Pavarotti

Pavarotti (2019) was directed by Ron Howard. It's a solid biography of the extraordinary tenor, with archival footage and interviews with Pavarotti's colleagues, family, and friends.

No one questions Pavarotti's genius. It's certainly on full display in the film. His personal choices may have been less than exemplary, so it's necessary to separate your thoughts about the artist from your thoughts about the man.

The good news is that, as far as I can tell, director Howard is presenting Pavarotti's story in an honest, unbiased way. At least, that appears to have been his goal. How well he succeeded is something that opera experts will have to tell us.

We saw the movie at Rochester's excellent Little Theatre. It will work well enough on the small screen, although certainly you need to see it with a system that has good sound .

The film has a solid IMDb rating of 7.5, which I think is just about right. Opera lovers won't want to miss it. I think it's worth seeing even if you don't love opera.

It's only been 12 years since the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti died of pancreatic cancer, too young at the age of 70. Ron Howard's documentary doesn't only make you miss the singer, it also makes you miss, Of all things, a robust music industry. The Movie itself reflects heavily on his life and his final days as an Opera Singer before his passing, and the direction that Ron Howard uses as his Key Directing Style fits very perfectly with the flow of this Movie. I love Opera Music as much as anything in the Musical Department and I REALLY love Pavarotti, and this Movie has lots of respect shown for the man. This is one of those Independent Movies and it may not play in many Theaters, so I had to find a Theater far away from where I live to see this Movie and I loved everything about it. Easily one of the best Documentary Movies ever made and an extremely accurate take on one of the greatest Opera Singers in History!

This year's big doc may be Ron Howard's "Pavarotti," a love letter about the great tenor. More than any opera singer since Enrico Caruso a century before, Pavarotti made opera cool in the latter part of the 20th century. With his larger-than-life personality and crystal-clear voice, he became a worldwide sensation, performing everywhere from rural outposts to massive stadiums to outdoor parks.

Howard manages to piece together decades of film --- often grainy and amateurish - with deeply personal interviews with the Maestro's ex-wives, former mistress, daughters, peers (Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, and several sopranos), and admirers. He weaves biography with taped performances from the time Pavarotti was a promising young singer through his waning years.

In fact, Howard presents Pavarotti's life as opera. A man of great passion - for opera, for women, for food, for children - Pavarotti lived large. And he died painfully. Howard manages to make the audience feel the highs and the lows of Pavarotti's personal and professional lives.

But the film is long. It proves that even great directors can fall in love with their own films. Howard could have spent less time in the run-up to stardom to get us to the fantastic success of his middle years and the explosive teaming with Domingo and Carreras as The Three Tenors. His death is handled beautifully as is Pavarotti's heartfelt charitable endeavors in concert with Princess Diana, Bono and many others.

Even if you don't love opera, you will enjoy this stunning documentary.

I saw this film in a theater in New York a few days ago and was enchanted by the film and by the subject of the documentary: Luciano Pavarotti. I didn't know much about Pavarotti before having seen the film and I am not an opera fan. However, this touching documentary endeared me to the man and his music. His life is well documented in this film, excellently directed by Ron Howard. Whether or not you like opera, you will likely appreciate the humor & heart which Pavarotti had as well as his obvious vocal talent. A documentary about a person is supposed to capture the essence of the human being or artist and this film succeeds in doing that. It also successfully revealed the notion that a great artist is also a flawed human being who leads an imperfect life, just like everyone else. I left the theater wanting to know more about the man & his music. Bravo to all involved in this production.

When it comes to opera singers, there aren't many household names that people know or actually talk about, with the exception of one person, Luciano Pavarotti. Few documentaries make it all the way to the cinema, not to mention having a premier screening, so I was curious about what made this one so special.

I knew who Pavarotti was before watching this film and I have heard his performances, but I had no idea what kind of man he was and how people loved him for his voice, charisma, generosity and his big joyful smile. Ron Howard seamlessly blended the footage of Luciano's life to make it flow like a regular film while accentuating on the musical parts that left me in awe of how talented and impactful he was, specially hearing it through Dolby Surround system.

This film is more than just a documentary about a singer; it is a story of a man who worked tirelessly to achieve worldwide fame and yet not once did he lose himself in the process and that is how he will be remembered. He loved life, he loved the ones around him and he loved helping others. Luciano is one of those people whom I would love to meet just to bask in his grandeur and absorb some of his happiness, positivity and energy that he radiated.