Talking To The Screen
The Pianist : 2002
Tuesday, 1/14/03, 6:30 pm
Broadway and 19th Street
It can be difficult to see a movie that?s received rave and vague reviews. I find myself with unreasonably high hopes. Director Roman Polanski won the Palme d?Or at Cannes this year for ?The Pianist?. Past winners include Coppola for ?Apocalypse Now?, Soderberg for ?sex lies and videotape?, Lynch for ?Wild at Heart?, the Coen Boys for ?Barton Fink?, Tarantino for ?Pulp Fiction?, to name a few. This is a big deal. The people who vote know and love movies. This year?s jury included David Lynch, Sharon Stone and Michelle Yeoh.
So, I go into the movie knowing it?s great according to people who know and love movies, and it?s about a pianist and about the holocaust. Other piano movies that come to mind are ?The Legend of 1900? and ?Shine?. Both of these are true joys, with amazing protagonists. My expectations are getting still greater. Holocaust movies have an incredible innate emotional intensity, but unfortunately, ?Schindler?s List? and ?Life is Beautiful? got there first. It will take something of another class to tell a holocaust story while shaking ties to these two previous powerhouses.
?The Pianist? tells the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrian Brody) ?the best pianist in Poland, maybe even the world? from the German invasion in 1939 to the Russia liberation in 1945. As the Warsaw scenery degrades from a bustling cosmopolitan metropolis to a ghettoized Nazi occupied city to a ravaged landscape of bombings and fires, Adrian Brody?s character devolves from a smug socialite admired by all to a sickly, broken, feral beast. A similar but less impressive transformation takes place to Tom Hanks? character in ?Castaway?.
Adrian Brody?s character work throughout is really great, wonderfully dynamic and convincing. But this alone isn?t enough to hold a viewers attention for two and a half hours. Szpilman is nearly completely alone, hiding out from the Nazi?s, for the last hour of the film. This wore on my patience a bit, but caps the feeling of desolation and abandonment that runs throughout the film. There are two aspects of the Szpilman?s character that I felt were somewhat lacking. While he continues to struggle for his survival, there doesn?t seem to be a strain of hope in him. His survival is beastly, and instinctual not hopeful. Also, the fact that he?s a pianist doesn?t seem to be a part of his personality. His playing saves his life at one point, and makes for a beautiful classical score, but feels rather unimportant. Perhaps this is by design. Perhaps it shows that a profession only matters outside the ghettoes and camps, it has no use in hiding. What?s the use of a musician who can?t make a sound?
The holocaust backdrop on the film creates the emotional environment and visceral landscape for ?The Pianist?. While this is integral to the story, the shock value of the horrific Nazi behavior has waned. Senseless killing by men in uniform is impossible to stomach, but it has become requisite to holocaust films. It?s not a surprise. It?s a staple. This is no fault of Polanski, or Brody or the script, but elongated and repeated scenes of this add to the feeling not of horror and shock but of ?if you?ve seen one holocaust movie, you?ve seen ?em all?.
?The Piano? is a truly well done movie. The acting is exquisite. The camerawork and editing make for a visually stunning picture. Unfortunately, I found the emotional impact marred by boredom and clich?. I was bored by repeated scenes of Szpilman hiding out in a room, and typical images of Nazi horrors. It?s a very good movie. Not one of the greats.
Broadway and 19th Street
It can be difficult to see a movie that?s received rave and vague reviews. I find myself with unreasonably high hopes. Director Roman Polanski won the Palme d?Or at Cannes this year for ?The Pianist?. Past winners include Coppola for ?Apocalypse Now?, Soderberg for ?sex lies and videotape?, Lynch for ?Wild at Heart?, the Coen Boys for ?Barton Fink?, Tarantino for ?Pulp Fiction?, to name a few. This is a big deal. The people who vote know and love movies. This year?s jury included David Lynch, Sharon Stone and Michelle Yeoh.
So, I go into the movie knowing it?s great according to people who know and love movies, and it?s about a pianist and about the holocaust. Other piano movies that come to mind are ?The Legend of 1900? and ?Shine?. Both of these are true joys, with amazing protagonists. My expectations are getting still greater. Holocaust movies have an incredible innate emotional intensity, but unfortunately, ?Schindler?s List? and ?Life is Beautiful? got there first. It will take something of another class to tell a holocaust story while shaking ties to these two previous powerhouses.
?The Pianist? tells the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrian Brody) ?the best pianist in Poland, maybe even the world? from the German invasion in 1939 to the Russia liberation in 1945. As the Warsaw scenery degrades from a bustling cosmopolitan metropolis to a ghettoized Nazi occupied city to a ravaged landscape of bombings and fires, Adrian Brody?s character devolves from a smug socialite admired by all to a sickly, broken, feral beast. A similar but less impressive transformation takes place to Tom Hanks? character in ?Castaway?.
Adrian Brody?s character work throughout is really great, wonderfully dynamic and convincing. But this alone isn?t enough to hold a viewers attention for two and a half hours. Szpilman is nearly completely alone, hiding out from the Nazi?s, for the last hour of the film. This wore on my patience a bit, but caps the feeling of desolation and abandonment that runs throughout the film. There are two aspects of the Szpilman?s character that I felt were somewhat lacking. While he continues to struggle for his survival, there doesn?t seem to be a strain of hope in him. His survival is beastly, and instinctual not hopeful. Also, the fact that he?s a pianist doesn?t seem to be a part of his personality. His playing saves his life at one point, and makes for a beautiful classical score, but feels rather unimportant. Perhaps this is by design. Perhaps it shows that a profession only matters outside the ghettoes and camps, it has no use in hiding. What?s the use of a musician who can?t make a sound?
The holocaust backdrop on the film creates the emotional environment and visceral landscape for ?The Pianist?. While this is integral to the story, the shock value of the horrific Nazi behavior has waned. Senseless killing by men in uniform is impossible to stomach, but it has become requisite to holocaust films. It?s not a surprise. It?s a staple. This is no fault of Polanski, or Brody or the script, but elongated and repeated scenes of this add to the feeling not of horror and shock but of ?if you?ve seen one holocaust movie, you?ve seen ?em all?.
?The Piano? is a truly well done movie. The acting is exquisite. The camerawork and editing make for a visually stunning picture. Unfortunately, I found the emotional impact marred by boredom and clich?. I was bored by repeated scenes of Szpilman hiding out in a room, and typical images of Nazi horrors. It?s a very good movie. Not one of the greats.