Verdi’s monumental score is fully the equal of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy—and both demand great actors. This is one performance where both playwright and composer are well served. Plácido Domingo’s Otello is one of the glories of the operatic world, beautifully sung and so commandingly acted that audiences are devastated by the end. Renée Fleming’s ravishingly beautiful Desdemona is deeply moving, and as Iago, James Morris is as beguiling as he is menacing. Under James Levine’s conducting the Met orchestra and chorus are vital characters in the drama.
Roderigo
Montano
Un Eraldo
Lodovico
Renée Fleming has matured into one of the finest sopranos around at the moment, a true star with a sparkling personality and a velvet-toned voice that is capable of wringing the finest emotions out of works by Strauss and Tchaikovsky that from a lesser singer could sound rather cold and clinical. I wouldn't have thought her voice would be so well suited to Violetta Valéry in La Traviata, and it does take some getting used to, but I think she at least brings a distinct quality to the role with an emotional heart that isn't always necessarily there when a leading diva uses it primarily as a display for her vocal talents. It's served well also by Antonio Pappano's conducting of the Royal Opera House Orchestra in a traditional, but effective production by Richard Eyre.
Dad catches a ball badly, injuring his finger. His guttural scream instantly hushes the entire sports complex. Sarah is paralysed. She barely recognises him; red faced, clutching his hand and crying. In the sanctuary of the locker changing rooms, Sarah explores and tests theories about what has happened with her Dad. She questions who her father is while struggling to grasp the concept of pain, both inside and out. Having found an apparent conclusion, Sarah returns to an apologetic Dad, and decides to put his promises to the test.music:Annette Focksproducer:Tobias Rosen, Heike Wiehle-Timmproduction:Relevant Film, Warner Bros Entertainment Germanybacking:Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF) (DE), Schleswig-Holstein Film Commission (DE), Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA)(DE)distributor:Warner Bros Entertainment Germany
A strange meteor lands in Japan and unleashes hundreds of insect-like "Legion" creatures bent on colonizing the Earth. When the military fails to control the situation, Gamera shows up to deal with the ever-evolving space adversary. However the battle may result in Gamera losing his bond with both Asagi and humanity.
Short film built from photographs, sped up like a traditional stop motion and is meant to be an evocation of the English Eerie and Folk Horror.
The Futurians, time-travelers from the 23rd century, arrive in Japan to warn them of the nation's destruction under Godzilla. They offer to help erase Godzilla from history by preventing his creation. With Godzilla seemingly gone, a new monster emerges as the Futurians' true intentions are revealed.
Early morning silence is broken by screeching tires as a helicopter bears down on a speeding vehicle. Taking a quick corner, the team tumbles out into the woods as their car pulls away. Now they must make their way through the thick of nature and thick gunfire to accomplish their mission. Not a single word of dialogue is spoken throughout the entire film. Instead, the music, sounds, images and deeply truthful acting turn a simple plot into an intense experience. Passion and intrigue keep building to the very end.
After losing her husband to death following a troubled marriage, a woman unexpectedly travels back to the moment before their first meeting, allowing them to reconnect and rekindle their romance.
Acting Lieutenant Hornblower and his crew are captured by the enemy while escorting a Duchess who has secrets of her own.
A director who hasn't been able to film a new movie in almost a decade, has been working strenuously on a story about the earth's destruction. One day, he hears a great explosion, and is soon visited by four strangers.
In the middle of Sherman's March, in eastern Georgia, Confederate infantry, cavalry, and artillery make a bold stand against the overwhelming numbers of the Union army as it tears across Georgia.
In the center of the story are three main characters - Lieutenant Colonel Soshnikov, Captain Muravyov and Major Zakharov. Three ages, three different characters, three different destinies, which are destined to meet at the Khmeimim military base.
Seven years after the defeat of the spiral king, Simon and the Dai-Gurren brigade must set out to the vastness of space to defeat a new threat and save the universe.
1989: 64th and last year of the Showa era. A girl is kidnapped and killed. The unsolved case is called Case 64 ('rokuyon'). 2002: Yoshinobu Mikami, who was the detective in charge of the Case 64, moves as a Public Relations Officer in the Police Affairs Department. His relation with the reporters is conflicted and his own daughter is missing. The statute of limitations for the Case 64 will expire in one year. Then a kidnapping case, similar to the Case 64, takes place. The rift between the criminal investigation department and police administration department deepens. Mikami challenges the case as a public relations secretary.
At the turn of the century, all of the Earth's monsters have been rounded up and kept safely on Monsterland. Chaos erupts when a race of she-aliens known as the Kilaaks unleash the monsters across the world.
Frank Wagner goes deeper undercover to infiltrate Europe's most dangerous Mafia, the Russian-est, consisting of ex - KGB officers.
A documentary following Wong Kar-wai and his cast and crew through the production of his 2000 film In the Mood for Love.
Agatha Christie's classic whodunit speeds into the twenty-first century. World-famous sleuth Hercule Poirot has just finished a case in Istanbul and is returning home to London onboard the luxurious Orient Express. But, the train comes to a sudden halt when a rock slide blocks the tracks ahead. And all the thrills of riding the famous train come to a halt when a man discovered dead in his compartment, stabbed nine times. The train is stranded. No one has gotten on or gotten off. That can only mean one thing: the killer is onboard, and it is up to Hercule Poirot to find him.
The body of a young woman is discovered near a farm. The judge, Larcher is in charge and thinks that the farmers have something to do with the murder.
A dance and music film tailored completely for Marika Rokk: After her divorce, the wife of a composer uses her wit and charm to engage Marika as a singer and dancer on the stage. This manages to give life once again to the extinguished love between her and her former husband.
A prohibition-themed gangster thriller, set in the 1930s in the United States. Following a failed heist, Sam's gang takes refuge in a small isolated town where another gang has already settled, together with a mysterious priest. The two bands decide to unite, but the wife of one of the gang bosses is attracted to a member of the other gang. They plan to escape and start a new life together. But who will survive the police assault on the town?
Noble Moroccan Othello finds his life with beautiful, fiercely loyal Desdemona thrown tragically out of balance when secretly jealous, scheming confidante Iago begins an insidious campaign of lies and treachery.
Sergeant Carlos Olivarez (Buck Jones) becomes entangled in the machinations of an oil baron, havoc-wreaking bandits, and the femme fatale who ruined his brother.
Iggy Pop reads and recites Michel Houellebecq’s manifesto. The documentary features real people from Houellebecq’s life with the text based on their life stories.
When a clergyman is accused for the murder of a social worker, the parish priest recruits a reporter (and his ex-girlfriend) to clear his name.
In depth look at the life and death of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence (1960-1997), who took his own life at an Australian hotel room at the age of 37 on November 22, 1997. Featuring interviews with his family, bandmates and friends such as Bono.
Obsessive master thief Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent Hanna pursues him without rest. Each man recognizes and respects the ability and the dedication of the other even though they are aware their cat-and-mouse game may end in violence.
Jonathan is poised to marry the daughter of a wealthy tycoon. The couple appears picture perfect, until the eve of their engagement party, when an unexpected guest threatens to destroy Jonathan's plans for the future.
Stella, grows up in Berlin during the rule of the Nazi regime. She dreams of a career as a jazz singer, despite all the repressive measures she is forced to go into hiding with her parents in 1944, her life turns into a culpable tragedy.
In the 1950s, a communist country. The film follows a retired detective who investigates two enigmatic murders. Both murders are connected to a murder exposing an old secret about a corrupt officer that causes controversy throughout the city and alerts the political security. As he uncovers clues, the detective plunges deeper and deeper into a maelstrom of political and personal intrigue that leads him to a final revelation.
The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.
A man cannot bear the superficiality of human relationships, and when his best friend lets him down, he commits suicide by jumping off a skyscraper.
In this disturbing family drama, a prosperous middle-aged farmer takes up gambling and whoring at the expense of his devoted second wife. Meanwhile, his son the pervert becomes fascinated with the family's maid, a deaf-mute.
A single mother and her slacker sister find an unexpected way to turn their lives around in this off-beat dramatic comedy. In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school the mom starts an unusual business – a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service.
A group of high school graduates are invited to their five year class of 1995 reunion. Fourteen people, each from their own cliques of their past high school lives, make their way up to the old high school hang out spot, buried deep in the woods for the afterparty. As the high spirits and festivities continue, things begin to go gravely wrong, and quickly the party spirals out of control.
Mia, an ex-prostitute, is trapped in a loveless marriage with the abusive Quan (Sunny Pang, who also stars in Headshot in this year’s Festival lineup), a butcher who runs a roast meat shop. When she meets sensitive funeral director Wu, their passion for one another escalates into an affair. But the path to true love is fraught with jealousy, forcing someone to make a deadly move.