February '25 Digital Week III

In-Theater Release of the Week 

Parthenope 

(A24)

Italian director Paolo Sorrentino returns with an exploration of youthful beauty in the form of a beautiful young woman named after a Greek siren, who turns heads—among other things—in her hometown of Naples (aka Parthenope). Celeste Dalla Porta is exquisitely gorgeous; whether she can act is immaterial, since Parthenope is a symbol for whatever the men who ogle her—even her beloved brother and an old, obese priest—want her to be. If the shots of males leering were cut, the movie would probably be an hour shorter. Visually, Sorrentino and cinematographer Daria D’Antonio overload on sumptuousness, but dramatically and thematically it’s trifling. Sorrentino even brings in Gary Oldman to ham it up mercilessly as drunk novelist John Cheever, whose writings Parthenope happens to adore. Meshing religion and sex is Sorrentino’s prime subject, but even Dalla Porta’s great beauty palls after awhile, and the final shots of just-retired anthropology professor Parthenope (Stefania Sandrelli) watching a celebratory float go by make as little sense as the rest of this long perfume ad—even a 30-second commercial would have more depth.

Streaming Release of the Week

Nosferatu 

(Focus Features)

Writer-director Robert Eggers’ latest genre exercise is in many ways his most enervating yet—his unnecessary remake of the old and moldy Dracula/Nosferatu films is overloaded with hysterically overwrought performances; moody but hammy camerawork; more metaphorical packs of rats and shadows than one would expect even from a nervous student film; and a self-indulgent, slow pace that drags this flimsy tale to a torturous running time of 135 minutes. Even Willem Dafoe, often an amusing overacter, seems flustered by his ridiculous character and dialogue; poor Lily-Rose Depp looks elegant but remains relentlessly dour, while Nicholas Hoult is unable to fashion a real character out of disparate fragments. As for the vampire himself, Bill Skarsgård gives a performance that grows more risible as the film continues.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week 

Last Summer 

(Janus Contemporaries)

French provocateur Catherine Breillat hadn’t made a film in about a decade following her stroke, but her long-awaited return doesn’t disappoint, as she adapts the Dutch film Queen of Hearts to dissect the relationship—initially antagonistic, then sexual, and finally emotional—of a 40ish wife and mother, Anna, and her teenage stepson, Théo. The always rigorous Breillat explores the psychological state of Anna—who is also, ironically, a respected lawyer—and, despite a few narrative misplays (a couple important sequences are elided), allows her to tell her truth, even when it’s based on a torrent of lies. As Théo, Samuel Kircher is simultaneously (and plausibly) a child and a young man, while Léa Drucker gives a towering performance of feminine sexual confidence as Anna, a woman who makes wrong decisions and doubles down on them. The film looks fine on Blu; lone extra is a Breillat interview.

Respighi—Maria Egiziaca 

(Dynamic)

Italian composer Ottorino Respighi’s 1931 theatrical triptych follows the prostitute Maria of Alexandria, whose sacrifice later earned her Catholic sainthood, in a dramatically tense account accompanied by some of Respighi’s loveliest music. Pier Luigi Pizzi’s 2024 Venice production centers on the fiery aliveness of soprano Francesca Dotto’s portrayal of Maria, who could have been merely symbolic but instead is a flawed, fully achieved protagonist. Respighi’s score sounds luminous performed by the Venice State Opera orchestra and chorus under the baton of Manlio Benzi. Hi-def video and audio are first-rate.

Strauss—Arabella 

(Naxos)

German master Richard Strauss’ 1933 operatic romance—his final work with longtime librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal—follows the title heroine, a noblewoman with no shortage of suitors, and her younger sister Zdenka (brought up as a boy to save the family money); the combination of Hofmannsthal’s wit and Strauss’ melodies makes this one of the great autumnal operas. Tobias Krazer’s 2023 Berlin State Opera staging mixes a lush Viennese setting with postmodern touches like film clips and casual contemporary wear for the leads. If the production is less than visually sparkling, musically it’s aces—as Arabella, Sara Jakubiak adds to her glowing portraits of complex heroines, while Elena Tsallagova (as Zdenka) provides superb support. Donald Runnicles conducts an effective reading of Strauss’ sumptuous score. The hi-def video and audio are topnotch.

4K/UHD Release of the Week

Constantine 

(Warner Bros)

In Francis Lawrence’s 2005 supernatural mess, Keanu Reeves sleepwalks through the title role, an exorcist of sorts who visits heaven and hell and who tries to save L.A. detective Angela, whose twin sister Isabel killed herself under suspicious circumstances. Lawrence conjures the look of dankness and gray foreboding that David Fincher did in 1995’s Seven, which was more plausibly and terrifying. Opposite the somnolent Reeves is Rachel Weisz, desperate to make Amanda more than a caricature but defeated by the material and Lawrence’s approach. The UHD images are flawless; extras include new interviews with Lawrence and Reeves as well as archival featurettes and commentaries.

CD Release of the Week 

Supertramp—Live in Paris ’79 

(Mercury/Universal)

On the heels of its biggest-selling album, Breakfast in America, prog-rock group Supertramp released a two-LP live set, Paris, documenting the extensive world tour. That 1980 album has just been reissued on two CDs that include the entire two-hour set with the band firing on all cylinders, from prog epics like “Crime of the Century,” “From Now On” and “Fool’s Overture” to classic cuts like “School,” “Ain’t Nobody But Me” and “Even in the Quietest Moments” and a wide selection of tracks from the then-current smash album: “The Logical Song,” “Goodbye Stranger,” “Take the Long Way Home” and even “Child of Vision.” What’s heard in this impeccably remixed concert is how tight the quintet was, from drummer Bob Siebenberg and bassist Dougie Thomson’s rhythm section to John Helliwell’s saxophone and the coleaders, keyboardist/singer Roger Davies and keyboardist/guitarist/singer Roger Hodgson.  

Off-Broadway Play Review—Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” in Brooklyn

Henry IV

Written by William Shakespeare; adapted by Dakin Matthews

Directed by Eric Tucker

Performances through March 2, 2025

Theatre for a New Audience, 262 Ashland Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

tfana.org

       James Udom, Cara Ricketts, Jay O. Sanders, Slate Holmgren and Elan Zafir in Henry IV (photo: Gerry Goodstein)

When I saw Dakin Matthews’ canny distillation of the two parts of Henry IV at Lincoln Center Theater in 2003, I found it the best Shakespeare I’ve ever seen in New York (and still do)—Jack O’Brien adroitly directed a star-studded cast headed by Kevin Kline as Falstaff, and Matthews’ adaptation subtly distilled the essence of both works into one absorbing four-hour play.

Matthews’ Henry IV returns in a far different staging at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn. Unlike O’Brien’s lush, almost cinematic production, Eric Tucker directs a smaller-scaled version in the round. There are drawbacks to this approach, since the action takes place among dozens of characters in several far-flung locales, including the king’s court, London taverns and a battlefield. The cramped stage area is acknowledged by actors sitting in seats among the audience when not performing, which fosters more intimacy among spectators and performers. And performing in the round by definition has actors facing away from a part of the audience at all times, which has a tendency to swallow important dialogue.

Nicole E. Lang’s lighting illuminates the proceedings on Jimmy Stubbs’ minimalist set both dramatically and psychologically, while Catherine Zuber and AC Gottlieb’s costumes pleasingly mix period and modern. Tucker nicely paces the drama among the king’s council discussions, the rebels’ machinations and the lively tavern interludes among London’s lowlifes. He has also double-cast several roles, so some performers change costumes and become other characters right onstage. It’s a diverting effect, but it also points up the difficulty of doing the Bard on a budget, since such busyness at times detracts from the play itself.

Of those taking on multiple roles, best are the charismatic Jordan Bellow, who adroitly shuttles between Prince Hal’s brother John and Hal’s partner in frivolity Ned Poins; and the winning Cara Ricketts, who makes both a touching Lady Percy and a rollicking Doll Tearsheet. Matthews himself—who played a supporting role in the 2003 Lincoln Center production—gives the title monarch a sturdy royal presence. 

Shakespeare is most interested in the relationship between Hal and his friend, the braggart, womanizer, and self-styled wit named Sir John Falstaff. When Hal prods Falstaff to even greater heights of self-delusion, it makes Falstaff simultaneously funnier and more sorrowful. Elijah Jones finds a nice balance between Hal’s foolishness and budding maturity, and Jay O. Sanders follows in Kevin Kline’s large footsteps to create a Falstaff who is both outsized and normal, buffoonish yet always sympathetic. 

Near the end, Hal—now Henry V after his father’s death—coldly banishes his erstwhile friend and sparring partner from the kingdom; Sanders plays this moment with shock and resignation but also a sliver of pride that the young man Falstaff believes he himself has led to this moment has, indeed, met the moment. This is not an essential Shakespeare staging but it is entertaining, which nowadays is nothing to sneeze at.

February '25 Digital Week II

In Theater/Streaming Releases of the Week 

Becoming Led Zeppelin 

(Sony Classics)

How a quartet of British musicians—guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones, drummer John Bonham and singer Robert Plant—got together to form one of the planet’s legendary rock bands is at the heart of Bernard MacMahon’s straightforward portrait. Introducing each member, born in 1940s war-torn England, and taking their story until the start of 1970—following the huge success of the group’s first two albums and tours—MacMahon lets the four speak for themselves: Page, Jones and Plant give new interviews, and Bonham (whose death in 1980 effectively disbanded the group) is heard in an unearthed 1970s interview. The result is two hours of musical bliss for Zepheads: not only are there fresh nuggets like the many mid-’60s hits Page and Jones both played on as session musicians or the besotted female fan calling Plant a “fox” in a call-in interview on an American radio station (“what’s that?” Plant ignorantly asks), there are also incendiary live performances of “Dazed and Confused,” “Communication Breakdown,” and other Zep classics, all looking and sounding brilliant in restored video and audio. A must-see in IMAX, with its killer sound, but even a smaller screen and less than optimal sound system aren’t a dealbreaker.

The Annihilation of Fish 

(Kino Lorber)

Charles Burnett’s 1999 romance starring James Earl Jones and Lynn Redgrave was never released after a bad review scared off the original distributor—although not THAT bad, it’s more than a bit of a mess. Burnett, who made Killer of Sheep and To Sleep with Anger, shows a less than sturdy directorial hand in this slapstick, rom-com, tragedy and heartache. Anthony C. Winkler’s scattershot script deserves its share of blame as well. Jones’ and Redgrave’s performances swing from wildly overdone to nicely subtle, sometimes in the same sequence, while Margot Kidder (whom I didn’t recognize at first) provides needed levity as the couple’s landlord.

Something Is About to Happen 

(Film Movement)

Director-cowriter Antonio Méndez Esparza’s account of middle-aged Lucia’s horrifying spiral when she’s laid off and becomes a cabbie has been compared to Taxi Driver itself—but the outbursts of violence that climax Lucia’s story are miles from Travis Bickle’s cleaning the “scum” off NYC streets; rather, Lucia has been wronged, in her mind, by friends and lovers and exacts her own sort of vengeance. Malena Alterio plays Lucia forcefully but also with an understated ability to keep her sympathetic even if the bloody final act has been all but foreshadowed by Esparza and Clara Roquet’s script; baring herself emotionally and physically, Alterio makes Lucia and her plight worth watching however unnerving.

Three Birthdays 

(Good Deed Entertainment)

Jane Weinstock directed Nevin Schreiner’s script that’s a choppy look at a liberal Ohio family—father Rob, mother Kate (both professors) and their free-spirited 17-year-old daughter Bobbi—on their birthdays in the pivotal year of 1970. The movie brims with so many signposts of the “hippie” era—open marriages, female sexual awakening, racism, sexism—that when the Kent State shootings are brought in (Kate’s birthday is May 4, the day of the shootings), it tips the scales into lazy contrivance. It’s too bad, for some family confrontations are realistically fraught, while the acting of Josh Raynor (Rob), newcomer Nuala Cleary (Bobbi), and the always great Annie Parisse (Kate) is first-rate. I chuckled during the end credits at an aria from Camille Saint-Saëns’ opera Samson and Delilah mistakenly listed as being composed by Claude Debussy.

Trinity 

(First Run Features)

The sorrowful legacy of the atomic bomb, brought back into the spotlight after the success of Christopher Nolan’s supremely flawed Oscar winner Oppenheimer, is vividly if haphazardly recounted in Martina Car and Anthony Audi’s short but wandering documentary, which lets residents of New Mexico—site of the “Trinity” testing site—discuss the lingering physical, emotional and even political effects of the decades of stonewalling, sweeping under the rug and ignoring their plight by the government. Along with the often heartrending interviews, the directors also provide a broader political and human context, although even at a succinct 75 minutes, Trinity could use a bit more meat on its bones. 

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

In the Summers

(Music Box)

Writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza’s auspicious feature debut is this intensely personal memory film about two sisters, Violeta and Eva, who visit their dad Vicente during several summers over a number of years. Although the drama is sometimes too on the nose as the girls discover how complex their relationship is with a father they only see a couple of weeks a year, only once does Lacorazza stoop to melodrama—a drunken car accident that injures Violeta—but even that sets the stage for a final, touching reunion. It’s enacted by a group of fine young actors playing the sisters at various ages and who rotate around the impressive Puerto Rican rapper René “Residente” Pérez Joglar as Vicente: best are Sasha Calle and Lio Mehiel as, respectively, the adult Eva and Violeta. The film looks splendid on Blu; extras include Lacorazza’s commentary, interviews with the director and cast, deleted scenes, bloopers and Lacorazza’s short film, Mami.

Handel—Theodora 

(Naxos)

George Frideric Handel’s 1750 oratorio about fourth-century Christian martyrs Theodora and her husband Didymus contains some of the composer’s most glorious music—and has also been staged as an opera over the centuries, as this misguided Vienna production by director Stefan Herheim shows. Set in Vienna’s modern-day Café Central, which is inappropriate enough, the staging hits its nadir after the chorus sings movingly about Christ raising a man from the dead, and…a waitress brings out tea trays filled with desserts. The music, at least, lives up to Handel’s high standards: the Arnold Schoenberg Choir (under chorus master Erwin Ortner) and La Folia Barockorchester (under conductor Bejun Mehta) perform superbly, and Jacquelyn Wagner (Theodora) and Christopher Lowrey (Didymus) sing beautifully. There’s fine hi-def video and audio.

CD Releases of the Week

Getty—Goodbye, Mister Chips 

(Pentatone)

Now 91, Gordon Getty—yes, he’s one of the Gettys—has been composing operas for 40 years, and his latest, a 2017 stage work that premiered as a film in 2021, is an attractive adaptation of the James Hilton novella about beloved teacher Mr. Chipping at an English boys’ school. Getty also penned the libretto, and his music is accomplished and, by its end, quite moving (Chipping’s wife Kathie has a couple of emotionally climactic appearances). This excellent recording, by the Barbara Coast Orchestra and San Francisco Boys Chorus under conductor Dennis Doubin, highlights wonderful vocal performances by soprano Melody Moore as Kathie; bass-baritone Kevin Short in several smaller roles; and tenor Nathan Granner as Mr. Chips himself, a man whose personal tragedies color his natural optimism for his students.

MacDowell—Piano Concerto No. 1, Other Orchestral Works 

(Chandos)

It might be difficult to believe that Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) was considered a leading American composer of his generation; but then, who else was there at the time? Whatever the case, MacDowell’s music, at least on the basis of this elegantly played survey of his orchestral works by the BBC Philharmonic led by conductor John Wilson, is perfectly structured and lushly orchestrated. Although his shimmery Piano Concerto No. 1 is the main draw—especially as played by the exquisite soloist Xiayin Wang—the two symphonic poems, Lancelot und Elaine and Lamia, are also beautifully wrought.

Broadway Play Review—“English” by Sanaz Toossi

English

Written by Sanaz Toossi

Directed by Knud Adams 

Performances through March 2, 2025

Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street, New York, NY

roundabout.org

The cast of Sanaz Toossi's English (photo: Joan Marcus)

Set in the Iranian city of Karaj in 2008, Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer-winning English follows four students with varying degrees of proficiency in the eponymous language and how they interact with their teacher as well as one another. Structured as several episodes that play off the characters’ shifting dynamics, English has moments of ringing insight but is hampered by the very constraints it’s made for itself inside the four walls of an English as a Foreign Language classroom. 

The students range from idealistic 18-year-old Goli; 28-year-old Elham, frustrated at already failing the test; 29-year-old Omid, surprisingly fluent already; and 54-year-old Roya, desperate to learn English so she can converse with her American grandchildren. Marjan, their 40ish teacher, spent nine years living in the U.K. after learning American English at home. 

Toossi throws this quintet together for a clever 90-minute sitcom with humor stemming from basic misunderstandings as well as malapropisms of tentative speakers. The play shrewdly works in two languages and cultures side by side, as the actors speak both Farsi and English, but with a twist: when they converse in their native language, they speak perfect, unaccented English; when they speak English, it’s with various accents. The terrific cast of five expertly masters the linguistic back and forth so that, even early on, it’s easy to follow what language they’re supposed to be speaking. 

But even more impressive is how the entire cast—Tala Ashe (Elham), Ava Lalezarzadeh (Goli), Pooya Mohseni (Roya), Marjan Neshat (Marjan) and Hadi Tabbal (Omid)—meshes with remarkable skill and humanity. Knud Adams directs resourcefully for the most part, although the choppiness stemming from English’s episodic nature—putting a drag on its dramatic momentum—isn’t completely solved. 

Finally, there’s the issue of some of the blocking: there are several chairs strewn about Marsha Ginsberg’s revolving classroom set that block some audience members’ view (including mine) of the actors at times. Perhaps it worked better on the small Atlantic Theater stage, where English debuted in 2022.

February '25 Digital Week I

In-Theater Releases of the Week 

A Complete Unknown 

(Searchlight Pictures)

James Mangold’s by-the-numbers biopic of Bob Dylan, which follows him from his arrival in New York in 1961 to his legendary appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where he scandalized some with his electric set, shrewdly puts the actors front and center, which allows the audience to ignore that Mangold and Jay Cocks’ script hits familiar dramatic beats and biopic tropes. Monica Barbaro is a real find as Joan Baez, Edward Norton makes a splendid Pete Seeger, and Timothee Chalamet illuminates Dylan as a cocksure young genius who balances respect for his forebears with a yearning to break free of folk’s strictures; and his singing voice approaches Dylan’s own without the usual tongue-in-cheek mockery.

I’m Still Here 

(Sony Classics)

Based on a memoir by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, Walter Salles’ emotionally shattering drama follows Paiva’s mother, Eunice, wife of liberal politician Rubens who is taken by the military in 1971 and disappeared (and his remains never found): she must navigate an impossible situation of learning what happened to her husband and keep her family—they have five children—together during a fraught time in Brazil. Salles takes material that could have easily become sentimentalized and keeps it direct and honest; he is immeasurably aided by Fernanda Torres’ subtle portrait of Eunice, an understated performance for the ages. 

The Fishing Place 

(Cinema Parallel)

Rob Tregenza was one of the cinematographers on Bela Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies, among other visually striking films—his latest directorial effort, which follows Anna, a middle-aged Norwegian housekeeper who must spy on a priest’s activities in exchange for her release from prison by the occupying Nazis, is a snail’s-paced drama that’s less than the sum of its parts. Although Tregenza’s camera is always moving, it rarely takes the interior measure of these characters, leaving Ellen Dorrit Petersen’s portrayal of Anna adrift; then there’s the final third of the film, taken over by a literal making-of section that seems more desperate than organic.

Paint Me a Road Out of Here 

(Aubin Pictures)

Pioneering Black artist Faith Ringgold (who died last year at age 93) is the main focus of Catherine Gund’s ardent portrait of the history and legacy of one of her most valuable and important paintings, For the Women’s House, a huge canvas she painted for the women’s house of detention on Rikers Island. In addition to following the ups and downs of the painting’s journey—it was almost destroyed by an uncaring bureaucracy until finally being rescued—Gund has also made a fascinating meditation on art, activism and prison reform that also introduces Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, whose own life after incarceration provides the necessary connection to Ringgold’s mighty work of art.

A Woman Is a Woman 

(Rialto)

One of Jean-Luc Godard’s least memorable films, this paper-thin 1961 entry stars Anna Karina as free-spirited heroine Angela, who wants a child with reluctant boyfriend Émile (Jean-Claude Brialy), so enter the tongue-in-cheekly named Alfred Lubitsch (Jean-Paul Belmondo), who may just give her what she wants. For 85 minutes, this trio circles in an enervating roundelay, and Godard’s attempts to lighten the mood—obvious nods to classic Hollywood musicals, Michel Legrand’s soupy score—end in weirdly glossy failure. Our three stars are far less charming than they’ve been in other movies (including Godard’s own), while Raoul Coutard’s glistening color photography is the film’s lone successful facade.

4K Release of the Week

Wicked 

(Universal)

It starts with an ugly, CGI-drenched opening and ends more than two and a half hours later with the showstopper “Defying Gravity”—and that’s only the end of the first act of Steven Schwartz’s blockbuster Broadway musical. That means we have to sit through another two-plus hours next holiday season to finish this thing. Too bad it’s a mighty slog to get through, with mostly negligible songs and a story not as clever as it thinks—only Cynthia Erivo has the requisite vocal chops and acting prowess that makes Elphaba soar into the stratosphere. Ariana Grande also has a powerhouse voice, but her acting is laughably inadequate. Bowen Tang, Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh are wincingly hammy under Jon M. Chu’s direction, which consists of making things bigger, louder and more garish without settling on a consistent tone or style. The 4K images look fine overall; extras include theatrical and sing-along versions of the movie, Chu’s, Erivo’s and Grande’s commentaries, deleted and extended scenes and a making-of featurette.

Blu-ray Release of the Week

Juror #2 

(Warner Bros)

In Clint Eastwood’s latest straightforward drama, Nicholas Hoult plays Justin, a recovering alcoholic picked to serve on a jury in a murder case and who realizes he may have been involved with the events leading up to the victim’s death. As always, Eastwood’s direction is unadorned, but Jonathan Abrams’ heavily plotted script needs more swagger in the telling; despite fine acting by Hoult and Zoey Deutsch (Justin’s pregnant wife Ally), the subtext and twists remain superficial—and Toni Colette’s scenery chewing as the aggressive DA doesn’t help. The film looks quite good on Blu; there are no extras.

CD Releases of the Week 

Sergei Prokofiev—Ivan the Terrible 

(Vox)

Although he composed only a handful of film scores, Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) is one of the most important film composers in history—his collaborations with fellow Russian, director Sergei Eisenstein, are indelible marriages of music and image. Alexander Nevsky (1938) is by far the most famous, but the multipart Ivan the Terrible (1947) is also nothing to sneeze at; his formidable score was arranged as an oratorio in 1961 by Abram Stasevich. This excellent 1981 recording, by the St. Louis Symphony Chorus and Orchestra under the steady baton of Leonard Slatkin, features tremendous contributions by narrator Arnold Voketaitis, mezzo-soprano Claudine Carlson and bass Samuel Timberlake. 

Kurt Weill—The Seven Deadly Sins 

(LSO Live)

The vocal works of German composer Kurt Weill (1900-50) remain relevant thanks to their stinging, often bitter wit and universal themes. Case in point: The Seven Deadly Sins, the final collaboration between Weill and writer Bertolt Brecht, a sardonic “sung ballet” that follows a young woman, Anna, who tries but fails to always behave morally. Simon Rattle conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in a vivid reading of this memorable music, with Magdalena Kožená in top form as Anna. The rest of the disc comprises The Little Threepenny Music—a suite of instrumental pieces from the best-known Weill-Brecht collab, The Threepenny Opera—as well as excerpts from a couple of Weill’s “American” works, two of the lovely Four Whitman Songs and the song “Lonely House” from the opera Street Scene: all handled beautifully by Rattle, the LSO and several vocalists.