Showing posts with label Prime Video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prime Video. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Laura Pausini: Pleased to Meet You, Recounts the Life of the Italian Megastar Gracefully

By José Alberto Hermosillo

The new documentary on the life of the Italian singer Laura Pausini is an intimate, emotional, and personal portrayal—with much-unseen footage. It’s a total crowd-pleaser!

The documentary is narrated in the first person by the singer herself. The journal presents Laura Pausini as a strong woman with solid family values deeply bonded to her loved ones. The feature emphasizes the Italian star’s international presence and the risks she took to attain everlasting glory in the music industry.
 
 
The non-linear project starts with Laura Pausini winning the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, “Io si/Seen,” from the 2021 picture “The Life Ahead/La vita davanti a sé.” The thirteen-time Oscar nominee Diane Warren, Pausini, and Niccolo Agliardi composed the song. The emotions for the entire Pausini family continue, some of them in Italy, Laura in Los Angeles with her first Oscar nomination.

The daughter of an extraordinary musician and song composer, Pausini’s musical origins began on a fateful day when she missed her train to school. While studying ceramics at the Art Institute Romagna, she became inspired to write a song about missing the train. At eighteen, she was invited to participate in the Sanremo Italian Song Festival; she became the youngest contestant to win the competition in 1993.

Greatness and fame came suddenly for the talented Italian teen. She subsequently took the opportunity to sing with the most significant Italian singers, such as Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, and Eros Ramazzotti.
 
“Solitude/The Loneliness” was one of her first international hits. Her first tour was
  Holland, Belgium, and Germany.
 
As her music has allowed her to travel the world, Pausini is familiar with many cultures yet feels closer to Latin American culture. She started singing Spanish at nineteen and traveled to Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico multiple times, developing a special closeness to the Latin people. Her first hit in Spanish was “Se fué/He’s Gone.”
 
After the talented Paolo Carta came into her life, they became family. He had four children from his previous marriage. Laura loves all of them the same, and for a long time, she longed for children of her own, yet it took time to accomplish the long-cherished dream of motherhood until 2013.

Pausini frequently asks herself what she would be doing other than singing if she had not won at Sanremo and muses that she may have become a housewife or architect. She couldn’t imagine other than a singer - there was no plan B.

Based on an idea of her own, the documentary adopted a non-chronological approach, connecting Pausini’s lifestyle in the present day perfectly with her Italian roots. The project also presents Laura Pausini as a trooper, a combative warrior who never gives up, and a sensitive woman full of that special tenderness that characterizes her - always remaining humbly grounded to her culture, family, fans, and close ones.

The narrative showcases the singer as a winning woman who longs for a “normal life.” After so many concerts and tours, Pausini wants to be with her family, friends, and neighbors, just like an average person. 

An important lesson Pausini learned was that music can modify people’s thinking. In this connection, the documentary is subtly underscored, with a minimal amount of screening time of some of the greatest hits, including “Tra te il mare/Between You and the Sea” (my favorite), “Vivimi,” “Inolvidable” and “One More Time.”

For more than thirty years of a successful career, Pausini’s maturity helped her begin producing her records. Her first Grammy came with “Listen.” Instead of basking in the winner’s joy, Pausini sinks into the despair of her loneliness. Alone at the hotel on that glamorous night, she orders a hamburger. The waiter brings her a bottle of champagne, and the two drank to her accomplishment. Subsequently, Laura won four Latin Grammy Awards.

“Laura Pausini: Pleased to Meet You” focuses exclusively on Pausini’s point of view and provides the viewer with a limited vision of her story without reaching out to other people in the industry—managers, colleagues, song producers, and others who may see the world around her differently.

In terms of editing and breadth of information, the documentary directed by Ivan Cotroneo (“One Kiss,” “Kryptonite!”), Is an emotional roller coaster appealing to the vast majority of viewers? Nevertheless, it doesn’t attain the mastery of other award-winning music documentaries that focus on women singers. For instance, Asif Kapadia’s “Amy” on the life and career of British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse; Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” on the tragic life of the Mexican-American legend; or R. J. Cutler’s “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” a film on the teen sensation who took the world by storm. However, the charm of the Italian singer is sure to please everyone, even if we don’t speak Italian.

Streaming now on Prime Video, “Laura Pausini: Pleased to Meet You” invites American audiences to get to know one of Italy’s most famous singers, a charismatic woman with a prodigious voice who has conquered it all, including herself.

Film critic Jose Alberto Hermosillo and Italian singer Laura Pausini at a Christmas autograph signing in Los Angeles. FestivalinLA ©2016.

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Friday, August 20, 2021

Annette: Swings Between “La La Land” and “Moulin Rouge!”


By José Alberto Hermosillo

“Annette” is a sublime, evocative, and artistic avant-garde musical with many symbolic elements representing love, betrayal, misadventure, and vengeance.

“Annette’s” splashy and elaborate musical numbers combined with fast-paced editing denote a clear style of maturity in directing and experimental filmmaking.

The narrative becomes existentialist when the main characters’ quest for self-realization takes off. They try desperately to find the true meaning of their mundane lives.

The musical starts with an emblematic continuous take from the interior of the recording studio to the busy exterior of the streets of Santa Monica, California. 

We can start recognizing some familiar faces right from the lively opening of that magnificent, and at the same time, minimalist overture. Along with the main characters is the fantastic duo of Sparks, the fancy chorus, and the visionary director Leos Carax (“Holy Motors,” “Mister Lonely”), who introduces the film by playing himself the music producer. “Annette” is Carax’s best work so far. 


The romance between the notorious comedian Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) and the acclaimed opera singer Ann Defrasnoux (Marion Cotillard) starts as casual dating in Los Angeles, where they lay their love story.

From then on, the attention centers on Henry. In his one-man show, he announces his engagement with Ann.

After Ann’s opera performance, the paparazzi and journalists wait outside the theater. They sing and huddle around the famous couple. Henry and Ann choose to hide their identities under the motorcycle helmets. 

Hollywood life brings us to a red carpet where they profess their vows, symbolizing their union in matrimony. Ann, the bride, throws out the bouquet to the hungry media as they exit the scene to express their love for each other musically in a more secluded location.

Good taste prevails in all musical numbers, even with “We love each other so much” singing while having sex and not in the shower, precisely as ordinary people do. Nevertheless, the arrival of their first baby will change their lives forever.

As their marriage life lingers, the dramatic music elevates the crescendo - suggesting an extramarital affair.

As we mentioned, the story centers on the distortion and deconstruction of Henry, the infamous and irreverent comedian with low self-esteem and plenty of addictions. Henry’s stand-up shows are worth our full attention because he foreshadows his following steps in his intimate and outrageous monologues.

Ann feels trapped in a toxic relationship. She and her innocent baby, Annette, will try to move out once and for all.


French-born Oscar winner Marion Cotillard is exquisite, delicate, and gentle as her character turns haunting.

Adam Driver’s interpretation is mature in what seems to be the most challenging performance of his career. He exceeds the accomplishments that were reached in “Marriage Story.”

The music turns obscure as everyone falls into the abysmal series of unfortunate events.

The American pop and rock duo Sparks wrote complex lyrics and seductive music. The band previously recorded “The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman” to tour, but the logistics of traveling with an enormous cast were challenging. Once, Leos Carax used a Sparks song in “Holy Motors.” After they met in Cannes a few years back, they decided to work together on this fabulous musical. 

Caroline Champetier is responsible for “Annette’s” sumptuous cinematography. She has also produced other luminous works in France, such as “Of Gods and Men” and “The Innocents.”


“Annette” is either complacent or disappointing. Set in Los Angeles, the romance has nothing to do with “La La Land,” and its musical numbers have no comparison with the frenetic speed of “Moulin Rouge!” Because “Annette” is sober and unique in all senses.

“Annette’s” ravishing visuals and originality keep our attention while we wonder, “What in the world are we watching?”

“Annette” is open to interpretation. When we reach its shocking, overwhelming, and beautiful grand finale, it is stunning and makes us think about the importance of karma - because what goes around comes around.

After all, our lives are lavish musicals in which we meet fascinating people, fall in love, marry, have children, watch them grow, make mistakes, and learn from those wrong decisions. While we regain control of our souls, we may find time to meditate profoundly about how our actions affect others.  

“Annette” was the opening piece and Best Director winner of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The operatic musical is something we have never seen before, entirely original!

As I finished watching “Annette,” I desperately wanted to rewind the tape and enjoy it repeatedly, hoping my faithful readers would dare to do the same and watch “Annette” at least twice.

The “Annette” Official trailer


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IF YOU ARE READING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE, CLICK: view web version FOR OTHER COOL FEATURES SUCH AS TRANSLATE POWERED BY GOOGLE, AN INTERACTIVE FILM FESTIVAL CALENDAR, AND MORE AWESOME ARTICLES.

 Festival in LA ©2021