Bob
& The Monster
(2013/MVD Visual Blu-ray + DVD)/Celibidache
Rehearses Bruckner's Ninth
(1991, 2005/ArtHaus/Naxos Blu-ray)/Gozaran:
Time Passing
(2013/EuroArts/Naxos Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+/C+/B- Sound: C/B-/B- Extras: B-/C-/C Documentaries:
B-/C+/B-
The
following documentaries all involve music, but they have the unusual
common denominator that the biography and story sides of each tend to
overshadow the music a bit.
Kierda
Bahruth's Bob & The Monster
(2013) is a look at the life and times of Bob Forrest, one time
writer and lead singer of the band Thelonious Monster, a band like
Big Star and The Stone Roses that should have been the next big band,
but was foiled by inner turmoil. In this case, Forrest was a very
self-willed man who became a very serious addict to drinking and
especially drugs, which nearly destroyed him. He still managed to
befriend future Red Hot Chili Peppers bandmates Flea and Anthony
Kiedis before their band did become the next big thing and was part
of the center of major musicians in the 1980s Hollywood scene.
This
is a biography of Forrest, the industry, the music and how he barley
survived to become a recovered addict who has since gone out of his
way to help save endless others who are sick and ill form addiction.
Courtney Love, John Frusciante and Scott Weiland are among the many
friends and family who join in to tel the story and how they see Bob.
It is another great untold story of Rock Music and a real artist and
hurt human being who somehow survived to see it through.
Extras
in both format versions include a Making
Of for the Claymation
sequences and feature length audio commentary tracks by Director
Bahryth and Bob himself.
Jan
Schmidt-Garre's Celibidache
Rehearses Bruckner's Ninth
(1991, 2005) takes an hour to show conductor exploring, discussing,
teaching and molding an orchestra into performing the major Bruckner
work (we have reviewed the legendary composer 4 times and counting as
of this posting) of the title, giving us his insights from a few
interviews in between long clips of working though the entire work
with said orchestra.
To
its advantage, it shows Sergiu
Celibidache in his later peak years giving great advice on music,
showing us his instincts, grasp, understanding and love of Classical
Music and music overall. Some may find this tedious and repetitive,
but if you love the music and realize the man makes great calls
throughout, it becomes a fine record of his work and how hard it is
to really conduct music and do it on a great scale. It is admittedly
not for everyone, though fans will love it, but it is also a key
release that is bold in its own way. Constructive criticism can be
tough, rough and ongoing, but can be worth it if an orchestra can
deliver.
Trailers
for other ArtHaus Classical Blu-ray released are the only extras,
though there is text on the foldout DigiPak casing about this
program.
Frank
Scheffer's Gozaran: Time
Passing (2013) is as much
about music as it is about clashing cultures. Iranian composer Nader
Mashayekhi is asked to run the Tehran Symphony Orchestra in playing
Western Classical music back in 2005. Tougher than pushing a camel
through a needle, things do not work out (from the country that
banned its own great diva, Googoosh) and this documentary looks at
the fallout o0f that and how Mashayekhi recovered and regrouped from
it.
This
runs 85 minutes and even with odd turns of events between Iran and
the U.S., et al, this remains as relevant and interesting as ever.
The makers rights leave politics secondary knowing the ever-changing,
even intense situation, leaving the music and people the true
ultimate focus of the film. I have a feeling this will remain so for
a very long time to come.
Extras
include a nicely illustrated booklet on the program including
informative text and trailers for other EuroArts Classical Blu-ray
releases.
The
1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on all three
Blu-rays can be rough with good HD and even filmed footage mixed with
bad digital, analog and film footage where applicable. Bob is
so rough at times that there is little difference between the Blu-ray
and anamorphically enhanced DVD that
it tells you how rough some of it really gets. I still narrowly
liked the Blu-ray better. Ninth
has more noise throughout than I would have liked (1.33 X 1 16mm cut
to be 1.78 X 1 perhaps in the main concert footage?) mixed with
analog video that can look degraded and VHS-like. Gozaran
has almost all location footage shot often when the camera is moving,
but many of the images can be detail challenged.
As
for sound, Bob
has lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 (usually) Stereo sound in both format releases, but
this includes rough vintage audio, rough audio from rough video
sources and some location audio issues at times. Ninth
and Gozaran
tie for first place in the sonics department, having PCM 2.0 Stereo
mixes that fare better overall than Bob,
but Gozaran
adds a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix that tries to give
more clarity to the music, but this only helps so much.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
