Monday, November 13, 2006

Angels? Why not?

Saturday was the day to see Cirque du Soleil's "Alegría". One could tell already in the subway that most of the people in the car were going there as well. The company built a tent in front of the El Estadio de La Peineta and the construction details were amazing. So small and cute from the outside but surprisingly spacious and comfortable inside. The show was divided into two parts that felt different from each other - the first part was a little bit weaker than the second one, which was full of breathtaking acrobatic performances. The whole piece was actually a traditional circus show - with clowns during the intermissions imitating the previous performance in a messy way. In the first part, there were two performances that were very good - in the first one, called Powertrack, they quickly installed long trampolines and the artists were jumping above each other, it was like a dream. The second memorable piece, called Fire/Knife dance, included two half naked and very cute guys playing with fire, literally. At one moment, they danced with two torches burning from both sides. After the break, there was not a single weak piece in the second part, everything was simply amazing with the closing performance (Aerial High Bar) being the most stunning. I was very happy that I could enjoy it - thank you, my Riverside friends, once again!
After the show, I went for dinner with Antonio and Jose Manuel and later for a drink. We hit two bars, first one, called "Why not?", has a live DJ. The place is in a deep basement and the ceiling has the same decoration as the lovely Menagerie. The second bar, called "The Angel" was fortunately very close to my house as the universe began to be a little bit warped at 4am in the morning.
On Sunday, I saw "Los Fantasmas de Goya" or "Goya's Ghosts", the newest movie by Miloš Forman with Stellan Skarsgård playing Goya and Javier Bardem portraying an Inquisition monk. Situated around the outbreak of French revolution and the consequent French occupation of Spain. Worth seeing, even though it is very depressive.
UPDATE (16/11): Worth seeing not only for the European audience, I guess. One can draw parallels between the fate of particular people at the time depicted in the movie and any other time in the European history, like the early 70's in Czechoslovakia after the Soviet occupation. Forman is from the same country as me, so I can completely understand why he focused on some particular parts of the story. If somebody wants to understand the history of Europe, with all its tweaks and re-runs, "Los Fantasmas de Goya" can be the first step. Reading what I wrote, it sounds pretty pathetic, huh?

1 comment:

Film Fanatic said...

You said that you thought that Goya's Ghosts was worth seeing. I don't live in Spain so I can't see it yet. But I have read some negative things about the film. So I was just wondering about your opinion of the film in a little more detail and also what did you think of the acting. I really want to see this film (despite some of the reviews) but I will have to wait until it is released in my country.