Peça Inacabada para Piano Mecânico

I saw a movie from a Chekhov play in a college film class decades ago and it was a tedious thing about wealthy boring people prattling on as uninterestingly as possible. So I haven't been eager to see more. I did see an amateur production of a one-act that was quite funny, but I didn't decide to actually track down more Chekhov until I watched the Japanese movie Drive My Car about a guy directing a Chekhov production. It made my girlfriend curious, so I looked into acclaimed Chekhov films and found this one was admired. It was also recommended by an actor friend.

But once again, it's just wealthy people prattling on. They don't say anything interesting. It was just like hanging out with a bunch of dull people as they live their lives. 25 minutes in we couldn't take any more.

I just don't get it. My impression is Chekhov knows his characters are dull and empty-headed but that doesn't make it any more interesting to watch them.

Oh well.

Ask any moviegoer worth his or her bread (and I mean REALLY worth it!): "Unfinished Play for Mechanic Piano" is definitely one of the best ten movies ever made (I knew a very competent and cultured actor, the late Vistrian Roman, who declared it THE BEST of it all - and I could find no arguments to contradict him... Only a matter of personal taste makes me place on the top Tarkovsky's "Stalker"). Fact is that, as a few other admirers stated above, this Tchekhovian masterpiece IS INDEED PERFECT. Every detail is at its place, the structure is admirably built, the pervasive reality of the estate gradually grows to become unbearable, the characters are incredibly complex and deep (and, of course, played by a crew of genius actors!), and the photography is simply an ongoing series of paintworks.

I saw it for the... seventh time? Or maybe was it the eleventh?... a few days ago - and it made me laugh MORE than even, in the beginning, only to make me cry WORSE than ever in the end. It was hard for me, then, to hold the cinematographic culture course, and talk to my pupils, with a dry knot in my throat... This movie's emotional power is simply irresistible, and the philosophic content, abysmal... Once you see it, once you UNDERSTAND IT, your world will never be the same.

Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov is probably best known in the United States for 1994's Oscar-winning "Burnt by the Sun", an indictment of Stalin's purges. It turns out that he had been directing movies for years before then. A particularly good one was 1977's "Neokonchennaya pyesa dlya mekhanicheskogo pianino" ("An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano" in English), a composite of some of Anton Chekhov's works. It looks at a group of aristocrats who have gathered at a vacation home in rural Russia in the early twentieth century. Relationships develop, but things aren't necessarily what they seem.

The movie makes sure to incorporate Chekhov's fatalistic style, and even includes a performance of Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody #2" (comically performed by Daffy Duck and Donald Duck in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"?). A lot of the humor is more unique to Russian culture, so people outside Russia might not get it, but you should still see the movie. Complex, profound characters and impressive rural scenery make this one not to be missed.

I'm afraid that my poor english will not let me to tell how wonderful and profound movie is this. The actors are brilliant, the script is perfect, the recreation of the atmosphere is a totally success, the dramatic turn is magnific directed, this movie is an all time masterpiece. Believe me! Oh, those Russians!

Constantly this film makes you reflect on your own life, your relationships, your place in the world.

This slice of life depicts a day in the life of Russian gentry in the late 19th century, warts and all. They're silly and pensive, boring and fascinating, shallow and profound--in short, a mass of contradictions, like most people really are. If the theme is the path taken, the plot is a glimpse of the path NOT taken.

The photography is gorgeous, and the direction and editing are flawless. What makes the film, what really puts it over, are the superb, subtle, multi-dimensional performances.

There is a scene toward the end of the movie where a character goes careening down a hillside, descending into a fit of madness. The camera just observes, but the scene is completely and totally surreal wholly because of the actor's performance. I cannot recall seeing anything like it ever, either in content or skill.

And the last shot of the movie is absolutely breathtaking in its simplicity, innocence, and composition. Movies don't get much better than this one.