I went to see "Maestro" last night. Much hyped. Laden with awards.

The acting was very good but the editing was woeful. The sound track in
particular seemed a bit at variance with what was seen. Just a couple of
examples:

At one point when the picture was of parkland with not a lot going on,
the sound track was giving us one of the vigorous gang choruses from
West Side Story.

During the lengthy end credits (these seem to get longer every time) the
overture to "Candide" was played (without acknowlegement) Why?

Another oddity: towards the end of the film we were shown a brief
external view of a cathedral and then internal views lasting several
minutes. A concert was in progress and I assumed that this was a
performance of The Chichester Psalms, but the cathedral didn't look to
me like Chichester and the sound level was very high for a religous
piece. The end credits revealed that it was Ely and the music was
Mahler's "Resurrection" symphony. (Explains why it was so boodly loud.)
No mention of this concert during the film.

Another oddity: the aspect ratio switched from 1:1 to 4:3 for no
apparent reason. The colour switched between monochrome and technicolour
(other colour systems are available.) Again, not easy to see why.

Disappointed, me.

Mike Ruddock

On Thu, 14 Dec 2023 08:58:13 +0000, Mike Ruddock
<ruddock117@btinternet.com> wrote:

>I went to see "Maestro" last night. Much hyped. Laden with awards.
>
>The acting was very good but the editing was woeful. The sound track in
>particular seemed a bit at variance with what was seen. Just a couple of
>examples:
>
>At one point when the picture was of parkland with not a lot going on,
>the sound track was giving us one of the vigorous gang choruses from
>West Side Story.
>
>During the lengthy end credits (these seem to get longer every time) the
>overture to "Candide" was played (without acknowlegement) Why?
>
>Another oddity: towards the end of the film we were shown a brief
>external view of a cathedral and then internal views lasting several
>minutes. A concert was in progress and I assumed that this was a
>performance of The Chichester Psalms, but the cathedral didn't look to
>me like Chichester and the sound level was very high for a religous
>piece. The end credits revealed that it was Ely and the music was
>Mahler's "Resurrection" symphony. (Explains why it was so boodly loud.)
>No mention of this concert during the film.
>
>Another oddity: the aspect ratio switched from 1:1 to 4:3 for no
>apparent reason. The colour switched between monochrome and technicolour
>(other colour systems are available.) Again, not easy to see why.
>
>Disappointed, me.
>
>Mike Ruddock

We watched A Christmas Candle a few days ago. It was okish :)

On Thu, 14 Dec 2023 08:58:13 +0000, Mike Ruddock
<ruddock117@btinternet.com> wrote:

>I went to see "Maestro" last night. Much hyped. Laden with awards.
>
>The acting was very good but the editing was woeful. The sound track in
>particular seemed a bit at variance with what was seen. Just a couple of
>examples:
>
>At one point when the picture was of parkland with not a lot going on,
>the sound track was giving us one of the vigorous gang choruses from
>West Side Story.
>
>During the lengthy end credits (these seem to get longer every time) the
>overture to "Candide" was played (without acknowlegement) Why?
>
>Another oddity: towards the end of the film we were shown a brief
>external view of a cathedral and then internal views lasting several
>minutes. A concert was in progress and I assumed that this was a
>performance of The Chichester Psalms, but the cathedral didn't look to
>me like Chichester and the sound level was very high for a religous
>piece. The end credits revealed that it was Ely and the music was
>Mahler's "Resurrection" symphony. (Explains why it was so boodly loud.)
>No mention of this concert during the film.
>
>Another oddity: the aspect ratio switched from 1:1 to 4:3 for no
>apparent reason. The colour switched between monochrome and technicolour
>(other colour systems are available.) Again, not easy to see why.
>
>Disappointed, me.
>
I'm sorry the film was a disappointment - after all the hype you
expect better. I'm wondering whether the colour/b&w think was anything
like that other film you saw - Oppenheimer - where the colour mode was
supposed to indicate which person the narrative was following, or
something.

As for Mahler's second: tricky little blighter that Resurrection
symphony. I think it must have been about a year ago that I was
complaining about its being demoted to serve as background music in an
epic production of Teatro Colon at an open-air arena. It didn't work
then either - the music is far too big for that.

Nick