2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superbly done. A must see for any Cello enthusiast., August 26, 2000
This review is from: Yo-Yo Ma - Inspired by Bach No. 4, Sarabande (Cello Suite 4) [VHS] (VHS Tape)
At first I struggled on whether or not to give this film 4 stars or 5 stars, but then I watched it again and concentrated on the music, and realized that it was definately worthy of 5 stars! The story line was a little complex, but that was intended. The music, however, was the focus of the movie, and the music was flawless!
Yo-yo Ma is an extraordinary cellist, and plays with not only great respect for the composer and his music, but also, for lack of a better term, as if he's truely in love with the music. He seems genuinely interested in what went into the creation of the music, as well as his interpretation of it.
Lori Singer also plays the cello in this movie, and plays an accompaniment with Yo-yo Ma. I've been a huge fan of Lori Singers acting for years, but rarely get to view her playing the cello. She's an extremely talented musician, and I lack the words to adequately describe just how talented a cellist she is.
This is a movie you can sit back, close your eyes, and just enjoy the music. I recommend it highly for any true music lover.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Sarabande, Ma, Egoyan: Patience rewarded, August 11, 2010
This review is from: Yo-Yo Ma - Inspired by Bach No. 4, Sarabande (Cello Suite 4) [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I bought the video series of Inspired by Bach and have found every single production in it to be worth repeated watching. When I first watched Sarabande I hated it. I used to have this same reaction upon purchasing a new recording by Nina Simone. It usually took me awhile to hear what she was presenting in her music. After repeated viewings of Atom Egoyan's Sarabande I now come away breathless each time I watch. One of the things that the film is about is what it means to be a healer and what it means to be healed. The film depicts two weeks in the lives of people as they engage with choices about how they will live, how they will love, whether and how they serve others or themselves. The film posits that all of these choices amount to finally, how one approaches one's own death: whether it is one's physical death (which begins and ends the film), the death of a romantic relationship or the death of professional career possibilities (one character chooses to become a doctor instead of a professional cellist - thus combining the issues of 1) whether -and how- one serves oneself or others and 2) the death of a career option.) All of these characters are related by their visits to a "healer" Yo Yo Ma is one healer who heals through music. There are two other healers who are the original physician whose death sets in motion the actions of the film and the physician who takes over his healing practice after his death. I find it to be a film that needs to be watched at the same time as you listen to it. The narrative is not secondary to the music but supportive and illustrative of the passion, joy and heartbreak that the music embodies. I didn't find a frame of this film to be imprecise, vague or superfluos. WHAT FOLLOWS IS A SPOILER. How can you dislike a film in which one of the characters, on the eve of being given a death sentence, is treated to a private concert of music written by "the great Bach" and performed by Yo Yo Ma in the back seat of his taxi? And the metaphor of a final meal/wish before death is followed through in the script as the character announces how this concert was better than a magnificent Greek feast. Bon apetit, folks!
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Yawn, February 9, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Yo-Yo Ma - Inspired by Bach No. 4, Sarabande (Cello Suite 4) [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The premise of this film as indicated on the jacket is impossibly vague; it is described rather unhelpfully as an exploration of "love" and "generosity of spirit" and so forth. Once you see the video, you will understand that the film itself is so unfocused that there really is no adequate way to describe it. One might think of it as a patchwork of ideas that were spewed out during a brainstorm by first-year film students over Sunday brunch. There isn't a great deal of intelligence behind this production.
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