I Due Foscari - Verdi(2012)

La battaglia di Legnano(it)

Part of Tutto Verdi series - La battaglia di Legnano (2012) Trieste. 'La battaglia di Legnano' ('The Battle of Legnano') is an opera in four acts, with music by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian-language libretto by Salvadore Cammarano. Most of the early Verdi operas are sort of rare for a reason. They do not rise to the heights of genius that his middle period and late period operas did. However, there are always some beautiful arias or choruses and most of them are great fun......sort of like bel canto on steroids! What I mean is that you can hear that he was coming from the bel canto tradition, but he liked to inject a lot more power into the characters and their music.

Oppenheimer(en)

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

Stray Dog(ja)

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

Full River Red(zh)

During China's Song Dynasty, a mysterious murder occurs at Chancellor Quin Hui's palace after meeting delegates from the neighboring Jin Dynasty. The members become embroiled not just in a murder mystery, but a larger conspiracy concerning the fate of the empire.

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory(fr)

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.

Occhio, malocchio, prezzemolo e finocchio(it)

The film is divided into two episodes, The Hair of Disgrace and The Magician, both focusing on the theme of the occult and beliefs.

Buffalo '66(en)

Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student Layla and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his girlfriend and they will soon marry.

Society(en)

Bill Whitney is worried that he is different to his sister and parents. They mix with other upper-class people while Bill is more down to earth. Even his girlfriend seems a bit odd. All is revealed when Bill returns home to find a party in full swing.

Doctor Zhivago(en)

The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.

A Tale of Autumn(fr)

Magali, forty-something, is a winemaker and a widow: she loves her work but feels lonely. Her friends Rosine and Isabelle both want secretly to find a husband for Magali.

The Big Clock(en)

George Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor, has to postpone a vacation with his wife - again - when a glamorous blonde is murdered and he is assigned by his publishing boss to find the killer. As the investigation proceeds to its conclusion, Stroud must try to disrupt his ordinarily brilliant investigative team as they increasingly build evidence that he is the killer.

Millennium Actress(ja)

Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone forever, the filmmaker could not have imagined that it would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life... but also his own.

Another Year(en)

During a year, a very content couple approaching retirement are visited by friends and family less happy with their lives.

The Grifters(en)

A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.

The Hummingbird(it)

Everyone in Marco's life seems constantly restless, from his brilliant but unhappily married parents to his own wife Marina, or even Luisa, the real love of his life, a girl he met during a fateful summer in the '70s and always stayed in touch with. Tragedy and fate seem to haunt him, yet he somehow manages never to get ensnared in the chaos—like his namesake, “the hummingbird”, he focuses all his energy at standing still.

South Park: Post COVID: The Return of COVID(en)

If Stan, Kyle and Cartman could just work together, they could go back in time to make sure Covid never happened. But traveling back to the past seems to be the easy answer until they meet Victor Chaos.

Osiris(en)

Special Forces commandos on a mission are abducted mid-operation by a mysterious spacecraft. Upon waking aboard, they find themselves prey to a relentless alien race in a fight for survival.

True Stories(en)

A small but growing Texas town, filled with strange and musical characters, celebrates its sesquicentennial and converge on a local parade and talent show.

The Cameraman(en)

A photographer takes up newsreel shooting to impress a secretary.

Kids Return(ja)

Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.

First Opera Film Festival(en)

An anthology of four abbreviated operas: "William Tell" by Rossini, "The Marriage of Figaro" by Mozart, "Don Pasquale" by Donizetti, and "Carmen" by Bizet. Filmed in Italy with major opera stars, and accompanied by English narration.

The Metropolitan Opera - Puccini: Manon Lescaut(en)

Kristine Opolais is the young woman whose conflicting desires for love and luxury lead to her tragic end, and Roberto Alagna plays the man who falls for her in Puccini’s early hit. Richard Eyre’s elegant production, which sets the action in 1940s occupied France, was one of the highlights of the Met’s 2015–16 season. Massimo Cavalletti as Manon’s brother and Brindley Sherratt as her aging admirer co-star, and Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.

Amadeus(en)

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The Bleeding Nun(en)

This Blu-ray is a splendid record of a creative production with terrific voices and direction, as good as the Met's videos any day. It also tends to be creepy and atmospheric, with music as good as anything Gounod wrote for his FAUST. Recommended to lovers of horror and opera!

Mose in Egitto(en)

This thought-provoking, modern-day interpretation of Rossini's 'Mosè in Egitto' sets the scene for superior music-making at the prestigious Rossini Festival in Pesaro. For conductor Roberto Abbado, the transposition of the action to the present day releases the energy of Rossini's music. At his disposal is a cast of top-quality vocalists such as the “refined bel canto artist(Bresciaoggi) Sonia Ganassi as Elcia, and the “outstanding” Dmitry Korchak as the Pharaoh's son, two lovers fatefully drawn into the political turmoil and catastrophes of their time. Also among the protagonists are the “thoroughly brilliant” (DeutschlandRadio Kultur) baritone Alex Esposito as Faraone and, in his Rossini Festival debut, young, full-bodied bass Riccardo Zanellato as Moses. Conductor Roberto Abbado “inspired his musicians to deliver a spectacular performance” (Salzburger Nachrichten).

Turandot(en)

Visually this is a gripping production which captures the drama of this opera perfectly. It's downright exciting! and I found the singing, acting, and orchestral playing reasonably fine. I found only one major problem with it, a problem that kept Puccini for quite a few years. Turandot has been looking for an opportunity to kill Calif and Calif has singlemindedly tried to get Turandot to love and wed him focusing on her and ignoring a better looking girl who loves him truly. The problem is how to get the audience to applaud the match once Calif gets his wish. Puccini couldn't figure out how to do it. The traditional quick ending doesn't do it, and Berio's attempt is longer , tries its best, but ends up making it plain this is one wierd couple.

Cosi Fan Tutte(en)

There are elements of Eurotrash in this outdoor Aix-en-Provence summer opera production. Nevertheless, the splendid singing and acting transform the story, normally treated as farce, into something considerably more serious. As many other critics have noted, the young lovers have not yet sorted everything out as this performance ends. Act One begins with the principal characters running around in the outdoor theater -- while the audience takes it in as if they had been advised to sit back and enjoy the novelty. Very likely they were also asked to refrain from applauding at the end of arias and ensemble pieces, in which the three-hour opera abounds.

Lohengrin(en)

A short experimental film shot on Super 8, inspired by the music of Richard Wagner.

The Copper Queen(en)

Still healing from her grandmother’s death, Addison Moore finds herself checking into The Copper Queen Hotel in Bisbee, Arizona. Aware of the ghost stories and hauntings, Addison fearlessly elects to stay in Room 315, the location of the heartbroken Julia Lowell’s death a century ago.

I Promessi Sposi - Opera Moderna(it)

From the House of the Dead(en)

Set in a Siberian prison camp, Janacek's final opera centers on the experiences of recent arrival Alexandre Petrovitch Goriantchikov (Olaf Bar), a nobleman who finds relief from the harsh conditions in the friendship of the illiterate Alyeya (Eric Stoklossa). Recorded at the Grand Theatre de Provence, this stage production is directed by the well-respected Patrice Chereau and features famed conductor Pierre Boulez. Filmed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival on 20 July 2007.

Der Rosenkavalier(de)

André Heller is staging "Der Rosenkavalier" (his first opera production) at the Berlin State Opera. The story of a young nobleman caught between two women in Maria Theresa's Vienna is full of bold twists and fantastic entanglements. And as if made for an imaginative realization with all the means of modern theater. André Heller can rely on a first-class ensemble... André Heller is a chansonnier, actor, circus founder, vaudeville maker and stager of spectacles in which a variety of genres are combined with exuberant fantasy. In Berlin, Heller follows in the footsteps of Max Reinhardt, who ruled the Berlin stages at the beginning of the 20th century and revolutionized the theater with a multitude of innovations. Reinhardt also staged the world premiere of "Der Rosenkavalier" in 1911. It will be interesting to see how today's multimedia genius deals with the legacy of the great theater genius of yesteryear.

Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri(it)

Isabella is a strong, independent woman who has no intention of giving in to the clumsy advances of the powerful Mustafà. In the production by BAFTA winners Mosh Leiser and Patrice Caurier, which plays with prejudices about clashing cultures, Mustafà is no longer an Ottoman bey, but a shady gangster who traffics electronic goods in the port of Algiers.

Le Barbier de Seville(it)

Inspired by Beaumarchais' comedy, Rossini retains all the passion to create this bubbling opera buffa. A native of Venice, the cradle of the commedia dell’arte, Damiano Michieletto is sensitive to the burlesque vein of Rossinian music. He transposes the action of this "unnecessary precaution" into a contemporary Seville inspired by the cinema of Almodóvar. Bartolo’s monumental building, in which Figaro swirls in free electron, allows the director to give free rein to his crazy imagination.

Phantom(ja)

Takarazuka Revue's Phantom based on the play by Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit.

Farinelli(fr)

The life and career of Italian opera singer Farinelli, considered one of the greatest castrato singers of all time.

1984(en)

Inspired by one of the twentieth century's greatest novels, composer Lorin Maazel evokes Orwell's totalitarian nightmare, where "Big Brother" is always watching, and those guilty of "thoughtcrime" are condemned to face their worst fears in the infamous "Room 101". Filmed during world premiere performances of Robert Lepage's spectacular and psychologically gripping Royal Opera production and conducted by the composer, an international cast brings George Orwell's dark vision to shattering operatic life.

Korngold: Die tote Stadt(de)

Erich Wolfgang Korngold's "Die tote Stadt" in a Bayerische Staatsoper production from 2019, directed by Simon Stone. Kirill Petrenko is conducting Jonas Kaufmann and Marlis Petersen.

When the Fern Blooms(uk)

Part folklore, part opera-ballet, this féerie presents local pagan traditions on the day of the summer solstice and historical events from Cossack times to the more recent 2014 Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity.

Verdi: Nabucco(en)

Giuseppe Verdi's opera performed in 1998.