Other Movies You Should Check Out

Tired of me yet?  I'm just trying to get into a groove for 2020.  Anyway, I had mentioned in my first post of the new year that I watched two documentaries when I was home with my family.  I think both of them are worth your time and attention (one more than the other), so I'll just briefly chat about them.  

When I'm home, I take over the tv remote, much to my mother's chagrin (though I do try to give it back to her and she says she wants me to choose, so...).  On New Year's Eve, before we started waiting for the ball to drop, I found a documentary on HBO about the celebrated tenor Luciano Pavarotti.  Pavarotti, made by Ron Howard, is a recent film about the life and art of a great opera singer, but legend has it he was not a great man, especially as his voice began to decline.  I don't think the film is quite successful in telling us much about him that we don't already know, because you don't hear about the hard work he might've once put into his career, nor about his decline.  We're briefly informed about his divorce towards the end of the movie, but there was no sign of it earlier on.  I just think Howard wanted to make a celebratory film, so there are amazing home movies and some grainy footage from early recitals, but I could watch those on YouTube.  I didn't really get any new insights into his life or work, but I did get to revel in the sound of his voice.  It truly was from the gods.  I came to opera late - I think my first recording was the first Three Tenors CD (shameful, I know).  I went to see them at Giants Stadium (ugh, that's a story) and it was fantastic.  Then I went with a handsome friend to see Pavarotti in Central Park (well, 'see' is a relative term; we were WAY far away).  Oh, and I also saw him perform at the Met once, in Andrea Chenier.  He could barely move, but oh my god, that voice.  I'm very grateful to have seen him in person at all.  I enjoyed seeing the old clips and hearing that glorious voice, but the movie could maybe have been a little more daring in its storytelling.  It's still worth seeing, though.

That reminds me: I didn't watch this one during the holiday, but early last year I saw Maria By Callas: In Her Own Words, which was AMAZING.  I highly recommend that one, it's no holds barred and unvarnished.  And god, that voice.  Check it out.

Another night during my break, I was flipping through the channels and landed on an airing of Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.  This documentary was incredible; I had recently seen Linda Ronstadt on the Kennedy Center Honors and remembered how much I used to love her music.  We had a 8-track (ha!) of her Greatest Hits album that we wore out in my parents' Chevy, and I remember going to a college boyfriend's dorm to listen to The Pirates of Penzance on repeat.  So I've always been in love with her voice, but I didn't really know her story.  She narrates a lot of the film, in her matter-of-fact way; she was a trailblazer for women in music and a no-nonsense artist.  She didn't write her own songs, but she picked her music well and made it her own.  She was also so musically curious - she talks a lot about wanting to try everything while she could, as long as she could serve the musical style and respect it, too.  The documentary is simply fantastic and really tells her story beautifully; it shares a lot of tidbits I didn't know and there are some rare interviews and clips of her onstage magic, plus current insights about what it was like to be her.  It was enlightening, moving, nostalgic, and ultimately uplifting.  She talks about not being able to sing anymore because of her Parkinson's, which is heartbreaking, but the end shows how she can still, in a way, make music now and you see how someone just has music in their soul.  You really should take a look at this film - it will remind you that you love her music and, if you're like me, you'll make a new playlist to hear her tackle all those wonderful songs again.