Formal Film Study

The three films I decided to watch are all films about classical musicians or composers. I watched the film Puccini (1952), Callas Forever (2002) and Lisztomania (1975). 

The first film I watched was Puccini, it was a pretty good film. It is a biographical film about the composer Giacomo Puccini.The story begins when he is a student and ends with his death;the plot centers around three of his lovers and the compositions of his operas. 

The second film I watched was Callas Forever, which I absolutely loved. It is about one of the most famous sopranos of all time, Maria Callas. The movie takes place during the time Maria's voice started to deteriorate due to old age and is about how she kept her career going on even after she could not sing anymore. 

The third film I watched was Lisztomania which I absolutely hated, it was just dreadful to watch. It is a parody of Franz Liszt's, the famous composers, life and career. It was just odd, to say the least.

All of the movies were made at different times, but they were all in color. Puccini and Lisztomania both had that "old movie" look to them, while Callas Forever looked more digital and new.

 I did not like how Carmine Gallone and  Glauco Pellegrini, the directors of Puccini, edited the film. The film had many important events happen in it, but instead of showing the important events, the film would just skip to what happened afterwords.For example, after Puccini had married his first wife, he went on tour and the shot focused on his wife knitting, all of a sudden she turned old with gray hair and lots of time had passed. Even though it was a cool shot, I would have liked  to know what happened in between. Puccini did have beautiful music in it though!

 Franco Zeffirelli, the directer of Callas Forever, did an amazing job with this movie. The cinematography was beautiful and the film had some of the most beautiful music in it( all sung by Maria Callas). I really liked how the actress who played Maria actually looked somewhat like her, because when the actor/actress does not look like who they are supposed to portray, it can be very distracting. Franco Zeffirelli is one of the greatest directors, he also directed Maria Callas on stage during her career. One scene in particular really moved me in the movie. Maria put on recordings of her self singing and while crying, because she no longer had the beautiful voice she once had, mouthed the words and  acted along to it in private. It was tragically beautiful.

Lisztomania had some cool special effects but strange costumes and set designs. I found the whole movie quite atrocious, it was as if someone had mixed together A Clockwork Orange and Austin Powers, made it into a movie, and said it was about Franz Liszt. Also,  I had a hard time following along with the plot. I absolutely despised what the director, Ken Russell,  did with Franz Liszt's music. He turned it into pop/rock music and had Roger Daltrey ( who played Liszt in the movie) singing it. There was one part I did like in the movie; Ken Russell made the character who played Richard Wagner and evil vampire type of person, and not being one of Wagner's biggest fans, I liked that.

In Puccini, the directors made it seem as though every man in Europe had affairs with women while they were married. They also emphasized how important classical music was and still is in Europe.

Callas Forever, also emphasized how important classical music was, and still is in America and Europe. It also had a lot to do with the new technology people were making in the 80's and how much people could do with it compared to when Maria Callas was still singing in the late 60's.

Lisztomania, to me seemed like an experimental film. It was futuristic and also had a lot to do with Nazis and  Communism. They made a lot of fun of the Communists and Nazis in the movie. Also, the more I watched, the more I realized the movie was about the actual phenomenon called Lisztomania, not about the actual composer who caused it.

To me, when making a biographical movie about an artist, composer, etc., the director must include what the main character is famous for, in the movie. For example in the film Amadeus, the director included all of Mozart's most popular compositions, and that is what helped make the movie so great. Unfortunately Ken Russell did not do that when he made the movie Lisztomania.

All in all, I enjoyed watching three new movies, especially ones about classical music, because I am an opera singer and will be studying it in college. Plus, I love classical music.