Le virtuose

I'm not sure why this movie wasn't rated beter, its an uplifting movie and guaranteed to make you make you cry. Dustin Hoffman at is best. A must see !

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.

I attended TIFF for one reason and one reason only, Boychoir. After swooning over François Girard's The Red Violin I was looking forward to a beautiful story set to beautiful music. I was not disappointed. The story is told in sections, reminiscent of Violin. In the case of Boychoir, however, it is not necessary and, as a result, the story does not flow seamlessly. The audience will easily fill in the gaps though and will be quickly won over by what Girard knows best – the music.

From start to finish, the music is breathtaking. The music of American Boychoir provides the thread that the story lacks. Not only does the music provide the thread, it provides the heart of the story as well. You will catch yourself smiling as the boys, known for their sophistication, sing a silly song when no one is looking. You will shed a tear when angelic voices rise to meet the demands of their choir master. The music is in equal measure haunting and uplifting. The members of American Boychoir, who were not recreated but actually recruited for this film, look like seasoned veterans on screen. It is clear that the music is a part of them and singing appears as natural as breathing.

Newcomer Garrett Wareing is subtle in his performance and a joy to watch. Veterans Dustin Hoffman, Eddie Izzard, Josh Lucas and Debra Winger undoubtedly earn their paycheck. Kathy Bates has some wonderful lines and delivers them brilliantly.

But the beautiful music of Boychoir is what lingers long after the credits roll.

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

Anyone attending a graduation ceremony at the American Boychoir School, as I did a few hours before seeing this film in Princeton, would be impressed with its tremendous and infectious school spirit. It is a joyous group of young people who uphold one another and love being together. Their enthusiasm has been buoyed up, and deservedly so, by the choir's glowing work in this film. As others have already noted, the singing is glorious, and one hopes is an audience's most lasting takeaway.

One's heart goes out to Stet, at first sight perhaps not the kind of boy one would expect to be smitten to the core within a moment of hearing such music. But he was! Given a chance to join, he is afraid to try at first, because failure and rejection would hurt so much. Time and again, it was the exquisite beauty of what he heard around him that drove him on, even when it seemed out of reach.

Aside from that-- I very much wanted to love this movie more than I'm ultimately able to do. Especially given its every suggestion that it is a portrayal of life in the American Boychoir School (or any choral foundation for that matter), we must bear in mind, IT IS FICTION! For according to the movie, this is a grim life in a hostile place, in which a boy might find no friends, no teamwork, and even a faculty member or two implacably opposed to his very presence. We see only merciless competition and rivalry, sometimes descending to unscrupulous malice for which the guilty peer gets only a slap on the wrist. This is not the stuff of which a great ensemble, as the American Boychoir clearly is, can be made. Alas, in this respect I fear that the scriptwriter and director have done a disservice to the art and institution that they meant to promote.

This is a serious matter at a time when plenty of choir school graduates go on to the most prestigious high schools in the country, and plenty of parents dream of exactly this outcome from the moment their child is born. To a large extent, it is the immersion in great music that does this. Yet the dots don't get connected: there is a shortage of applicants to choir schools, among other excellent boarding schools for children of this age, both here and abroad. Interested families understandably want to be assured that they will find a supportive, nurturing atmosphere in which every pupil is almost guaranteed to flourish happily. This is what such schools provide, as their students and alumni enthusiastically report. Reading music is patiently taught, not a prerequisite for admission. But you'd never guess it from the film.

If others feel that this single reservation I have expressed is too harsh, nothing would please me more. Boy goes to choir school and becomes a success. "Predictable", people say, as if this were a criticism. But oh how right they are.