Alright, you eager Summer movie blockbuster fans, cool your jets. There will be plenty of fast cars, fist fights, and superheroes headed your way in the next couple of months. For now, we can settle down for a bit of culture, a deep dive into high art. Oh, but don’t be fooled by the title, this isn’t a literal translation of the centuries-old Bizet opera. Nor is it the 50’s revamp that starred the much-missed Harry Belafonte. True, there’s a song or two, but the main mode of communication, aside from the dialogue, is dance. No tutus are seen, as it’s a gritty tale of murder of desire along the much-in-the-news Southern border involving a vet named Aidan on the US side, and on the other side, a sultry young beauty on the run named Carmen.
And the opening scenes are set on her side, near...
And the opening scenes are set on her side, near...
- 5/12/2023
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“Carmen” is many things: a novella (by Prosper Mérimée) inspired by a Pushkin poem (“The Gypsies”); a classic Bizet opera inspired by that novella; an archetype wrought by said opera of the sexy, fearless and feared woman; and countless interpreted films, from Cecil B. DeMille’s silent saga to Otto Preminger’s adaptation of the all-Black musical to Carlos Saura’s flamenco masterpiece.
Now comes what French-born choreographer and first-time feature director Benjamin Millepied (he who choreographed “Black Swan”) is calling his “Carmen” from a parallel universe, an original modern-day drama with music and dance set on the U.S./Mexico border, with its same-named protagonist reimagined as a headstrong Mexican immigrant fleeing violence, seeking sanctuary, falling for an American Marine and — what else? — finding herself.
Mostly, though, Millepied’s debut — premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and featuring rising star Melissa Barrera (in the title role) and Irish actor...
Now comes what French-born choreographer and first-time feature director Benjamin Millepied (he who choreographed “Black Swan”) is calling his “Carmen” from a parallel universe, an original modern-day drama with music and dance set on the U.S./Mexico border, with its same-named protagonist reimagined as a headstrong Mexican immigrant fleeing violence, seeking sanctuary, falling for an American Marine and — what else? — finding herself.
Mostly, though, Millepied’s debut — premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and featuring rising star Melissa Barrera (in the title role) and Irish actor...
- 9/11/2022
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
Located somewhere between a classic opera, a modern dance piece, and a deadly fever dream — between the timeless beauty of ancient myth and the modern nightmare of America’s current immigration policies — Benjamin Millepied’s “Carmen” is stretched across a few too many borders to ever feel like it’s standing on solid ground. And yet, (Nicolas Britell) for the kind of aggressively unclassifiable movie that would never exist if not for these two artists reaching beyond their disciplines to create it themselves.
Loosely inspired by Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera of the same name — so loosely, in fact, that Millepied thinks of his film as less of a re-telling or adaptation than he does a version of Bizet’s tragedy from a parallel universe — this “Carmen” moves the action from the southern tip of Spain to the northern cusp of Mexico, pares the source material’s busy story down to the brink of abstraction,...
Loosely inspired by Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera of the same name — so loosely, in fact, that Millepied thinks of his film as less of a re-telling or adaptation than he does a version of Bizet’s tragedy from a parallel universe — this “Carmen” moves the action from the southern tip of Spain to the northern cusp of Mexico, pares the source material’s busy story down to the brink of abstraction,...
- 9/11/2022
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Benjamin Millepied, who choreographed and co-starred in 2010 Oscar nominee “Black Swan,” had been wanting to bring his take on the classic opera “Carmen” to the big screen for more than six years. The score would be one of the most important components for Millepied, who was directing a feature film solo for the first time, and he turned to composer Nicholas Britell to help execute his vision. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that their collaboration made choirs sing.
Georges Bizet’s opera, which bowed in Paris in 1875, was set in southern Spain. Millepied’s movie, is a complete re-imagining, debuting Sept. 11 at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival released by Sony Pictures Classics, begins in Mexico with a jaw-dropping flamenco number that showcases Marina Tamayo as Carmen’s mother on the grounds of the family’s house. Some men arrive looking for Carmen, and a tense standoff ends in her mother’s brutal murder.
Georges Bizet’s opera, which bowed in Paris in 1875, was set in southern Spain. Millepied’s movie, is a complete re-imagining, debuting Sept. 11 at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival released by Sony Pictures Classics, begins in Mexico with a jaw-dropping flamenco number that showcases Marina Tamayo as Carmen’s mother on the grounds of the family’s house. Some men arrive looking for Carmen, and a tense standoff ends in her mother’s brutal murder.
- 9/7/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
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