Opening Night at Copacabana´s Roxy Dinner Show
My conclusion about life at this late age is that things go in cycles only with variations or “there is nothing new under the sun.” And that´s what I thought on Thursday evening when I attended opening night at what once was my and others (who reside in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro) beloved Cinema Roxy […]
“ Diving in the Dark”: A Documentary Honoring a Great Brazilian Pianist: Joao Assis Brasil
Documentaries participating in the current international film festival display that Rio de Janeiro may not be Vienna— where such geniuses of so-called classical music as Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven thrived– but in its own way so-called Marvelous City has been and continues to be an international capital of music. The documentaries include this portrait […]
Pianisimo:16-year-old Turkish piano prodigy at the Copacabana Palace Theater
One week before the Material Gal, Madonna and her estimated 1.5 million fans are about to invade the beaches of Copacabana, the theater of Rio de Janeiro´s iconic Hotel Copacabana Palace is hosting a series of young virtuoso pianists. Friday evening (26 April) Turkish wiz, Can Sarac, 16, astonished local audiences with an impeccable technique […]
A Falecida (The Deceased), still a modern tragedy by Brazil´s Euripedes, Nelson Rodrigues at the Copacabana Palace Theater
Today with artificial intelligence taking over many aspects of life, this theatre-lover would like to suggest to the able producers and directors of an outstanding production of Nelson Rodrigues “The Deceased” that they find a means via headphones to translate simultaneously in various languages for tourists this “Carioca tragedy” by a Brazilian theatrical genius. For […]
“Witness for the Prosecution”: My nomination for a retroactive Oscar (or Harold?) award
As the 96th edition of the Academy Awards ceremony approaches this Sunday, 10 April 2024, I –always a perennial latecomer—saw a film at the only surviving cinema here in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro called Joia (Jewel), which I would award even today all the TOP Academy awards. How strange that although nominated for Oscars in […]
Maestro, a fitting cinematic tribute to Leonard Bernstein
It is three hours since I have returned from viewing a film which has deeply touched me: Bradley Cooper´s “Maestro” about the life of the Mozart of our time, American composer, pianist and Maestro Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990).I hesitate to predict that the film– produced by Stephen Spielberg and Martin Scorsese among others–will run away with […]
” Cidade Maravilhosa,”(?) Rio de Janeiro, abre agência mundial de turismo
O Rio de Janeiro não é a mesma Cidade Maravilhosa do samba, da bossa nova e da “Gal de Ipanema” que conheci quando cheguei a este suposto paraíso tropical nos anos 1970. Foi por isso que fiquei um pouco surpreendido quando cheguei num táxi Uber – com medo de apanhar um autocarro e temendo ser […]
Once Marvelous City, Rio de Janeiro, opens world tourist agency
Rio de Janeiro is not the same ‘Marvelous City’ of samba, Bossa nova and the “Gal from Ipanema “which I knew when I first arrived in this supposedly tropical paradise in the 1970s. I was therefore a bit surprised when I arrived in an Uber taxi (–afraid to take a bus and fearing to be […]
Dubbing ,a 100 -year old(almost) profession threatened by Artificial Intelligence
Besides international films which have won awards at Cannes and other festivals, Rio de Janeiro´s current International Film Festival has some fascinating seminars including one I attended on Tuesday about Dubbing Films and TV series. The 90 minute talk complete with a lively Q & A session was led by the Dubber of the film […]
Two films the Rio´s Intl.Film Festival Which are Bigger Than Real Life!
Writing today his usual fascinating column for the Folha of Sao Paulo newspaper, Ruy Castro observes “Cinema is not real life.” He is referring to such films as’ Casablanca’ where Humphrey Bogart tells the police chief he has come to Casablanca for “the waters” and the chief replies “what waters we are in a desert¹” […]