Online Trailer and Reviews for van Eijk's Samson and Delilah

There's a trailer online for Corina van Eijk's Samson and Delilah which has now been and gone at the VIFF. It looks fantastic, if odd. I've also found a handful of short reviews.

Ron Reed has replaced his original post about the film with his review, which includes the following paragraph:

This radical reinterpretation of the celebrated Saint-Saëns' opera is a splendid example of cinema offering many things that the stage cannot. Ingenious ideas abound, from the political sparks of the contemporary setting to the sensational use of the simplest of décor to the very entertaining use the singers make of the freedom cinema allows for facial expression.

Sandra Peredo has also reviewed it for Intermedias.

Opera Spanga director Corina Van Eijk’s take on Camille Saint-Saens’ 19th century opera Samson and Delilah is replete with bizarre meanderings. Love her style or resent it, Saint-Saens’ music is still gorgeous.

Lastly, there's a capsule review on the film from Matthew Englander which I'll quote in full. He hated it, giving it only 1 out of 10.

The French-language opera adapted for film with some kind of modern middle-east setting. Boring and cartoonish, I almost walked out several times and I wish I had. Shot in digital video, the movie looked terrible; perhaps just the way it was projected but all the reds and blues were garishly ugly. The music was loud and unpleasant and never let up. The singing voice of Klara Uleman, playing Delilah, was particularly grating.

I had also quoted a bit of blurb on the film from the VIFF organisers and it turns out that that was part of a longer write up which is now available on the VIFF website.