criterion Colllection)

Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami’s self-reflexive, self-serving story follows a couple—that may or may not be married—meeting in photogenic Tuscany for what might or might not be their anniversary. Incidental travelogue pleasures can’t compensate for not caring about these people. Juliette Binoche (Cannes Best Actress) has a wonderfully expressive face and speaks French, English and Italian equally well, but shows off her art’s primary colors (sneering, crying, laughing, yelling) instead of creating a credible character. The Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray transfer is first-rate; extras include a Kiarostami interview, hour-long making-of documentary and an early Kiarostami feature, 1977’s The Report.

Coriolanus

(Anchor Bay)

Shakespeare’s stark tragedy about a disgraced Roman general joining the enemy is torn from its ancient setting to a war-ravaged present by director-star Ralph Fiennes. Rome is a contemporary region resembling the Balkan conflict, but modern technology—24-hour TV news explains what goes on to unfamiliar audiences—undercuts the dialogue, notably when mother and wife await news of Coriolanus: why don’t they just turn on the TV? Fiennes effortlessly makes Shakespeare’s words sound conversational even when confrontational; too bad he doesn’t trust his writer more. The gritty imagery is retained on Blu-ray; extras include and on-set featurette and Fiennes’ commentary.

Lethal Weapon Collection

(Warner Brothers)

I always felt one Lethal Weapon was enough, but obviously no one agrees: this four-film series is the most profitable buddy-cop franchise ever. Blame the 1987 original for spawning the wisecracking but deadly policemen, but the formula worked, as director Richard Donner, stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover (and, later, Rene Russo, Joe Pesci and Chris Rock) joined forces again and again. The 1989, 1992 and 1998 sequels are far more annoying than the merely forgettable original. The movies look good enough on Blu-ray; a fifth disc houses retrospective featurettes that include many interviews.

Perfect Sense

(IFC)

David Mackenzie’s portentous allegory is uncomfortably reminiscent of other—and mostly better—films like Bertrand Tavernier’s Death Watch, Fernando Meirelles’ Blindness and Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion. As a disease robs people of their senses, scientist Eva Green meets chef Ewan MacGregor; their brief affair leaves a mark on them and, maybe, the human race. Mackenzie literalizes how the couple’s relationship parallels a crumbling world. Too bad Green and MacGregor, charismatic performers both, are unable to do little more than inject emotional and physical nakedness into a movie starving for it. The Blu-ray image is splendid; lone extra is a two-minute featurette.

Racing Dreams

(PBS)

Marshall Curry’s documentary perceptively shows how fast today’s children grow up—literally in the case of Annabeth (11), Josh (12) and Brandon (13), who drive their karts at speeds up to 70 MPH in a race series that spawned NASCAR drivers. Curry’s sympathy is obvious as he documents the kids trying to grow up normally while facing a lot of—often self-inflicted—pressure to become winners and, maybe, famous drivers. This PBS doc looks superb on Blu-ray; extras are deleted scenes, kids update, director Q&A and behind-the-scenes featurette.

The Secret World of Arrietty

(Disney)

For many, the name Studio Ghibli conjures happy memories, knowing that its quality animation equals—or even surpasses—Pixar and Disney. Sure enough, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s beguiling adaptation of the beloved child’s book The Borrowers is filled with eye-popping imagery from first frame to last. Arrietty is a wondrous entrance into another world by another talented protégé of Hayao Miyazaki. Extras are an English-language version (stick with the original!), original storyboards and music videos.

Simply Red: Live at Montreux

(Eagle Eye)

Fronted by the soulful voice of Mick Hucknall, the British band Simply Red performs a scintillating set before an enthusiastic 2003 Montreux Jazz Festival crowd, including a captivating cover of “You Make Me Feel Brand New” and its smash hit, “Holding Back the Years.”. Along with the 18-song performance, seven songs from the band’s 2010 concert—all unplayed seven years earlier—are included. The Blu-ray image is flawless; the surround sound is wonderfully enveloping.

This Means War

(Fox)

If you’ve ever wanted to see Reese Witherspoon—an actress I’ve never found particularly charming—pretend she’s in an action comedy like the abortive Brangelina vehicle Mr. and Mrs. Smith, then by all means watch. Otherwise, despite car chases, fight sequences and other ridiculous sequences, director McG can’t breathe life into a hoary plot: two CIA agents fight for the right to win Reese, with a real criminal in hot pursuit. The movie has a good hi-def transfer; extras include an extended version, deleted scenes, alternate endings, gag reel and McG commentary.

DVDs of the Week

Air and Space Collection

(Smithsonian)

Of the quartet of informative programs on this two-disc set, a pair remains in the atmosphere while the other two blast off into outer space. America’s Hangar summarizes flight’s first century beginning with the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, while Concorde: Flying Supersonic chronicles the only passenger jet that flew at the speed of sound, including a wrenching account of the horrible 2001 crash that also killed off the airline. Lastly, History in HD: America in Space and Space Shuttle: Final Countdown glimpse the checkered history of our country’s space program.

Carol Channing: Larger than Life

(e one)

There’s only one Carol Channing, and this aptly named documentary shows the nonagenarian Broadway legend irrepressibly leading a tour of her eventful life and career, from her San Francisco childhood and classic Tony-winning performance in Hello, Dolly! to finding love with a man she hadn’t seen in 70 years, Harry Kujilian, whom she married in 2003. Dori Bernstein’s affectionate portrait of the ultimate—and unique—Broadway baby is 83 minutes of pure bliss. Included are 15 additional scenes, including Carol’s reminiscence about singing at Joan Crawford’s wedding and Barbara Walters speaking touchingly about Carol’s friendship with Barbara’s older, sickly sister.

Junkyard Dog

(Bass Entertainment)

This exploitative shocker comes off as a slavish Silence of the Lambs imitation. But director Kim Bass is no Jonathan Demme, so any attempt at horror by suggestion rather than by sledgehammer is lost. Instead, we’re left to mourn the fall from grace of Vivica A. Fox, a graceful actress stuck in a stock role of an FBI agent in a movie whose literally explosive ending is a last-gasp desperation move. The lone extra is a jokey “interview” between producer Deanna Shapiro and the movie’s canine star.

Michael

(Strand Releasing)

Austrian writer-director Marcus Schleinzer learned from the master of creepy understatement, Michael Haneke, so it’s no surprise that Schleinzer’s debut treads the same unsettling ground. This detached character study follows a normal-looking man with a normal insurance company job who just happens to keep an abducted young boy down in his basement, whom he allows to eat, play and watch TV. He also occasionally sodomizes him. A remarkably controlled study of aberrant and abhorrent behavior, Michael nevertheless omits important details—we never learn why, among any number of questions, he does what he does. And the final shot is morally questionable at best.

The River—The Complete 1^st Season  

(ABC/Disney)

From the mind of Oren Peli, director of that shabby thriller Paranormal Activity—and executive producer Steven Spielberg—comes this contraption about strange goings-on aboard a boat on the Amazon filled with people searching for a famous TV scientist who went missing. The cleverness on display can’t cover up the premise’s hokiness, and despite top-notch production values and a game cast, the show (now cancelled) is hampered by its overreliance on the tired trope of found footage. Extras include audio commentaries, deleted scenes and a making-of featurette.

The Thomashefskys

(Docurama)

Obviously a labor of love for conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, this evocative program recreates the beginnings of Yiddish Theatre in America—where Thomas’ grandparents were big stars in that traditional art form. Using original songs, excerpts from diaries, letters and performances, Thomas, his talented singers and musicians have made a love letter to a once-thriving art form. Extras include a Thomas interview and full-length versions of some of the music.

CDs of the Week

Britten: War Requiem

(LSO Live)

Benjamin Britten’s powerful pacifist plea is a remarkable oratorio and one of his greatest achievements: this 2011 live recording from London’s Barbican brings together a superlative trio of soloists—tenor Ian Bostridge, baritone Simon Keenlyside and soprano Sabina Cvilak—with the London Symphony Chorus, Choir of Eltham College and London Symphony Orchestra under the guiding hand of conductor Gianandrea Noseda. The Requiem’s wide emotional arc makes sweeping generalities useless. I had just listened to the original recording with Dietrich Fischer-Diskeau after hearing of his death; although not up to that defining performance, this new version comes near enough.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 7

(Deutsche Grammophon)

I’ve always found the symphonies of Anton Bruckner to be ersatz Wagner: what in Wagner’s operas is intensely dramatic is in Bruckner merely ponderous. And so it is with Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony which, amid moments of transcendent beauty are longeurs that drag the entire four-movement structure to the ground. Even with Daniel Barenboim sympathetically leading the superb Berlin Staatskapelle, I felt every second of the work’s 67 minutes, which kept me at arm’s length from its occasional tragic beauty.

NYC Theater Roundup: Megan Hilty ("Smash"), Topher Grace ("That 70s Show"), Simon Gray's Play Onstage

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Starring Megan Hilty, Simon Jones, Aaron Lazar, Deborah Rush, Rachel York

Music by Jule Styne; lyrics by Leo Robin
Book by Anita Loos and Joseph Fields, adapted from Loos’ novel
Directed by John Rando

Performances from May 9-13, 2012

New York City Center, 151 West 55^th Street, New York, NY

nycitycenter.org

Lonely, I’m Not

Starring Topher Grace, Olivia Thirlby, Mark Blum, Lisa Emery  

Written by Paul Weitz; directed by Trip Cullum

Previews began April 10, 2012; opened May 7; closes June 3

Second Stage Theatre, 307 West 43^rd Street, New York, NY

2st.com

The Common Pursuit

Starring Kristen Bush, Kieran Campion, Josh Cooke, Jacob Fishel, Tim McGeever, Lucas Near-Verbrugghe

Written by Simon Gray; directed by Moises Kaufman

Previews began May 4, 2012; opened May 24; closes July 29

Laura Pels Theatre, 111 West 46^th Street, New York, NY

roundabouttheatre.org

She may not have become a Broadway star on Smash’s season finale, but Megan Hilty was a head turner in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She started out playing Lorelei Lee, the prototypical dumb blonde, as if channeling Kristen Chenoweth—and let’s not forget the ghost of Marilyn Monroe and Carol Channing—then came into her own with a winning comic performance.

Belting out notable numbers like “I’m Just a Little Girl from Little Rock” and the ultimate showstopper, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” Hilty’s brassy voice hinted that Lorelei’s not dumb at all, but really a smart modern girl. That’s not what Lorelei is about, but Hilty’s powerful lungs and zesty timing erased that quibble. Rob Berman conducted the Encores Orchestra in luscious renditions of Jule Styne’s classic tunes.

This season’s final Encores! revival, directed with brio by John Rando, was old-fashioned in the best sense: double entendres butted heads with witty one-liners, the sensational dancing was terrifically choreographed by Randy Skinner, and the wonderful cast on the NYC-to-Paris cruise ship included the spirited Rachel York as Lorelei’s sidekick Dorothy Shaw; Simon Jones and Sandra Shipley as the Beekmans, an hilariously mismatched British couple; and Aaron Lazar as Dorothy’s sweet-voiced paramour Henry Spofford.

I didn’t find Hilty that arresting on Smash (or in Broadway’s 9 to 5, for that matter), but—based on Blondes—I’ll give her another chance.

For his first stage starring role, That 70s Show’s Topher Grace has chosen something close to his roots: a new play by Paul Weitz (American Pie), cleverly superficial—and TV sitcomish—in its look at 20-somethings caught in an alienating modern world.

Lonely, I’m Not, like Weitz’s other plays Trust and Show People, is an expertly constructed trifle with a twist. The hero, Porter (the hangdog and amusing Grace), has been feeling sorry for himself since his breakdown after failing as a Wall Street “master of the universe.” When a mutual friend sets him up on a blind date with—get this—a blind but aggressive junior executive, Heather (the magnificently expressive Olivia Thirlby), he discovers that returning to the world from which he retreated might be a viable option.

Directed crisply by Trip Cullum, Weitz’s play telegraphs its obvious points so bluntly that enormous words explaining each scene light up behind the actors, i.e., CAFFEINE, JOB INTERVIEW, EXERCISE. Such a conceit palls quickly, but Grace and Thirlby’s rapport makes us care about their budding relationship: Grace’s smart underplaying lets Thirlby’s physically graceful performance deservedly dominate.

                                                           

Simon Gray, who died in 2008 at age 71, wrote superior dramas like Butley, probably his best known (Nathan Lane played the lead in the 2006 Broadway revival). So the return of his uncommonly intelligent The Common Pursuit is a heartening development.

Directed with a healthy but not rigid respect for the text by Moises Kaufman, The Common Pursuit has juicy roles for six performers able to age believably over a period of 20 years. At Cambridge, five young men and one woman start work on the literary journal “The Common Pursuit” and, over the two decades the play encompasses, the men work together, befriend one another, and—after editor Stuart marries university sweetheart Marigold—loyalties eventually waver as friendships and professional relationships are severely tested.

Yes, the characters’ dramatic arcs have been predestined from the start, and the play’s structure precludes any surprises or revelations, but Gray’s superbly detailed writing makes even characters only discussed and never seen—colleagues, girlfriends, wives—as fleshed-out as those onstage. This very specific type of British play might seem passé, but in a spring season where overwritten, underwhelming works like Cock have garnered inexplicable raves, The Common Pursuit’s straightforwardness is refreshing and, in its own way, daring. (Even throwaway lines are wonderfully droll, like Marigold’s response to the question “Are you distraught?”: “No, perfectly traught, thanks.”)

Kaufman adroitly handles the all-important passage of time between scenes, even slipping in the Beatles’ soaring “Free as a Bird” at the end of Act I. Among a first-rate sextet of performances, Kristen Bush’s Marigold is especially vulnerable and sadly “traught,” while Tim McGeever’s Humphry is knowing and sardonic. Gray’s drama shows uncommon insight into people and their common pursuits.

Art Reviews: The Met’s Steins Collect; the Frick’s Renoir, Antico; the Jewish Museum’s Vuillard

Antico: Golden Age of Renaissance Bronzes 
Through July 29, 2012
The Frick Collection
1 East 70^th Street
New York, NY
frick.org

The Steins Collect: Picasso, Matisse, and the Parisian Avant-Garde 
Through June 3, 2012
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY
metmuseum.org

Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940 
Through September 23, 2012
The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY
thejewishmuseum.org

Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan comprises several of the greatest collections of art anywhere in the world, including a trio of museums currently hosting excellent exhibitions.

Just off Fifth Avenue on East 70^th Street is the Frick Collection. Housed in Henry Clay Frick’s former home, the imposing mansion houses the city’s best small art museum—if by “small,” you mean three Vermeers, several Goyas and Rembrandts, and works by Titian, Bellini, El Greco, and so on. The building itself is worth entering just to see how the .01 percent once lived, and in addition to its own collection, the Frick also features pointed exhibitions, like the just-closed Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting, which brought together nine of the French Impressionist’s largest canvases, like the Frick’s own La Promenade,  Chicago’s Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando and Washington D.C.’s The Dancer. Seeing these oversized Renoirs in a single gallery was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Currently at the Frick (through July 29) is a splendid exhibit of works by early Renaissance master sculptor Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, known as L’Antico; his intimately-scaled pieces contain so much detail that they invite the exceptionally close viewing the Frick allows. Among the gems of Antico: Golden Age of Renaissance Bronzes are his statuettes of Hercules and Venus and his busts of Bacchus and Cleopatra.

A dozen blocks north on Fifth Avenue is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where visitors flock to annually by the millions. The Met’s recently re-opened American Wing—with its comprehensive collection of American paintings and sculpture in the renovated galleries—is on anyone’s list of must-visit galleries. Pride of place remains Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emmanuel Leutze , whose monumental patriotic canvas—which takes up an entire wall in Gallery 760, flanked by the two paintings hung near it at an 1864 exhibition, Frederic Edwin Church’s Heart of the Andes and Albert Bierstadt’s The Rocky Mountains—has been cleaned so it looks sparklingly beautiful, and sits within the glittering gilded frame reconstructed from vintage photographs of the painting.

One of the best Met exhibitions in recent memory, The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde (through June 3) recounts how writer Gertrude, brothers Leo and Michael and Michael’s wife Sarah created one of the most impressive collections of then-modern art in the first half of the 20^th century. When they first came to Paris in the early 1900s, they were able to purchase dozens of Picassos, Matisses, Bonnards, and other cheap-to-buy painters before their name recognition and value skyrocketed. Picasso’s famous portrait of Gertrude, already a cornerstone of the Met’s collection, is complemented by his portraits of Leo and his son Allan. Many of the exhibit’s paintings are familiar, but seeing them in a new context simply awes us by the family’s discerning taste. Letters, photographs and other ephemera help to form a portrait of an American family in Paris that collected art as they rubbed shoulders with the artists who created the works they bought.

Another 10 blocks north, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 92^nd Street, is the Jewish Museum which, through September 23, is the home for an enlightening exhibition of French painter Edouard Vuillard, an underrated artist whose work deserves more platforms in New York than it receives: this is the first large exhibition of his work here in 20 years.

Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940 shows how the painter followed his own path even as his work reflected those people—often women, including Lucy Hessel, wife of one of his patrons who soon became the long-time central figure of Vuillard’s art and life—who were most important to him at the time. The works on display—the Jewish Museum’s own are complemented by many from other collections, often from private hands and unseen in public museums—present a painter’s palette that’s assured, discerning and wholly original.

The exhibit, comprising a half-century of Vuillard’s art, makes for an intriguing overview, especially when considering his late portraits, often large-scale and less well known—undeservedly so: in the final two galleries hang some extraordinary paintings, including Madame Jean Bloch and Her Children, a stunningly precise work of intimacy and uncommon subtlety.

Paul and Linda's Remastered 'Ram' Returns

Paul and Linda McCartney: Ram 

(Hear Music/MPL)

I still scratch my head over the savage reviews Paul McCartney got after the Beatles’ breakup: OK, McCartney might have been a modest, self-effacing effort—although 42 years’ distance has made it sound as experimental and eclectic as the rest of the man's misunderstood solo career—but 1971’s Ram, the latest in the ongoing (but much too slow!) revamp of Paul’s entire recorded catalog, has always been a freewheeling platter of Beatlesque songs—and who better to make an album of Beatlesque songs?—that holds up alongside Band on the Run as McCartney’s best album yet. Perhaps the reviewers thought that giving wife Linda credit for co-writing half the songs was going too far...who knows?

From the effortlessly hooky opener “Too Many People” (a not-so-subtle swipe at what he saw as former bandmate John’s preachiness), Ram is as melodically and musically assured as ever, while also being the most sonically adventurous recording he would make pre-Band on the Run. The glorious five-minute soundscape—and Paul's first post-Beatles Number One—“Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” is another example of Paul’s genius for elaborate symphonic mini-suites, as are the phenomenal “Long-Haired Lady” (which opens with Paul’s “well, well, well, well, well” lovingly aping Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band primal scream) and the joyous closer, “The Back Seat of My Car.” There’s also delightful English absurdity in “3 Legs” and “Monkberry Moon Delight,” while “Smile Away” and “Eat at Home” are among Paul’s most infectious rockers.

The remastered Ram sounds so clear it seems brand new: the acoustic guitars on “Ram On” and “Heart of the Country” have an immediacy heretofore missing, and the ecstatic harmonies on “Dear Boy” shimmer and float through the speakers. A second disc, comprising singles and outtakes, includes the instantly hummable hit “Another Day,” the rocking B-sides “Oh Woman Oh Why” and “Little Woman Love,” and the galvanizingly epic “Rode All Night.” Ram “special editions” include a DVD with a 10-minute Paul reminiscence of the album’s creation, as well as vintage video clips for “Heart of the Country,” “3 Legs,” and “Eat at Home” in concert.

Now if we could just get these Archive Collection re-releases put out at faster pace!

May '12 Digital Week III

Blu-rays of the Week

Aerial America—Pacific Rim Collection

(Smithsonian)

You can’t go wrong watching the many travel shows shot with HD cameras, especially those like the quartet of programs on this disc—going the fly-over helicopter route is the source of numerous stunning shots. Aerial America visits Hawaii’s lush tropical oases, California’s fertile farmlands, Pacific Coast Highway and San Francisco, and Washington and Oregon’s wooded and mountainous areas of splendor. Breathtaking beauty is on display for three-plus hours, and watching on Blu-ray is the best advertisement for the tourism industry in all four states.

Cinema Verite

(HBO)

The seminal and controversial An American Family, TV’s first “reality” show focusing on the Louds, was shown on PBS in 1973. This absorbing if thin HBO docudrama by directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (best known for American Splendor) chronicles the filmmakers’ starting a project that pretty much ruined everyone’s—family’s and crew’s—life. An accomplished cast—Diane Lane and Dennis Quaid as the parents and James Gandolfini as the PBS producer—makes this a worthy pendant to the original, itself available in a truncated DVD version. Extras include directors’ and Lane commentary and short making-of featurette.

Ganja & Hess

(Kino)

Bill Gunn’s 1973 horror movie might have been inspired by Blacula’s success, but deadly seriousness is its biggest flaw. The exceedingly dangerous central affair with tragically fatal consequences meanders for far too long, and even if the film has been returned to its original length—113 minutes instead of a truncated 87—Gunn’s patchwork technique results in a disappointing dramatic experience. Extras include The Blood of the Thing, a collection of interviews from the 1998 DVD release; and an audio commentary.

Hell on Wheels—The Complete 1^st Season

(e one)

The Civil War era—heretofore the provenance of the movie western—is the setting for this contrived soap opera about the men and women populating the wild west who took the law into their own hands as they helped expand the country from sea to shining sea. Still, thanks to a cast led by Colm Meaney and Anson Mount and beautiful photography—watching it on Blu-ray is mandatory—the result is genuinely compelling. Extras include behind-the-scenes features and on-set footage.

History of the World in Two Hours

(History)

This is one TV program where the Blu-ray is incorrectly titled: without commercials, this should be called History of the World in 88 Minutes. Which is precisely what it is: beginning with the Big Bang 14 billion years ago, the show quickly moves through the solar system’s origins, dinosaurs, Ice and Stone Ages and the present day in an entertaining style that makes extensive use of CGI, which looks amazing on Blu-ray (and in 3-D if your TV can handle it).

Playback

(Magnet)

Taking the low “kids with cameras” concept to its absurdly logical extreme, writer-director Michael A. Nickles’ unnerving, over-the-top thriller shows the legacy of past murders on students recreating them for a video project. Despite the lunatic goings-on, Nickles’ audaciousness initially compels continued viewing; too bad he runs out of steam and perfunctorily peters out. The movie’s visuals are well-captured on Blu-ray; extras include two making-of featurettes.

Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World

(PBS)

Historian Bettany Hughes hosts this guided tour through the most imposing structures built in the name of Buddha. The seven monuments include the obvious—like Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and India’s Mahabodhi Temple—alongside the incredible His Lai Temple in Los Angeles. This septet of sights provides an enlightening survey of the world’s most popular religions; and Blu-ray is the best way to take this tour, revealing one spectacular sight after another.

The Universe—The Complete 6^th Season

(History)

I’m adamantly against History Channel re-enactments, but there are cases when it’s warranted: the marvelous CGI driving this outstanding series reveals what could never be plausibly replicated any other way. Among the 14 episodes’ subjects are how the planets were irrevocably changed, the origin of the solar system (again!), comets, UFOs and even the place of God in the universe. Needless to say, the visuals enthrall as much as the subject matter.

DVDs of the Week

Norman Mailer—The American

(Cinema Libre)

Norman Mailer—author, politician, pugilist, sexist, filmmaker, agitator, intellectual—is the subject of this engrossing documentary about a public life lived like a train wreck under a microscope (to coin a phrase). Comments from his wives, children, colleagues and antagonists—and sublime footage of his feuds with Gore Vidal, William F. Buckley and the incredible battle with Rip Torn at the climax of their movie Maidstone—center Joseph Mantegna’s look at the rock star of American writers. Extras include Mailer speaking on various topics and a gallery of his letters.

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth

(First Run)

Chad Freidrichs’ alternately depressing and heartening documentary erases the accepted notion that St. Louis’ infamous public housing project was a disaster and, by extension, exposes the uninformed outcry against modernist architecture and the people who lived there. This strong, intelligent work of activism is equally factual and emotional, which it balances beautifully. Extras include a 30-minute film, More Than One Thing (1969), Freidrichs’ commentary and additional interviews.

Something Ventured

(Zeitgeist)

With Mitt Romney’s rise, “venture capitalist” has become a dirty term, but it wasn’t always thus. In the heady days of the ‘60s through the ‘90s, people were not downsizing companies but growing them, and directors Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine shrewdly examine the men (and woman) who turned companies and products like Apple, PowerPoint and Atari into blockbusters. Alternating new interviews with vintage footage, Geller and Goldfine show that, with smarts and acumen, American capitalists were once innovative, not merely complainers about unfair taxation ruining job creation. Extras include five deleted scenes.

Time Team

(Athena)

Britain’s to blame for our worst reality shows, but they also created this exciting  chronicle of historians and archeologists unearthing the ruins left behind by the collapsed Roman empire nearly two millennia ago. Hosted by comedian Tony Robinson, Time Team comprises a dozen episodes that are a time machine back to Britain’s Roman past, from London to Wales, and including a stop at the famous Hadrian’s Wall, the poster boy for Roman civilization in Britain.

 

Treasure Houses of Britain

(Athena)

This two-disc set compiles five episodes show off the most opulent houses in Britain, led by guide Selina Scott in glorious widescreen (too bad this wasn’t released on Blu). There are visits to Burghley House Chatsworth, Blenheim Palace, Holkham Hall and Boughton House—the last rightly called the English Versailles, not only for its breathtaking baroque buildings and acres of sculpted lawns but also for the treasure trove of incredible paintings, furnishings and sculptures that clutter up its rooms and grounds. The lone extra is a 22-minute behind-the-scenes featurette.

Windfall

(First Run)

The complaint most often heard about wind power—“I don’t want those ugly windmills near where I live/vacation/work”—has always sounded selfish. So when Laura Israel’s wittily-titled documentary methodically destroys the pro-wind argument in 83 minutes, attention must be paid. When a resident of the New York State hamlet of Meredith, three hours north of Manhattan, builds a wind farm on his property, reality hits everyone, pro and con: mills are monstrosities, loud, blot out the sun, expensive, and backed by a conglomerate that makes massive profits whether they work  or not. This is a remarkable educational primer for residents of Meredith and Tug Hill, a nearby town farther along in wind farming, and sympathetic viewers. Extras include additional interviews.