Le virtuose

This film has been unfairly bashed by a lot of critics because of it's lack of originality. My take on this is the subject matter cannot go in that many directions. You can find similarities in every films about choir boys. Heck even the hit cult French film "The Chorist is far from original and recycle story lines from films that came before it. In most of these films you will get a trouble boy or boys who gets his or their life changed by his or their new found love of singing. This film is no different and if you are aware of that before going into it you will see the good point of that film rather then the fact that it is a very familiar story. Young and troubled Stet (Garrett Wareing) is sent to a Choir school by his father he never met before (Stet is a secret son,the product of a one night stand) following the death of his junkie mother. Things start roughly as Stet is accepted via bribe by his father desperate to put his son somewhere so he can be back to his real family. This causes some students and teachers to only see Stet as a charity case with no real musical talent.However Stet determination pays off and the main teacher Mr Carvelle (Dustin Hoffman) finally start noticing that their might be more to the boy then meet the eye. So yes pretty straightforward story and yes it sound like a TV movie from lifetime but you know what it has a good heart and all the actors seems to really enjoy themselves. Kathy Bates as the overworked headmistress ,Eddy Izzard as a competitive teacher , Kevin McHale as the teacher who first notice Stet's talent along with Hoffman creates a very interesting dynamic and they breath life to the school. Garrett Wareing is easy to root for as Stet , he his misunderstood and a victim of his upbringing.The actor convey that sense of wanting to break free from the tag everybody has placed on him all his life and he convey a quiet sort of will power and maturity really well. The only thing that bothered me is Stet's relationship with his father felt rushed and underdeveloped and they wrapped this storyline conveniently.It is a shame as it was intriguing and it could have been explored a lot more. With that said , listen ! Yeah this films has received a lot of bad review for being too "Simple" but people who are interested in theses type of films should not be looking for "Interstellar" they should be looking for a sweet little heart warmer with excellent music and songs and this film do that! (The singing is AMAZING) !!! A perfect little film to watch on a rainy Sunday. I give it a 8 out of 10.

Watched the movie on the 2nd day of TIFF 2014.

Before the movie, the director and several actors showed up and talked about the movie.

Dustin Huffman said,"it's a special movie, we hear that a lot. But you know films can be special and not work. And it can be special and work.... Hope you enjoy."

I did enjoy the movie. It flows very naturally and smoothly. I would not say this is a great movie, but it is still a good one.

Everyone tells Stet," you have the voice. you have the talent. Don't waste it".

I guess this is the point. Do not waster your talent. NEVER.

Even if it only stays for a short period, you gotta use your gift!

OK, I get it. This is a feel good movie. The cinematic equivalent of smooth jazz. Something I can handle about once a year with the kiddies. But did the script have to be so agonizingly predictable? The outcome was obvious about five minutes in. For the balance of the film, I found myself waiting somewhat impatiently for the next bit of choral music, which WAS wonderful.

Also perplexing was the films message or messages. The feel good genre generally delivers up a platitude or two anyone can easily latch on to. The messages here seemed to be, very loosely, only those who become "the best" can expect to receive the love of family and acceptance within their institution of choice. Didn't work for me.

But that's not what really matters in a feel good movie, now does it? If you think it does maybe the actors can convince you otherwise. There's a lot of great acting talent at hand, that should leave you satisfied and occupied during the running time of the movie. Because you may not care too much about what is going on, when you know the outcome all along, the road is what is important.

It's more than finely made and as mentioned with the acting talent at hand you couldn't go wrong even if you tried to. The music is more than integral and will leave you speechless at times, if you're open to it of course. The hardships of following up your dream or at least your goal are always there and may feel like a drag if you've been watching too many movies, but that's not this movies fault

Every so often there are the stories of the "Battle against the odds". The plot line has been done countless times before in cinematic history and here we have another one. When I heard about this film I was under the impression that it would be akin to a "choral" version of "Whiplash" (I think others picked up on that one too) but how wrong I was. Rather than the music teacher being the "JK Simmons type" menacing type our music teacher in this film is more of a nurturing talent type.

The premise is simple. Our main character, young Stet has a troubled childhood but has a gift of a voice and can sing. When he loses his mother, his father takes him to an elite music school where he meets his mentor "Carvelle" (Dustin Hoffman) and there he learns to craft his singing ability.

Musically the film was simply breathtaking no doubt about that and it represents a return to form for Dustin Hoffman but the story was a little predictable as others have already stated in other reviews. It's nothing new and the feel-good film genre has been overcrowded for some time.

However this Is still something good for a night in with the family. Something that everyone will agree on. It doesn't take a lot to understand the ideas conveyed in this film. It won't win any major praises from critics but it has made me want to book tickets to the next Vienna Boys Choir concert