Around Midnight (Autour de minuit) - Bertrand Tavernier Region 2
06-15-06, 08:16 AM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Europe
Posts: 620
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Around Midnight (Autour de minuit) - Bertrand Tavernier Region 2
Warner Home Video released yesterday this film on DVD Region 2.
Autour de minuit
Region 2, France
Editor : Warner
Release : June 14
Format : 16/9
Audio : English (DD5.1), Spanish (DD 2.0 Stereo), French (DD 2.0 Stereo), Italian (DD 2.0 Stereo)
Subtitles : English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Quotes from epinions.com review :
Dale Turner, a 60 year-old exiled, alcoholic, heroin-addicted be-bopster, is based on the later lives of exiles Powell and Young. He is played by legendary Tenor Saxophonist Dexter Gordon, himself struggling with similar demons, near the end of his career. And on and on.
"The film begins as Turner visits his dying friend and colleague Hershell (Hart Leroy Bibbs) in New York to say good bye. On the wagon, partly because no one wants his music anymore, he is flying to an engagement in one of those little Parisian clubs: The Blue Note. These two are men who were famous in their time, and the seedy poverty evident around Hershell's bed suggests Dale Turner has no where to go but to Europe.
In Paris, he is put under domestic house arrest by an old girlfriend, Butterfly (Sandra Reeves-Phillips). The Blue Note, where he is released to play with a quartet in the evenings, is crowded with an International clientel, worshipful of the great Dale Turner. All goes well for a time, until one night he is waylaid, on a break, by a poor French fan, Francis Borler (Francois Cluzet). Dale sees an opportunity: "Hey, mon, buy me a drink?"
But of course!
Across the alley, "a fatal glass of beer" launches a relationship with the single Father Borler which will last to the end of Dale Turner's life. Borler knows how accomplished Dale is as a Saxophonist, but he also comes to sense the loneliness and despair in his idol's life. He sees how playing obsessively under the worst possible conditions for a man with Turner's weakness has nearly destroyed him. Borler soon finds himself bailing Turner out of hospitals and jails, covering for him as best he can with Butterfly, and making Dale a kind of uncle to his young daughter Berangere (Gabrielle Haker).
Back at the Club, we meet visiting firemen passing through: former loves, colleagues and admirers. Darcy Liegh (Lonette McKee), reminiscent of Lena Horne, breezes in to sing a number in Dale's glow. A slick New York club owner Goodley (Martin Scorsese) swindles him. The laconic Redon (Philippe Noiret) cruises by. And of course, he has some of the greatest living "sidemen" supporting him: Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Billy Higgins, Eric LeLann, Pierre Michelot, and Wayne Shorter. There is a whole other crew backing Hancock's soundtrack, led by Freddie Hubbard, Chet Baker, and of course, Bobbie McFerrin. While Dale's personal life is a see-saw shambles, he continues to produce sublime modern music."
Autour de minuit
Region 2, France
Editor : Warner
Release : June 14
Format : 16/9
Audio : English (DD5.1), Spanish (DD 2.0 Stereo), French (DD 2.0 Stereo), Italian (DD 2.0 Stereo)
Subtitles : English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Quotes from epinions.com review :
Dale Turner, a 60 year-old exiled, alcoholic, heroin-addicted be-bopster, is based on the later lives of exiles Powell and Young. He is played by legendary Tenor Saxophonist Dexter Gordon, himself struggling with similar demons, near the end of his career. And on and on.
"The film begins as Turner visits his dying friend and colleague Hershell (Hart Leroy Bibbs) in New York to say good bye. On the wagon, partly because no one wants his music anymore, he is flying to an engagement in one of those little Parisian clubs: The Blue Note. These two are men who were famous in their time, and the seedy poverty evident around Hershell's bed suggests Dale Turner has no where to go but to Europe.
In Paris, he is put under domestic house arrest by an old girlfriend, Butterfly (Sandra Reeves-Phillips). The Blue Note, where he is released to play with a quartet in the evenings, is crowded with an International clientel, worshipful of the great Dale Turner. All goes well for a time, until one night he is waylaid, on a break, by a poor French fan, Francis Borler (Francois Cluzet). Dale sees an opportunity: "Hey, mon, buy me a drink?"
But of course!
Across the alley, "a fatal glass of beer" launches a relationship with the single Father Borler which will last to the end of Dale Turner's life. Borler knows how accomplished Dale is as a Saxophonist, but he also comes to sense the loneliness and despair in his idol's life. He sees how playing obsessively under the worst possible conditions for a man with Turner's weakness has nearly destroyed him. Borler soon finds himself bailing Turner out of hospitals and jails, covering for him as best he can with Butterfly, and making Dale a kind of uncle to his young daughter Berangere (Gabrielle Haker).
Back at the Club, we meet visiting firemen passing through: former loves, colleagues and admirers. Darcy Liegh (Lonette McKee), reminiscent of Lena Horne, breezes in to sing a number in Dale's glow. A slick New York club owner Goodley (Martin Scorsese) swindles him. The laconic Redon (Philippe Noiret) cruises by. And of course, he has some of the greatest living "sidemen" supporting him: Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Billy Higgins, Eric LeLann, Pierre Michelot, and Wayne Shorter. There is a whole other crew backing Hancock's soundtrack, led by Freddie Hubbard, Chet Baker, and of course, Bobbie McFerrin. While Dale's personal life is a see-saw shambles, he continues to produce sublime modern music."
