La Danse

The Paris Opera Ballet Company gets the royal treatment in this lengthy but constantly fascinating documentary by Frederick Wiseman. La Danse - Le ballet de l'Opéra de Paris or La Danse for short places the viewer like a fly on the wall as we observe rehearsals, conferences with the artistic director, all the way up to finished performances.
Wiseman is an old school documentarian, at least in the sense that he's a contemporary of Albert and David Maysles and made his name in the 60s. Stylistic perhaps to a fault Wiseman lets the image unfold before our eyes without any explanation or voice over narration. But the chain of events are apparent, even when the camera shifts to the roof of the theater where the company's beekeeper is seen collecting honey. The reason we know that one woman is the artistic director is because she says this in the course of conversation. Likewise some of the rehearsals reveal familiar music that suggests what steps are being practiced but some of the best moments are from new music that accompanies bold dance moves.


Some of the dancers must be well known in some circles, that also is evident. These dancers are good enough that even warming up or going over a routine they look agile and worthy of study. The film culminates in a series of dress rehearsals, one dance in particular provokes with bloody imagery. Another more traditional dance leaves no doubt this is one of the best ballet troupes on the planet.
True enough the film just thrusts you into a world of athletic bodies in enclosed spaces without the least bit of explanation. By the end La Danse has won you over with spectacular moments. You feel as though you were in on the creative process, such is the method of Wiseman's mise en scene.

When in Rome

In no way is Kristen Bell a movie star worthy of a lead role even in second rate crap like When In Rome. Bell, while attending a wedding in Rome, awakens an ancient curse - whoever takes coins from a fountain has the heart of the original bearer of said coins.
Imagine my chagrin when to the right and left of me were couples holding hands and actually lapping up the spoonfuls of sugar being dished out by When In Rome.This film is worse than Did You Hear What Happened to the Morgans?, at least Hugh Grant has a schtick. Another recent romcom disaster Leap Year is like a Preston Sturges classic compared to When In Rome. Some of the scenes are supposed to occur at the Guggenheim museum in New York City. Another film last year, The International, also took place at the Guggenheim and built a replica of the inside at a studio in Germany. That factoid is more interesting than anything that happens in When In Rome.
Jon Heder plays one of the guys who is stalking Bell and he mimics a Criss Angel type magician, and his assistant is Efren Ramirez (Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite). The filmmakers keep cutting to Efren, as if to say get it, get it? These two guys were in Napoleon Dynamite, which was actually a very decent movie, and we want you to associate that with this loser of a film. Danny Devito also has a small role and to add insult to injury he mugs it up with the rest of the cast.
Notice how When In Rome, a Disney film, plays like a 20th Century Fox romcom, and meanwhile the Fox's recent The Tooth Fairy plays like a Disney film. Don't set your standards high if you choose to see When In Rome.

Omnibus: Bernstein and Welles

Another series of DVDs that has kept me rapt feature the 1950s show Omnibus, mostly broadcast on Sunday afternoons. I know, most people want to watch the first season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or True Blood but I’m stuck in the first decade of organized television. (TV was invented in the 20s but not successfully launched until after WWII.)
Omnibus was a cultural arts cavalcade that ran 90-minutes and was hosted by Alistair Cooke. The show was usually broadcast live, which makes the extended performances and staging even more incredible. Make no mistake, the quality is hardly high-def, an upgraded version of whatever source material that even exists. But the fulfillment practically defies expectations. We’re talking about points of view on music and drama that occur before JFK, The Beatles, heavy metal or any other similar harbinger of our modern times.
Two releases taken from the Omnibus series are Leonard Bernstein: Omnibus and Orson Welles King Lear. The latter marks the first television appearance of Orson Welles and the telecast was helmed by Peter Brooks. Somehow Lear is honed to under one-and-a-half hours while a couple of hours of extras include other Omnibus-Shakespeare outings, like a scene from Merry Wives of Windsor in the original brogue or dialect of the time. And yes, they were discussing Francis Bacon having penned Shakespeare in the 50s.
The Bernstein eps are like a master’s class in music. A four-disc set examines opera, Beethoven’s Fifth, the histories of jazz, musical theater, conducting and modern music. Bernstein has a natural charisma and the ability to put advanced notions into everyday words. As Carl Sagan was to science, Bernstein is to music and Omnibus marks his original foray into television. Despite the black-and-white format the live direction has occasional flourishes, like when an orchestra is revealed through lighting. Another sign of live broadcast is the way Bernstein often clears his throat.