Harlem Aria (1999/Magnolia DVD)
Picture: C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C-
Back in
1999, Damon Wayans produced a comedy/drama about a young African American in a
tough neighborhood who wanted to be an Opera singer. Unfortunately, he not only decided to star in
it as a street hustler, but allowed the promising project to become a goofy
mess and the result was Harlem Aria,
an independent miss that is now on DVD from Magnolia.
Gabriel
Casseus is Anton, the young man with a dream who decides to sort of run away
from home. He is not bad in the role,
but Wayans’ performance and the TV movie-like script from Director William
Jennings sabotages anything working or being authentic. Instead, it feels like an indie package deal
or the polar opposite of a great film like Precious. Richard Edson, Christian Camargo (The Hurt Locker, TV’s Dexter) and Paul Sorvino (a big opera
fan) also have roles, but they cannot save it either. Therefore, it will remain a curio and not
much more.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image has a good print used here, but is a
little softer than expected and one could not tell if this was filmed in 16mm,
Super 16mm or 35mm, but records claim 35mm.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is spreading out the low-budget sound a bit,
but it was a 5.1 release and is still a little better than the Dolby 2.0 Stereo
also included. Extras include vintage
interviews, original trailer and original making of featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
