And so it comes to an end. This group isn't as strong as last week's, but there are definitely some highlights. Here's a question you weren't wondering about but that I'm going to answer anyway: are you going to include each of these in your personal list of operas? ("Good question!" Thanks, me!) I'm not averse to including micro-operas in my list, but somehow it feels sort of cheap to just flood it with twenty of them all at once, especially since that would unceremoniously blast me past four hundred (not that there's going to be a ceremony, but you know). STILL, I've watched these, three hours twenty-five minutes in total, and I do want to acknowledge that, so I'm just going to include them all collectively, under the title #OperaHarmony, and not JUST because that allows me to have one placed alphabetically before the numerals. Some would argue that it would be proper to just ignore the hashtag and put it under O, but I don't put any stock in such wild rumors. So now you know.
Caleb Glickman, My Neighbor Figaro
A piano-based piece in which a woman is living alone in her apartment; it's presented as a video diary. Her upstairs neighbors are opera singers, which seems like it could be a nightmare, but it's not so bad: they always go out to practice and perform, so they never disturb her. But now with Covid, that's changing: everything's canceled, they're stuck inside, and they're driving her crazy with their singing. Finally she has a freakout, and they (presented only as disembodied voices) respond with kindness and invite her up, emphasizing the value of human solidarity. Also, the three of them are a tenor, soprano, and baritone, whereas she's a mezzo, so Symbolism: the four most common voice types coming together. I liked this a whole lot; it's a simple story, both funny and ultimately moving. I would say it ends a little abruptly--it's only eight minutes, so it clearly could've gone on for a little longer--but in spite of that, it might be my favorite of the week.
Harry Sever, La Solitudine
Man, I just don't know what to say about this one. It's very short (less than five minutes) and impenetrably abstract. We see some people running in the woods. Then we see people in houses, working on art projects, or not. The voiceover singing may have something to do with apartness and/or togetherness. I found the whole thing one hundred percent dull and uncompelling.
Michael Betteridge, Walk Out of Yourself
The backbone of this consists of British people out for walks--as I understand it, you're allowed to go out once a day in the UK--narrating and filming their situations, featuring both urban and rural areas. We also see these people (or their stand-ins) at home, singing about the situation. There's also a lot of wordless humming. I thought this was...okay. Fine. Pretty good. I realize that makes it sound like I didn't really like it, but seriously, it's not bad, even if I admire the concept more than enjoy the final product.
Nils Holger Petersen, Grief
There's an old man, some kind of teacher, whose wife has just unexpectedly died--and there's his student, though he only appears in the first part (supposedly, this is based on some kind of medieval correspondence between master and pupil). It's about the man trying to come to grips with the situation. In the end, he fails to come to terms with it in any way. I will acknowledge that this is well-made, but I really do think it suffers for that reason: I'm not saying you need some kind of Hollywood ending, but the lack of any resolution, even an oblique one, make me think, well okay, but what are you really trying to SAY here?
Ken Steen, APART/MENTAL
I would say that this one will almost certainly win this week, and is an odds-on favorite to win the whole thing. Of course, it has an advantage in that it's the last entry in the last week, and thus presumably likely to be the freshest in voters' memory, but there's definitely more to it than that. I wouldn't say it's MY favorite, but it's very ambitious and visually distinctive--it's certainly no injustice if it wins. It's about a Polish-Jewish-American super in an apartment complex. Cleaning supplies are supposed to come on the first of the month, but the next day, the disinfectant wipes are missing, and she takes it upon herself to try to figure out who took them, going from apartment to apartment and talking to the different tenants. This whole thing is presented as a kind of animation: everything is paper cut-outs on which characters' features and whatnot have been drawn (it looks nothing like South Park, if that's what you're wondering) (during the end credits, we see the cut-outs compared with pictures of the actual singers, after whom they are indeed modeled). The whole thing is a big ol' animated collage; extremely impressive and cool to look at. The music varies according to whose apartment we're at. It's very good; it may not be notably "deep"--it doesn't say anything in particular about the Covid situation--but I won't hold that against it. It's definitely a strong way for the series to go out.
Even if the results are inconsistent, this whole project was a really cool idea. I don't think there needs to be a pandemic; it would be neat if they chose a general theme of wide concern and did something similar on it every year. Or so I think!
Rankings:
1. My Neighbor Figaro
2. APART/MENTAL
3. Grief
4. Walk Out of Yourself
5. La Solitudine
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