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Author Topic: The Pianist Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 01-20-2003 02:22 AM                        Hitler included, though whether he qualifies as an 'artist' is another question. As Robert Harris' (an English journalist - no connection to the film preservation expert) book Selling Hitler and the film Schtonk! which followed it point out, there continues to be a very healthy market in Hitler paintings. I'm not sure that the people who buy them are necessarily art connoisseurs, though...  |  IP: Logged Gerard S. Cohen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 975 From: Forest Hills, NY, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 01-20-2003 10:23 AM                     Leo, Please forgive this non sequitor, but your last post was #1111 ! Have you gone completely digital? Gerard [ 01-20-2003, 08:11 PM: Message edited by: Gerard S. Cohen ]  |  IP: Logged Charles Everett Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: New Jersey Registered: May 2001 posted 01-26-2003 11:41 AM                     Regal Warrington Crossing 22, Warrington PA, 1/25/2003, 2:50 PM matinee. Hall #3, attendance ~150. The Pianist was worthy of the Palme d'Or at Cannes. This picture is worthy of Oscar nominations for best picture, best director and best actor -- if a particular studio doesn't buy off the nominators. Focus Features and StudioCanal do not buy off the nominators. Space doesn't allow me to dwell on what might/would/could/should have been for the Jews in Warsaw. There's plenty of material in the library and online to cover that. I did notice the remark about why the American Jews weren't doing anything. Warrington Crossing picked up The Pianist this week and was rewarded with the good turnout, mostly white-haired ladies. I did have to put up with 2 yuppies next to me whom I had to tell 4-5 times to shut up. A cell phone went off late in the movie as well. Presentation: Image good to excellent image, some dirt at the changeovers, generally free of negative dirt. The R4 > R5 changeover had a hand-scribed motor cue. Sound was excellent Dolby Digital. Even a "serious" picture benefits from a digital sound mix. FWIW I'm of Polish descent on my mother's side.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 01-26-2003 11:37 PM                        quote: This picture is worthy of Oscar nominations for best picture, best director and best actor Why? A lot of people seem to like the movie, but I don`t understand why, as can be easily seen from my very negative opinions posted above.  |  IP: Logged Mathew Molloy Master Film Handler Posts: 357 From: The Santa Cruz Mountains Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-04-2003 05:40 PM                     This may sound odd, but after seeing The Grey Zone, I found The Pianist to be refreshing. Unlike the Grey Zone, which I thought offensive in how it sensationalized its subject with gratuitous amounts of horror, The Pianist did not dwell on the horrors - there's no need to. Not that there weren't horrific moments, (how can one film this subject without them?) but they weren't 'in your face' and there was none of that 'faux-surreal', cliched crap going on. Perhaps not seeing the Grey Zone may have altered my opinion of The Pianist, but I felt it was well-crafted, well-acted and I enjoyed the new perspective of a time and place my knowledge of is sorely lacking.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 02-04-2003 05:58 PM                        Michael, Just because you did not like "THE PIANIST", does not mean that the film is not worthy of the many awards and praise it has received. Forgive me for saying this but I get the impression that only your negative opinion of the film matters and all of our favorable opinion is wrong. -Claude [ 02-04-2003, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: Claude S. Ayakawa ]  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 02-05-2003 07:15 PM                        Indeed, and to make things even more difficult for me, most of my friends liked it too! It is very easy to like because it is so shallow - one can watch it and walk out of the cinema, feeling like a serious person because one has just seen a serious movie about a serious subject, without being troubled because everything was relatively harmless. Because of the seriousness of the historical subject, this kind of movie always is sure to get attention and awards because people do not want to be accused of not taking it seriously. This is what I call holocaust business. People hijacking that subject because they are sure to get attention. I also didn`t care for the crappy digital look and the horribly bad effects. For instance the scene during the uprising where a cannon shoots down a wall and the wall explodes from inside out back towards the cannon. These and other things is why I called it puppet theatre.  |  IP: Logged Pravin Ratnam Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 844 From: Atlanta, GA,USA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 03-21-2003 12:47 AM                     Well, I liked the Pianist. Although, I can see what Michael is saying. I felt a slight disappointment at the end about the lead character. And then I was thinking why did the title have to be about The Pianist since the movie never really shows the guy's passion about music. Shine was about a pianist's wacko personality but the centrality of the music passion to the plot was obvious and on display. But then while driving home, the disappointment waned since the whole point was the survival didn't necessarily have to mean courageous exploits for every survivor. Someone like Polasnki whose own escape was similar to the Pianist felt that it was the combination of luck and plain self preservation that did the trick for many. Also the importance of the music to the guy, while not obvious, you realize it upon reflection. The guy lost his entire family, yet has this yearning to live. And while the movie doesn't really show any passion for music in this character , you pretty much infer that he lives for his music by the calm way he plays the piano and seems at inner peace(I say the movie doesnt really show any of his passion for the piano since the scene where he pretends to play the piano in the air counts as an example of his passion for music since even an amateur pianist may feel inclined to do it as he is deprived of everything else in an isolated apartment). So is it a great movie? I don't think so because while the movie achieves what it set out to do, it is still a story about a colorless character. But then that is what's so refreshing about it, even if it doesn't make it as memorable as a holocaust survivor movie can be. A non editorialized sequence of events kind of making you a voyeur. Overall, a very good movie and very worthy of its nominations especially in a year where no single movie stands out clearly as a great movie(City of God comes close to it for me). And dont even get me started on Shitcago's inevitable overshadowing of movies like the pianist. Brody is in very fine form here.  |  IP: Logged

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