11 Mar 2010 – The Movie/のだめカンタービレ****

Happy Bday cousin Ken TAN

Cantabile in Italian means in the singing way, flowing & clearly. Was unaware that this Japanese cartoon character Nodame Cantabile is from some famous Japanese magazine, Kiss. The story line was not the reason I watched this Japanese movie which is a conclusion to a popular TV series based on a pianist. Nodame’s acting is exaggerated, but her cutesy image fits well in this modern-day fairy tale teeming with magic realism and quirky humour. She has to sort out romantic and professional issues involving her conductor boyfriend Chiaki.

The nearly 2hr movie was worth my time as the music in it is totally exquisite to the ears. Am not a musical/boardway fan but a great fan of good classical music and the opera. The performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture is inspiring, not an easy work to conduct or perform well. The touching part is when the conductor narrated parts of the work in his mind as he was conducting. The firing of the canons added to the dynamics and if you know the history for the era, you might be able to relate this master work of war and peace in music.

Why I sectioned out this movie on its own? Is it because of my passion for music or perhaps a reminder for when I used to play the piano and won prizes, scholarships etc? Now that my arthritic fingers are not as nimble as they were but they still enjoy playing the piano when emotions need to be released, which is often lately!

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life – Ludwig van Beethoven