Stars: Antonio Gades, Laura Del Sol, Paco De Lucia, Pepa Flores, Cristina Hoyos, Juan Antonio Jiminez

Director: Carlos Saura

Summary: The director of a dance company in modern-day Spain decides to stage a dance production of Bizet's 'Carmen', and goes in search of an appropriate leading lady. During the course of the rehearsals, the plot of the production and reality becomes inextricably intertwined.

CARMEN, the second in Carlos Saura's flamenco dance trilogy, which also includes BLOOD WEDDING and EL AMOR BRUJO, is staged as an opera within an opera. To counter what many Spaniards feel are the ineffectual cliches and cultural trappings of CARMEN--the fans and knives and the roses between the teeth--Saura and dancer-choreographer Antonio Gades have integrated into the original story a parallel subplot about love, jealousy, and violence in the lives of the dancers performing the ballet. This contemporary love affair between Antonio (Antonio Gades) and Carmen (Laura del Sol) clearly follows the plot of the opera. The entire subplot takes place in rehearsals, and includes a delightful scene of the entire troop spontaneously bursting into a parody of the campy March of the Toreadors.
Saura adds scenes that depict the fantasies of the characters, which is an element that the director uses in many of his films. He blends the emotions of the dancers in their real lives into their dancing in the performance, which brings to life--in a powerful and vivid fashion--the overly familiar characters of Georges Bizet's opera.

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

For those who never thought Disney would release a film in which Santa Claus is kidnapped and tortured, well, here it is. The full title is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, which should give you an idea of the tone of this stop-action animated musical/fantasy/horror/comedy. It is based on characters created by Burton, the former Disney animator best known as the director of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhandsand the first two Batmanmovies. His benignly scary-funny sensibility dominates the story of Halloweentown resident Jack Skellington (voice by Danny Elfman, who also wrote the songs), who stumbles on a bizarre and fascinating alternative universe called ... Christmastown! Directed by Henry Selick (who later made the delightful James and the Giant Peach), this PG-rated picture has a reassuringly light touch. As Roger Ebert noted in his review, "some of the Halloween creatures might be a tad scary for smaller children, but this is the kind of movie older kids will eat up; it has the kind of offbeat, subversive energy that tells them wonderful things are likely to happen." --Jim Emerson

On the DVD:This Special edition is a must for all Burton fans with the biggest gem to be found on a DVD release--"Tim Burtons Early Films" which holds his first two works. Vincentis clear predecessor of Nightmare before Christmasusing the same stop-animation style and voiced superbly by Vincent Price himself; and Frankenweenie--a B&W live-action flick--takes you back to early B-movie territory seen through the eyes of a boy. Added to these films is a great special-features menu including a short documentary offering an interview with Burton, which exposes the inspiration for this magical animation and presents the three-year task of making the "Nightmare". On top of this is an in-depth commentary by director Henry Selick and Art director Pete Kozachik and layer upon layer of "character development" offering an insight into the intensity of thought that went into making these animated figures real. You also get a great selection of storyboards along with the sequences they manifest into, deleted storyboards and an animated sequence with a surprise alternative ending. The menu is beautifully animated in keeping with the style of artwork in the film. With a 1.66:1 widescreen format and Dolby digital transfer this charming DVD is perfect for Halloween, Christmas and beyond! --Nikki Disney

Aspect Ratio:	1.66 Wide Screen
Main Language:	Spanish
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailer, Scene Selection
Subtitles:	Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish
Year:	1983
Release Date:	March 25, 2002
Runtime:	97 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	M P 127 D
Label:	World Cinema Collection
Keywords:	General, Carmen, Dance, Wide, Screen, Spanish, Trilogy, Part, Drama, Carlos, Saura
Genre:	Drama