Popular reviews

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  Review by fran hoepfner ★★★★

  framing device doesn’t totally work for me but lead performances are so strong & unique and there’s a couple of really gonzo shots that made my eyeballs pop out like a cartoon wolf plus the Mahler of it all. groovy, baby!!!

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  Review by KYK ★★★★ 1

  "I conduct to live. I live to compose."

  I'm always more interested in emotionally evocative biopics than stringently factual ones, so of course I loved the Ken Russellification of Mahler's life story. What a fever dream.

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  Review by Sally Jane Black 1

  I don't know why I thought this would be a documentary, but Ken Russell's bizarre opening scene certainly disabused me of that notion. Stiff performances stand in contrast to Mahler's infinitely powerful music in this bizarre mishmash between straight period piece/biopic and psychedelic freakout, and it could not be more endearingly "Ken Russell." He does somehow manage to capture many of the key moments of Mahler's life while also revealing through flashback and fever dream the emotional contents in his offbeat style.

  The most notable sequence is, of course, the conversion of Mahler from nominal Judaism to Catholicism (despite his repeated atheistic/agnostic declarations). Instead of... well, instead of mundanity and straightforwardness, Russell opts to show Cosima Wagner as a proto-Nazi…

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  Review by comrade_yui ★★★★★ 5

  somehow educates you in the particular details of mahler's life while also exploding into a funny expressionistic kaleidoscope of metaphor and symbol, a musician's biopic that matches the analogous power of a symphony with the analogous power of the image. i really am starting to think that ken russell is one of the GOATs, he understands how to deploy the full range of technique and tonality to depict an immense depth of intelligence, and is a master at using song to arouse a wide-range of emotions. i knew nothing about mahler before seeing this, but now i really want to get into his work! that's about the best recommendation you could hope for with this style of film -- if only all biopics were this inventive and charitable with their subjects.

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  Review by Dante ★★★★½ 1

  entirely on the money on what it is like to spend more than ninety minutes on a train and you start thinking of like, your childhood, your house burning, converting to Catholicism, Death In Venice, etc. as visually rich as anything directed by Ken Russell (the silhouettes!) but i definitely have a soft spot for this in particularly because i’ve been listening to a lot of Mahler lately and Robert Powell is just so good.

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  Review by theironcupcake ★★★½ 8

  "You've got a glimmer in you of the divine spark, I suppose. We all have, somewhere, deep down inside of us, glowing away in the dark. But we all need something, something special to ignite it, make it burst into flame…"

  Mini-Collab w/ Ethan

  Could it be that Ken Russell's biopic of composer Gustav Mahler is possibly the director's most abstract exercise in storytelling? It doesn't throw everything at the wall like so many of Ken's other films do, often seeming restrained by comparison to other visions of indulgence from the 70s like The Devils, Tommy, Lisztomania and Valentino, pushing the boundaries of taste and (if there ever was) a semblance of historical accuracy. The key difference is in the…

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  Review by Dr. Ethan Lyon ★★★★ 4

  10th Ken Russell (after Altered States, Lair of the White Worm, Pop Goes the Easel, Crimes of Passion, Gothic, The Devils, "Nessum Dorma" in Aria, The Fall of the Louse of Usher: A Gothic Tale for the 21st Century and Lisztomania)

  Collab with theironcupcake!

  Trust me to see the Death in Venice parody before I actually see Death in Venice...

  Tackles the Alma Problem* head on by suggesting that what united husband and wife was a natural tendency towards exaggeration and dramatisation. Both had vivid inner worlds, where challenges were heightened to mythic proportions, a Mahler against the indignities of the world. Gustav imagining Alma burying him alive while naked and straddling a gramophone. Alma burying her composition to the…

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  Review by Zoë 🐛 ★★★½ 9

  Compared to a Ken Russell film like Lisztomania, Mahler feels downright normal, though it has its moments of bizarre visual splendor and political provocation that are what Russell is probably best known for today. Perhaps because of his penchant for maximalism through Christian iconography, perverse displays of sexuality, and silent cinema aesthetics, the more tempered but equally as strong and impactful side of Russell's work that is rooted in 19th and early 20th century literary and musical movements gets less recognition. Mahler fits snugly between The Music Lovers, Russell's Tchaikovsky biopic that is more rooted in reality, and the aforementioned Lisztomania, Russell's Liszt biopic that starts off the rails and only gets wilder. Appropriately, Mahler was released before Lisztomania and…

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  Review by Disgustipated ★★★★½ 1

  Is it just me or did someone cast Mahler to look like John Lennon? The round framed glasses certainly nod in that direction, as well as his prickly attitude.

  If this is an authentic portrait of the great composer, then he was a bit of a dick. He was a control freak with an acerbic wit and a limitless supply of insults consisting entirely of musical puns.

  Director, Ken Russell, has put together an interesting narrative structure. The framing story has Mr. and Mrs. Mahler in a train carriage, their marriage in crisis. On a whistle stop tour to Vienna, Mahler hides from adoring fans lining every station platform. The chilly marital battles that pepper the journey are just as…

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  Review by Ford H ★★★½ 20

  "I conduct to live. I live to compose."

  Music biopics are hit or miss, but I tend to like most biopics that are specifically about a composer. As for biopics from Ken Russell, they all seem to work for me because there's this kind of visual language and madness from him that I can appreciate. His language is risky and often surreal and even grand. He captures the essence of creativity and the passion that drives someone to create, which is more life-affirming than anything that I know of.

  Ken Russell Ranked

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  Review by Alex ★★★★ 3

  Ken Russell is my dude. All existentialism and massive visual metaphors. Subtlety is for playwrights, film is about fucking maximalism baby. Style is substance and reality is less than life. The pillars of society are a prison, every moment of existence is pure confusion, and often times you’re so incredibly horny while it’s happening. That’s what Ken Russell films are about god dammit. Screaming at God for making the sky too bright, wine too sweet, women too beautiful. The world is loud, film has to be even louder. Naturalism is for cowards
  
  Destroy the Dragon of the Old Gods

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  Review by mari. 3

  every time i watch one of ken russell's movies i have to check his personal life section on wikipedia the second it's over and every time i'm surprised by the answer again. the dirk bogarde slander in this though? unforgivable.