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The PianoTuner of EarthQuakes (2004)
Filmmaker(s): Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay

Dark fairytale about a demonic doctor who abducts a beautiful opera singer with designs on transforming her into a mechanical nightingale.

Man's Machine, God's Tune is a matter of abstraction. Always has been, in everything I suppose. But especially in film. The business is one of sharpening some edges and making others recede so as to cut us in some way. It is a dangerous business...


Published December 2, 2024
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The Phantom Empire (1935)
A Nation 20,000 Feet Underground

When the ancient continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean, some of its inhabitant survived in caverns beneath the sea. Cowboy singer Gene Autry stumbles upon the civilization, now buried beneath his own Radio Ranch. The Muranians have developed technology and weaponry such as television and ray guns. Their rich supply of radium draws unscrupulous speculators from the surface. The peaceful civilization of the Muranians is corrupted by the greed from above, and it becomes Autry's task to prevent all-out war, ideally without disrupting his regular radio show.

Subterranean Drugs involved in a study of ‘folding’ in film; folding is a matter of overlain or referenced narratives. Sometimes the folding is something only of interest to highbrow specialists, but usually it is a matter of fun. Some folding is a matter of introducing bizarre...


Published May 13, 2022
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Performance (1970)
See them all in a film about fantasy. And reality. Vice. And versa.

In underworld terms, Chas Devlin is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide—and the impact is both exotic and explosive.

Yoko Koko retrospect, we completely ignore key tipping points, because they become accepted horizons behind us. Only if you are there, or have an insightful observer can you even capture the notion that something radical is going on. An extra bite of toast here, a...


Published January 21, 2024
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Bloody Daughter (2012)
Filmmaker(s): Stéphanie Argerich

An atypical family portrait, directed by 34-year old Stéphanie Argerich, the daughter of pianists Martha Argerich and Stephen Kovacevich. The filmmaker follows her mother in particular, during concerts and in moments of greater intimacy, searching for answers that might shed light on the private spaces of a family that has always lived in the limelight of the international stage, where gaiety and madness rub shoulders with an absolute and overwhelming passion: music.

Passion Abated one is composed of mostly home movies, assembled by a daughter. A problem is that this woman had a difficult childhood, what with many step-siblings from different absent fathers. The film is clearly her project to fix what she saw as broken while...


Published January 22, 2024
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Cosi (1996)
When chasing your dreams... it helps to be a little crazy!
Filmmaker(s): Mark Joffe

Lewis, a young amateur theater director, is offered a job with a governmental program for the rehabilitation of mentally ill patients in a Sydney institution. His project is overrun by one of the patients who wants to stage the opera Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart despite the fact that none of the patients are able to sing and none of them speak Italian. A comedy of errors ensues, but one which unifies the patients and their director in unexpected ways.

Madmen Ninth Configuration‘ was an interesting film. It was structured around comic madness determined to put on a Shakespearean tragedy. It took risks and was sloppy but it worked because the film itself was mad. The idea surrounded the thing and provided a real situation,...


Published February 19, 2024
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Pitch Perfect (2012)
Get pitch slapped.
Filmmaker(s): Jason Moore

College student Beca knows she does not want to be part of a clique, but that's exactly where she finds herself after arriving at her new school. Thrust in among mean gals, nice gals and just plain weird gals, Beca finds that the only thing they have in common is how well they sing together. She takes the women of the group out of their comfort zone of traditional arrangements and into a world of amazing harmonic combinations in a fight to the top of college music competitions.

Packaged Energy recall watching ‘Fame’ when it came out. It surely was not the first film that was a performance about a performance with a personal quest overlain. But it was the first in my film life. There have since been hundreds of these where...


Published July 6, 2024
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The Magic Flute (2022)
Believe in the magic of music.
Filmmaker(s): Florian Sigl

A seventeen year old travels from London to the Austrian Alps to attend the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a centuries-old forgotten passageway into the fantastic world of Mozart's "The Magic Flute".

Peril at Vienna End found everything about this a failure. There’s a lot swirling around. An entire opera more or less. A parallel world with a portal where some shared challenges are met, but it is unclear what those challenges are. Confidence? We end up with...


Published July 21, 2024
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Love and Mercy (2014)
The Life, Love and Genius of Brian Wilson
Filmmaker(s): Bill Pohlad

In the late 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson stops touring, produces "Pet Sounds" and begins to lose his grip on reality. By the 1980s, under the sway of a controlling therapist, he finds a savior in Melinda Ledbetter.

The Sergeant’s Retreat scriptwriter’s obligation is to sketch a world that has enough definition for us to inhabit and understand the influences on the characters within. The default is to make that world simple so we do the least work in engaging. That’s what they...


Published August 22, 2024
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I’m Not There (2007)
All i can do is be me, whoever that is.
Filmmaker(s): Todd Haynes

Six actors portray six personas of music legend Bob Dylan in scenes depicting various stages of his life, chronicling his rise from unknown folksinger to international icon and revealing how Dylan constantly reinvented himself.

Shades was the semantically richest and emotionally deepest film experience I have had in years. And since I am different now that I was five years ago, it could qualify as near my favourite. It will likely not be so for you, at least to...


Published December 1, 2024
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Impromptu (1991)
He's about to fall in love with the most scandalous woman of his time.
Filmmaker(s): James Lapine

In 1830s France, pianist/composer Frédéric Chopin is pursued romantically by the determined, individualistic woman who uses the name George Sand.

Fluid, Woven Passion you just like a movie. I admit I was prepared to like this. It features Chopin, and he is a large part of my musical world. His stuff really is magical, but only when flowing through a rich vessel. The things he...


Published May 23, 2022
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