Luke
stu-kicks
CibbuanoThe Pianist
September 13th 2006 07:43
OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: I know it's not an old film, but it's a good one, so deal with it.
'The Pianist' was a lot different to what I expected it to be. Various reviews and synopses had led me to believe that the film focused on the relationship between the pianist of the title (Brody, in his breakthrough Oscar-winning role) and the German soldier who saved him because of their shared love for classical music. NOT TRUE! I'm not saying that this doesn't happen, and that it's not pivotal to the film (because it is)... I'm just a little confused as to why so many reviews and such implied this at the time of the film’s release, because it's only a small part of the film. Anyway, on with the 'review'...
Wladyslaw Szpilman (Brody) is a celebrated Polish-Jewish pianist who, like all the other Polish Jews, is moved into the infamous Warzsaw ghetto of WW2 as part of the Nazi masterplan to exterminate the 'Jewish race'. We follow Szpilman's journey of survival throughout the years of Nazi-occupied Warzsaw, a journey that is made possible through a combination of will, luck and generosity. I doubt it's a story unique to Szpilman, but his real-life memoirs (perhaps originally made available via his celebrity) lend the story a certain credence and allows director Polanski a degree of objectivity he would perhaps be unable to reach if he weren't working from a primary source.
For me, 'The Pianist' is scarier than any concentration-camp movie in that the actions take place in a (peripherally) identifiable environment. It is less removed from my reality to see the isolation of Szpilman amongst the non-Jews of Warzsaw, and to see his dehumanisation and desperation in the face of an otherwise unchanged society. We watch terrifying human nature played out on the canvas of a city, and the damage WW2 eventually wreaks on Warzsaw is a somewhat horrifying image - a veritable gutting of a city by machine and man that Polanski superbly recreates.
'The Pianist' is a slick, clearly-made film... revelling in details and rich imagery much like the director’s previously most critically-favoured film, 'Chinatown'. Adrian Brody gives an understated method performance fuelled more by body language than anything else, though I can't help but feel that his winning of the Best Actor Oscar is mostly a reflection of Hollywood's high percentage of Jewish movie-moguls and the continuing guilt and fear connected with anti-semitism in popular western culture. But, this is just a quibble, it's a deserving film and should be seen by anyone vaguely interested in modern history.
TRIVIA: In preparation for his role, Adrian Brody lost 14 kilograms from an already slender frame, practiced piano for 4 hours a day, and cut himself off from his car, home and television to acquaint himself with feelings of loss.
Polanski originally wanted Joseph Fiennes for the role of Szpilman.
'The Pianist' won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Adrian Brody), Best Director (Roman Polanski) and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The Pianist (2002)
'The Pianist' was a lot different to what I expected it to be. Various reviews and synopses had led me to believe that the film focused on the relationship between the pianist of the title (Brody, in his breakthrough Oscar-winning role) and the German soldier who saved him because of their shared love for classical music. NOT TRUE! I'm not saying that this doesn't happen, and that it's not pivotal to the film (because it is)... I'm just a little confused as to why so many reviews and such implied this at the time of the film’s release, because it's only a small part of the film. Anyway, on with the 'review'...
Wladyslaw Szpilman (Brody) is a celebrated Polish-Jewish pianist who, like all the other Polish Jews, is moved into the infamous Warzsaw ghetto of WW2 as part of the Nazi masterplan to exterminate the 'Jewish race'. We follow Szpilman's journey of survival throughout the years of Nazi-occupied Warzsaw, a journey that is made possible through a combination of will, luck and generosity. I doubt it's a story unique to Szpilman, but his real-life memoirs (perhaps originally made available via his celebrity) lend the story a certain credence and allows director Polanski a degree of objectivity he would perhaps be unable to reach if he weren't working from a primary source.
For me, 'The Pianist' is scarier than any concentration-camp movie in that the actions take place in a (peripherally) identifiable environment. It is less removed from my reality to see the isolation of Szpilman amongst the non-Jews of Warzsaw, and to see his dehumanisation and desperation in the face of an otherwise unchanged society. We watch terrifying human nature played out on the canvas of a city, and the damage WW2 eventually wreaks on Warzsaw is a somewhat horrifying image - a veritable gutting of a city by machine and man that Polanski superbly recreates.
'The Pianist' is a slick, clearly-made film... revelling in details and rich imagery much like the director’s previously most critically-favoured film, 'Chinatown'. Adrian Brody gives an understated method performance fuelled more by body language than anything else, though I can't help but feel that his winning of the Best Actor Oscar is mostly a reflection of Hollywood's high percentage of Jewish movie-moguls and the continuing guilt and fear connected with anti-semitism in popular western culture. But, this is just a quibble, it's a deserving film and should be seen by anyone vaguely interested in modern history.
TRIVIA: In preparation for his role, Adrian Brody lost 14 kilograms from an already slender frame, practiced piano for 4 hours a day, and cut himself off from his car, home and television to acquaint himself with feelings of loss.
Polanski originally wanted Joseph Fiennes for the role of Szpilman.
'The Pianist' won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Adrian Brody), Best Director (Roman Polanski) and Best Adapted Screenplay.
| 110 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Vixter
People
Diet Food Lifestyle
CHEATERS
good review - thanks
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
The Pianist (7/10) is a good film for me, not a great one. Maybe my expectations were to too high but I was expecting some special insight from Polanski because he lived through these events.
The acting was superb and the cinematography delicious. I just found the film didnt offer anything unique or new.
I really felt Id seen it all before and that the script though good didnt contain the profound depth I look for in a film of this type. It seemed to present the obvious without digging a little deeper.
On a positive note -It is certainly worth a watch from a technical standpoint and is one of the better historical based stories of survival to come out in recent years.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
My faves of Polanski's are: Cul-de-Sac, Bitter Moon, The Tenant, Macbeth, The Ninth Gate, Rosemary's Baby and Frantic.