Nostromo Pictures, Antena 3 Films, Telefónica Producciones,
Elijah Wood, John Cusack, Kerry Bishé, Tamsin Egerton, Allen Leech , Don McManus, Alex Winter
Tom Selznick (Elijah Wood) is one of the worlds most talented concert pianists. He has not performed in five years because of a disastrous melt down in a performance of an reported unplayable piece that is so hard that only one or two people have ever been able to play it. He was going to try it again in this performance, but decided it best to set it aside. His wife, Emma (Kerry Bische) is a famous actress and is in the prime box seat of the theater to make her appearance and to watch her husband’s performance. But as he is about to take the stage, he finds a note on his sheet music stating that he must play this piece, and he must play it perfectly. If he plays one wrong note, a sniper in the shadows will shoot his wife before his eyes, and then shoot him. This sniper makes himself known, and Tom knows he is telling the truth, but he is petrified of trying to play this piece perfectly.
This film is a real tough one to analyze. On one hand, the script is laughable and there are holes big enough to drive a convoy of trucks through. You really have to set your wits aside to sit through this silly premise. John Cusack plays the desperate villain in this movie, and he’s hardly on screen, but we get to hear him. The problem is that in the end of the film, he has to talk us through the story and all the motives and reasons for what he has done. That’s the part that gets really silly. But on the other hand, this film is really, really nicely made. I can’t imagine if there was a decent story how wonderful this film would have been. The suspense and the tension build and build. The cinematography, mood, lighting, and camera shots are worthy of Hitchcock himself. The technical details of the film are so good, that it almost makes up for the lack of a good script.
We are able to watch wizards fly on brooms and ride from an invisible platform hidden inside the train station. We’re able to watch vampires and werewolves fight and the undead sparkle in the sunlight. If we can put aside our belief for these kind of fantasy stories, then we ought to be able to do it for a film like this. If you can pull that off, I can promise you’ll really enjoy watching this. For some reason, we insist that if the subject is something serious, that it must be perfectly accurate. Well this isn’t. If you can’t put aside belief, you’re going to rip this to shreds and hate it. So that’s the choice you must make here. If you can suspend reality and just enjoy the ambiance and the excellent technique, give this a try and you might enjoy it as I did.
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