Classical music is a subject I know little about so I did not expect to be entertained by this movie. How wrong I was. It's a masterpiece on so many levels. The music, the theatricality, the acting, the composure of it all ... sublime.
Pretty fascinating. We were shown that movie back in school and something about it really drew me in. Great storytelling and actors; I really loved F. Murray Abraham as Salieri.
So I watched Amadeus for the first time last night, a film that plays out like Baz Lurhman's insipid wet dream; an anachronistic take on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, here re-imagined as Ferris Bueller. It could be argued that manic manchildren are director Miloš Forman's "thing" - the director has a clear affinity for characters whose brilliance is coupled by an near-infantile understanding of the world in which they live - but Forman's Mozart lacks all the depth of a Mac McMurphy or an Andy Kaufman. Instead we are presented with a paper-thin perspective of the character through his rival Antonio Salieri (pulled in an admittedly superb performance by F. Murray Abraham), an entirely one-note character whose entire life revolves around his obsession with Mozart. It's clear Salieri is the film's real main character, but he has no real arc, no progression in the story - it feels like film should be following some sort of collapse of Salieri as he grows more and more obsessed, or perhaps have his relationship with Mozart dramatically change throughout the course of the movie, but instead the film establishes Salieri's total obsession with and abhorrence of Mozart pretty much instantly and his attitude remains such throughout.
Mozart, on the other hand - it's interesting that they chose to have Mozart's life given to us entirely from the perspective of a different character, but when trying to make a perspective such as this interesting you often have to either have to have the character providing the perspective hold a very dynamic relationship with the subject (which as I explained they failed miserably), or attempt to make the subject seem at least somewhat enigmatic. Unfortunately for this film, Mozart is a plainly open-book straight from his very first scene and, like everything else in this movie, remains so forever and ever amen.
Visually the film is breathtaking - several of Mozart's opera's are realized brilliantly in on-stage recreations, recreations so stunning that the film would have greatly benefited from being merely an expanded film collage on these very scenes. The film utilizes a mostly browned colour palette, yet remains feeling vibrant and colourful throughout; and my GOD if there isn't a lot of great fucking cleavage in this movie. Honestly, every female character in the movie has a pair of tits stacked like smothered bowling balls, spilling out of the tops of corsets so voluptuously it would make Powergirl weep with feelings of dire inadequacy.
Perhaps it was seen as particularly groundbreaking by the Oscar committee when it was released as the only film to be set prior to the turn of the century that doesn't arbitrary give all non-British characters British accents. If Amadeus is to be appreciated today, it should be so as a near-anarchic film, nearly devoid of plot progression and far more interested in offering pushed-up tits against a backdrop of classical music.
(Also it's wildly historically inaccurate, go figure)
Absolutely wonderful film. Everything worked so well together to create such a masterpiece of cinema. I can't believe it took me so long before I watched it.
Add your comment
Comments 1 - 15 of 40
kurvduam
(removed by mod: please post in English)nicolaskrizan
a magnificent falsificationhttps://beyond1001movies.wordpress.com/2015/09/08/backtrack-amadeus-1984/
danisanna
Classical music is a subject I know little about so I did not expect to be entertained by this movie. How wrong I was. It's a masterpiece on so many levels. The music, the theatricality, the acting, the composure of it all ... sublime.IreneAdler
Pretty fascinating. We were shown that movie back in school and something about it really drew me in. Great storytelling and actors; I really loved F. Murray Abraham as Salieri.Hippiemans
Tom Hulce plays the role of a life time.JackieGigantic
So I watched Amadeus for the first time last night, a film that plays out like Baz Lurhman's insipid wet dream; an anachronistic take on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, here re-imagined as Ferris Bueller. It could be argued that manic manchildren are director Miloš Forman's "thing" - the director has a clear affinity for characters whose brilliance is coupled by an near-infantile understanding of the world in which they live - but Forman's Mozart lacks all the depth of a Mac McMurphy or an Andy Kaufman. Instead we are presented with a paper-thin perspective of the character through his rival Antonio Salieri (pulled in an admittedly superb performance by F. Murray Abraham), an entirely one-note character whose entire life revolves around his obsession with Mozart. It's clear Salieri is the film's real main character, but he has no real arc, no progression in the story - it feels like film should be following some sort of collapse of Salieri as he grows more and more obsessed, or perhaps have his relationship with Mozart dramatically change throughout the course of the movie, but instead the film establishes Salieri's total obsession with and abhorrence of Mozart pretty much instantly and his attitude remains such throughout.Mozart, on the other hand - it's interesting that they chose to have Mozart's life given to us entirely from the perspective of a different character, but when trying to make a perspective such as this interesting you often have to either have to have the character providing the perspective hold a very dynamic relationship with the subject (which as I explained they failed miserably), or attempt to make the subject seem at least somewhat enigmatic. Unfortunately for this film, Mozart is a plainly open-book straight from his very first scene and, like everything else in this movie, remains so forever and ever amen.
Visually the film is breathtaking - several of Mozart's opera's are realized brilliantly in on-stage recreations, recreations so stunning that the film would have greatly benefited from being merely an expanded film collage on these very scenes. The film utilizes a mostly browned colour palette, yet remains feeling vibrant and colourful throughout; and my GOD if there isn't a lot of great fucking cleavage in this movie. Honestly, every female character in the movie has a pair of tits stacked like smothered bowling balls, spilling out of the tops of corsets so voluptuously it would make Powergirl weep with feelings of dire inadequacy.
Perhaps it was seen as particularly groundbreaking by the Oscar committee when it was released as the only film to be set prior to the turn of the century that doesn't arbitrary give all non-British characters British accents. If Amadeus is to be appreciated today, it should be so as a near-anarchic film, nearly devoid of plot progression and far more interested in offering pushed-up tits against a backdrop of classical music.
(Also it's wildly historically inaccurate, go figure)
4.4/10.0
corchap
Absolutely wonderful film. Everything worked so well together to create such a masterpiece of cinema. I can't believe it took me so long before I watched it.screwball27
A very enjoyable film, I really love the performance of F. Murray Abrahamvmunda
astounding!ascannerdarkly
Hated the bad man. Aaarrgghh!Lefty_Starks
That movie poster is gorgeousWarrison
"I will speak for you, Father. I speak for all mediocrities in the world. I am their champion. I am their patron saint."Brilliant!!
Fortitudine
Probably the most beautiful confession of all time.Litso
Once I got over the somewhat overly dramatic acting I started loving it more and more, up until the amazing ending. 9/10.senorroboto
Except that its director, Milos Forman, was a Czechoslovakian immigrant and the movie was adapted from a stage play by a British playwright.
Showing items 1 – 15 of 40