The opera gala first. Held in the Hoddinott Hall, a complete sell out and the final event of Cardiff Music Festival, this was something we'd been anticipating for some time. It featured a range of up and coming younger singers as well as a special guest appearance from the much loved Dennis O'Neill. He has been working hard to set up the Wales Academy of Voice (see link here) to bring on younger opera singers and has a real dedication to this which is to be welcomed and commended. We have seen Angharad Morgan before (she was one of the soloists with the Cardiff Bach Choir) and she has a gorgeous voice, with a lovely warmth and richness, plus a great stage presence. There was a nice mix of classic arias plus some pieces for the orchestra like the intermezzo from Cav Rust. I was less impressed with the conducting, but Andrew felt it was fine, so perhaps that was just me.
It was also another opportunity to spend time in the Millennium Centre - I love this building with a passion. It works so well when catering for crowds, and has enough space that you can wander about during the interval and just enjoy being in there and admire the views without being crushed in a bar or having to queue endlessly for the loo. I like the sound in the Hoddinott Hall - there's a warmth and clarity there. While we were there, we looked at what was coming up and have booked for Parsifal next year (done by the Mariinsky, as was the Ring Cycle) plus Derren Brown.
Yesterday, we went to see "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", the new film of the novel, starring Gary Oldman and with an excellent ensemble cast. I approached it with particular anticipation. The book is one of my favourite novels, my copy of it is battered with many re-readings and of course it was made into a truly magnificent TV series with Alec Guinness as Smiley. The film had had good reviews and was made by the director who did "Let the Right One In", a Swedish film I'd enjoyed very much, so the auguries were good.
We hadn't been to the cinema for a while - generally, it's expensive and audience behaviour is so bad that you can't enjoy the film because of rowdy teenagers and rioting children. Fortunately, this isn't the sort of film that children would go and see, but we were both horrified at how expensive seats are now - nearly £20 for a couple if you want the Premium Seating, and around £8 for an ordinary seat. Fortunately Andrew had a discount, and I also had an offer via my phone for some free popcorn - but over £3 for a bottle of water!!! Aaargh. Not funny. At these prices, cinema going will continue to be a rare treat, and we will enjoy watching films via Sky.
Anyway, almost from the first frame, I felt an enormous sense of relief and a deep sense of pleasure - the book had been respected and a wonderful film had been created. The acting was superb - I foresee a huge crop of Oscars, Emmys, BAFTAs etc for this. Difficult to pick out individuals since there really wasn't a dud in it - but Benedict Cumberbatch was superb as Guillam, Cieran Hinds brought a real sense of thuggish intimidation to his role, and of course Gary Oldman acted as the pivot for the whole thing as Smiley. He was truly superb, and top marks to him for not overdoing things - so much of the character of Smiley and his portrayal is about absence, repression and observation, rather than action and expression. It was such a pleasure to watch a truly adult film, not in the sexual sense, but in the sense of it being made intelligently, and allowing the audience to fill in gaps, join dots and infer things that were hinted rather than stated. Visually, it was also wonderful - a murky, sepia reminder of the decay and depression of the 1970s. I really can't praise it highly enough, and even by the time we walked back to the car, I mentioned to Andrew that I was looking forward to seeing it again when it reaches Sky, as I've no doubt there will be even more nuances I'll pick up the second time around.
I haven't felt this happy about the adaptation of a much loved book since we watched Lord of the Rings. Conversely, when an adaptation goes badly wrong, it's hard to explain the sense of fury and almost of violation that you feel - where much loved characters, places or language get trashed or misunderstood.
No comments:
Post a Comment