josesolismusic-223-295527 The movie director Chuky Namanera, must be a total ignoramus of piano classical music. A concert pianist will NEVER use a score to play a concert. If by any reason he would ever need to do anything close to that, he would have someone to turn the pages. The piano would NEVER be in the back of the orchestra, even if elevated. The pianist would NEVER exit the stage until the piece is complete. The audience do not clap between movements. The conductor should've started speaking before the applause. The conductor of a classical orchestra will make absolutely certain he would know how to pronounce Bösendorfer correctly. Instead of violating these traditions, the movie could've used them. For example the impossibility of leaving the stage. The proximity of the pianist to the other people. They could've had a whole audience captured instead of just the pianist. This movie was done for people who have no clue about classical music. Shame.

Modern Monsters After playing a dwarf with gigantic feet in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Elijah Wood plays a short piano concert player with gigantic hands in this playful Hitchcock rehashing. Please suspend your disbelief and imagineElijah Wood as a concert player, playing Rachmaripoffs with virtuosity while being threatened through an ear piece by: A mostly invisible John Cusack as the motormouth villain who wants the McGuffin, the movie's high concept: Imagine the concert hall scene of Sir Alfred's The Man Who Knew Too Much, with suspense based on one cymbal crash covering a gunshot (why, since the Ambassador will die and wreak havoc? No idea.) expanded to a whole movie. Yes, ladies and gentlemen of the audience, apart from a useless prologue at the airport, this movie is a classical concert with a conceptual twist.And oh boy, what a twist. The pianist comes and goes in and out of stage, courtesy of a peculiar programme placing an intermission between movements of a same concerto. Please note that this is a two movement concerto, with loooong orchestral passages, which comes as a convenient choice when you have do stop doing your piano stuff to pay a visit to the boiler room.The villain wants a specific sequence of notes for the McGuffin, but does all to prevent the hero to play it right, so obsessed he is by killing his wife (Kerry Bishé), some actress/singer/something who mesmerises the classical audience by singing a torch song from her VIP box, a loooong scene just before pianist and villain fall right on the priceless Bösendorfer. Also the orchestra director does some kind of a stand-up routine, which might strike one as a little odd in front of a connoisseur classical audience. They lap it up nonetheless.What does one forget to mention of such a classical roller-coaster ride? Oh, "La Cinquette", an unplayable piece flawlessly played by Elijah Wood's giant-fingered hand double, a piano equivalent of the blue inflated lady's number in Luc Besson's The Fith Element. Understand "painful to watch and even more painful to listen to, but unmissable". And a half hearted Argento murder in a room full of mirrors. Half a point for the editing of that one.

skeptic skeptical I ended up watching this twice, and to be honest that really only happened because it lasts a mere 1.5 hours, so I decided, "Why not try to figure out what this was really about?" I'm still not sure what exactly to make of the plot, but my best guess after two viewings is that it's supposed be a metaphorical depiction of a neurotic pianist's nervous breakdown. I don't really believe that any of the action which occurs during his historic comeback concert really happens in the world of the film.Instead, it seems more likely that the pianist (who reminds me a bit of Pee Wee Herman!) has taken refuge in his own mind and is listening to voices in his head. There are some interesting insights offered here about the nature of performance and the self-doubt which can plague the minds of people who spend nearly all of their time in practice rooms alone attempting to perfect the creations of composers--the true "creators" in the world of music. He is even playing a piece of music entitled "Slave Morality"!The problem with that interpretation is that it doesn't make very much sense. Still, it does make more sense than the alternative, that he is in reality giving a concert and listening to someone harassing him and threatening to kill him and his girlfriend (a famous actress), if he hits a single false note. No, this must be all occurring in his head, especially given the ending, which seems to represent his final break from reality. This was okay. Rather artistically put together, and with decent production values. A bit contrived, in some ways. Definitely a creative idea. Not a masterpiece, but better than a lot of movies these days.

g-bodyl Grand Piano is one of those small, independent features that often no one pays mind to which is a darn shame. Essentially speaking, it is the little thriller that could. No doubt, it's a small film but this is a piece of art. The film is very similar to 2002's Phone Booth, but instead of a phone booth, it takes place on a piano during a concert. The movie is riveting, tense, features fine acting, and a tight screenplay by Damian Chazelle, whom we will meet later on in great detail. This film is about a gifted piano player named Tom Selznick who embarks on a comeback trail after spending several years in retirement and suffers from stage fright. However, a sniper leaves a note saying if he plays one wrong note, he will die. Elijah Wood delivers a fearful performance as Selznick. He hits all the right notes, figuratively and literally speaking. His paranoia is intense as he tries to find the identity of his killer. John Cusack, or I shall say mostly his voice, delivers a fine performance as the man who wants Tom to play all the right notes for a specific reason. Overall, Grand Piano is a riveting thriller and a better movie than the kind of release date would inspire. The screenplay was excellent and likewise for the acting. The ending could have been better as I felt the movie ended at the wrong time. An additional five minutes would suffice. But on the whole, this is the little thriller that could.My Grade: B+/A-