An award winning film full of baroque splendour. The talented composer Antonio Salieri found himself in competition with Mozart, a genius, and he couldn't understand why God favored such a vulgar creature to be his instrument. Salieri turned into a hate-filled monster, whose aim in life became to ruin his colleague, but he emerges as a tragic and sympathetic character. He alone could appreciate the perfection of Mozart's music and, perhaps, he speaks up for all of us whose talents fall short of
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BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO - MAN IN THE SAND (2001)
CertificationE Our Rating
This excellent documentary follows Billy Bragg as he embarks on a mission to put music to a selection of lyrics penned by folk legend, Woody Guthrie. Billy's love of the People's Troubadour is evident as he visits his home town, tracing Woody's life and influences with the help of his daughter, Nora Guthrie. The music (compiled on two albums, 'Mermaid Avenue' Vol.'s 1 and 2) is excellent and is lifted with the collaboration of Wilco. Jeff Tweedy, lead singer with Wilco, seems particularly inspir
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BOUND FOR GLORY (1976)
CertificationPG Our Rating
A gilded bio of the legendary balladeer, Woody Gutherie, and his hobo existence in 1930s depression-hit America. Beautifully shot and, as you would expect, with an amazing score, Bound For Glory is a loving recreation of Gutherie as an American icon, the people's poet bringing light and hope to the down trodden masses; a gentle, elegiac film far removed from director Hal Ashby's previous work.
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COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK (2015)
Certification15 Our Rating
Following Cobain from his earliest years in Aberdeen, WA, through the height of his fame, a visceral and detailed cinematic insight of an artist at odds with his surrou
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DELIUS - SONG OF SUMMER (1968)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Based on Eric Fenby's 1936 memoir 'Delius As I Knew Him', we follow the last five years of the composer, by now blind, paralysed, embittered and at war with the world, as Fenby helps him formulate into music the compositions he still has whirling around his mind. 'Delius - Song of Summer' is a powerful and moving story.
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ELGAR (1962)
CertificationU Our Rating
The BFI continues its successful strand of Archive Television releases with Ken Russell's classic documentary Elgar, which was first shown in 1962 as the 100th programme in the BBC's Monitor series. This partly dramatised account of the life of composer Sir Edward Elgar includes footage of Elgar at the Three Choirs Festival and a recording of the opening of Abbey Road Studios when 'Land Of Hope And Glory' was played.
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EROICA (2003)
CertificationE Our Rating
By the time the first public performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) took place in Vienna in 1805, a privileged few had already heard the work at a private play-through at the Lobkowitz Palace. Nick Dear's award-winning period drama, starring Ian Hart as Beethoven, brings to intense life the momentous event that prompted Haydn to remark 'everything is different from today'.
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IMMORTAL BELOVED (2007)
Certification15 Our Rating
The title refers to the legatee of Ludwig Van's worldly goods, and the film is a kind of musical detective story that explores the life and loves of Beethoven, who may have been the 'immortal beloved'. Exhilarating musical set-pieces from the Violin Concerto and the Eroica, amongst others, score persuasive points for classical music.
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KANSAS CITY (1996)
Certification15 Our Rating
Small time gangster's moll Blondie kidnaps a big-wig local politico's junkie wife in order to secure her husband's release from the local mafiosi. Altman's homage to his hometown is a swirl of bourbon soaked atmospherics on the themes of love, crime, race and politics, grafted onto a fine jazz soundtrack.
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LADIES IN LAVENDER (2004)
Certification12 Our Rating
Cornwall in 1936 is still a timeless place. Sisters, Janet and Ursula Widdington discover a castaway on the beach below their house, and with the help of the local doctor they nurse him back to health. During his convalescence the sisters discover his talent as a musician and the unsettling effect he has on them both - especially Ursula, whose life will never be the same again. Award winning actresses Dame Judi Dench and Maggie Smith star in this evocative, heart-warming story of unfulfilled dre
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