CRANKO Berlin Film Premiere 02. October 2024

[Sabine0308]

So I went to the premiere here in Berlin last night. Sam Riley (he played John Cranko) and many people from the production company came onstage afterwards, for interviews with the radio host Knut Elstermann (radioeins).
The film briefly touches Cranko's upbringing in South Africa, but actually begins then with his arrival in Stuttgart after the scandal (his homosexuality) in London forced him to leave this city.

 

In Stuttgart, he is welcomed as the "famous choreographer from the Royal Ballet" and, surprisingly  to me, the former scandal and/or his love life are not critized, but adiministration offers him support and after the first success the post as AD for the ballet. He meets a provincial troupe, some leave, some are hired after auditions, and he forms his famous company, soon to become "his children".
In poetic scenes, the film shows how classical music inspired Cranko to "see" the movements/choreographies he wants to show onstage: Human feelings, rather than pure technique.

 

Scenes about his private search for love, his loneliness, his genius, kindness, stubbornness towards administration, always in favor of special dancers and for the artwork Ballet, his depression, desperation and triumph are very well interwoven in the story about the so called "Stuttgarter Ballettwunder".

 

Sam Riley got for his work the best compliment possible from former Cranko dancers/staff: they said they felt as if Cranko was with them again.
Go and watch the film, with powerful scenes from ONEGIN and ROMEO&JULIA, danced by current stars like Friedemann Vogel,  Elisa Badenes, Jason Reilly, Henrik Erikson and many more dancers of the Stuttgart Ballet. They dance and also play the roles of Cranko companions like Marcia Haydée,  Richard Cragun, Reid Anderson, Dieter Gräfe, Jürgen Rose, Ray Barra, Heinz Claus, Egon Madsen...
The fact that Sam Riley, a British actor, spoke German in the film, made every sentence sound really authentic.
I hope the film will be available in the UK soon. HIGHLY recommended.

 

Side note:

Before I went to see the film, I watched a German documentary about him from 2016 (Cranko in Stuttgart). Not a single word in this docu was spoken about his sexuality. I'm still unsure if this is a good sign (in terms like "who cares, it's life") or a bad sign about ignorance. The Film CRANKO shows all facets of his life.

Edited October 3, 2024 by Sabine0308

[Sim]

Thanks so much, Sabine.  I do hope we can see it in the UK sometime.  

[NiniGabriel]

4 hours ago, Sabine0308 said:

Side note:

Before I went to see the film, I watched a German documentary about him from 2016 (Cranko in Stuttgart). Not a single word in this docu was spoken about his sexuality. I'm still unsure if this is a good sign (in terms like "who cares, it's life") or a bad sign about ignorance. The Film CRANKO shows all facets of his life.

On the one hand:
The documentary mentioned was not made specifically about Cranko,
but on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the Stuttgart Ballet (original title: Of Miracles and Superheroes).

On the other hand:
The fact that Cranko was gay is a well-known fact here in Stuttgart - even in the 60s. Nobody needs a special mention here.

And let's be honest: Isn't that the best of all possibilities, namely that a person's sexual orientation is no longer important at all,
but only what they are like as a person and what they create in their life?

[Pas de Quatre]

Thank you Sabine, I will look out for this when it comes to UK. I think it is right to mention that he was gay so people can understand the historical context and the problems he endured. What is now considered mainstream and acceptable was illegal at that point. The law wasn't changed in Britain until 1967.

[NiniGabriel]

@Pas de Quatre

 

My answer explicitly referred to the documentary "Cranko in Stuttgart", NOT to the film "Cranko".

[Pas de Quatre]

I was not answering your post NiniGabriel, but making an observation about Sabine's.

[NiniGabriel]

I had the opportunity to see the film at its premiere in Stuttgart in September. But I held back on a report. On the one hand for personal reasons, because I have had little to no time to write for over a year. On the other hand, because as a fan of the Stuttgart Ballet since my youth, I consider myself too biased to write about it with any degree of objectiveness.

 

The audience here in Stuttgart is characterized by the love and admiration for Cranko, as exemplified by his dancers, especially by Marcia Haydée and Reid Anderson, the company's two long-standing artistic directors. Cranko's being gay was known, but not an important issue because it did not limit his work or recognition in Stuttgart.

 

The film CRANKO is actually about the source of his artistic imagination and creativity. And this was the ability for extraordinary love and humanity and at the same time the longing to be loved, which was only satisfied for a very short time. Side note: Cranko's love and humanity is the reason why the Stuttgart Ballet survived his death in 1973. Because HIS dancers stayed in Stuttgart and continued his legacy and kept it alive, especially Marcia Haydée, of course, and later Reid Anderson.

 

I'm very excited to see how the film will be seen and understood by people who don't know Cranko's story in Stuttgart that well. Of course, we ballet fans here know almost all of the anecdotes that are woven into the film, so the content wasn't really new. The individual scenes are really well chosen to characterize the person and artist John Cranko, even if they are sometimes strung together a bit too blatantly, which is okay considering the running time of two hours, which is less about words than about the creation of dance.

 

Scenes from Romeo and Juliet and Onegin are danced, but also from The Lady and the Fool and parts of the third movement from Initials R.B.M.E., whose legendary creation (in a single rehearsal lasting three quarters of an hour) can be seen in fast motion in the film. In addition, Opus 1, which premiered in 1965 (incidentally on the same evening as The Song of the Earth by Kenneth MacMillan), plays a key role. It is a rather short work about life from birth to death, whose final dance steps can be seen, for example, at the moment of John Cranko's death.

 

Of course, not all of the pieces that John Cranko created in Stuttgart can be seen in such a short time. However, I personally regret very much that none of his "funny" ballets, i.e. Jeu de cartes or The Taming of the Shrew, are shown. I miss a really important side of Cranko's personality, namely his humor.

 

Sam Riley plays John Cranko so convincingly that I feel like Tamas Detrich, the current artistic director of the Stuttgart Ballet: The person portrayed in the film mixes with the many reports about John Cranko - and the two can no longer be mentally separated from each other. That's probably the ultimate compliment you can give Sam Riley.

 

And of course the film and the many dance scenes touched me deeply emotionally and made me once again mourn the man who died far too early.

 

P.S There is apparently a company that will handle worldwide distribution, and the premiere was shown in German with English subtitles, so there is hope that the film will also be shown outside of Germany. Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[Sabine0308]

10 minutes ago, NiniGabriel said:

...

Of course, not all of the pieces that John Cranko created in Stuttgart can be seen in such a short time. However, I personally regret very much that none of his "funny" ballets, i.e. Jeu de cartes or The Taming of the Shrew, are shown. I miss a really important side of Cranko's personality, namely his humor.

...

Yes, I agree. Overall, my opinion is that the film was a bit too melancholic when it came to Cranko's personality. I too missed especially Taming of the shrew, which was such a brilliant ballet for Marcia Haydée.

[Sabine0308]

2 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

Thank you Sabine, I will look out for this when it comes to UK. I think it is right to mention that he was gay so people can understand the historical context and the problems he endured. What is now considered mainstream and acceptable was illegal at that point. The law wasn't changed in Britain until 1967.

I meant I applaud Stuttgart for being so supportive and tolerant at that time (1961-1973). Because, in Germany (quote from Wikipedia):

Section 175 of the German Criminal Code existed from 1 January 1871 to 10 June 1994, making sexual acts between persons of the male sex a punishable offence and thus enabling the persecution of homosexuals."

 

I want to be precise, because it's important:

In East Germany, Paragraph 175 ceased to be enforced from 1957 but remained on the books until 1968. Officially, homosexuality was decriminalised in East Germany in 1968.

Edited October 3, 2024 by Sabine0308

[Emeralds]

I hope they release this on DVD too, as I'm not sure our small local cinemas will definitely screen this....and also, a DVD means I can rewatch just the ballet excerpts over and over again.  😀

[AnneL]

I would also love to see this film. I always think that it’s a shame that we don’t see more Cranko ballets in England. I have only seen live Onegin and Pineapple Poll in over 50 years of ballet-going. I saw his Romeo and Juliet streamed a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I am also hoping to visit Stuttgart too at some point!

[NiniGabriel]

The movie CRANKO will be shown for the first time in Austria on Sunday, October 13th, 2024 at the Filmcasino in Vienna in collaboration with the Vienna State Opera Ballet.

https://www.filmcasino.at/film/cranko/

[Oberon]

As a supplement, a very endearing TV feature about the 'original' Cranko in Stuttgart from 1965. 
In German language, of course, but what's appealing in addition to the content is the locations (his apartment!) 
and the friendly, relaxed attitude of this man in his heyday of his life: heartwarming!

 

https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/swr-retro-abendschau/john-cranko-ballett-ist-sein-leben/swr/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS9hZXgvbzExNTkxNzc