A Tickle In The Heart
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B-
A Tickle In The Heart (1996) is a documentary look at
the Klezmer music genre, its ethnic Jewish roots, its revival and The Epstein
Brothers. These men are some of the last
“old school” survivors of all the musicians who played it. This 84-minutes-long look at all of it by
director Stefan Schwietert not only has obvious musical significance, but also
captures the personalities of the men who were practically giants in their field,
one that has been almost totally lost.
This
consists of interviews mixed with testimonial reflections of the times in which
these men lived in and witnessed many key changes. Though that sounds like many such
documentaries we have seen before, this one differs with a music genre most
have not heard of before, and the wit of the Epsteins. This can be charming, but is also yet another
important part of art and history that we are learning about too late, especially
for those who are only getting their appreciation for it in their twilight
years, which is always a shame. That
this keeps happening says something about the society we live in, and that is
not good.
The 1.78
X1 image is not anamorphic and in a modern variant of black and white, which
means the gray scale is not great, and a tad greenish here. It is obviously new, but also soft
throughout. Most oddly of all, it was
shot by cinematographer Robert Richmond on the same kind of commercial
monochrome stocks Steven Spielberg shot Schindler’s
List on four years before, which is very disorienting to be honest. I would have at least mixed the stocks with
some color. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
is adequate, but has no Pro Logic surrounds.
Extras include three trailers for other First Run DVDs, a 10-stills
gallery, the full frame, color short Two Weddings (1997, 6:50), one
too-brief text frame on Klezmer and how it began way back in the 15th
Century, and a “Music Recommendations” section that even includes the finding
of rare acetates on Yiddish Radio (www.yiddishradioproject.org)
from Penguin Audio Books and Shanachie.
You can read more about this there, which will make for a solid
companion to A Tickle In The Heart,
another story of America as well.
- Nicholas Sheffo
