Los Angeles
The real reflect of the Holocaust and suffering of a real father in “Son of Saul”
By GTVW Staff
Photos Agency
“Son of Saul,” from Hungarian-born director László Nemes’ and the story begins with Saul Auslander (Géza Röhrig) is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners isolated from the camp and forced to assist the Nazis in the machinery of large-scale extermination. While working in one of the crematoriums, Saul discovers the corpse of a boy he takes for his son. As the Sonderkommando plans a rebellion, Saul decides to carry out an impossible task; save the child’s body from the flames, find a rabbi to recite the mourner’s Kaddish and offer the boy a proper burial.
The film was inspired by the book, Voices from Beneath the Ashes, eyewitness accounts by Sonderkommando members who buried their testimonies prior to their rebellion in 1944. According to director László Nemes:“Their accounts are concrete, present and tangible. They precisely describe, in the here and now, the ‘normal’ functioning of a death factory… its rules, work cadences, shifts, hazards, and its maximum productivity.”
A full of drama film of a mass massacre. Saul reflects a pure father with a deep loss. Even the child of the protagonist is not his son at all– might, in Saul’s mind, redeem his forced treatment of all the others that came before him. Memes built a well structured character with an unusual neutral, accurate, powerful, without sensationalism with great sobriety and bravery of Saul Auslander (Géza Röhrig). Definitely “Son of Saul” is full of heartbreaking facts and emotionally devastating.
Los Ángeles master chorale’s “REJOICE! BRASS TIDINGS” will shine with great talent
By GTVW Staff
Photos Agency
Blazing brass, majestic pipe organ and soaring voices add sonorous sparkle to the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s “Rejoice! Brass Tidings,” which heralds the season with such classics as Willcocks’ Carols for Brass and Choir, Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata for chorus and double brass, and John Rutter’s Gloria, on Sunday, December 13, 2015, 7 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Conducted by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and featuring 62 Chorale members, the program also includes Shawn Kirchner’s Behold New Joy: Ancient Carols of Christmas, composed as a companion piece to Rutter’s jubilant opus, Nico Muhly’s Senex puerum, Paul Gibson’s Rejoice in the Lord Alway and two Christmas motets by Giovanni Gabrieli for double and triple choirs.
The Chorale’s other seasonal offerings at Disney Hall include “Festival of Carols,” December 5 and 12, 2 pm; two concert performances of Handel’s Messiah, December 6 and 20, 7 pm; and the 35th Annual “Messiah Sing-Along,” a do-it-yourself version, December 16, 8 pm.
The Chorale has performed in more than 500 concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at both Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, and has toured with the orchestra to Europe and New York City. It has also appeared at the Ojai Music Festival, the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival and the Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin, as well as in leading venues throughout the Southland. Its discography includes five commercial CDs under Gershon’s baton. In addition, in 2013, as part of its 50th anniversary season celebration, the Chorale released a digital recording featuring signature a cappella.
GRANT GERSHON is currently in his 15th season as the Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and also serves as Resident Conductor of LA Opera. The renowned chorus launches the holiday season with the best talent and the Chorale has long been recognized and hailed by critics for its exceptional holiday programming.
"Mustang" The sublimely beautiful story of five young sisters
Readaction & Photo Courtesy agency
Early summer in a village in Northern Turkey. Five free-spirited teenaged sisters splash about on the beach with their male classmates. Though their games are merely innocent fun, a neighbor passes by and reports what she considers to be illicit behavior to the girls’ family. In reaction, the family overreacts, removing all “instruments of corruption,” like cell phones and computers, and essentially imprisoning the girls, subjecting them to endless lessons in housework in preparation for them to become brides. As the eldest sisters are married off, the younger ones bond together to avoid the same fate. The fierce love between them empowers them to rebel and chase a future where they can determine their own lives in Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s debut, a powerful portrait of female empowerment. Mustang is a great movie.
“Southpaw” is synonym of hope
By Jenny Alvarez
Photos Agency
One of the best roles of Jake Gyllenhaal who plays Billy Hope during 124 min., in a perfect story where hope turns to trainer Tick Willis to help him get his life back on track after losing his wife in a tragic accident and his daughter to child protection services. The tragedy marks his life centered around a champion prize fighter and all the things related to the ring. Definitely a heartbreaking and emotional film where director Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY) and screenwriters Kurt Sutter (“Sons of Anarchy) and Richard Wenk (THE MECHANIC), reflect the strength of the human being. This boxing melodrama must be part of your Blu-ray collection with this great cast such Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence and more. As viewer you can enjoy it in English and Spanish Dolby Digital with English and Spanish subtitles.
The worst race relations are reflected in “Mi America”
By GTVW Staff
Photos Agency
From Director/screenwriter Robert Fontaine inspired by true stories from around the country, Mi America delivers a harrowing narrative on the conflict between disenfranchised Americans and immigrant workers. The film explores the circumstances surrounding a brutal hate crime that has upset the delicate balance of the small, ethnically diverse waterfront city of Braxton in upstate New York. Five Hispanic migrant labors are beaten, shot, then ditched near an abandoned warehouse, by the waterfront. The bodies are discovered six months later.
Rolando Ramirez (played by Fontaine) is a Hispanic-American Detective, and a longtime resident of this community) who has been assigned to this case by chance. Or was it fate? His journey will force him to question his own identity and beliefs on what it means to be a North American, and in turn, attempt to bring those who committed this crime to justice… His former best friends.
Violence against Latinos and the story told in Mi America is not unfamiliar to cities and towns across the U.S. where the conflict of disenfranchised Americans and immigrant workers has resulted in tragedy. The immigration dilemma and debate continues to rage on as we enter the politically charged battlefield of the 2016 election and Latinos continue to be targeted. This timely and urgent drama offers a potent opportunity to take a closer look at a dire issue in the media.
Mi America offers an on-the-ground look at some of the reality of this conflict. Although this film is not just about a hate crime but about how residents of divided communities, certainly violence against Latinos is not unfamiliar to cities and towns across the U.S. The question is how politicians react when they are ratcheting up the anti-immigration rhetoric.
Time to be scared by spooky characters at Los Angeles Haunted Hayride
Review and photos by Jenny Alvarez
In a special and warmest opening night of the 7th Annual Los Angeles Haunted Hayride, visitors enjoyed since the beginning and one of the best mazes with a cart pulled by a tractor. The cart is open, so monsters will get very close and your back is facing the outside and many of them were walking around the hayride.
2. Trick Or Treat: Within a tent, you walk past a series of 8 doors (all of them full of scary surprises), two of which give you candy.
3. The House of Shadows: Another walk through where visitors are pulsed through a series of the best haunted house sets ever conceived, populated by a cast with great performances.
4. The In-Between: Black walls, strobe lights, and clowns. A maze in which you will be sent through a maze that wears out its welcome just as its getting started, leading to lots of different emotions, with the exception of any positive ones.
People feel really haunted. In general all the characters were well organized with good make up, costumes of the characters and talented actors who really can scare you, this means extra fun for the rest of the night with really cool experience you got scared entertained and had a great time with friends on whoever you want to be.
Maurice Pialat shines with 5 classics
By GTVW Staff
Photos Agency
For all fans of independent films, 5 Classics by Maurice Pialat will come as one of the best collections that will be played in Los Angeles from September 25 to October 1 at the Laemmle Royal Movie Theater (11523 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Los Angeles, California 90025). The iconoclastic French auteur, called “the French Cassavetes,” created films that were, in the words of Film Comment’s Kent Jones “all about the shock—startling, violent, eternally and teasingly promising—of being alive.”
This collection of masterworks includes 1987’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner, “Under the Sun of Satan,” with Gérard Depardieu and Sandrine Bonnaire, “Loulou,” a tale of tortured love with Isabelle Huppert and Depardieu, “Van Gogh,” a chronicle of the last days of the artist, family drama “The Mouth Agape,” with Nathalie Baye, and the slice-of-life film about teenagers in suburban France “Graduate First.”
“Loulou” will be a masterpiece of subtlety and eroticism
During 117 min, you will discover to Nelly who meets Loulou, a down-and-out young man. After her husband kicks her out, she goes off to live with Loulou. She is soon with child, but Loulou doesn’t change his wayward life, spending time with his pals and pulling off small-time robberies. Deeply hurt by his attitude, Nelly decides not to keep the baby. With a great cast such Isabelle Huppert, Gérard Depardieu, Guy Marchand, Humbert Baln, Bernard Tronczyk, Christian Boucher, Frédérique Cerbonnet. Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert reflect their job as the sexiest couple in the history of the cinema.
“Van Gogh” painted his own life
Cast: During 158 min. Vincent Van Gogh settles in Auvers-sur-Oise, in the home of Doctor Gachet, an art lover and patron. Vincent keeps painting amidst the conflict with his brother, Theo, and the torments of his failing mental health. He has an affair with Marguerite, his host’s daughter. However, she soon realizes that he doesn’t love her and that his heart beats only for his art.
Definitely, a well structured film full of good scenes with an interesting plot, intelligence and acted with earnest conviction with an experienced cast such Jacques Dutronc, Alexandra London, Gérard Séty, Bernard LeCoq, Corinne Bourdon, Elisa Zylberstein, Leslie Azzoulai.
When cancer gets suffering of a French family in “The Mouth Agape”
During 1h 22m, the viewer will experience pain and suffering after cancer strikes the mother of the family in this French film, everyone in the family expresses a previously invisible caring and tolerance of the others. The father has always been a bit of a drunk, and is forever chasing younger women. Despite that, he and his wife care for each other, and he tends attentively to her in her last days while remaining unchanged in character. The son and daughter-in-law, whose marriage is somewhat sterile, have similarly penetrating interactions with the dying mother. Full of dramatic scenes with a great cast as Nathalie Baye, Philippe Leotard. Definitely, a heartbroken film full of emotions, tolerance and deep feelings strengthened.
Deep feelings of particular teenagers in “Graduate First”
During 85 min in a town in northern France, teenagers sitting for the baccalaureate await the fateful date with anxiety tempered with indifference. The past year has been the scene of their conflicts with adults and teachers alike who consider the exam as the highway to employment. The disillusioned teenagers played by Sabine Haudepin, Philippe Marlaud, Annick Alane, Michel Caron, all of them will see it more as the dead-end street to unemployment. These teenagers will experience the real labor life, including sacrifice and suffering in a new and modern society.
Controversy in “Under the sun of Satan”
During 100 min, Donissan, a mediocre seminarian, haunted by Evil and the failure of his divine mission, mortifies his body and is unable to establish any rapport with his parishioners. Until the day the abbot meets young Mouchette, who has just committed a mortal sin. Based on Georges Bernanos’s novel, the viewers will enjoy pure drama in each scene. Definitely this great cast Gérard Depardieu, Sandrine Bonnaire, Maurice Pialat, Alain Artur, Yann Dedetmade an excellent performance in each character.
More action at home with Furious 7 Blu-ray
By GTVW Staff
Photos Agency
Continuing the global exploits in the unstoppable franchise built on speed, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson lead the returning cast under director James Wan in Furious 7. Furious 7 took in a massive $1.51 billion at the worldwide box office, making it one of the top grossing films of the year. Now you will have a great Combo Blu-ray since September 15, 2015. A new, revenge-minded enemy named Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) has his sights set on Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew. But action is the furthest thing from their minds. Dom is working hard to rebuild his relationship with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who has lost her memory. Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) has traded in his street racer for a minivan and is living life as a father with his son Jack (Miller and Charlie Kimsey) and girlfriend Mia (Jordana Brewster).
The film’s screenwriter, Chris Morgan, revealed that he’d decided to make Paul Walker’s character exit more of a retirement during Furious 7.
With great audio in English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Spanish: DTS 5.1 and French (Canada): DTS 5.1 and subtitles in English SDH, French and Spanish. Your collection will be completed with 50GB Blu-ray Disc in two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD) with many settings as UV digital copy, iTunes digital copy, Digital copy and DVD copy. Definitely, a film that worth in passion for action films.
The New Girlfriend has new face in these modern days
By Jenny Alvarez
Photo by Courtesy
From Director François Ozon, The New Girlfriend is a humorous psychological drama begins after the death of her best friend, Claire falls into a deep depression, but a surprising discovery about her friend’s husband gives her a new taste for life. During 109 min. any viewer will enjoy the female friendships will reflect a well structured satire of sexuality full of fantasies with a sensitive portrayal of sexual & gender identity. This film also develops many subjects and the mystery unveils and the clichés disappear and the terrific, prolific and provocative cast by Romain Duris, Anaïs Demoustier, Raphaël Personnaz make it delightfully and enjoyable affair.
Luis Miguel had his own DEJA VU in a great concert
By Jenny Alvarez
Photos By Alfonso De Elias
One of the most talented superstar Luis Miguel was in concert at Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. Often referred to as El Sol de México, Miguel seamlessly performs a wide range of musical styles, including pop, ballads, boleros and mariachi. Despite the show started a little bit late. On top of that it was a Sunday and the timing of the show would have fit perfect, for his audience who let them song his best hits. His interaction was great, especially with many lights on and off on the stage. Hi wore three times in black with elegant outfit. This great Mexican Latin pop singer made of this concert, a different music style with deep touch of his hermetic personal life. First few songs were sweet and suave at the beginning of the concert, before warming up the audience. Second half was better especially with Mariachi. Greatest hits such “México En La Piel, Solamente Una Vez, Contigo Aprendí, La Media Vuelta, La Incondicional, El Día Que Me Quieras, Inolvidable, Por Debajo De La mesa, entrega Total” and more.
Definitely his performance was amazing as always even his voice quality has deteriorated. He struggled to sing some songs but let the audience do a fair amount of the singing and there were long breaks between songs. In General was a good concert for the female angelenas.
