TotalTelly.co.uk

Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV

The Car Man [2001]


RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £13.97 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

This latest dance version of Carmen comes courtesy of choreographer Matthew Bourne, who has devised his own scenario of Bizet’s opera set in a garage-diner in the American mid-West, circa 1960. The Car Man toured the UK in 2000 finishing with a four-month run to packed houses at the Old Vic. This film treatment details all the excitement of the occasion. The cinematography assists in capturing the atmosphere of Bourne’s treatment--film noir with allusions to Hitchcock--through employment of chiaroscuro. The use of the split-screen technique also enhances the cinematic feel. The music sounds seductive and full-bodied, befitting the new story line (Bourne calls it an “auto-erotic thriller”) in which an enigmatic stranger, Luca, walks into town seducing both Lana (Carmen) and Angelo (Don Jose). A swarthy individual, Luca looks an unlikely dancer until his first solo galvanises the company.

The single stage set adapts into eight different permutations, taking us from diner through nightclub and prison and then out on the road in a cinematic finale where the Chevrolet cars of the period are destroyed in a pile up. The period look is further enhanced with the girls in tight-waisted colourful frocks and the men in Brando-esque T-shirts and jeans. The dance ensembles are an extraordinarily versatile group: classical, jazz, modern and flamenco seem natural expressions of their body movements. Will Kemp deserves a special mention for his sensitivite portrayal of Angelo.

On the DVD: the soundtrack comes in a choice of stereo or 5.1. surround sound where the subtle employment of percussion instruments in the orchestration makes a telling effect. A picture gallery of 25 stills from the production and a 14-minute interview with Bourne expressing his initial doubt about doing another version of Carmen are further assets. He needn’t have had a qualm. This Car Man is destined to give much pleasure. --Adrian Edwards


Energetic, Raw Emotion and Hot, hot, hot!
Review date: 2008-05-18 Rating: 10 out of 10

This ballet was a classic from the moment it premiered. The music cleverly re-interprets Bizet's original score updating it for a modern audience.

The atmosphere is heavy and sultry; you really do feel that you are in now where's ville USA. Beautifully crafted and wringing every emotion out of you. The story is strong and the choreography is excellent (even if it does include some classic "Bourne" movements).

If you have seen other Matthew Bourne Ballets you will know what to expect and enjoy. If you have not this is an excellent starting point.

Similar Products

Reviews


Ballet from Matthew Bourne as noir...sweaty, sexy and hopeless
Review date: 2007-06-28 Rating: 10 out of 10

Okay, so this is a ballet, not a black-and-white noir with Robert Mitchum or Burt Lancaster. And the title is, in my opinion, too clever for its own good. Yes, choreographer Matthew Bourne uses great chunks of Bizet's throbbing, tempestuous music, but the story has little to do with Carmen. The Car Man is based on The Postman Always Rings Twice. It's as horny, bloody, brutal and melodramatic as the Garfield-Turner movie or the book, and with an added erotic twist. In other words, it's a great noir story which has been turned into a great noir dance production.

When the tough drifter Luca (Alan Vincent) wanders into the mid-Western town of Harmony, population 375, he winds up at Dino's Diner and Garage. Dino (Scott Ambler) is an overweight, uncouth guy with a younger sex-pot of a wife, Lana (Saranne Curtin). She and her sister, Rita (Etta Murfitt) run the diner. Dino's mechanics in his garage are all small-town bullies and blusterers. They torment a young guy, Angelo (Will Kemp), with sexual innuendo; that Angelo is the boyfriend of Lana's sister makes no difference. He's not tough enough to stand up to them, and that makes him fair game. Luca quickly establishes who is the top guy and intervenes to stop the bullying of Angelo. And when Luca and Lana spot each other, we know nothing good is going to happen. Then Dino has to be away for a night. The two would-be lovers are just about to consummate their lust when Dino unexpectedly returns. Luca barely escapes with his shoes...and uses the opportunity to finish off things with Angelo. Luca is just as happy to use male or female as long he's the one in charge. It's not long before Luca and Lana are discovered...and Dino has his head smashed in by a heavy wrench, first swung by Lana and then, with Lana urging him on, by Luca. They set things up so that Angelo takes the fall. While they spend Dino's money drinking and gambling, Angelo is assaulted in prison, but escapes with a guard's gun. He and Luca and Lana are going to meet again in front of the garage. Luca may be having a crisis of conscience, maybe even Lana, too. Is it going to do them any good?

There are two things that make this ballet work. First, course, is Matthew Bourne's originality and choreography. The dance set pieces are vigorous and to the point, and when they need to show longing or lust, they do. Bourne often drives traditional ballet mavens up the wall. He is no traditionalist and he doesn't hesitate to use whatever dance styles do the job. He also loves to give traditional stories a twist, often but not always with an erotic element that has homo-erotic themes as well as hetero-erotic. When Luca and Lana first show their explicit lust for each other in front of the garage after Dino leaves, they are joined by the mechanics and their girlfriends. These are guys where "love" means their girl friends put out and then, afterwards, "Get me a beer." Bourne and his TV director Ross MacGibbon create a dark, hot dance where the sex is almost explicit in the cutting and becomes part of the dance. Toward the end there is a long duet between Luca and the bloody corpse of Dino which Lucas' conscience brought to the surface. The two dancers, Vincent and Ambler, create a stumbling, terrible vision of retribution on its way. Later, when Luca faces off with Angelo and meets his fate, there is a bloody, explicit kiss which really is shocking. The second thing that makes The Car Man work is the dancers. The women all look sexy and petulant. Lana has a figure that would make the real Lana Turner envious. Even more necessary for this ballet to work, Luca and the mechanics are genuinely tough-looking guys. They are highly skilled dancers but no one breaks the image, by either facial expression or movement, of being small-town, ignorant bullies. Scott Ambler, with a realistically padded stomach, plays Dino with as much acting skill as dancing skill. There also is no attempt to disguise unshaved underarms or hide the sweat the dancers generate dancing. The weather in Harmony is hot and humid. The place looks like it reeks of beer, sex and sweat. So do the dancers.

While Bourne created The Car Man as a theater piece, he and MacGibbon have shot and edited it to be a cinematic experience. Traditionalists who want a camera positioned in front of the stage and then switched to automatic pilot will be displeased. Quick cutting at times, close-ups of glances, camera angles that give us far more immediacy than a theater seat would, and a tour-de-force of cutting, camera smears and sound that create the illusion of cars racing, all add up to a dynamic viewing experience. It really works in terms of dramatic tension and movement, and it obviously is exactly what Matthew Bourne wanted.

For those who might be interested in Bourne's other work on DVD, try his great take on Swan Lake and his innocently naughty version of Nutcracker. His last major theater ballet to date is based on Edward Scissorhands. It finished its American tour a couple of months ago to terrific reviews. I hope the DVD is on the way soon. The DVD of The Car Man, by the way, has a great transfer.

So can a ballet be considered a noir? When it's based on The Postman Always Rings Twice it can, especially when its as sexy, brutal and hopeless as Bourne makes it.

ELECTRIFYING
Review date: 2007-05-25 Rating: 10 out of 10

Bourne is unique. Alan Vincent superb. Have seen this ballet twice, and on both occasions in the prison rape scene you could have heard a pin drop. It is lively, funny, moving and I bought the DVD so's I can watch it again & again as I do his other ballets.

A major disappointment
Review date: 2007-03-30 Rating: 2 out of 10

This is my 3rd attempt to write a review for the Car Man. For some reason, Amazon did not post the other two and never deigned to explain why. This is getting boring, but I do believe that somebody should warn unsuspecting buyers who are about to spend their money on this, so I'll make a third attempt.
I got this after watching Bourne's Swan Lake, thinking that the combination of the choreographer, Bizet's score and the story of Carmen would create something of a sensation. This was so sensational, that the friends I was watching it with, asked me to turn it off in the middle of the second Act. I watched the rest alone later out of curiosity.
First of all, Carmen this ballet is not! Only portions of Bizet's score have been used, -often changed almost beyond recognition.
The plot is a messy affair, based primarily on Visconti's film "Ossessione" (which was re-made in Hollywood with the title "The postman always rings twice"). Ideas have been "borrowed" from a variety of sources, from "Macbeth" to "Fight Club"(!) There is, of course, a gay element, but in the 21st century this seems neither original, nor sensational.
The choreography is unimpressive. I think it would be unfair to try to judge the dancers, given what they were asked to perform, still Alan Vincent seemed particularly un-graceful, whereas Will Kemp managed to impress me in his very expressive solo in the 2nd Act.
I do not know exactly what is meant by the phrase "An auto-erotic thriller" (I suspect whoever coined the expression thought that "auto" would make us think of "automobile", however, the word actually means "self". An automobile is a self-moving vehicle.) Of course, this is not about self-love, or any other kind of love, for that matter. This is supposed to be about lust and passion, but it is done in such a shallow, extroverted manner, filled with cliches and stereotypes, that I did not find it erotic in the least. To me, it was plain boring.

Long Live Auto-Erotica!
Review date: 2005-03-04 Rating: 10 out of 10

Matthew Bourne is Matthew Bourne and you either love what he does in terms of story-telling in dance, or you don't. I've heard and read that those who are better qualified than me to critique dance find his choreography 'dull' and lacking in the more stylish elements. That's as maybe -- I found this story of lust, infidelity and jealousy, as told in dance, completely compelling from start to end.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Saranne Curtin
Will Kemp
Scott Ambler
Etta Murfitt
Alan Vincent

Creators:
Alan Vincent (Primary Contributor)
Saranne Curtin (Primary Contributor)
James Bicknell (Editor)
Andrew J. Cohen (Producer)
Gordon Baskerville (Producer)
Katharine Doré (Producer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Music Vision
Manufacturer: Warner Music Vision
EAN: 0809274212924
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2001-12-24
Universal product code (UPC): 809274212924
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 100 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2001
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Subtitled)

Add to Cart

© 2006 Darren Hester, DesignsByDarren.com, Some Rights Reserved.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional