Flamenco

Rating:
Summary: This video is an insult to the sacred culture of Flamenco.
Review: After watching this video I have no doubt that the director Carlos Saura is a certified idiot. He has taken a beautiful lively culture and has turned it into a depressive piece of garbage. The only thing Saura has grasped from Flamenco is the letter F which he has used to turn art into Fart. I would not be angry at Mr. Saura if he had named his video with some other name such as "I have no talent, therefore I act wierd in order to get famous". This video is an insult to the sacred culture of Flamenco. I am truly sorry to see a magnificent artist such as Maria Pages has associated her name with Saura.

Rating:
Summary: Allez !!!
Review: Beautifully shot, and runs through many different manifestations of flamenco. Keep an eye out for Maria Pages and Joaquin Cortes. Many, many gorgeous performances! A+++ !!

Rating:
Summary: Genial direction and cinematography; excellent flamenco.
Review: C. Saura captivates the existential essence of flamenco in this elegant film, which is a chronology of the hours starting at sunset and ending at dawn; where each episodes is told within a flamenco capsule. This film is not a documentary, nor is it the live footage of a flamenco troop's performance, rather it contains a series of complete pieces, each of which are perfect. The film contains three soleares, three bulerias, two tangos, one seguiriya, one fandango, and a handful of other styles. This film is the wisdom of Saura, showing again, that films are not meant to be uni-dimensional accounts of a curious story, or an obvious documentary. The film is from the heart full of the love and sincerity of those who participated in it, containing the most intimate and dignified performances of each of the living geniuses of the Flamenco industry. Each artist freely reaches and evokes their most cherished aesthetics. This is very important because flamenco is just about that, not about fooling the audience. The distractions of the common footage are removed as Storraro (the cameraman) gives himself up, flying around the performers seizing the impossible: moving to the compas of the performers, showing all the angles of the true flamenco expression.

Rating:
Summary: Great lineup, sterile handling
Review: Carlos Saura has cornered the market for flamenco movies today, from his 'Carmen' and 'Bodas de Sangre'. The long career has given him access to Spain's top artists working today. Unfortunately he has not seen fit to change his doggedly austere style, throwing artists into a stark empty room hoping to induce a more somber, and presumably purer, more dignified and more respectable Art.

This may be good politics, but makes for bad art. Like it or not, the soul of flamenco cannot be torn from the Andalucian sun and earth and still live. Like Argentine tango and jazz, it is at its most vibrant and purposeful when it's at home among its people.

A much better intro to flamenco, which showcases this living link, would be "Duende y Misterio del Flamenco", "Los Tarantos" by legend Carmen Amaya, or the many Spanish TV documentaries like "Caminos Flamencos" or "Años de Flamenco" (with many of the same artists), available from Catalina's ([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: The Spirit
Review: Having had the remarkable blessing of living with the Gypsies of Granada and having seen them spontaneously create flamenco as part of a living culture, I still thought this film, despite, or maybe because of, its "sterility" was the essence of flamenco. Like all things, flamenco gets politicized. Personally, I have no political opinion on Saura, New Flamenco, any of it. If it WORKS, it's done. This film works.

Rating:
Summary: not enough dance
Review: I am relatively new to flamenco and do not understand spanish. I like flamenco for the passion in the dance. I do not understand the music though, so my review might be that of a novice. I cannot even recognize the artists. I expected more dance in the video, though there are some very good pieces. I wanted to see more of the performers dancing like the world did not matter to them and the sound of the shoes was all the sound in the world, and the expressions in their faces. I am disappointed considering the price i paid for this. I wish I knew where to look for heart stopping flamenco dance.

Rating:
Summary: Another flamenco masterpiece from Saura
Review: I dare you to find a better documentarian on the art of flamenco than Saura. Simply bringing this obsure but masterful artform to video is magical enough, but to have Saura do it is miraculous. He has chosen from the best that could be gathered in Spain, and did an awesome job putting them on a 2 hour tape. They only criticism is that this is not available on DVD, but no matter, it is a MUST for anyone who is a true flamenco purist or musicologist. The piece is beautifully staged, perfectly photographed and ingeniously edited.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I thought...
Review: I have listened to flamenco music all my life..I was born in Spain, and I'm telling you that this tape is not the true flamenco you would find on the streets of sevilla, or anywhere else in the south. ALso did not have enough dancing, which is the main atraction of the flamenco music.

Rating:
Summary: flamenco
Review: I liked this movie. Love the music, got in to the flamenco dancing, who didn't liked this movie, really, does not know flamenco at all.

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING
Review: I lived in Spain 4 years. This film is a real gem. The way that Saura plays with the camera all the fameco's mouvements and faces it is fantastic. Plus, I have to say that the Director of Photography, the famous Hector Storaro, does an amazing job. His photography contributes to make this film a winner.(actually it is! in Europe).