Maestro - The Movie

[pastoralguy]

Having seen the trailer for the new bio-pic of Leonard Bernstein on many occasions, I’m amazed to see that I can only find one cinema showing it here in Edinburgh and it’s only for one night! Surely this movie must have a bigger circulation than that?

Or could it be that a movie about a very prominent Jewish man is not seen as politically correct in the current climate? (I certainly hope not!)

[Old Grumpy]

Seems to be a "limited theatre release" before it runs on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articl...te-teaser-news

[alywin]

That's what I heard on R3 today.

[smittims]

There was an interview with Bernstein's daughter on Woman's Hour yesterday, on the subject of the film. I gather there's been some comment about 'what's been left out'. Lenny was,after all a complex character who, as Alan Bennett says 'touched life on many levels'.

I suspect the one reason that the film may not be screened on so many cinemas is not anti-semitism but philistinism. Many years ago there was a host of cinema films featuring classical music. One of them is on this morning (While I live) . Mention classical music to many people today and they back away from you as if you'd tried to sell them dirty postcards.

[Pulcinella]

Supposedly shareable five-star review in The Times:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d5bbe9fa-4d36-4c94-9a9d-09b9cf80684e?shareToken=e3461cd086acae4e1f78b47919655cef

[oddoneout]

There was an interview with Bernstein's daughter on Woman's Hour yesterday, on the subject of the film. I gather there's been some comment about 'what's been left out'. Lenny was,after all a complex character who, as Alan Bennett says 'touched life on many levels'.

I suspect the one reason that the film may not be screened on so many cinemas is not anti-semitism but philistinism. Many years ago there was a host of cinema films featuring classical music. One of them is on this morning (While I live) . Mention classical music to many people today and they back away from you as if you'd tried to sell them dirty postcards.

The Guardian has had several items about the film, but this one touches on the less appealing sides to Bernstein, as experienced by some who worked with him, as well as the positives.
The details from the orchestra side about the Ely reconstruction are worth reading as well for an insight into the attention to detail and level of success achieved by Cooper's performance

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/13/maestro-leonard-bernstein-bradley-cooper-pope

This article about the prosthetic/make-up aspect makes a point that has been overshadowed by the focus on "the nose" - that the ageing make-up was very skillful, and the whole approach has moved on considerably over the years.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/22/makeup-maestro-actors-age-kazu-hiro-bradley-cooper-leonard-bernstein

[smittims]

After all that, it's relief to see the old Humphrey Burton DVDs of 'The Symphonic Twilight', still, I think, Bernstein at his best (and in some ways the LSO too).

[Ein Heldenleben]

Great Guardian article OOO - thanks for posting. The “darker” side of Lenny will be familiar to anyone who has read the unauthorised Meryle Secrest reverse hagiography. Allowing for exaggerating his treatment of Felicia was pretty contemptible. The Humphrey Burton book glosses over a lot of that. Both are well worth reading,

Interesting that the LSO players rated Lenny so highly - quite a few others didn’t. He was , as in so many things erratic - magnificent in Mahler but some of his Brahms performances are terrible. But to sum things up he was one of the very few late 20th Century musicians - composer, conductor , educationalist and general promoters of the Art who could fairly be described as a genius. Indeed one of the very few worth the effort of reading two long biographies . Oh to have some one of his calibre around now.

The film isn’t being shown anywhere near me so I’ll just wait for the Netflix . Perversely I never much cared for the Ely Mahler film. Too much of him and the Cathedral setting is a distraction.

[smittims]

Yes, I take the point in your middle paragraph. In a sense he was born in the wrong century, a Lisztian , larger-than-life figure who could never fit into a world of rules and social changes designed to bring about equality and fairness: a bit like the 'cuckoo-clock' speech in The Third Man. I think that if Constant Lambert had lived and worked into the '60s and '70s he might have been an equivalent figure.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Discussion on last night's Front Row with presenter Tom Sutcliffe (I do like his presenting - always seems measured and informed) NIcolas Kenyon and Zoe Williams about the film. So far, I've heard the controversy but I think I will go along and decide for myself. At the start of the programme.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001smr8

[gradus]

The Ely concert should look and sound spectacular on the big screen.

[Pulcinella]

The Ely concert should look and sound spectacular on the big screen.

That's certainly one reason we intend going to our local screening.
Another being that our annual membership has a quota of 'free' tickets associated with it, and we need to starting using it/them.

[Old Grumpy]

UK screening details available here:


https://www.flicks.co.uk/movie/maestro-2023/

[Pulcinella]

Booked to see this in York next Monday afternoon.

[Pulcinella]

Much enjoyed (despite no heating in the cinema, and toilets being out of action because of the water level in the river!).
Certainly made me want to read Humphrey Burton's book about him again, as (understandably) many periods in his life were skipped, with the focus on Felicia.
The nose is a bit off-putting though.