I've reviewed Lau so often before that there's little new to be said here. As always this was the finest musical occasion of my year and the lack of a new album did nothing to change that. The trio are celebrating their ten year anniversary in style, looking back at the work that's given us four amazing studio albums, a couple of atmospheric live LPs, and numerous collaborative works. Both in studio and on stage they remain supreme musicians and entertainers, with their loyal following, at what has become their regular 'home' gig, passionate and enthralled.
An acoustic set, stripped back to the basics of guitar, fiddle, accordion and Kris Drever's vocals, brought some new arrangements of well known numbers and a chance to revel in the power of the musicianship. The second half brought out their electronic innovations, density of sound and imagination. A new and very strange electronic device called Morag saw all three band members gathered round to produce a soundscape like no other, and in the classic Hinba the usual discordant passage turned into an electronic car crash. Even revisiting their old material Lau always manage to throw up something new.
Still the best.
Tuesday 30 January 2018
Monday 29 January 2018
Marie Curie, French Film Festival, Dominion
Appropriately played by Polish actress Karolin Gruszka, this biopic sketches out the life of the famed double winner of the Nobel Prize. It begins at the start of the 20th century, with Marie long since departed from Warsaw and now well established as a research scientist in Paris working with her husband Pierre. In 1903 the pair were jointly awarded the Nobel for Physics. Three years later Pierre dies in a street accident and Marie is determined to carry on their work without him.
With the scene thus set the greater part of the film tackles Curie's constant battles to find acceptance, and the equipment and facilities she needs, in a scientific establishment that was heavily prejudiced against women and foreigners. (And rumours that Curie was Jewish - she wasn't - harmed her greatly in a country still suffering the after shocks of the Dreyfus Affair.) An affair with a married man was seized on by a hostile press too, and the film spends a bit too much time on the relationship. Nonetheless the results she produces make her impossible to ignore, and she goes on
Curie is an important figure deserving of a great film, but this isn't it. Gruska is excellent and there's a strong period feel to the action, while the frustrations she faced are well carved out. Despite some lovely moments, like her flirting with Einstein, it feels too ambitious, attempting to shoehorn in every aspect of her life, to the detriment of her work itself and the major influence she had on medical history.
With the scene thus set the greater part of the film tackles Curie's constant battles to find acceptance, and the equipment and facilities she needs, in a scientific establishment that was heavily prejudiced against women and foreigners. (And rumours that Curie was Jewish - she wasn't - harmed her greatly in a country still suffering the after shocks of the Dreyfus Affair.) An affair with a married man was seized on by a hostile press too, and the film spends a bit too much time on the relationship. Nonetheless the results she produces make her impossible to ignore, and she goes on
Curie is an important figure deserving of a great film, but this isn't it. Gruska is excellent and there's a strong period feel to the action, while the frustrations she faced are well carved out. Despite some lovely moments, like her flirting with Einstein, it feels too ambitious, attempting to shoehorn in every aspect of her life, to the detriment of her work itself and the major influence she had on medical history.
Beautiful, Playhouse
I am not, I know, the right person to be writing a review of a musical, a genre and format that I have rarely found entertaining. Too much song and dance, not enough story for my tastes. But I do like Carole King's music so I tried to keep an open mind in approaching Beautiful.
It tells the story of the teenage King, looking to get her songs published, her songwriting partnership with Gerry Goffin which also resulted in their marriage, and the first steps in her subsequent solo career as a singer/songwriter. Also the friendship and rivalry between the Goffin/King partnership, and that of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann who had a a string of hit songs working for the same publisher.
With most of the first act given over to songs that the two couples wrote for other acts and zipping through most of the sixties the actual dialogue is limited and the trauma of the Goffin/King breakup is made to appear like an afterthought in their lives. With such poor material it's really only Amy Ellen Richardson as Weil that is able to make any impact as a character that's not entirely 2-dimensional.
Things improve in the second act where the focus is more on King's burgeoning career as a singer/songwriter. In part because the songs are so much better, and delivered with less of the dance antics that went before, and partly in giving Bronte Barbe a chance to shine as a singer (although Richardson continued to act her off the stage....).
As befits the genre it ends on a high and a strong feelgood factor, so I left with a smile, despite the thin quality of the fare on offer.
It tells the story of the teenage King, looking to get her songs published, her songwriting partnership with Gerry Goffin which also resulted in their marriage, and the first steps in her subsequent solo career as a singer/songwriter. Also the friendship and rivalry between the Goffin/King partnership, and that of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann who had a a string of hit songs working for the same publisher.
With most of the first act given over to songs that the two couples wrote for other acts and zipping through most of the sixties the actual dialogue is limited and the trauma of the Goffin/King breakup is made to appear like an afterthought in their lives. With such poor material it's really only Amy Ellen Richardson as Weil that is able to make any impact as a character that's not entirely 2-dimensional.
Things improve in the second act where the focus is more on King's burgeoning career as a singer/songwriter. In part because the songs are so much better, and delivered with less of the dance antics that went before, and partly in giving Bronte Barbe a chance to shine as a singer (although Richardson continued to act her off the stage....).
As befits the genre it ends on a high and a strong feelgood factor, so I left with a smile, despite the thin quality of the fare on offer.
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