Streaming "must": Amazon's THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL is all you've heard -- and more!

What a glory is both this new show (available now via Amazon Prime) and its star, the ravishing Rachel Brosnahan. Turns out I have seen Ms Brosnahan numerous times previously (from Netflix's House of Cards and Burn Country to James White and Patriots Day) but have managed to not really "notice" her until now. That won't happen again. THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL gives Brosnahan the kind of role actors would die for, and she fills it so completely and spectacularly that you cannot imagine anyone else possibly doing the job any better.

The brainchild of writer/director/producer Amy Sherman-Palladino and her producer/writer/director husband, Daniel Palladino (the pair shown at left), the series comes to immediate and fine life at the mid-1950s wedding, below, of Miriam Weissman (Ms Brosnahan) to Joel Maisel (the excellent Michael Zegen) and then moves mostly forward but occasionally back in time as the character and personality of our heroine come clear. What is most clear from the very start is that Miriam ("Midge") Maisel is a born comic: someone who is innately funny and can't help sharing this fact with the rest of the world. And yet, unlike so many stand-up comics who must always "own the room," Mrs. Maisel (and, it would seem, Brosnahan, too) leavens this need for control with such a dose of sweetness and charm that she completely seduces her audience. And us.

The arc of the series has our heroine moving from housewife and mother (a good one in both cases) to comic, and this turns out to be no easy task or any kind of overnight success. It's a slow (but always funny and entertaining) process, full of backsliding and doubt, while trying to appease some folk while keeping this goal a secret from the others.

The first-rate supporting cast includes the likes of Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle (above) as Midge's parents, and the wonderful Alex Borstein (below: remember MAD-TV's Ms Swan?) as Susie, the"gate-keeper"at the comedy club who pushes Midge into performing, after seeing her surprising and intoxicated stage debut (two photos below).

This series continually fosters a real and a deep appreciation of women's roles in our society, while keeping us laughing about these at the same time. The combination of Sherman-Palladino's writing skills and Brosnahan's performance turns The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel into something sneakily ground-breaking.

It will have you loving and appreciating all the women you see here, including even Penny Pan (Holly Curran), the home-wrecking secretary who helps cause the Maisels' separation, as well as Rose, Midge's strait-laced, appearances-are-all mother, whom Ms Hinkle bring to wonderful, sad life. You may not agree with these women or their choices, but you do understand them and feel for them.

This empathy extends to the men on view, too -- Midge's husband (Mr. Zegen is shown above, left, and below, right), her father and even her father-in-law (Kevin Pollack). We laugh at these guys, but we understand then and finally come to care about them.

Succulent smaller roles are brought to rich life by actors like Mary Testa (as Rose's fortune teller), David Paymer (as a higher-level agent/manager to whom Susie must turn for help), and Luke Kirby, doing a surprising and terrific turn as Lenny Bruce, whose path Midge crosses a number of times during this premiere season.

Especially commanding is Jane Lynch, above, who gets one episode nearly all to herself, playing a famous comic named Sophie Lennon (think maybe a combo of Sophie Tucker and Joan Rivers) who gives our gal advice that is used quite otherwise than intended. Ms Lynch is memorable indeed, and what Midge does with her advice is even more so.

Questions have been raised as to the provenance of the lead character. Is she based, for instance, on Joan Rivers? Yes, there is some similarity between Rivers' early work and what we see here. But not all that much. It seems to me that Miriam "Midge" Maisel is a character cut almost totally from "whole cloth" and all the better for it. Someone like this never really exited in the mid-20th-century, although comedy, New York and the world at large would have been better if she had.

By the time we've reached the end of this ten-episode (each around 50 minutes) series, everything is in place for what may be the most wonderfully "earned" and perfect ending in the history of exceptional television seasons. Oh, boy: what a moment. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel streams now via Amazon, and the series alone is worth the yearly hundred-dollar Prime membership fee. Whatever you do, don't miss Mrs. Maisel.

Amazon streaming: MOZART IN THE JUNGLE -- a loose, lovable and very smart little series

For several years now Netflix has been hailed as the new "content provider" that -- in addition to offering its usual DVD and Blu-ray discs for rental, as well as tons of movies and TV series to stream -- is creating its own first-rate series such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and the recent and brilliant Daredevil. Lately, however, Amazon,  the behemoth we all love to hate, is making its own inroads into original content, with the award-winning Transparent and a bunch of other new, how-did-these-get-here-so-fast? series, among which MOZART IN THE JUNGLE is most definitely worth your time. (A recent issue of New York magazine profiled Amazon's sudden explosion into original series with an excellent article you might want to read -- if you haven't already.)

Having found Transparent a wonderfully rich example of original, unusual dramedy, TrustMovies moved on recently to this newer series and was very quickly hooked. Mozart in the Jungle seems to me an almost perfect example of what Amazon Studios (the "content" arm of the behemoth) seems intent on providing: original content that, while nowhere near close to blockbuster/ mainstream level, will give a certain smaller segment of sophisticated television viewers exactly the kind of thing for which they're always searching.

Mozart... offers up a smart plot situated in a venue that neither TV, movies nor practically any source from which we get our "drama" has cared to go -- that of the big-city symphony orchestra: that "jungle" of the title. The brain-child of a most creative threesome: Roman Coppola, (above, left), Jason Schwartzman (above, right) and Alex Timbers (shown at right) (based on the book by Blair Tindall, Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music), the series should be a shoo-in for anyone who's ever been involved in the classical music scene.

Yours truly worked at New York City's Philharmonic Hall -- now Avery Fisher Hall -- for several years back in the 1960s. But even if you have never been involved with symphonies and the like, the series is well-executed enough to pull you in. Watching it made me realize, among many other things, that despite how much has changed in the intervening decades, much remains the same.

Prime amongst those things that never seem to change is the necessity of fundraising -- above almost everything else. Wait: forget "almost." Fundraising is all. The person responsible for this on Mozart... is Gloria Windsor, played by Broadway veteran Bernadette Peters (above, left), who -- as do literally all the actors on the show -- turns her character into a multifaceted surprise and delight.

Mozart's creators understand quite well how conducting, performing in and running a symphony orchestra is full of compromise, no matter how dedicated to "art" are the people involved. These would include especially the symphony's new conductor, Rodrigo, a role just about perfect for the charismatic Mexican actor Gabriel García Bernal, who here gives maybe his best performance yet, as the bizarre-but-fully-dedicated enfant terrible who wants to take this orchestra to a new plateau.

Rodrigo's relationship to the conductor he is replacing (a marvelous turn by Malcolm McDowell, above) is a complicated one, and as the series progresses, this becomes more focused, specific, funny and moving.

The orchestra itself is composed of a raft of smart and talented actors -- from Mark Blum and Deborah Monk to Saffron Burrows (at right) as the crack violist and Lola Kirke (below) as a young oboist hoping to break into the ranks of the anointed. How the latter achieves this -- and then doesn't -- provides some of the surprise and believa-bility, coupled to the kind of charm and entertainment that makes for the series' great success. As befits a show brought to life by the likes of Mr. Schwartzman, Mozart... is above all loose and lively, never underscor-ing its points nor pushing too hard.

Mozart in the Jungle treats its characters -- virtually all of them -- as living, breathing, complicated human beings, whose needs and desires often conflict with those of their nearest and dearest -- not to mention with what they themselves sometimes want.

The series also addresses class and economics, and while it comes down firmly on the side of the underdogs and "art" over the wealthy and corporate, it never handles this in the usual obvious and stupidly facile fashon. Mozart's creators understand the complications of living in the real world and what this means to the idea of creation and compromise.

Victory, as is only sometimes (and not often enough) the case, goes to those who can best roll with the punches -- a scenario beautifully demonstrated by the final episode in this first season.

The show is also unafraid to introduce an oddball new character for a one-time appearance -- Wallace Shawn (above) is one example -- or offer up a memorable supporting turn from another who appears only now and again, such as the beautiful and charismatic Nora Arnezeder (below: remember Paris 36?).

Shows like Mozart... don't set the world afire. That's not their job. Rather they appeal to to those of us who want something different but of high quality in both its artistic ambitions and entertainment quotient. This series delivers on both levels. It's streamable now, only via Amazon, where Prime members can watch it free.

John Maringouin's BIG RIVER MAN tracks a trek down the Amazon -- in the water!

"I am Martin Strel and I am going to do what no man has ever done: swim the Amazon." So the leading character in BIG RIVER MAN tells us right off the bat in this new documentary by John Maringouin (shown at right). If his statement sounds likes a challenge, it is -- to himself as much as to us, who may have our doubts, as the Amaon is said to be unswimmable (those Piranhas, you know, and Alligators and Anacondas). But, as Mr. Strel has already swum the Danube, the Mississippi and the Yangtze, perhaps we should have some faith.

Goodness knows, Strel's son has plenty of it. He's his dad's biggest booster, as well as his second mate, and he pops in and out of the film -- which is all over the place consistently (even the credits don't show up for a good fifteen minutes). Strel himself is all over the place, too: swimming, toning up in the gym, playing his Flamenco guitar, gambling (he's a pro), dining with the Slovenian elite and being, well, fat. He readily admits he's fat -- way too fat to be a champion endurance swimmer. But he is. And he does look
great in a dark suit.

Big River Man is full of duality, from the helpful son who perhaps hates his father (but not on any conscious level), to the father, a egocentric braggart who claims to be making his swim for "the environment" (even the director seems to have doubts about that) and who grows crazier as the movie goes on, to Mr. Maringouin himself who, though he keeps out of the water, is clearly in over his head. How could he not be? Martin Strel is bigger than life and maybe bigger than truth, as well.

Once the swim begins, the movie grows more fantastic -- in all meanings of the word. Strel goes bananas in increments, as does his navigator/friend, though his son keeps his sanity pretty well (these two appear to be his only crew, except a doctor who shows up occasionally to take blood pressure and check for parasites and such). The swimmer gets so sunburned that he must wear a facial mask, giving him a kind of Friday the 13th, Jason-in-the-Amazon look. Villagers and Indians come out on the docks to meet and greet him, and he presses on and on, even as his health appears to fail, his blood pressure skyrockets and colon problems ensue. Or do they? The guy ought to be dead by now.

The problem is that, because the trip begins to take on a phantasmagorical feel, with narration coming in fits and starts (much of it sounding suspect in any case), we don't know that we can trust what we see and hear. This seems to be the case for Strel and his crew, too, who often seem equally confused. We can't ask questions, of course, so we must take what we're given on faith. Does the swimmer make it? You'll find out. By the finale, I found that I didn't really care one way or another. Since Strel had come all this way, I didn't want him to fail, but I felt more strongly for Strel's sad son than for the man himself -- who evidently had his own rotten father to deal with, and as usual, has passed this issue on to his own son -- if in a less violent fashion.

Along the way we get some shots of staggeringly beautiful cloud formations over the Amazon (these almost look as if they were taken by another camera); otherwise the cinematography, though often bordering on ugly, does a good job of shoving us, face first, into the swim of things.

Big River Man, from the distribution company salt., opens Friday, December 4, at the IFC Center. The performance schedule, including an Q&A appearance by director Maringouin, is here.