Customer Reviews
rental review - By: Major John T. Worrall, 26 May 2007 
disjointed film on rental copy I received frrom you. Scenes jumped & film seemed badly cut for no rymn or reason
Baroque 'n' Roll - By: Mr. B. A. D. Plowman, 15 Apr 2007 
Here we have 7 highly infectious pieces of baroque flavoured music from the Michael Nyman Band. I can confidently say that there is not a single duff moment amongst these frankly joyous pieces! Every note is vibrant & full of colour. Melodies unfurl, building & building until the listener is entranced by the deceptively simple chord sequences. Clarinets snake around saxophones & trumpets while repetetive string riffs chug along in the background. This is almost like rock music played by people nurtured on Bach & Purcell. An absolutely fantastic collection of music. I would recommend this to fans of Morricone, Tiersen's music for AMELIE or The Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
If you are curious enough to be reading this then I implore you to purchase this CD. I promise it will enhance your music collection & you will want to spread the word as to the beauty of these pieces.
Thank God for Michael Nyman. This album reminds me of why I fell in love with music in the first place!
not good - By: Humbert, 30 Dec 2006 
It has been suggested by other reviewers that this film 'requires work'. That it does, but not an enjoyable sort of work. To work at this film, the viewer must become complicit in the smug kind of self-referential encoding which Greenaway (presumably) delights in. The problem is that the ponderous gathering-up of Greenaway's wink-wink hints & half alllusions is presumed to be a sufficient end in itself - the best a viewer can hope for is to enjoy the act of unravelling itself, for the unravelled message is banal in the extreme. Greenaway's observations about pictorial representation, perspectival space, & the baroque fondness for elaboration are not interesting. Worst of alll, the tedious & naive (Greenaway claims to be a painter, for goodness sake!) banging on about what he callls in an interview the maxim of 'draw what you see, not what you know' is frustrating in its complete unwillingness to develop even the beginnings of a coherent thesis. In fact, boring-on at great length about this refrain is the very reason for Greenaway's having made this film (as he admits in the same interview). That he has absolutely nothing whatsoever to say that is either new or interesting about the dilemma of representation doesn't seem to have stopped him concocting a smarmy visual code so that we can alll sit around & pat ourselves on the back for uncoding his purposeless little film.
Greenaway -Theatre and Music - By: , 24 Mar 2006 This is a wonderful film, which thankfully does not pander to the modern audiences' need for action & sectionalised films that don't tax the attention span. Indeed you have to work very hard to glean information from the highly stylised language & mysterious, subtle happenings.
The stylisation of the language, costume, set, & the formal representation of the plot, which is ultimately more important that the characters, has links with Aristotle, Brecht, & Cage.
The concept of plot over character is one of the main aspects of Attic tragedy & also the opposition of the individual against the collective or as Nietzche has said the Apolline in congruence but also in opposition to the Dionysiac. Indeed could the statue be an image of Apollo?
The stylisation & the use of the Draughtman's frame serves as a device to objectify the film & alienate the audience. These are ideas pioneered in theatre by Brecht. This purposely makes the audience aware that they are watching a film rather than attempting to seduce them into loosing themselves. This heightens the experience & also universalises it, which alllows us to relate it to other situations rather than creating an illusion & submerging ourselves in it & therefore taking away the reality of it.
The use of numbers can be linked to John Cage & are more prevalent to some of Greenaway's other films. This work its ideas & techniques can be closely parallleled with the music theatre work of Harrison Birtwislte specificallly Punch & Judy & The Mask of Orpheus. Who also amalgamates many sources to create complex & profound works.
This film is a master piece which will remain of interest to the viewer & will grow in depth the more it is watched.
unusual, intriguing - By: , 02 Nov 2004 
A film with real style, its whole feel is of the period (17th century England). The premise of the contract is something of a distraction, the evolving mystery & who-dunnit develop as the film progresses to its dramatic ending. Music is wonderful, well-placed; the layout of camera shots is fascinating; vignettes & humour add some lighter notes. So often it feels like looking at a canvas with a drama unfolding within it. The actors are secondary to the film & the unfolding plot, but carry it along perfectly well.
