Director Rebecca Tansley
Starring Pene Pati & Amitai Pati
Rated PG
Score 6/6

The remarkable story of Samoan opera star Pene Pati, who sang his way from humble origins in Samoa onto the world’s greatest opera stages – only to be followed by his brother Amitai, now also a leading tenor.

Okay, I’ll admit I think a major reason I decided to watch Tenor: My Name Is Pati was because of its poster. I thought it was striking. Is it a silly reason? Maybe. But then again, in the past I’ve gone into movies knowing absolutely nothing about them. I went into this completely unfamiliar director Rebecca Tansley’s work. Apparently Tansley had directed other music documentaries. I was also unfamiliar with the musical career of Pene Pati, or his brother Amitai. I loved the opening and Pene’s voiceover about music and family. Now, even though the end credits were like what you would expect from any other film, I loved the music that was played over them; it made me want to watch the end credits. I found the explanation about tenors and what French conductor Emmanuel Villaume specifically had to say about Pati’s singing. There were some interesting points made about family; I thought that the part talking about children performing for their parents at church was hilarious. It was interesting hearing about immigration from Samoa to New Zealand. I know it’s a slightly cliched view to have about opera, being that I’ve always seen it as being very serious, so I thought it was great that there were some comedic moments throughout the documentary. I loved how Golda Schultz delivered her point about wanting to cry while listening to Pati and Amitai sing. I loved the use of the family archive videos throughout the documentary. Pene’s performance of Nessun Dorma towards the end of the movie was amazing. A sure sign of the success of a music documentary is its ability to make you want to explore the music of its subject. In this case, with Tenor: My Name Is Pati? I just might have to.