Cirque du Soleil - Quidam
by David Mallet
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Chris Lashua, Franco Dragone, Isabelle Chasse, John Gilkey, Konstantine BesschetnyjDirector: David Mallet
Brand: Cirque
Cinematographer: Barrie Dodd
Editor: Dave Gardener
Producer: Peter Wagg
Producer: Rocky Oldham
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Georgian (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-11-09
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Cirque du Soleil - Quidam
Movie Review: Soleil Shines!
Summary: 5 Stars
Having watched two previous productions on video(Nouvelle experience, Saltimbanco), I can honestly say that Quidam has to be the most visually and artistically stunning of the three.Unlike the first two, annoying camera angles and effects are kept to a bare minimum, except for the German Wheel act. Also, the quality of the tape itself (image and sound) is superior and comes in nice clamshell packaging.
I will not bother decribing the acts when much will be lost in the translation anyway and the wonder and magic can only really be appreiciated visually in a show or on video. However, I will say this. These current group of performers touring Europe having got to be the finest I have seen. There is really no substitute for perfection and this is the one of the more impressive aspects of this show. While other shows have employed the use of safety devices ( don't get me wrong, I'm all for safety), this troup has the confidence and competence to execute their amazing stunts mostly without the use of any saftey apparatus. Maybe the degree of difficulty might be a factor, but being propelled upwards in the air and ending up in a handstand position on top of a 3 man human pyramid is just incredible.
More impressive is the way all the acts are choreographed to the haunting and mesmerizing music composed by Benoit Jutras. From the majestic opening, to the cheeky skipping rope act and the acrobates in Banquine, the acts are performed to the music beat for beat. I very often wonder whether the acts are choreographed to the music, or the music is composed to fit in with the acts. Or maybe a combination of the two perhaps? Anyway, no matter how it was done, it's just pure magic.
I really haven't got a bone to pick about Quidam even after having watched it about twenty times. I guess this is one advantage of owning the video, you can watch it over and over and over again...
Summary of Cirque du Soleil - Quidam
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL TAKES ONE OF ITS MOST POPULAR SHOWS, QUIDAM, OUT FROM UNDER THE BIG TOP AND BRINGS IT INTO THE HOME TO ENJOY FOREVER. FEATURING SOME OF THE MOST AWE-INSPIRING ACROBATICSEVER SEEN, QUIDAM IS AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE, WHETHER YOU'RESEEING IT FOR THE FIRST TIME OR RELIVING THE WONDER AND MAGIC.When Cirque du Soleil first ventured beyond Canada's borders, its powerful, singularly ambitious "reinvention of the circus" seemed quixotic. Inspired by European precedents, this was a big top downsized to a more intimate, single ring, as the French-Canadian troupe jettisoned animals, banished the usual fright-wigged clowns in favor of funny folks versed in (gulp) pantomime, and focused on acrobats, contortionists, and illusionists. Conventional wisdom would have held that such esoterica was doomed, but anyone lucky enough to catch that initial Cirque production (or, for that matter, any of its subsequent offerings) knows just how wrong conventional wisdom can be.
Cirque's creative brain trust, including "guide" Guy Laliberte and director Franco Dragone, have crafted each production as an extended performance piece framed by recurrent characters, unified production design, and underlying themes. Already mesmerizing visual tableaux and astonishing illusions are given an added poignancy (and, occasionally, true gravity) by the productions' underlying comments about society, conformity, beauty, and emotion; even without such conscious motifs, however, Cirque's sheer artistry is never less than riveting.
Quidam revolves around an Everychild, living with self-absorbed (and deliberately archetypal) parents, who's whisked away to a vividly surreal world where Cirque's remarkable acrobats and artists take literal flight. Their tools are often prosaic--oversized flying rings, an open steel wheel large enough for a single inhabitant, skateboards, ropes--yet the resulting images are stunning. Injecting further drama and atmosphere is the score (here by musical director Benoit Jutras), which is as far removed from traditional circus music as Cirque's "acts" are from Barnum & Bailey. Performed with synthesizers, electric guitar, solo reed instruments, percussion, and voice (often singing in a kind of Esperanto that's tantalizing yet foreign), Cirque's music can be dismissed as New Age only until heard in its intended context.
Like three earlier video productions, Quidam can't quite achieve the sheer, enveloping wonder that its theatrical source does. But for fans of Cirque du Soleil's unique performance art, this latest presentation sustains the troupe's magic. --Sam Sutherland