The Pianist

On encountering with the movie "The pianist" I for the first time felt what genuine infatuation and obsession meant on human nature. It is true after all. This film is set in Vancouver Island, Canada, life of rich family and neighborhood. It reflects how fragile humanity can be and how obsessive young teenagers can become at a stage of puberty.

It's well constructed. Although I'm not obsessive in recommending this movie to people, it was worth awhile to watch it off the curiosity. If you are interested in experiencing a bit of Japanese culture and young girl's extraordinary crush on young pianist, watch the film. However, I warn you.......It'll leave you a tingling feeling through out the whole film.....Watch out. It's your choice.

What a huge disappointment this movie was. The story was one that was ripe with possibilities, but the ineptness of the direction and most of the acting, as well as the script, left the movie with a totally lackluster dullness. The story of two sisters both having a crush on a good-looking Japanese pianist was quite enticing. Unfortunately, the script was trite and narratively all over the place, the acting was extremely self-conscious, the technical qualities of the film were very low, especially the sound (this may have been the fault of the particular video that we watched), and the movie lacked a clear focus and direction. On top of all that, there was a narrator who spoke as if he were narrating a Calvin Klein commercial.

There were a couple of good points. The acting of the Macha Grenon, who played the sister Colette, and that of Maury Chaykin was pretty good. I'd love to see Macha Grenon in a movie with a better script. Also, there was one scene where the Japanese student, Yoshi, was in bed with both of the sisters. This scene was quite effective--it was quite sensual and rather tender. Otherwise, the film was flat, and reminded be often times of the quality of the 1960's B horror films. Leonard Pince Darnell would have had a field day.

The production values in this film, as well as the plot and the characterizations are appallingly poor. The audio engineering is so inept that one must have remote in hand to adjust volume from scene to scene, and even within scenes. The level of wit is childish and will appeal to all with a taste for bathroom humor. Direction and acting are on the level of a rural high school class play. The central figures, two young ladies besotted with a Japanese boy wonder concert pianist, appear to be in their late teens, but behave like prepubescent ninnies. Was hoping at least to see an interesting performance from Maury Chaykin, but alas. How can this be the same Maury that has since developed a superbly engaging Nero Wolf? What an infuriating disaster of a film.