Aria

I watched ARIA for the first time on DVD and boy, did that movie ever put me to sleep. This is not a criticism. The film is OK but the I can't imagine anyone not feeling sleepy while watching it. It's slow, sorta hypnotic and soundless. There's basically no dialogue. The film is only visuals and classical music, which combined together create a very calming, peaceful experience. There are very few moments when the film rises above sereneness.

Nicolas Roeg - I didn't like it.

Charles Sturridge - Interesting but it's very short.

Jean-Luc Godard - The kookiest segment. Fun to watch.

Julien Temple - Typical Julian Temple nonsense. This segment looks like a wacky music video. Didn't like it.

Bruce Beresford - Elizabeth Hurley is naked. That's all I have to say!

Robert Atlman - Forgettable

Franc Roddam - Probably the best segment. Very slow and calm, though.

Ken Russell - Tacky. Only Ken Russell would think that tacky plastic jewelery would look good. And the nudity is totally gratuitous.

Derek Jarman - I didn't like it.

Bill Bryden - I don't even remember this one. I was probably asleep by then.

Sure, it has its pretentious moments, it plays like art-house, live-action Fantasia, but it also has moments of deep beauty and humor. Omnibus films are always a problem, but I have always had a keen interest in them. I will now rate the segments individually.

Nicolas Roeg - "Un ballo in maschera" - This segment may very well spoil the film for some people, because it is absolutely the worst of the whole bunch. It is difficult to follow, mostly because it tries to adhere to a clear plot (a hackneyed one, at that). The photography is unaccomplished. The best thing about it is the bit of Lesbian homoerotica that it never does enough with. This segment made me VERY nervous about continuing. 2/10.

Charles Sturridge - "La virgine degli angeli" - an unclear segment, but it hardly matters. The film has the best cinematography of the bunch, mainly because it is in a stunning black and white. The segment is dreamlike and beautiful. 7/10.

Jean-Luc Godard - "Armide" - I chose to brave this much-maligned film for the Godard and Altman segments. With Godard, I was much more impressed than I thought I would be. I can't claim to have seen all that many of his films since he made so many that almost no one has seen, but, judging from what I have seen, this may be his best work since the 60s. It is the funniest segment in this film, and the most artistically accomplished. Bravo, Jean-Luc! 9/10.

Julien Temple - "Rigoletto" - a very funny segment, it is also quite predictable. Still, this story about a husband and wife who are cheating on each other at the same resort is wonderfully filmed with long, complex tracking shots that depend on precisely timed choreography from the actors. It also has a great self-referencing joke about omnibus films themselves. The final scene is very weak. 7/10.

Bruce Beresford - "Die tote Stadt" - this short segment involves too lovers in (I think) Venice. It is pretty, with some nice shots of doves flying about the city. It is slight, but nice. 7/10.

Robert Altman - "Les Boréades" - not one of the better segments, unfortunately, this is more of a music video than a concept short film. It involves the occupants of an insane asylum attending a theatrical performance. The music and images work well together, so at least I can give it credit for being a good music video. 7/10

Franc Roddam - "Liebestod" - somewhat unfortunate for Beresford's segment, this segment is very similar to it. As you might assume from my phrasing, this one struck me much more. It is about a young man and his girl going to Las Vegas on a fatalistic voyage. 8/10.

Ken Russell - "Nessun dorma" - maybe the most visually striking segment, it plays in a fantasy world more than in reality. It is a beautiful tale of a fallen angel. 8/10.

Derek Jarman - "Depuis le jour" - I have heard a lot about Jarman, and this is the first piece of filmmaking I have seen from him. Hopefully, I'll see more in the future. This one is also music-videoish, but it is better than Altman's segement. It mainly concerns an old woman remembering her younger days. The editing and the use of different film stocks to represent both time and emotion are very beautiful. 8/10.

Bill Bryden - "I pagliacci" - the sad clown, possibly one of the most famous arias (particularly memorable from an episode of Seinfeld), this serves as the material separating each segement and the finale. It is simple and effective. 7/10.

Overall, I give it a solid 7/10. It isn't anywhere near as bad as you've heard.

"Aria" as a whole is a pretty underwhelming experience, as most compilation films are. No one segment is very long, so the whole thing is painless to sit through, but I can't really bring myself to recommend it to anyone.

The standout segment for me was Ken Russell's, which depicts a woman hallucinating while on the operating table after a terrible car accident. It helps that the segment is set to "Nessum dorma," one of my favorite opera pieces -- I would find a filmed toaster glorious as long as it was set to that particular piece of music. Franc Roddam's segment is pretty decent, and features Bridget Fonda in her film debut. I liked Jean-Luc Godard's segment, which is set in a gym and features a bunch of body builders completely oblivious of the naked women dancing around them -- perhaps a comment on male narcissism? Robert Altman's segment, which is primarily the reason I wanted to see this movie at all, is utterly forgettable -- the only notable thing about it is that you can tell he was filming "Beyond Therapy" at the same time, as many of the same actors are in both. Nicholas Roeg's segment, which opens the film, is pretty bad, as is Julien Temple's painfully unfunny contribution (though it features a smokin' Beverly D'Angelo), while Bruce Beresford's is just boring. Watch Derek Jarman's segment for a glimpse of a very young and pretty Tilda Swinton.

There's not much to say about films like this. Some portions are better than others; none of them are masterpieces.

Grade: B-

If you like Opera, all the arias will be familiar. The treatments the ten directors give to one aria each, are totally removed from their original context. Nessun Dorma from Turandot becomes the vision of a girl in a near-fatality - gripping imagery culminates in the final VINCERO! of her survival . . .John Hurt lip-synching Vesti la Giubba from I Pagliacci is perhaps the low-point, but the madly bawdy Robert Altmann scene fails too - the rest is a lavish treat! The tragedy of children dying is captured in gritty black and white to the serene melody of Verdi's La Vergine Dell' Angeli, the remarkable outcome of an assasination attempt at a King's life is done brilliantly to the backing of La Sua Parole from A Masked Ball . . . with totally different ending to the one in the Opera! See this, then view it again; you will be amazed and enriched - if you like Opera, that is. If you do not, and have no desire to, then please: go back to the usual fare - this will have very little to offer you - enjoy your Stallone and van Damme.

Guess a few upscale film directors were sitting around sipping their absinthe, grappa, aramangac or jungle juice some night in the 80's during the Cannes or other film festival and one said "Hey, guys let's do a movie where each of us creates a segment around a world class aria." Welllll...it kind of sort of worked. Clearly someone was smart enough to select some of the best recordings of the arias chosen, for example Bjoreling's Nessun Dorma, so if you were blind and lying on the floor just listening to the DVD you got more than your money's worth. Not every director succeeded but more did than not and the flick seems to improve with each viewing over the years. My favorite is the eerily beautiful love duet from Die Todt Statd; okay a young naked Elizabeth Hurley is eye candy but her husband singing to her, his wife's ghost, is incredibly beautiful with the love music second only to Otello and Desdemona's "Gia nella Notte Densa" in all the operatic repertoire. Could the flick been better, sure, what couldn't not have been but it's well worth a view especially of you're in a hyper-romantic mood.