Cinema: Opera for The Inoperative

Catchy tunes and deep passions highlight the Aria anthology

You don't have to love opera to like Aria. In fact, knowledge of music drama may prove a liability in appreciating this anthology of ten short films by ten prominent directors, each one spitballing on themes from the opera repertory. If, however, you are a connoisseur of rock videos, with their images like Day- Glo wallpaper after a food fight, you will feel right at home. Watching three of the segments (based on hit songs from Un Ballo in Maschera, La Forza del Destino and Rigoletto), purists could sneer at Aria as MTV -- Movies Trash Verdi. But Producer Don Boyd...

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