The Pianist

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.