Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Fabulous film, directed by Stephen Daldry, the British theatre director who began to direct films (Billy Elliott f.i.). Mr. Daldry did an outstanding job here. The boy, main character, is brilliant! 5 stars!!!!! Stephen Daldry did it again: he brilliantly directed a child, and the performance-on-screen says it all. What a gift to have. I will certainly keep an eye on this director; what will his next film be?
Easter Mysteries
Billy writes:
By chance I stumbled upon this film. The stage production was filmed (in from of an audience?).
The filming of this show was badly handled. To bring a stage production to live on film ,the film makers have to get more creative! The echo-e sound of the concert-hall translates very poorly to film. The film viewer doesn’t see or feel the big concert hall; the substantial echo on all the music creates a strange distance between performers and audience.
I’m intrigued with the user reviews that are all so positive. I only saw the film-trailer and didn’t think much of it. But those reviews have made me curious. Perhaps this show is better than I thought. For now I can’t escape the feeling that this production is rather ‘stiff’, the show is very much a concert along the lines of opera. The sining dominates; the acting suffers…
I’m also intrigued because I have loved watching several Mystery Plays (over the years); what I saw included plenty of music and songs, but the drama was always first and very alive! Mystery Plays go back many years, and back into European villages where the locals would perform the Biblical story, including bits from the Old Testament. It was very much a POPULAR ART, often performed outside, and usually drawing large crowds. This tradition continues to this day, in England, France, Germany, the Netherlands etc.
However, while calling this show ‘The Easter Mysteries’ it has little in common with the European Mysteries.
I think there is potential for developing scripts for 3 Mystery Plays (the Nativity, the Passion, Doomsday) including (short) songs, but the genre has to be POPULAR (not operatic).