paulo_alexis This Danish film tells us the story of an accomplished pianist, Zetterstrøm (Ulrich Thomsen), who returns to his native Copenhagen after spending 10 years abroad. Zetterstrøm is a virtuoso who is depicted as cold and emotionally detached man with a mysterious past. Upon his return to Copenhagen, he is lured to visit a segregated part of the town by an enigmatic invitation for a dinner. The 'place' is denominated the 'zone' and is where he used to live. Upon his return to Copenhagen, Zetterstrøm is overwhelmed with fragmented and 'undigested' memories and images from his mysterious past that he desperately tries to suture into a coherent narrative. The film depicts the intimate relationship between memory and identity (in the film, Zetterstrøm is hidden from the audiences during the concert). Despite not finding the acting excellent (I've seen a lot better from Ulrich Thomsen and Helena Christensen's debut performance was too insipid), I have to say that the film is conceptually very well structured. I found the cartoons and the 'timeline' very clever contextualising Zetterstrøm's perfectionism and 'sealing-over' (young boy putting a doll inside a box). The soundtrack is outstanding with classical compositions. The only negative aspect was that, at times, the film offers far too many explanations that are unnecessary and 'kill the romance'. I also found the long contemplative shots too 'cheesy' for my taste. On the positive note, I thought it was very clever the way compartmentalisation and dissociation were portrayed. His memories were 'isolated' and 'segregated' in the "zone" – forbidden and inaccessible area, which is surrounded by a façade - 'the zone' is both a geographical part of Copenhagen i.e. ghetto (political critique and social dimension) and a part of Zetterstrøm psyche - its' interiority and content. The 'Policemen' were outside the perimeter due to the presumed dangerousness of the 'zone', despite its inaccessibility. The 'zone' has oneiric qualities i.e. symmetrical logic, and is accessed through a 'public toilet' in a modern version of Wonderland. The streets and canals have an atmosphere of uncanniness which is perfectly constructed. The part where Christensen's corpse is emerged from the canal by the rescue team, the sutures in her abdomen reminded me of something grotesque and frankensteinian. In the last part of the film, Zetterstrøm tries to play his composition and the symptom 'emerges'. There is a clever 'displacement' and a 'return of the repressed'. Zetterstrøm is unable to play in tune - as he lacks 'emotional attunement' and no longer just emotionality in his interpretation. Overall, it's a very interesting and clever film, worth watching.

oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx I'm a big fan of existential folly in film, especially having completed many of my own. Zetterstrøm is the main character in this movie, a world-renowned pianist from Denmark. Since childhood, he is an assiduous "forgetter" of everything except his piano playing. This is to say that he stores up his disappointments, forgets them, and retreats behind a piano. After a love affair that ends due to his emotional constipation, he uses his facultative amnesiac skills once again, and this act is one step too far, so inimical to the fabric of reality, that a rent in reality is formed over three city blocks, and becomes referred to as the "Zone".Zetterstrøm buries himself in his solitary existence of piano-playing, quite literally performing concerts in the dark, or behind screens so that the audience cannot see him. Shadowy figures draw Zetterstrøm back to the zone, unwilling to allow his non-confrontational existence to continue. Zetterstrøm must be made to confront his past.It's a fascinating film, the narrator lets us know that it's Zetterstrøm's very brilliance which allows him to annihilate himself, that allows him to inoculate himself from reality.I'm in absolute adoration of films that attempt to make visual metaphors of the human mind, such a film is this (the Zone fulfils this purpose), Tarsem films such as The Cell and The Fall are others. There is no subject more sacred, more revelatory as regards human potential. There's a scene where Zetterstrøm sits and has dinner in an ornately plastered ballroom. The windows and floor are all blacked out with plastic sheeting, and the room is covered in latched boxes loaded on pallets, representing Zetterstrøm's repressed past, there's also a cage with globes of light in, recognising the potentiality of his mind.When there's narration we also see some very nice cartoons with Zetterstrøm as a child, that's another metaphor I'm very fond of from The Cell, that many of us are still children inside, just wounded, subdued, and with horrid barriers put up. You may have guessed that this movie moved me deeply.

film_ophile Inspired by having seen the provocative Reconstruction last year, I watched Allegro last night and found it to be just spectacular. I think Boe is one of those amazing Renaissance people, whose skills crossover like blossoming fireworks.Above all else, I appreciate his concepts, which become his story lines.Supporting them is his very idiosyncratic visual style. The film is dark and moody, like its protagonist, and there is little dialogue. Long contemplative shots are frequently interrupted by a barrage of split-second images- the equivalent of memory flash cards. The cartoon story that plays during the film's introduction- tells the simple story one is about to see unfold. It's basically a one sentence story about the necessary role that deep feelings play in the life of any great artist. I see that simple story as a spider, and the ensuing film as the web around the spider. I particularly like it that the narrator clearly tells us, at the very beginning, what the film is about, and then we spend the next hours watching that spider web be built and travelled. What a fascinating world Boe creates.I must say I am very surprised to have not seen much IMDb discussion of this film . I only hope that many more people will soon have the pleasure of its experience.

Argemaluco I think one of the biggest challenges all the filmmakers of the world have to confront is transforming a good idea into a solid and entertaining movie.I think that thing almost destroys Allegro,which starts with an ingenious idea,but the film has difficulty in keeping it interesting in 88 minutes.I think the concept behind this movie would have worked better in a short.The main idea behind this movie has been used in The Twilight Zone and that idea totally fixed in 30 minutes.With some differences,we see that idea in almost one hour and a half of running time and,in spite of that,director Cristoffer Boe shows some good scenes and an excellent visual presentation but the film gets a little bit boring and,on some moments,I felt it was going nowhere.The ending is good,but for landing on that,we had to see redundant scenes and some tedious moments.Allegro had an ingenious idea and I totally appreciated that.But the film found difficulty to develop it and there are some tedious scenes.I can recommend it without too much confidence.