Author: bestmedeal

Sweet, simple, musical, Studio 100-inspired children’s film for the very youngis set on the farm of Farmer Hector (Glenn Coenen) in Peru. Alpacas Lea, Luisand Leo – three cheerful dolls – live peacefully together here. But when it’sLuis’ birthday and the other two want to organize a party, everythingthreatens to go wrong. This mediocre film lasts an hour. Ideal for theintended target group and for a short but refreshing nap.

Director: Rik Sinkeldam and Andy van Veen. Length: 73 mins.

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oops! Kids overboard

oops! Kids overboard

Very average digital animation film about herbivore Finny and carnivore Leahwho fall off Noah’s Ark during a storm and end up on a deserted island. Themakers of this ‘Europudding’ are blatantly borrowing from successful examplessuch as the Madagascar series, Finding Nemo and Ice Age. Their lifelessstory only appeals to the youngest, if all goes well.

Directed by: Toby Genkel and Sean McCormack. Length: 85 minutes.

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Want the crocodile

Want the crocodile

Cheerful American children’s film about a singing crocodile with a high cuddlyfactor who hopes to overcome his stage fright in New York. The scaly anti-herofinds a soulmate in adolescent Josh, who also malfunctions due to numerousphobias and accidentally finds crocodile Wil in his attic. For adults,especially the scenes with smirking Javier Bardem (as Wil’s owner) are veryenjoyable.

Directed by: Josh Gordon and Will Speck. Length: 106 mins.

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Puss in Boots: The last wish

Puss in Boots: The last wish

For the first time in a long time another successful film from the DreamworksAnimation stable, and the first installment in the Shrek series in ten years.Antihero Puss in Boots goes in search of a magical wishing star after his ninelives have run out. Director Joel Crawford proves that the contrary view ofthe sweet fairytale world that made the first two Shrek films so successfulcan still work out: physical jokes for the kids and many winks foraccompanying parents and clever references to pop culture.

Directed by: Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado. Length: 105 mins.

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Ernest & Celestine: on an adventure in Babbleland

Ernest & Celestine: on an adventure in Babbleland

Captivating, timeless, beautifully animated cartoon – partly computer, partlyhandcrafted with watercolor – about the timid bear Ernest and the mouseCelestine. To have Ernest’s broken violin repaired, they have to go toBabbleland, where the bear originally comes from. When it turns out that musicis now forbidden here, they decide to protest against this injustice. Now thethird part in an infectious, idiosyncratic French series, based on the picturebooks by Gabrielle Vincent, published in the Netherlands as Brammert & Tissie.

Directed by: Julien Chheng and Jean-Christophe Roger. Length: 79 mins.

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Yuku and the Himalayan flower

Yuku and the Himalayan flower

Sparkling Belgian-French animation film about little mouse Yuku, who prefersto accompany her grandmother on the ukulele when she tells fairy tales to thewhole family. When Grandmother senses her end is approaching, Yuku decides tosearch for the magical Himalayan flower that may extend her life. Thesometimes almost abstract animations are wonderful, just like the inventivesongs and the story that advocates listening to each other more and seekingconnection – the ultimate Christmas spirit.

Directed by: Arnaud Demuynck and Remi Durin. Length 65 mins.

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Strange World

Strange World

Beautifully animated, remarkably serious Disney story with Jules Verne vibesbecame a zeper elsewhere: completely unjustified. A family of explorersembarks on a journey through the earth as pando, an important crop thatprovides energy for the utopian land of Avalonia, is in danger of dying out.During the mission, grandfather and his son argue about what good parentingis. The ‘fear’ icon of the Kijkwijzer is justified; children under 6 have_Strange World_ little to look for. Furthermore, the film is remarkablyinclusive, with a mixed marriage, a queer son and a family dog ​​with adisability.

Directed by Don Hall and Qui Nguyen. Length: 104 mins

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oink

oink

This home-grown stop-motion gem is still playing in twenty theaters afteralmost six months. The excellent tableau of voice actors gives color to eventhe smallest role. And no scene lasts longer than necessary to drag the viewerinto the moving and topical story about Babs, a bespectacled teenage girl whobefriends the cute little pig Knor. The film teaches us not so much thateating meat is bad, but that excessive consumption has a high price. Submittedfor the Oscars.

Like three guards, they are ready to give us access to gray skies and finallya fierce cloud cover: first soloist James Stout, second soloist Edo Wijnen and(see inset) grand subject Joseph (Joey) Massarelli. One foot placed back,one pointed elbow pointing skyward. Three long beams of light and a risinggauze screen open up the pearly gray sky in complete control. As if theimmeasurable depth of this environment must first be properly estimated. Thethree men begin their exploration, running quietly and then fluttering softlylike energetic butterflies.

This universe, shrouded in fascinating grayscale by set designer John Otto,does not tolerate human bravado with tough jumps and powerful lifting. Herebelongs a gentle and organic scanning of all contours, and that is exactlywhat happens in Legacy Variations , the beautiful world premiere bychoreographer David Dawson for Dutch National Ballet. Alex Baranowski’s newcomposition is equally controlled and subtly performed by Het Balletorkest,with thinly ascending violins above an ever-widening set of instruments.

To this melancholic and wide-sounding music, the three men swing smoothlythrough space, sometimes solo, sometimes synchronously, sometimes in canon.Then again they stop for a moment, intertwining their hands, seekingresignation from each other, only to fan out charged and formulate variationson that stately guard position. In the transparent grey-black bodies (costumedesign Yumiko Takeshima) you can see a thin line of orange on their backs andin their necks, a subtle reference to the national colour. Halfway through, acinematic representation (Altin Kaftira) of cumulus clouds unrolls across thefull width of the backdrop; they seem to herald showers, wind and hail, butthe trio Stout, Wijnen and Massarelli are no longer afraid of that. It flowssmoothly into the natural beauty of this sky.

Joseph (Joey) Massarelli in ‘Legacy Variations’ by choreographer DavidDawson.Sculpture Michel Schnater

Dawson (50) brings with Legacy Variations , he writes in an explanation, ahomage to the majestic Dutch skies and to the Dutch ballet company where hewas a dancer from 1995 to 2000. Here he got his first chances as achoreographer, with acclaimed ballets such as A Million Kisses to My Skin(2000) and The Gray Area (2000). More than thirty companies worldwide nowhave work by the Briton in their repertoire, including the Semperoper Balletin Dresden. There he is, just like with the Dutch National Ballet, associateartist which means regular new assignments.

Dawson likes musical dynamics in a spatial-looking stage set with lightbeacons. This is again evident from the energetic revival of The FourSeasons (2021) on the free and varied adaptation by composer Max Richter ofAntonio’s Vivaldi’s famous Four Seasons. In the music, which shoots fromdark to light, from gentle to cruel and from scratchy to heavenly, youautomatically hear various weather conditions passing by. Conductor KoenKessels gives soloist Isabelle van Keulen the space to explore all thoseextremes on her violin. With an occasional short stop as a breather.

Yuanyuan Zhang and Jakob Feyferlik in ‘The Four Seasons’ by choreographerDavid Dawson.Sculpture Michel Schnater

Dawson’s choreography has the same hectic tension: sixteen ballet dancersconstantly regroup in new duets, fours and fives, each time dressed indifferent colored leotards. Striking is the subtle and refined lifting thatcontinues whether dancers walk forwards or backwards and are liftedhorizontally, vertically or in semicircular arcs. All this dynamic takes placeunder a dominant umbrella of four tilting light objects in basic mathematicalshapes: a circle, line, square and triangle. They symbolize Vivaldi’s fourseasons, which are recognisably quoted or even copied by Richter at times.Richter makes thirteen different parts in almost fifty minutes, Dawson followshim in this. Logical, of course, the current weather conditions have longsince ceased to adhere to the limits of the four seasons.

Film Registry

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A short film from 1898, rediscovered in the Netherlands, will be officiallyincluded this Wednesday in the prestigious National Film Registry, the USgovernment’s heritage program that has selected 25 “culturally, historicallyor aesthetically significant films” annually since 1988. They represent across-section of American film history.

The selection of the film preserved by Eye Filmmuseum concerns the film madein 1898 Mardi Gras Carnival , the oldest moving images of a carnival paradein New Orleans, with beautiful floats – one of them in the shape of apineapple – and colorful costumes (but in black and white). It’s also theoldest film made in New Orleans, says Wayne Phillips, curator of the annualcarnival collection at the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans. He isdelighted that this particular film has been selected in the National FilmRegistry of the Library of Congress.

Read also: Touching films of Europe around 1900

“What’s really startling about it is that the Mardi Gras parade in 2022 lookspretty much the same as it did in 1898. For New Orleans residents, Mardi Grasis not just an annual, fun carnival parade with associated celebrations, but ameaningful cultural tradition which has existed in our city for almost threecenturies. Seeing this long-ago scene, which still looks familiar to us,demonstrates the long-standing, powerful tradition of our beloved Mardi Grasand its importance to our culture. The only pity is that the film is nolonger! But just seeing two minutes of moving images in the street where thecarnival parade still passes nearly 125 years later, captured on camera infront of a building that is still standing, has deep meaning for the city ofNew Orleans.”

Wayne Phillips, curator of the Louisiana State Museum’s annual carnivalcollection in New Orleans: “What’s really startling is that the Mardi Grasparade in 2022 looks pretty much the same as it did in 1898.” Eye Film Museum

Newsreels

At the beginning of this year, the Louisiana State Museum opened an exhibitionabout the 150th anniversary of Rex, the organization that organizes the annualcarnival. Then the museum started looking for film images to enrich theexhibition. The museum knew that old films probably existed but had not yetbeen able to find them. Their worldwide search led them to Eye Filmmuseum,which has had the film in its collection since the late 1990s. It waspreviously unknown to be the oldest film made in New Orleans.

Mardi Gras Carnival 1898 is part of the Mutoscope & Biograph collection,special 68mm films shot all over the world, of which Eye Filmmuseum owns about200. The newsreels have recently been digitally preserved and part of them canbe seen in the compilation film compiled two years ago The BrilliantBiograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe (1897-1902). The special format –68mm (comparable to the current IMAX format) without perforations – maderestoration difficult until recently.

Eye Filmmuseum had the film in its collection since the late 1990s. Eye Film Museum

Last summer was Mardi Gras Carnival 1898 Screened once for free at theLouisiana State Museum. The film was received so enthusiastically that itbecame part of the exhibition to the delight of many visitors. Its inclusionin the leading National Film Registry will undoubtedly help spread this shortpiece of cinematic heritage, a fascinating time capsule.

Because the police put an abrupt end to their farewell concert this summer,the new wave pioneers of Aroma di Amore are making a new attempt, in the AB,and hopefully without the police. Our creativity has not dried up. Only theAroma di Amore concept will end on December 14. Point.’

Christopher VerbiestDecember 13, 202203:00

Half past one in the morning, Monday 27 June last summer in the Marie-HendrikaPark in Ostend. The public is stunned. And the band on stage too. Because thepolice just turned off the power. After three quarters of a concert, Aroma diAmore is silenced. What makes it even more painful: it was the very lastconcert of Aroma di Amore. Fred Angst: “Because the other groups had run out,we started too late. We thought we could complete our promised hour.” Not so.

An anticlimax that the trio did not want to see as the official end. Sotomorrow there will be a second chance in the Ancienne Belgique. Really thevery last concert of the new wave group around Elvis Peeters, Fred Angst andLo Meulen. In 1982, Aroma di Amore was in the same place in the final of theRock Rally. That selection caused a click in the heads of the group members.Peeters: “Thanks to the Rock Rally, we thought: apparently we mean somethingafter all.” Fear: “After that, we stepped it up a notch.”

Just say: a few teeth. For the next five years, their mix of whimsicalguitars, primitive electronics and surprising arabesques was among the bestthat Belgian music had to offer. But after the stunning Cold fire from 1987they threw in the towel. Angst: “We wrote a lot of songs, but no recordcompany was interested. We fell between two chairs. We didn’t belong to thegoth, but neither did we belong to the bands that were popular at the time,such as The Scabs and De Kreuners.”

Convulsions

A short reunion tour followed sporadically, but new material had to wait until2012. Four years later, the last album followed, Sentence. So Aroma di Amorehas stopped and started again many times. Why should we believe the three now?Angst: “In 2016 we pulled out all the stops for Sentence. We could haverepeated that, but we don’t want to make the same record twice.” Peeters: “Westill get along just fine.” Vermeulen: “It is not impossible that we will makemusic together one day, but not as Aroma di Amore. Anxiety: “Our creativityhas not dried up. Only the Aroma di Amore concept will end on December 14.Point.”

The three themselves indicate that the last convulsions of the band feed onnostalgia. Except for two songs, tomorrow (Wednesday) they will only playsongs from the eighties. Peeters: “But things sometimes go strange. Lastweekend at the Hnita Jazz Club there was a man in his fifties with hisfourteen-year-old daughter. He got to know us through her.”

Aroma di Amore at a concert in 2012.Image Alex Vanhee

The three still find their songs from the 80s relevant. Peeters, now betterknown as a man of letters ( The countless , We ) then as a singer:“’Everything becomes sand’ deals with global warming and the desertificationthat accompanies it. This was in the news forty years ago. It’s sad howtopical that number is.” Angst: “We have always been keenly aware of socialdevelopments. Although we are never sloganesque, we are radical.” Peeters: “Wetried to put poetry and subtlety in our lyrics.”

Vermeulen: “Don’t forget that they also contain humour.” So much so, in fact,that the Rock Rally report warned against “falling into the student trap.” Thecause: the two wonderful, Dadaist songs (‘Gorilla dans de samba’ and ‘IsabelleAvondrood’) on the debut single. Anxiety: “A few records later, a reviewerwrote of Ear : a pity that they have lost their silliness.” Peeters,blowing: “We have never been silly. ‘Gorilla dans de samba’ can be performedby Captain Winokio. My children’s books about Mr. Paper put me inkindergartens. If the children want to hear a song, I always choose ‘Gorilladans de samba’. Everyone excited!”

Nice sales trick

Anxiety: “A song like ‘And then there was nothing left’ (new wave classic byDe Brassers, ed.) we don’t have. We have never played doom music.” Vermeulen:“We were wrongly pigeonholed.” Singing in Dutch was always self-evident.Because you don’t ask a Dutch-speaking author why he writes in his nativelanguage. Peeters thinks that his lyrics would be a lot less nuanced if hewrote in English. The Dutch did not prevent Aroma di Amore from seeing a songappear on a Brazilian compilation or selling out a room of 2,000 spectators inValencia on its own.

The farewell concert coincides with the release of Black box , a vinyl boxwith six records from the 1980s. Although the not so wealthy Aroma di Amorefan will be shocked. The box costs just under 135 euros. The six records (twoLPs, one albumette and three 12-inch) are also for sale separately, for about114 euros. The 7-inch ‘Gorilla dans de samba’ is exclusively in the box. Fear:“Especially to get people to buy the box.”

A clever sales trick that you don’t associate with Aroma di Amore. Peeters:“Oh, is it pricey?” Vermeulen: “The record company has determined that. Wealso think it is expensive.” Anxiety: “Look, I bought Gorky’s box earlier thisyear for 75 euros. It originally cost 150. So people who Black box considerit too expensive: wait another six months and then you can purchase it at areduced price.”

Aroma di Amore will play in the AB Box on Wednesday evening. ** Blackbox is out on Onderstroom Records.**

Stay fully up to date with the latest happenings during the 2023 World DartsChampionship in our tournament centre. Here you will find the schedule, allresults, information about the distribution of the prize money and the ViaplayTV Guide.

The 30th edition of the PDC World Championship will be held from Thursday 15December 2022 to Tuesday 3 January 2023 at Alexandra Palace in London.

Click here to participate in the World Darts Championship and win 2,500euros. Or click here to participate in the FREE World Cup Game.

Format

First round: Best of 5 sets

Second round: Best of 5 sets

Third Round: Best of 7 sets

Concert life started jerkily again in 2022, the flow of new albums was greatas ever. For those who couldn’t keep up with it all: these were thehighlights.

Peter van Brummelen, Stefan Raatgever, Frederick Berntsen and Britt vanKlaverenDecember 13, 202211:30

1. Stromae: Multitude

The fact that Stromae canceled his self-elected retirement was part of thebest musical news of the year. on Multitude he brings the sound of someonewho has entered into battle with his demons and steps out of the boxing ringvictorious. Darkness and light alternate in his lyrics at a rapid pace. Justlike his musical guises. Perhaps what Stromae does best in the world is makingstyles collide. Stromae drives you like a Formula 1 driver at a sprint pacealong all corners of his possibilities. Classical harpsichord, rap, baile funkand then a chorus that seems so plucked from Jacques Brel. To make you dizzy,but in a blissful way. Read back our review of Stromae: Multitude.

2. Rosalia: Motomami

She made her debut in 2017 as a singer who breathed new life into flamenco,but nowadays Rosalía, who comes from near Barcelona, ​​is mainly involved withpop and R&B. She still sings in Spanish and is a big star in the UnitedStates, where people usually don’t like pop music in a language other thanEnglish. Motomami , her third album, contains spectacular music that is goodfor dancing, but also convincing at home. Typical of her status in the newworld: Pharrell Williams is one of the producers of Motomami The Weekndsings along (in Spanish!). Read back our review of Rosalía: Motomami.

3. Paolo Nutini: Last Night In The Bittersweet

Paolo Nutini let eight years and two months pass before he released his album_Caustic Love_ succeeded. The wait was not in vain. Last Night in theBittersweet turns out to be a mind-blowing trip of festival rock, soul, bluesand psychedelia with some breathtakingly good songs on it. soul ballad_Through the Echoes_ for example. Above brief instrumentation, Nutini (35)shows what a ridiculously good singer he is. Also memorable: Shine a Light.Played hypothermically, but initially with a threatening undertone. However, aglorious chorus transforms that shadow to full sun. Nutini’s fourth turns outto be his best work to date. Read back our review of Paolo Nutini: LastNight In The Bittersweet.

4. Froukje: Outrageous

It was – again – the year of Froukje Veenstra. She toured the Netherlands,performed at Pinkpop and Lowlands and delivered with Delirious a formidablemini album. She then perfected the formula with which she broke through: cool,driving electro with warm-blooded and resourceful lyrics. Absolute prizenumber turns out to be the duet with that other Dutch pop woman of the year:S10. He became eleventh at the Eurovision Song Contest on his own and singswith Froukje without a face, a duet for pop heaven. If, in two decades,radio retrospective lists of the best songs of the twenties state Without aface there is no doubt about it. Read our review of Froukje: Outrageousback.

5.Kendrick Lamar:Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers

Expectations were high for it mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Kendrick Lamar– considered by his fans capable of winning a Nobel Prize one day – followedhis acclaimed Damn on with an ambitious double album, highlighting all endsof his musical spectrum. A journey of discovery through deep mourning (United in Grief ) and surprising guest appearances. That of Beth Gibbons ofPortishead is most impressive. At her side, he also dares to name a childhoodtrauma in which a family member ‘touched’ him. Unfortunately, things are lesssubtle on the track Aunties Diaries in which Lamar frequently raps about “fagots calling Caitlyn Jenner a “he.” Read our review of Kendrick Lamar:Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers are back.

6. Lucky Fonz: Celestial Bodies

Lucky Fonz is a fan of Bob Dylan, but also loves gabber music. Those extremesconverge Celestial bodies , the provisional highlight in the already richoeuvre of the Amsterdammer. Singer-songwriter music and pounding electronictones are, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, best friendshere. The music of Talk about it sounds almost carnivalesque, but the lyricsare as serious as anything. Lucky Fonz’s compelling advice to the listener: beopen about any psychological problems you may have – he knows all about it asan expert by experience. Read our review of Lucky Fonz: Celestial Bodiesback.

7. Taylor Swift: Midnights

On her tenth studio album — her fifth in five years, not counting her re-recorded earlier work — Taylor Swift takes her sound in a new direction forthe umpteenth time. After the – also very successful – acoustic folk pop of_Evermore_ and Folklore she now opts for modern electro pop. The substantivethemes remained the same. Swift never hesitates to put her soul on the table.Broken relationships, the pain of growing up and other life doubts dominatethe dark lyrics that coincide beautifully with the instrumentation of piercingsynthesizer beats. Read back our review of Taylor Swift: Midnights.

8. Tim Knol: Lightyears Better

Up the paths, into the lanes! Losing weight by walking a lot is now called theKnol method at our house. It will be a long search in the Netherlands for amusician who has covered as many kilometers on foot in recent years as singer-songwriter Tim Knol. Good for the body, but certainly also for the mind. Howis he doing now? Well, Lightyears Better So. And that can be heard on thealbum with that title. Americana the Dutch way, delivered with even greaterself-assurance than before and convincing in every song. Also very nice,especially live, is Knol’s current backing group The Wandering Hearts. Readback: Tim Knol from Tim Knol: Lightyears Better about the album.

9. Benjamin Herman: True Love’s Flame

Jazz that pop lovers can also enjoy. The highlight on this album bysaxophonist Benjamin Herman is a glowing cover of At Last I Am Free ,originally a rare ballad in the repertoire of disco group Chic, but best knownin the version of avant-garde musician Robert Wyatt. Furthermore has TrueLove ‘s Flame mainly to offer cinematic music: adaptations of existing piecesfrom films by David Lynch and Roman Polanski, but also own compositions for(yet) existing films. Will you also listen to this, film directors of theNetherlands. Read our review of Benjamin Herman: True Love ‘s Flame back.

10.Angel Olsen: Big Time

All The Good Times is called the song with which singer-songwriter AngelOlsen opens her sixth and by far best album. Any suspicion that a cheerfulsong is hidden behind that title is killed within a few bars. The whole album_Big Time_ is a serious matter, on which grief is a major source ofinspiration. Shortly after each other, Olsen lost both parents and there weremore problems in her life. She writes and sings it off in more thanmelancholic songs, which have one foot in the country and the other in thefolk. Read back our review of Angel Olsen: Big Time.

The best classical performances of 2022

1. Joey Roukens: Bosch Requiem, November Music (Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ)

Joey Roukens wrote the annual Bosch Requiem for November Music. A perfectbalance between modern and traditional music. In sixty minutes we seem totravel through an entire life cycle, but we start at the end instead of thebeginning. From dark, grim atmospheres we move towards a hopeful conclusion,in the form of a lullaby. A hit.

2. KCO/Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner: Brahms’ Gesang der Parzen (Concert Hall)

A wonderful concert is a celebration, but for real added value one wonderfulmoment can be enough – enough for the mind, for the week, for everything.There was such a moment with John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir and theConcertgebouw Orchestra. In the concluding line of Brahms’s Gesang der Parzen,a sound that gave you shivers vibrated, a pure sigh of the English choir.Divine.

3. Danish String Quartet: Der Tod und das Mädchen (Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ)

They were teenagers and loved classical music, one thing led to another. Thestrings taught Haydn to study and worked on their intonation. The DanishString Quartet is now an indispensable part of the world’s stages. InAmsterdam, the men played Schubert’s Der Tod und das Mädchen, intensely,directly and with great depth. The pinnacle of string quartet playing.

4. Iván Fischer: Entrée Essentials, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (Concert Hall)

Ta-ta-ta-taaaa! “Now you get music that frightens you,” says Iván Fischer.Full of enthusiasm he accompanied a room filled with an audience of under 35through Beethoven’s Fifth. The audience hung on his every word. As if thechats in between weren’t entertaining enough, the orchestra was also in topform. Afterwards, there were drinks and dancing in all corners of thebuilding. Interested in classical music for young people? Entrée has theformula for success.

5. The Underground: NITE (Bostheater)

Club Guy & Roni, NNT, Slagwerk Den Haag and Asko|Schönberg joined forces forThe Underground. A multidisciplinary performance in which the audience wasshort of eyes. The nihilistic protagonist was played very strongly by Sanneden Hartogh, surrounded by extravagant, costumed musicians and energeticdancers. Together they formed a collective middle finger against theconformist society. Extra bonus points for Brendan Faegre’s rousing music.

Looking for more year-end lists? Go to ‘the best of 2022 overview’

He won’t become chief until 2027, but Klaus Mäkelä is already making his markon the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Who is the young Finn who makes orchestras andhalls swoon?

Guido van OorschotDecember 13, 202213:36

‘Haha’, laughed Klaus Mäkelä in December 2020. The Finnish conductor, then 24,had at home in Helsinki de Volkskrant on the line. Two days earlier he hadbeen called by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Sick conductor, could Klaustake over the Christmas matinee? Sure, please!

And then we tried to lure him out by asking if he knew that the orchestra wasstill looking for a chief, after Daniele Gatti. ‘Haha’, laughed Mäkelä, ‘Ialready have two orchestras.’

Chef in Oslo and chef in Paris, that was already exceptional for a person inhis early twenties. And now look at him sitting in the catacombs of theAmsterdam Concertgebouw. It’s almost December and Klaus Mäkelä (26) receivesas the man in charge here. After giants such as Mengelberg, Haitink andJansons, he will become the eighth chief conductor in the history of the RoyalConcertgebouw Orchestra.

The press wrote: Broekie becomes boss of top orchestra. What happened?

Shortly after that Christmas matinee, the orchestra called again. It wasJanuary 2021, in the middle of corona time, I was sitting in front of aconcert stream in Paris. Jörgen van Rijen, the solo trombonist, said he wantedto ask me something on behalf of the group. Go ahead, I said. No, he preferredto do that live.’

Four months earlier, the Concertgebouw Orchestra had experienced Mäkelä forthe first time. Pandemic, everything was different, they wanted to take achance with that Finn. They smelled the talent right away. Bright blow.Natural leadership. Inspirational take on the First Symphony by JeanSibelius.

So Van Rijen and a colleague went on a secret mission to Paris. There was adraconian lockdown. The only way to meet Mäkelä was to book a room at hishotel. ‘The Ritz, on the Place Vendôme. One night they knocked. The orchestrahas voted, they said. Klaus, do you want to be our new chef?’

And then you said: sorry, I already have two orchestras.

“I felt very honored to begin with. Then I said, it may not be impossible, butit will be a complicated puzzle. Then we opened a bottle of wine and had apleasant evening.’

That’s how it always goes: Klaus on the goat, orchestra in a swoon. The firstto see the nugget was Jorma Panula, the Finnish master of first-classconductors. He took Mäkelä under his wing at the age of 12, extremely young,and delivered him at 18, ready for the job. Both in Oslo and Paris, theorchestras pushed a contract under his nose after the first meeting.

Putting together the puzzle with the Concertgebouw Orchestra took more than ayear. In the end, a magic formula offered the way out: as of this seasonMäkelä is ‘artistic partner’, in 2027 he will move on as chef.

‘I really wanted to finish my contracts in Oslo and Paris. But honestly, itfeels like I’m already a chef in Amsterdam. I think along about repertoire,join auditions. I come more often every year, so that we can work towards 2027in a nice crescendo.’

Klaus Mäkelä conducts the Concertgebouw Orchestra at the Royal Concertgebouwin Amsterdam.Figurine Els Zweerink

What attracts you to the Concertgebouw Orchestra?

‘The sound! Some orchestras have a warm sound, others a transparent one. TheConcertgebouw Orchestra sounds warm and transparent at the same time. I findit irresistible.’

So you won’t mess with that.

‘Anyway. There is room for improvement in every orchestra, also here. I wantto keep the famous tradition, but at the same time develop it further. I’mgoing to carefully tinker with intensity and color, so that the stock becomeseven richer.’

He calls himself a sound tourist. He picks up a bit of sound from manyorchestras where Mäkelä guest conducts. “After my first rehearsal in Cleveland(an American top-5 orchestra, ed. ) I was upset for a few days. I had neverheard such a silky soft string sound. When I come to Vienna or Prague, Iremember other sonorities. That’s how a nice collection grows.’

End of November, morning rehearsal, it Requiem from Mozart. Klaus Mäkeläzigzags across the stage, strikes up a chat here, pats one’s shoulder there.He steps onto the conductor’s platform and says, “Before we begin, may I havea round of applause for our four vocal soloists?”

The Mozart session is purposeful and friendly. Mäkelä draws on an arsenal ofencouraging signals. Thumbs up. ‘Bravo.’ Wink. “Very good.” His instructionsare concrete and short. ‘Please turn it down here, I don’t want the soloiststo force themselves.’

You seem to enjoy rehearsing.

‘In fact, I love it. Concerts are fun, but you do the substantive work at arehearsal. Trying out ideas, putting sounds together, it remains a fascinatingprocess. I will also never show up at a rehearsal with a ready-made vision. Iwant to work as a musician among musicians. Maybe the flautist has a betteridea.’

Are you never irritated?

“I hate it when I have to say something twice. This usually indicates a lackof concentration. But it’s up to the conductor to keep an orchestra’s energyup. Don’t talk too much; don’t spend too much time leafing through yourscore.’

Klaus Mäkelä conducts the Concertgebouw Orchestra at the Royal Concertgebouwin Amsterdam.Figurine Els Zweerink

Do you still notice a Gatti trauma in Amsterdam? The affair aboutinappropriate behavior in which he played the leading role split theConcertgebouw Orchestra at the time.

“I can’t compare the game then and now. The musicians tell me that the grouphas come out stronger. Like: if no one takes care of us, we take care ofourselves.’

In the meantime, the whole world depends on Klaus Mäkelä. Every orchestrawants to taste its kidneys. When he appears again in Amsterdam in mid-December, he is still steaming from his debut with the New York Philharmonic.Or take April next year: then Mäkelä will open new scores every week insuccessively Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and Oslo – with his baptism of fire inBerlin with the orchestra of orchestras, the Berliner Philharmoniker.

When I look at your calendar, I get stuffy.

‘Fortunately I’m not the stress sensitive type. Traveling is sometimes tiring,but as soon as I’m in front of an orchestra, I feel the energy flowing.’

How do you prevent exhaustion?

Say no often. Sometimes it feels like a crime to pass up a famous orchestra.Then I say: please consider my no now as a future yes.’

I spoke to Jorma Panula, your teacher. He said: I hope Klaus takes time forhis inner self. Literature, art, he shouldn’t just wave.

‘I walk into a museum somewhere every week. Oslo has a huge Edvard Munchcollection. I love El Greco. Recently I walked around the Louvre for a fewhours.’

Will a Mr. or Mrs. Mäkelä also come along?

‘I’m not married, if that’s what you mean. The rest is private.’

Klaus Mäkelä conducts the Concertgebouw Orchestra at the Royal Concertgebouwin Amsterdam.Figurine Els Zweerink

Now about your three orchestras. How do you divide the repertoire?

‘As carefully as possible. I don’t want to be known as the man who conductsthe same music everywhere. I have a profile in my head for each orchestra,which makes it much clearer. In Oslo we now do a lot of Shostakovich. In Pariswe have just come out of a series around the Ballet Russes. In Amsterdam weare still in the exploratory phase. We’ve had the first Mahler, the Straussenand Bruckners are coming.’

And contemporary music?

‘I look forward to giving composition assignments. That’s an advantage ofhaving three permanent orchestras: you can share the costs.’

Do you also have Dutch composers in mind?

Ooh, touchy subject! Frankly, I don’t know much about it. I’ve already donesome browsing, but I still have to get serious about it.’

meet Decrypted a problematic crypto comedy in which the creator of Bitcoinis kidnapped.

More than fourteen years ago, on October 31, 2008, a special document waslaunched into the world under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. In the document,a p _honor-to-peer electronic cash system ‘ _described, with the thenobscure name Bitcoin.

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

On January 1, 2009, the network was actually launched. The rest is history.Where the digital currency was initially worth 9 cents, today you are talkingabout many thousands of dollars each.

A lot has changed in the crypto world since then. From the emergence ofgigantic companies to the emergence and loss of everything of many new, youngmillionaires or even billionaires.

Still, there’s one constant: we’re still undecided who Satoshi Nakamoto is.Who is behind the pseudonym? Who is the inventor of Bitcoin? Is it a man, awoman, or is there a group behind it? An interesting question, about which werecently wrote this extensive article.

Decrypted: Bitcoin creator kidnapped

So check that part for a serious answer. Or you’re okay with the fact thatthere’s no answer, and you’re just hungry for a nice mindless movie. Thenyou’ve come to the right place Decrypted a film now available digitally.

The action comedy follows a chaotic NSA team on a special mission. Thesynopsis is, to say the least… special. A mismatched NSA team kidnaps thecreator of Bitcoin – Satoshi Nakamoto – and tries to torture him for theinformation they need to destroy cryptocurrencies. Yes, destroycryptocurrencies.

The botched mission brings together “a homophobic field agent, a feminist techconsultant, a transgender asylum seeker, a crypto-anarchist, a racistBrexiteer and an inclusive MI5 agent.” Sparks fly “when their respectiveprejudices collide. If they all succumb to a drug of truth, their newfoundhonesty will have disastrous consequences.”

No Oscars material

Okay, come over. No, it’s not April 1st, this is really a movie you can startwatching now. The B-movie was released in England last year, and has nowreceived a wider digital release in other countries as well. DistributorTrinity Creative celebrates that fact with a crazy new trailer, which you cancheck out above.

After watching it you know one thing for sure: Decrypted , as the film iscalled, is not Oscars material. This is a classic case of shutting down yourmind and laughing. The synopsis alone doesn’t bode well for controversialhumor, so that one trigger alert you will receive from us.

Problematic

On IMDb, the crypto film scores a surprising 6.3. Surprisingly yes, becausethis type of film often does not score higher than a fiver there.Unfortunately there are no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but the few reactionswe could find online are not tender. Decrypted is mainly labeled as’problematic’ and ‘lousy’. From transphobic and homophobic humor to badacting. Bright.

Do you still want to give the Bitcoin movie a chance despite all thosewarnings? Then we refer you to the official website of the film. Fancy somemore solid viewing food? Then check out our list of the ten best films of all

A very funny comedy with a lot to think about: ○○○○○

Laughter comes in many forms. The roar of laughter at the loss of control ofslapstick and banana peel, poop and pee. The villainous chuckle at the pun orinsult. The sweet smile at the surprising link, paradox, non sequitur.

Comedy Triangle of Sadness has them all: two and a half hours fly by. It istherefore logical that the film press in Cannes reacted sparingly to thissecond Palme d’Or for director Ruben Östlund in May: the acidity is highthere. Östlund operates here loosely, coarsely and absurdly, which gives thefilm less focus than his art satire The Square from 2017. But also makes itfunnier.

Comedy

Triangle of Sadness Directed by: Ruben Ostlund. Starring: Charlbi Dean,Harris Dickinson, Woody Harrelson, Zlatko Buric, Dolly De Leon. Length: 147mins

The slapstick is especially in the middle, when a luxury cruise ship is caughtin a storm while the champagne, oysters and caviar are served. Betweenwaterfalls of vomit and shit, the Marxist captain and a neoliberal Russianoligarch barrage each other over the intercom drunk with quotes from Marx,Lenin, Reagan and Thatcher – a Monty Python-caliber absurdity.

The nice smile is there immediately, when young fashion models learn how tolook. At cheap clothing brands – H & M – you smile generously. Join! Everyoneis welcome! At expensive brands – Balenciaga – you look grim, you frown the’triangle of sadness’ between your eyebrows. Such expensive underwear looksdown on its customers. They must first prove that they are rich enough forclub Balenciaga.

We meet model Carl and influencer Yaya while bickering over a restaurant bill.She is more successful and richer, yet she expects Carl to pay. He is the manafter all. But the dependent status that Yaya thus suggests is a joke, Carlknows. Only by kicking a fight can he get on an equal footing with her.

The celebrity couple hitch a ride on a fancy cruise full of old and new money.There the social hierarchy is completely clear. Above deck service personnel:the middle class. Below decks the invisibles: cleaners, mechanics. Untileverything tilts on a deserted island.

The triptych Triangle of Sadness doesn’t care about plot or drama; it is awitty exploration of the visible and invisible connections between money,status and power. A very funny comedy with a lot to chew on – very suitablefor Christmas.

Coen van Zwol

Weak satire and unforgivable viewer underestimation: ○○

Ruben Östlund’s films always contain one scene that is memorable and talkedabout for a long time to come. Think of the brilliant opening of Tourist inwhich a father runs away when an avalanche descends on his family, or into thedining scene The Square in which a bodybuilder turns into a disruptivemonkey.

Also his new movie Triangle of Sadness has one. It’s the sequence everyone’sbeen talking about since the premiere in Cannes: the seasick guests on thecruise ship puke all over during their dinner and once they reach their cabin,vomiting, an attack of diarrhea follows that flows down the corridors likebrown sludge. gushing from the ship.

The problem isn’t that this is an unsavory or unwitting scene, but that itgoes on forever. And it is all very reminiscent of the famous puke scene inMonty Pythons The Meaning of Life (1983). The one in which an obese man, Mr.Creosote, eats uncontrollably and has to vomit profusely between all courses.In fact, Östlund made an art house take on this witty scene.

Read also: this interview with director Ruben Östlund

It is also annoying that Östlund is so in love with his own ideas that hecannot keep a measure, resulting in lingering or downright boring scenes inwhich the attention fades away unnoticed. Everything is widely reported, inany case a recurring shortcoming in his changeable oeuvre.

As the film progresses, yawning tendencies become more and more difficult tosuppress. This is mainly due to the toothless, weak satire. What Östlund hasto say is not very sharp and is also made much too explicit, an unforgivableunderestimation of the viewer.

The bubble-dwelling, privileged and racist rich, the empty lives of hedonisticinfluencers, none of it is very surprising. And then there’s the obvious,obligatory reversal in the third part, when the Philippine toilet cleaner ofthe luxury yacht suddenly becomes the most powerful person on the desertisland because she can make fire and catch fish.

Östlund’s easy-going screenplay eventually feels like the brainstormingsession of woke high school students for the annual school play, with the endresult being a big nerd. Because that is Triangle of Sadness.

André Waardenburg

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A version of this article also appeared in the December 14, 2022 newspaper

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Mara Wilson struggles with anxiety, OCD after she finished filming’Matilda’

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Mara Wilson is best known for her role as Matilda in the 1996 film adaptationof Roald Dahl’s classic, where she played an extraordinary 6-year-old whostood out from her family and friends. In her real life, Wilson said she feltdifferent from those around her as well.

Now 35 years old, the former child actress appeared on Mayim Bialik ‘sBreakdown podcast where the two discussed Wilson’s early career on camera.Despite starring in notable films including Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34thStreet and Matilda Wilson recalls the onset of anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and the death of her mother as the defining parts ofher childhood.

“I was always very worried from a very young age. I worried about death, Iworried about sickness, I was that kind of worrier. And it was strange becauseI was either, like I said, a very sort of upbeat extroverted kid or I washaving an anxiety attack,” she explained to Bialik. “When I was in thirdgrade, that was really when all the s*** hit the fan. Third grade was when mymother was sick, I had just finished filming Matilda. I started having panicattacks about things like my pet hamster escaping.”

Wilson wasn’t aware of what those moments of worry or panic actually meant atthe time. She recalled “hearing the word anxiety” but never in conjunctionwith her behavior.

“I think that my mother was probably afraid because she knew that mentalillness ran in her family,” Wilson said. “And she was also just sort of like ajust suck it up type mom anyway. So she was just kind of like, ‘OK get overit, you’ll be fine, deal with it.’ And she had cancer, she was dealing withher own stuff at the time.”

The panic attacks weren’t the only thing that Wilson was dealing with at thatage, but instead only supplemented the rituals that she created with herundiagnosed OCD. “I started washing my hands all the time, so much so that myhands were always red and chapped and raw and my mother would have to putsalves and ointments and all these kinds of … all of her home remedies on themto make sure that they wouldn’t hurt so much anymore,” Wilson explained. “Itwas a really hard time for me and I knew that it was weird. That was thething. I knew that I was strange, I knew that this was something that otherpeople didn’t have and I started having panic attacks at school . I had afeeling that this was not something that other kids had.”

Story continues

Although Wilson didn’t know what she was struggling with, she had theawareness to speak with her guidance counselor at school.

“I would go to the guidance counselor like every day but they didn’t reallyseem to know what to do with a child with anxiety, a child with obsessions andcompulsions,” she said. “I think about it and the way that I talked about mysymptoms and the way I described them, if I heard a child describe them todayI would immediately be like, even if I didn’t have the extensive experience, Ithink if anybody heard the way that I was talking, they would immediately saythat sounds like OCD. I think we know a little bit more about OCD now becauseit’s 25 years later but at the time, I guess people didn’t really have theknowledge that it could even happen to children.”

She did enough research herself to know that as a young girl, she related todescriptions of the disorder.

“I looked up OCD with the rudimentary internet that we had at the time andwhat I knew in the library and encyclopedia and such and I was like, ‘Oh, Ihave this.’ And I went to my guidance counselors, I said, ‘I think I knowwhat’s wrong with me,'” she recalled.

Wilson also had a studio teacher working with her on a movie set who seemed tovalidate her struggle. “I confessed to her that I was weird and I didn’t tella lot of people about it. But I told her I was like, ‘I’m really weird.’ She’slike, ‘I’m a little weird too.’ And I was like, ‘No, I get really anxious, Iget really scared.’ She was like, ‘I have anxiety too, it’s OK.’ And it mademe think, oh OK there are adults who have this. Not everybody is in controlall the time and they deal with it, they find ways to deal with it.”

Wilson shared that it was difficult to get her dad, who was a widow and singlefather after her mom’s death, to “accept that there was something wrong withme.” She said, “I think parents want to blame themselves for it. And theydon’t want to damn their kids with a diagnosis.”

Ultimately, it was starting therapy at about 12 years old and getting anevaluation that changed the course for Wilson going forward.

“I think I was on Zoloft at the time. I’m on Lexapro now and it helps becauseI couldn’t function without it. And I was diagnosed with severe OCD and Icouldn’t have functioned without it,” she said. “That diagnosis saved me.”

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