Many consider Dmitri Shostakovich the greatest composer of the 20th century. Born September 25, 1906, he might not have lived past his teens if he hadn't been talented. During the famines of the Revolutionary period in Russia, Alexander Glazunov, director of the Petrograd (later Leningrad) Conservatory, arranged for the poor and malnourished Shostakovich's food ration to be increased. Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1, his graduation exercise for Maximilian Steinberg's composition course at the Conservatory, was completed in 1925 at age 19 and was an immediate success worldwide. He was The Party's poster boy; his Second and Third Symphonies unabashedly subtitled, respectively, "To October". (celebrating the Revolution) and "The First of May". (International Workers' Day).
His highly emotional harmonic language is simultaneously tough yet communicative, but his expansion of Mahlerian symphonic structure, dissonances, sardonic irony, and dark moods eventually clashed with the conservative edicts of Communist Party officials. In 1936 he was viciously denounced by Pravda...
His highly emotional harmonic language is simultaneously tough yet communicative, but his expansion of Mahlerian symphonic structure, dissonances, sardonic irony, and dark moods eventually clashed with the conservative edicts of Communist Party officials. In 1936 he was viciously denounced by Pravda...
- 9/26/2016
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spoof: Gerber & Pozdorovkin Indulge Bout
You probably know him by his wildly exaggerated media coined title, the ‘Merchant of Death’, or you might even remember Nicolas Cage’s war mongering Hollywood fictionalization of the man in Lord of War, but the real life Viktor Bout, though undeniably complicit in the black market arms trade, may have been more a business savvy buffoon than the master of ballistics he’s thought to be. Collaborating for the first time, directors Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin paint a very different picture of the man than we are used to seeing. Harvesting a wealth of hilarious and humanizing home movies shot by Bout himself and his wife, Alla, the filmmakers reveal a man not obsessed with weaponry nor money, but one whose joy springs from time spent with his adoring network of family and friends, as well as from the simple pleasures of tourism,...
You probably know him by his wildly exaggerated media coined title, the ‘Merchant of Death’, or you might even remember Nicolas Cage’s war mongering Hollywood fictionalization of the man in Lord of War, but the real life Viktor Bout, though undeniably complicit in the black market arms trade, may have been more a business savvy buffoon than the master of ballistics he’s thought to be. Collaborating for the first time, directors Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin paint a very different picture of the man than we are used to seeing. Harvesting a wealth of hilarious and humanizing home movies shot by Bout himself and his wife, Alla, the filmmakers reveal a man not obsessed with weaponry nor money, but one whose joy springs from time spent with his adoring network of family and friends, as well as from the simple pleasures of tourism,...
- 11/3/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
I enjoyed Andrew Niccol‘s Lord of War when it came out in 2005. It was a fast-paced, enjoyable ride down the rabbit hole of the illegal arms trade, but I had no idea Nicolas Cage‘s character Yuri Orlov was based on a real life “Merchant of Death”. His name is Viktor Bout and he wasn’t even arrested until three years after Hollywood sensationalized the myth of his businessman seen as an international criminal throughout the media. As directors Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin sought to tell a tale within this sector of gun smuggling, he of course would prove the logical subject to focus on. The fact he was an amateur filmmaker who documented his travels via home video only made the prospect more intriguing.
Their documentary The Notorious Mr. Bout begins with the 2008 sting operation that brought the titular Russian down. There he sits in grainy black...
Their documentary The Notorious Mr. Bout begins with the 2008 sting operation that brought the titular Russian down. There he sits in grainy black...
- 11/3/2015
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s 1990 drama Stalin’s Funeral, starring Vanessa Redgrave as an English journalist, will be shown at Vyborg’s “Window on Europe” Film Festival of Russian Cinema (Aug 7-13)
The 83-year-old Russian poet will come to Vyborg – 38km from the border with Finland – and meet with the festival audience to talk about his life’s work as well as to present Stalin’s Funeral (Pokhorony Stalina), which openly attacked the evils of Stalinism and celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
Co-Production Competition
Bakur Bakuradze’s Russian-Serbian co-production Brother Dejan, which has its world premiere in Locarno’s International Competition this afternoon (Aug 6), is one of ten titles selected for Vyborg’s Co-Production Competition to be judged by actor-producer Alexey Guskov, Two Women producer Natalia Ivanova and the Armenian-born writer Narine Abgarian.
Other titles include Johnny O’Reilly’s Russian-Irish co-production Moscow Never Sleeps, Oleg Taktarov, Alexander Mosin and Valery Ibragimov’s St Petersburg/Las Vegas-set adventure...
The 83-year-old Russian poet will come to Vyborg – 38km from the border with Finland – and meet with the festival audience to talk about his life’s work as well as to present Stalin’s Funeral (Pokhorony Stalina), which openly attacked the evils of Stalinism and celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
Co-Production Competition
Bakur Bakuradze’s Russian-Serbian co-production Brother Dejan, which has its world premiere in Locarno’s International Competition this afternoon (Aug 6), is one of ten titles selected for Vyborg’s Co-Production Competition to be judged by actor-producer Alexey Guskov, Two Women producer Natalia Ivanova and the Armenian-born writer Narine Abgarian.
Other titles include Johnny O’Reilly’s Russian-Irish co-production Moscow Never Sleeps, Oleg Taktarov, Alexander Mosin and Valery Ibragimov’s St Petersburg/Las Vegas-set adventure...
- 8/6/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Controversial composer Alfred Schnittke was born November 24, 1934 in the Soviet Union's Volga Republic, an ethnic German enclave. In his mid-thirties he pioneered a broadly eclectic style of composing that drew on many classical styles (even sometimes quoting familiar Beethoven or Bach works, among others) as well as the occasional foray into jazz and pop. By 1972 his experimentalism had earned the disapproval of the Soviet Composers Union (the Soviets also weren't enamored of his occasional expressions of religion, for that matter), but a number of esteemed musicians who had left Russia to live in the West supported his work and brought him an international reputation. His work was basically pessimistic in outlook, but its emotional impact, and the accessibility of some of the styles he drew on, nonetheless seduced many listeners.
The contradictions in Schnittke's style are laid out in his liner notes to the Bis recording of his Symphony No.
The contradictions in Schnittke's style are laid out in his liner notes to the Bis recording of his Symphony No.
- 11/24/2014
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
There are few auteurs as instantly recognizable and divisive as Stanley Kubrick, few filmmakers as idiosyncratic or groundbreaking. His work spans the entirety of life itself–sometimes in the same film–and has inspired almost as much derision as hosannas. There is no easy consensus on Kubrick’s films–though you may not be terribly surprised by our writers’ choice for his best, it’s hard to imagine that your ranking of his work will line up wholly with ours–nor on the messages imparted within. Is The Shining secretly about the moon landing? Is 2001? What is he really saying about violence in society in A Clockwork Orange? And so on. Closing out (some weeks late, granted) our monthly theme on his works, here is Sound on Sight’s ranking of the films of Stanley Kubrick. Enjoy. Share. Debate. We know you’ll want to debate.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey...
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey...
- 4/23/2014
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
By setting much of Tolstoy's masterpiece inside a theatre, Joe Wright both dazzles and distances the viewer
Tom Stoppard, a fluent and sensitive adaptor, has made a distinguished job of carving a workable screenplay from Tolstoy's 950-page novel, and Joe Wright has found a distinctive way of bringing it to the screen with Keira Knightley as Anna, Jude Law as her middle-aged, cuckolded husband, Karenin, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as her dashing lover, Count Vronsky. The last serious attempt to film Anna Karenina was by Bernard Rose in 1997, a lumbering work shot largely on Russian locations in the style of Dr Zhivago, with Sophie Marceau hopelessly inadequate as Anna, James Fox inexpressive as Karenin and Sean Bean virile in a rather unaristocratic way as Vronsky.
Having felt with some justification that he hadn't done justice to this towering masterpiece, Rose subsequently set about making innovative, low-budget versions of lesser Tolstoy fictions.
Tom Stoppard, a fluent and sensitive adaptor, has made a distinguished job of carving a workable screenplay from Tolstoy's 950-page novel, and Joe Wright has found a distinctive way of bringing it to the screen with Keira Knightley as Anna, Jude Law as her middle-aged, cuckolded husband, Karenin, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as her dashing lover, Count Vronsky. The last serious attempt to film Anna Karenina was by Bernard Rose in 1997, a lumbering work shot largely on Russian locations in the style of Dr Zhivago, with Sophie Marceau hopelessly inadequate as Anna, James Fox inexpressive as Karenin and Sean Bean virile in a rather unaristocratic way as Vronsky.
Having felt with some justification that he hadn't done justice to this towering masterpiece, Rose subsequently set about making innovative, low-budget versions of lesser Tolstoy fictions.
- 9/8/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – The James Bond legend lives on, with Daniel Craig currently holding the reins of that character. Giving aid and comfort to the man with the golden gun are the so-called “Bond Girls.” Britt Ekland, Maud Adams and Lana Wood were part of that exclusive girl club.
The three Bond co-stars were appearing at the Hollywood Celebrities & Memorabilia Show in September of 2010. The show is a biannual event that brings celebrities to Chicago to meet, sign autographs and interact with their admirers. Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com was there to photograph the iconic beauty of the Bond Girls.
Britt Ekland, Mary Goodnight in “The Man With the Golden Gun” (1974)
Britt Ekland became famous overnight in 1964, when she was romanced and then married Peter Sellers. The marriage lasted four years and produced a daughter, Victoria. Ekland’s film career included “Get Carter” and “The Wicker Man” before taking her turn on the Bond stage.
The three Bond co-stars were appearing at the Hollywood Celebrities & Memorabilia Show in September of 2010. The show is a biannual event that brings celebrities to Chicago to meet, sign autographs and interact with their admirers. Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com was there to photograph the iconic beauty of the Bond Girls.
Britt Ekland, Mary Goodnight in “The Man With the Golden Gun” (1974)
Britt Ekland became famous overnight in 1964, when she was romanced and then married Peter Sellers. The marriage lasted four years and produced a daughter, Victoria. Ekland’s film career included “Get Carter” and “The Wicker Man” before taking her turn on the Bond stage.
- 1/4/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
By Daily Telegraph
Director Krishna Shah has a £40 million ($66 million) budget and an international cast for his planned two-part biopic of Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India who was assassinated in 1984.
Helen Mirren is in talks to again play Queen Elizabeth II for the two films, which are due to start filming in April next year in India, the U.K., Russia and the U.S.
Tom Hanks and Tommy Lee Jones are being lined up to play Lyndon B Johnson and Richard Nixon, respectively, with Emily Watson to play Margaret Thatcher and Albert Finney expected to play Peter Ustinov, who was i...
Director Krishna Shah has a £40 million ($66 million) budget and an international cast for his planned two-part biopic of Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India who was assassinated in 1984.
Helen Mirren is in talks to again play Queen Elizabeth II for the two films, which are due to start filming in April next year in India, the U.K., Russia and the U.S.
Tom Hanks and Tommy Lee Jones are being lined up to play Lyndon B Johnson and Richard Nixon, respectively, with Emily Watson to play Margaret Thatcher and Albert Finney expected to play Peter Ustinov, who was i...
- 12/1/2009
- by Lisa Horowitz
- The Wrap
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