Justino Diaz Movies
A mournful look at the last days of opera diva Maria Callas, director Franco Zeffirelli's biographical drama attempts to explore the irresistible allure of a comeback for a fallen star who hungers for the success of her past. Weathered from the excess of the previous decade and with her best performances long behind her, Callas (Fanny Ardant) withdraws to her Paris apartment to live her final days in seclusion. Despite being ravaged by a throat disease and being stuck in an extended period of mourning following the death of her true love, Callas' manager Larry Kelly (Jeremy Irons) nevertheless suggests that the former reigning queen of opera attempt a spectacular comeback. Though she is physically unable to perform the pieces the way that she once did, the suggestion to lip-sync to recordings of her previous performances offers a tentative chance for latter day fame. Despite her belief that lip-syncing her performance would be dishonest to her fans, the prospect of performing Carmen, an opera that she once recorded but never performed on stage, offers Callas one last shot at reliving her former glory. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fanny Ardant, Jeremy Irons, (more)
- 1991
As mounted at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1991, this gala event enlists a veritable who's who of opera stars, including Plácido Domingo , Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Cheryl Studer and Leo Nucci, to commemorate the 25th Anniversary (1966-1991) of the Metropolitan Opera's presence at Lincoln Center. It features three opera extracts - Act III from Rigoletto, Act III from Otello and Act II from Die Fledermaus - starring the said performers and many others, with accompaniment by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet], under the baton of James Levine. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Giacomo Meyerbeer's celebrated opera L'Africaine comes to life on-stage in this performance by the chorus, ballet, and orchestra of the San Francisco Opera. Swelling with French vocals, the story follows a Portuguese explorer to Africa, where he complicates his life with his love interest in the African queen. The entanglement in a love triangle permeates the explorer's excursion. DVD is subtitled in English. ~ Sarah Sloboda, Rovi
- Starring:
- Plácido Domingo, Shirley Verrett, (more)
Having previously staged Verdi's 1887 opera Otello at the Met and La Scala, filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli committed his production to film in 1986. Starring as the fatally jealous Moor of Venice is Placido Domingo, who had also headlined Zeffirelli's 1976 La Scala staging (production on the film was briefly interrupted while Domingo participated in the rescue operations following the Mexico City earthquake). While Katia Ricciarelli as Desdemona and Justino Diaz as Iago perform their own singing, Zeffirelli's Cassio--played by real-life European prince Urbano Barberini--is dubbed by Ezio de Cesare. The director made several cuts in the original libretto and score in order to accommodate the film's two-hour time limit, but these excisions are done with taste and discretion. Because of the excessive violence in the third act--two murders, a suicide, a superficial throat-slashing--Otello was released with a PG rating. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Plácido Domingo, Katia Ricciarelli, (more)
Vincenzo Bellini's Norma produced by Sandro Sequi casts Dame Joan Sutherland in the title role accompanied by the Australian Opera under the direction of Richard Bonynge with Margreta Elkins, Ronald Stevens and Clifford Grant featured. ~ Rovi
- 1970
The Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Chorus combine to present this color-filmed version of the opera "Carmen." Film director Herbert von Karajan also serves as the conductor. Musically the version is good but often is plagued by uneven choreography. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers, (more)
Georges Bizet's tragic opera arrives on home video in this performance of Carmen featuring Mirella Freni in the role of Micaëla, Jon Vickers in the role of Done José, and Grace Brumbry in the title role. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
