07 December 2005

THINGS SEEN & HEARD   SEEN   Downfall, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel & starring Bruno Gantz.  April, 1945. Hitler moves into the bunker beneath the Reichschancellery.  “If the war is lost, then it is of no concern to me if the people perish in it. I still would not shed a single tear for them because they did not deserve any better”. Bleak & terrifying. Masterful acting. An entirely credible portrayal, capturing the man’s capacity for tenderness & attention to the individual without in any way diminishing the sense of demonic power imploding as the gotterdammerung gathered force & finally consumed Hitler & (particularly chillingly) the Goebells family.   No Direction Home, directed by Martin Scorcese.  A Dylan fest that draws the viewer/listener closer to man & music than any previous attempts made. Helped greatly by the relaxed, informative & wryly humorous commentary from the man himself.   Bleak House, directed by Justin Chadwick & Susanna White & scripted by Andrew Davies. (BBC television.) Absolutely riveting. In a long, long tradition of BBC adaptations of Dickens’ novels, this is by far & away the best. A fabulous cast enjoying themselves enormously, but also working with great discipline & commitment. Essential viewing. Turn off the cat & chuck out the lights.   HEARD   I Am A Bird Now : Anthony & The Johnsons.  (In fact, just Anthony Hegarty & a piano at the Mercury Awards.) It was one of the most astonishing vocal performances I have ever heard. A pitch-perfect counter tenor, quite unearthly, belonging more to some arcane Renaissance cantor than to one feted by the rock cognoscenti. I have yet to buy the album. I think I need time & place fully to assimilate what will, I’m sure, emerge from that first playing.   Aerial : Kate Bush. The whole two-CD album. Seamlessly following on from where she left off 12 years ago.  Visionary music coming from somewhere untenanted by anyone else.   Music for Airports : Brian Eno & Harold Budd. I listened to it again in the car with a mind to using the first track for a couple of scenes in The Business of Good Government (the play I have recently produced). Subsequently I used something else (Day Of Radiance by Laraaji), but Music for Airports plays me to & from work every day now.    The King : The Watersons.  I used this Mummers play (I think) song for the introductory procession to the play. The whole cast entered in darkness carrying lighted paraffin torches & they formed up into a tableau on the altar steps before dispersing as the main lights faded up. The raw harmonies linked the contemporary setting of the play with its mediaeval origins. Each night I sang the baritone part, which, I’m thankful to record, no one noticed.   10:51:53 PM    Mmm? []

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