It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

hyped garbage

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

'Don Giovanni' is not just one of Mozart's greatest operas, but one of the greatest operas ever written, with a dark and complex story, interesting and complex characters and beautiful and powerful music.There are some productions of 'Don Giovanni' available, the Joseph Losey film being my favourites. On the other hand, there are also some not so good ones out there, the much maligned Calixto Bieito production is particularly wretched with only the Leporello and Elvira being redeeming merits.Adapting opera to film is always a difficult task, and it is also difficult in making opera accessible to nowaday and younger audiences and doing something new while still respecting the opera. This said, there are some great opera films out there, like 1982's 'La Traviata' (love his 1986 'Otello' better than most), 1976's 'Tosca', 1979's 'Don Giovanni', 1984's 'Carmen and most of Jean Pierre Ponnelle's opera films.Kaspar Holten's film version is interesting but doesn't completely come off. It is beautifully filmed, never looks cheap, garish or vulgar (the settings are quite handsome and the modern dress costumes are well suited for the characters) and there has not been a bolder, racier or more daring 'Don Giovanni'.Not all the drama works. There are a lot of funny, seductive and frightening moments and one has to credit Holten for his bold and daring approach that is not too out of place, but some touches serve very little point and get in the way of the darkness and complexity of the story. People are also not going to like that it's very abridged, which makes the narrative in places less cohesive and a couple of the characters less interesting.Also not so successful is the translation and English words. Not only is it awkwardly translated but there is also an overuse of profanity that was frankly not needed, don't mind profanity but if there is no particular reason for it to be there or if the words and such are at odds with the music and the rhythm (both of which are present here) it is a problem. Lastly the orchestra sound underpowered, which undermines the darkness, contrasting moods and huge dramatic intensity.However, there is very little to complain about with the performances. Particularly good is Mikhail Petrenko who is a riot as Leporello (even if he does suffer from the worst of the crudities) and sings with warmth and immense character. Christopher Maltman is not far behind as a very seductive and menacing Don, his singing resonant, musical and expressive. The relationship between Don Giovanni and Leporello makes or breaks a production of 'Don Giovanni', but is more than convincing here.Maria Bengtsson is a fiery and poignant Donna Anna without being too much of a victim, showing little sign of being taxed by her challengingly high Tessitura. Elizabeth Futral revels in Elvira's spitefulness but softens her in the second act. Katija Dragojevic is effortlessly charming and teasing as Zerlina, Ludvig Bengtson Lindström is effectively diffident and jealous and Eric Halvarson despite the odd bit of wooliness intimidates to terrifying effect as the Commendatore. Only the bland Ottavio of Peter Dodahl disappoints somewhat.In conclusion, interesting and bold with superb singing and acting, but could have been much better. Not one for traditionalists or those who dislikes concept productions, but this reviewer does applaud this for trying. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Juan is a musical where the music is great, the cast is talented, the directing is bold but the scenario has issues.The concept of the abusive womanizer is captured very well in either Mozart's opera (Cesare's 1955 version being my favorite) or in Jude Law's Alfie. Both works follow the protagonist in his adventures with women, his heartless abuse of their trust and both works ultimately punish him in the own ways: supernaturally the former, sentimentally the latter.Juan tries to combine the concepts.But the story fails almost immediately for he is a serial murderer. He does it at the intro of the film -- without the possibility of an equivalent to a "fair sword duel" as it existed in the age of Mozart where victory didn't count as murder. And he does it again at the finale.His guilt therefore, can no longer be attributed to breaking women's hearts for fun, but for murder instead. Which would be fine in a movie but it doesn't justify neither the origin of the music nor the volumes of sex.Both Alfie and Don Giovanni explore the issue of trust betrayal in multiple relationships much better than Juan.

This is a bold interpretation of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" with modern settings (Budapest) and modern language(English, cause we have the best swear words!)including profanity, and even a smattering of nudity and violence. The singers, all international stars, are young, slim and attractive. They do not lip sync, but sing live on location, so there is an immediacy to their performances. I was lucky enough to see the US premiere at Palm Springs International Film Festival, even before the Danish premiers. The director explained at the festival Q&A the complicated process of recording the singers live to give the movie it's "real" feel, and it works.

I doubt that "Juan" will win many new converts to opera, but it's great fun for the already converted, an ingenious attempt (mostly successful) to update Mozart's opera to the smart-set of Budapest — people who fall hopelessly in love and thrive on delusion using cell phones, TV monitors, video cams and Mac laptops. Frankly, I wouldn't wish Italian opera sung in English on my worst enemy; I would have preferred a "Juan" sung in Italian, but I guess English is the world language of update. One aspect of the film I did not enjoy was the English subtitles: why use them when everyone sang loud and clear? For me the best singer was Mikhail Petrenko (Leporello) followed by Christopher Maltman as Juan who looks sexy enough to conquer 1003 women in Spain.Leporello's aria "One thousand and three" blew me away: his use of a Mac laptop and Mac software to display Juan's conquests is utterly brilliant.