Gael Garcia Bernal stars in but its not the kind of thing one usually sees a Latino/LatinX/Latine/Hispanic… ay Dios mio , what do we call ourselves now? – actor in. Wait a minute. Digression below.
(i think we always called ourselves Latino – pero imaginate, we’re chasing those corporate billetes so sometimes we gotta adjust the nomenclature to accommodate the zeitgeist – pa buscar la fulas. That translates roughly as, “to look for them dollar bills” y’all.)
Anyway – where were we? oh yes, Gael Garcia Bernal is an actor of uncommon charisma, and his almost supernatural charm is on full display in Amazon Prime’s “Mozart in the Jungle”, a 4 season 2014-2018 series that’s currently streaming on Amazon. in 2014, if you’re like us – you were busy with, no se que and you missed it. That’s something that needs to be rectified. If you caught it then, hats off to you and time for a re-watch.
A comedy of uncommon charm, its a tonic for a bygone era. It ended its run (way too early we’ll add) just before the pandemic – and it’s charms are those of a friendliness, a breeziness, a causal grove that has all but vanished from today’s offerings. The show was put together by Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola and Paul Weitz and it exudes a joi de vivre (“that’s french” – as Sinatra would say) that is a little out of touch with today’s intense post COVID world. The show is only 10 years old but its got the grace and charm and sophistication of another era. It’ll remind you that you love classical (or at least like…) music, and that there’s so much to discover in that realm, your Spotify might – as ours did, fill up with Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional’s Huapango next to Latto’s Big Energy. Ours did.
Civilized and Sexy
Bernal plays Rodrigo de Souza – a conductor loosely based on Gustavo Dudamel of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (but just loosely, this show is doing its own wild thing). This isn’t the kind of part Latin actors with charming accents get – not at all. But Bernal delivers the performance of a lifetime – so funny, so charged, so charmed, so full of life, humor and vulnerability it’ll inspire you to live your life with greater gusto. I guess… Lola Kirke, (we won’t give it away but they’re kinda adorable together – if… they get together) is really the star and she’s radiant in it. As a female Oboe player in the big apple it’s a show based on and was supposed to be sort of a Sex, Drugs and Classical Music – based on, Oboist Blair Tinfall’s “Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music”, but i feel like that was just the IP used to get things going – and then the writers did their own thing – and its deff its own thing. Its the shows sweetness that wins the day. It’s wily and sexy and knowing – but its also … just sweet. And brief. Moving in half hour bursts of pure pleasure toward a conclusion that… i’m pretty sure they pulled the plug early on this – but what’s there.. is beautiful. Malcom McDowell, Bernadete Peters also star – and Ms. Peters, is ageless, a beauty, a funny charmer out of a 40s movie. Mr. McDowell is so good it makes you angry he hasn’t been more front and center in the movies for so long – what a part he has and he makes the absolute most of it.
We’re enamorado with the show because its great – its light, its beautiful, it celebrates art, love, sex and music at every turn. It’s celebratory about life in general. Its tone is egalitarian – the fact that Bernal.. plays a great quirky, charming, fascinating character who… just happens to be Latino is just what we wanted
It feels like a throw back to I Love Lucy where Latin-ness (did we say it right?) was something that was part of the character – instead of the sum total of the character. And… you’ll wanna drink Mate. You won’t be able to help it. And… you’ll wanna visit Mexico City again. And… like we said, el spoitfy will be the proof. And the general good mood you’ll be in 🙂
May the ñ be with you,
-bill t.
