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Reviews
Swan Lake (1982)
My favourite Swan Lake
This ballet features the Royal Ballet at their peak - it's my favourite version as it is the perfect cross-over: old-fashioned enough to be 'vintage' (like you expect appearances from Victoria Page or Veronica Weston...even though Wendy Ellis will suffice!) but then the breathtaking Makarova with her incredible back and arms and face who single-handedly presents a 'new era' on the stage(so the extent ions that may not be so great now, but back then were amazing...and I would like to stress that I am not et 30 ; )...) - she is an incomparable odette/odile. The corps are perfect, supporting cast is perfect, Dowell is toothy, and it's the PROPER (non-russian!) ending!!!
I've been waiting for the region 2 DVD since someone stole my video of it... If someone in NVC (or whoever) is reading this - release it now! Please!
Idiot (2003)
All russians should be actors...all actors should be Russian...
For anybody with an interest in the craft of acting, this 10 part mini series could almost be used as a 'how-to' manual - or at least shame anybody who considers themselves an "actor" to go out and get some real training. Theatricality is not the point (although a lot of the main roles are taker by actors from the legendary Moscow Art Theatre of Chekhov, notably the above-superlative genius, Evgeny Mironov as the lion-mouse Prince Myshkin) you have to give credit to the TV based actors too, notably Lidiya Velezheva (who is unfairly and ignorantly trounced in most reviews I have read of this series)as a stunning Nastasia Phillipovna and Aleksanr Lazarev as a wonderful (and VERY original) Ganya. The series itself is compulsive viewing - the direction floats between functional, moody and surprising- the sound track, though repetitive and electronic, is so reminiscent of the last movement of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique and works so well as that... But, essentially, it is all about the acting. Vladimir Mashkov as Rogozhin is a force of nature and gets better each episode until his breakdown, which is itself surprisingly restrained and un-showy, very affecting and generous to his comrade: the perpetually astonishing Mironov - simply the greatest actor I have ever seen.