Hollywood strike puts Bernsteins in the spotllight
NewsOur correspondent in Venice reports that Bradley Cooper was unablke to attend the Bernstein premiere due to the strike of Hollywood actors and writers.
His place on the red carpet was taken yesterday by the three Bernstein children, Jamie, Nina and Alexander.
The film received a seven-minute ovation, which is respectable rather than overwhelming. Classical music execs at the screening were deeply moved, as were the family members.
Leonard Bernstein’s children Jamie, Alex and Nina do their best impressions of their father’s conducting style during the standing ovation for #Maestro at Venice. pic.twitter.com/wuLJtK2mtb
— Variety (@Variety) September 2, 2023
The early reviews are outstanding.
One keeps hearing that “classical music is dead” but isn’t it interesting that in the past year Hollywood has given us “Tar,” “Chevalier” and now this.
Alexander Bernstein seems to have aged significantly! Jamie and Nina less so.
It’s so easy to call a man more “aged” than a woman. Afraid of getting cancelled if you called them “aged”?
That nose gets more ridiculous each time I see it.
It’s the camera angle. Lenny had a wider nose. If Helen Mirren is nominated for “Golda”, the Oscars will feature a “nose off”.
Exciting stuff.
I think a lot of people are taking exception to that one still. I have seen trailers for the film and, in motion, I find that in many shots Bradley Cooper looks uncannily like Bernstein as I remember him. Perhaps it has been circulated to stir this very debate — a controversy generates interest. But on the strength of the reviews I have seen, the film will find its own audience.
“Respectable rather than overwhelming.”
I would love to know what that means.
same as always on this site. Trying to get clicks and comments
Nothing.
Why the hell are they doing this, looking like idiots?
They were conducting the end title music; Overture from Candide. It lends itself to enthusiastic amateur conducting.
“…a seven-minute ovation, which is respectable rather than overwhelming.” How long would an ‘overwhelming’ ovation be?
1) This was at a film festival, and at film festivals, from Cannes to Sundance, standing ovations are *de rigueur*, and if you didn’t get at least 5 minutes of cheering, whopping, crying, hugging, then you didn’t get enough friends and family in the audience.
2) As the clip shows, a good minute of the ovation was for the Bernstein children dancing, I mean, you can’t stop applauding as long as they’re dancing, right?
3) Then everything becomes relative, another film showing the same day got a 8 minute standing ovation… And so it goes.
4) I love how serious film critics pull out their stop watches at the end and include the minute count in their reviews. It’s de rigueur.
I have seen and heard many wonderful artists including Leonard Bernstein, Wilhelm Kempf, Isaac Stern, Daniel Barenboim and Stanisław Skrowaczewski but have never witnessed a 7 minute ovation.
I guess you never saw or heard Nureyev, Sutherland, Corelli, Nilsson, Horowitz, Plisetskaya, Caballé, Argerich, Karajan, Solti, etc. perform in New York. Need I go on?
The longest ovation I ever heard was for Bernstein with the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein in 1978 for a concert/filming of Beethoven 4 and 7. Long applause, orchestra finally left the stage, more applause, Bernstein came back out for yet another bow — with towel over his shoulders or maybe a robe). I wasn’t timing….
Schwarzkopf in Buenos Aires. No less than 7 minute ovation.
At the Berlin Philharmonic, conductors and the Berlin Phil get quite regularly a 7 minutes and more standard standing ovation….Kiril Petrenko, Herbert Blomstedt,Barenboim….Often ,people don´t stop clapping until orchestra members or the conductor returns to the stage.
And don´t forget Bernard Haitink´s concerts during his last season!
I can’t get over that prosthetic nose, it looks like someone just bent off a hangar and stuck it on his face.
Turns out the makeup artist was Japanese and gave an interview in Variety. An Asian giving a Wasp a Jew face. It’s diversity, that much I’ll admit.
Bernstein’s 3 children gave that prosthetic nose their full approval, so get a life!
Even the children can be wrong. Lenny had more meat on his nose and it blended well with his overall face. It didn’t stick out and draw attention to itself in the way it’s portrayed in the film.
It’s our right not to give ours even if it doesn’t worth that much. I never looked at Lenny ‘s nose but I can’t get my eyes of Cooper’ s even if I support his project.
Is there any more pathetic attempt at a put-down than “get a life”? It’s so childish!
Haven’t seen the film yet, but cinematic hagiography of a man who dissipated his remarkable gifts through excessively immersing himself in celebrity would be ironic.
I’ve heard that the film focuses not so much on Bernstein the cultural icon but rather the flawed human being that he was…..full on contradictions, foibles and and myriad weaknesses. So I’m not sure how hagiographic it is.
I’m not sure what hagiograhic means.
The term “Jew-facing” was coined by those who were not in supoort of the artificial nose elongation.
Can’t wait till Golda with Helen Mirren opens in the UK.
Speaking of the jew face controversy, I saw a photo of Helen Mirren portraying Golda Meir, which I think is in theaters now, and her prosthetic looks way more exaggerated than Bradley Cooper’s yet I haven’t don’t recall a controversy about her. I’m not sure why. https://collider.com/golda-movie-review/
If you want to look like Lenny you have to down half a bottle of booze before you perform.
Unless the exaggerated nose is an actual plot point, I can’t see why the filmmaker went to all that trouble. Really, he looks like Cyrano de Bergerac.
I really think the fuss about the nose was ginned up by the promotions department. The PR folks produced a trailer and released still shots that provoked the controversy, while in many shots later released it’s less remarkable. Result: many people who knew nothing of this film know its name and have opinions about it 10 weeks before its US release.