Very touching movie. A/A-

8/10
Very touching but a bit to long. I think towards the end it lost some intensity. Cut 20 or 30 minutes down I guess it would have been better.

The most haunting film I have seen since 1993, 27 March 2003



I can remember when this film came out I was adamantly against seeing it. I had my preconceived notions that it would be some other heroic Jewish Holocaust film where good triumphs over evil and in between we would see some brutal atrocities committed by the Germans to add some flavour.

How wrong I was.

This is one of the best films I have ever seen and what it did to me I cannot describe in words. But in a nutshell, it moved me, made me cry, made me feel like I was in the Polish ghetto in 1940, and ultimately made me kiss the sidewalks as I walked out of the theater and thanked God that I live in the free society that I do.

Roman Polanski has proven that he is a great director with films like Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby but this is his crowning achievement. I think the fact that this won the awards that it did at this years Oscars goes a long way to validate the brilliance of this film. I believe that the Oscar's are rigged for the most part and films and actresses and such win based more on their pedigree or business associations than anything else, so when it won best actor and director and adapted screenplay this year, it tells you that it should have won best picture but the Weinsteins seem to have a spell over everyone, hence a charlatan like Chicago takes top prize. Sorry for the digression here but when you compare a "film" like Chicago to a masterpiece like The Pianist, there really is one clear cut winner. They handed out the statue to the wrong movie.

The Pianist follows up and coming piano player Wlad Spielzman from his days as a local hero to a prisoner of war to his time in the ghettos, surviving only by the kindness of strangers. I think many people have touched on this before but what makes this film so amazing and well crafted is because Spielzman is a man that we can all relate to. He is not a hero, he is not a rebel and he is not a kamikazee type that wants and lusts after revenge. He is a simple man that is doing everything in his power to stay alive. He is a desperate man and fears for his life and wants to stay as low as he can. Only from the succor he receives from others does he manage to live and breathe and eat and hide. And this is how I related to him. If put in his position, how would I react? Exactly the way he did. This is a man that had everything taken from him. His livelihood, his family, his freedom and almost his life. There is no time for heroics here. Adrien Brody embodies the spirit of Spielzman and his win at this years Oscars was one of the happiest moments I have had watching the festivities. His speech was even better but that is a topic for another time.

Ultimately it is his gift of music that perhaps saves his life and the final scene that he has with the German soldier is one of the best scenes I have ever seen in my entire life. There is so much emotion in his face, his hands, his music, his eyes that one can't help but realize that what Brody did in this film is give a performance of a lifetime and one for the ages.

I think Polanski spoke from the heart here. He has taken a palette of memories and amalgamated them with what he has read and given us one of the best films of our generation and any other. I think The Pianist will go down as one of the best films of this century and when all is said and done, Chicago will be forgotten the way Ordinary People was forgotten and when people talk about the film The Pianist, they will do so with reverence and respect. This is a cinematic masterpiece.

10 out of 10

A


This is plainly a masterpiece. One of the most haunting films I have ever seen. Rarely has a movie ever moved me so much, made me feel so much disgust for some characters. Rarely has a movie ever shocked me as much as this one did. The scene with the old man in the wheelchair being thrown off the balcony was one of the most shocking things I have ever seen in a theatre. The entire audience of the pretty full theatre gasped when it happened. I have never been a huge fan of Roman Polanski, but he really proves to be an amazing director with this movie. Visually it seems ordinary, yet it is extremely well made, even from the technical point. The soundtrack is great, the cinematography, often subtle, is great as well. Adrien Brody is the only member of the cast worth mentioning and he is really good. Probably not the best performance of his year, but great nonetheless.

The direction is pitch-perfect every single second of this movie and so is the editing. The movie lasts for almost 2 1/2 hours and yet it never drags and not a single scene seems unnecessary. I loved The Two Towers and thought that Chicago and Gangs of New York were good movie, but none of these movies by far and away deserved the Best Picture Oscar as The Pianist did. It is a cinematic achievement for ages that is no worse than Schindler's List.

Goodness. Like all the redundant thoughtless drivel i sat through as a kid (both in the form of movies and narratives). A truly mediocre Holocaust biography, even Polanski's woman in the blue dress was a second rate imitation of Spielberg's girl in a red one. Pretty conservative narrative, and while it could have focused on one man's survival, it just didn't impress me as a testament to perserverance.

C

C+

What Dolce said.

Good to see someone else felt the same. I just don't get what all the hoopla around this movie was. Maybe had it been the first, oh, 40 years ago, it would have had a different place in my heart and mind. but as it stands it neither created a new personal story and failed to ask any questions/explore landscapes that hadn't been brought up before. The fact that he did it with these painfully saccharine moments (here, share my crust of bread) type moments was the worst of the worst. That and the shotty digitized streetscapes, that were so out of character with the movie that it seemed like he hadn't thought through the reason for even including them. There are so many books and movies that I would recommend over Pianist, which feels like run-of-the-mill School stuff if not even sub-par to that (which at least wasn't as seamless, so reminded us what we were watching).

A decent film, that does have a little tear here and there. The movie went on far too long, and some scenes were just pure torture at how boring they were. Adrien Brody gives a terrific performance(not Oscar WINNING worhty though) and is indeed a terrific drama...but a bit..boring?


Grade: B+

Great film. I did feel that it was a little (no, wayyyy) too slow, but other scenes just grabbed me (like the old man off the balcony - wow). Props to Adrian Brody, though I'm kind of puzzled at his win.

B+

That was probably one of the most shocking scenes I have ever witnessed. I remember at least a dozen of people in the theatre gasping at this one.

Unnerving, touching movie with an outstanding performance from Adrien Brody. It is a long movie, but it never feels like it. You are drawn into the story and it rarely fails. A

No. 1 film of 2002 and the only straight A I gave for the year.

For me it's actually #2 of its year (after some deliberation) and it is technically the "best" movie released in its year. It's just that Spider-Man is my personal favorite by far (and my 5th favorite movie of all time), so it gets the #1 spot. But The Pianist was the best Best Picture nom in its year by far and away.

IMO, the better hoLocaust-fiLm than SchindLer's List. It never bored me for a second, even with the Long scenes without diaLogue in it. The intense sequences, magnificent production design, that piano music, and the stunning performance by Adrien Brody never cease to amaze me every time I see this fiLm. 9th of aLL time and best fiLm of 2002 after Minority Report.

A+

8.5/10

Great movie, but I wish we got to know Brody's character more.

I'm going to give titles to my reviews from now on. A simply phrase that represents something at the core of the film.

Die Another Day
A really good film about the Holocaust. The scenes in the first half, with his family, are the best by far, the best one being where they see the Germans kill that other family. The film is extremley graphic and represents the Holocaust in it's full horror, and very effectively. The acting is perfect all-around, and even though it gets a bit repetitive and drags towards the end, and isn't quite a masterpiece, it's still a gripping and very disturbing film. What makes it much more disturbing is that everything portrayed in the film actually happened.

A

{My original review from December 2002... }


The Pianist: Out of Tune

Although there are several scenes of great beauty and power interspersed throughout the length of The Pianist, the overall storyline is not coherent and failed to engage me in this fellow's plight. The Pianist may be best enjoyed by fans of the holocaust genre - - for a general audience there is just not enough substance (nor enough piano playing for that matter) to recommend this one...

2 out of 5.

The Penis?

For some reason it looks really cheap and amateurish. But it's still compelling stuff.

It is indeed quite compelling and Brody really is fantastic. The middle does drag a little though.