Maynard Handley
This movie feels like the result of a bet. Someone says to the screenwriter "Bet you can't write a suspense movie about a concert pianist who has to play a piece perfectly" and Damien Chazelle says "You're on!".So, OK, it's not a terrible movie; it does about the best you could do given that that's the gimmick it has to work with. But that also doesn't make it a great movie. There's just so much padding; what should have been maybe 45 minutes has a variety of irrelevant nonsense added just to get to 90 minutes. And even the suspense doesn't really work (it has to operate as "tell, not show") because we, the audience, have no idea what actually counts as "playing perfectly". Bottom line is: not every script needs to be made into a movie, even a script that does a reasonable job of winning a bar bet.
LCShackley
Damien Chazelle must have had a horrible time with music lessons growing up; at least that's my guess after seeing his screenplays for WHIPLASH and GRAND PIANO. The plot is a mix of SPEED, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, and PHONE BOOTH. Who is the mystery man who threatens a concert pianist unless he plays a flawless performance? That portion of the plot unravels fairly well, with a few "aha" moments. But the movie's riddled with errors, from the bizarre drive through Chicago (up and down several fairly close streets, but lasting from day until night), to the concert which starts at 9:30 (what?), to the talky conductor who's more like a game show host, to the concerto that conveniently has piano-free moments allowing the star to vanish offstage for long stretches at a time, to the "impromptu" song by a soprano in a box seat which somehow the orchestra has parts for. The music itself is laughable: a symphonic mess of various styles, none of which is terribly difficult for the pianist. Some of the cinematography is nicely executed, but overall it's a pretty silly exercise that would have made a fun TV episode. As others have noted, it's a short film extended by 12 minutes of credits. Elijah Wood and the camera operator do a good job of "faking" the piano parts. It's harmless fun, not to be taken seriously.
PauL vdB
I really like movies build around a simple concept playing out in near real-time. And this is one of them. It's really fast paced and never gets boring with that. I was surprised by how incredibly well shot it was with a lot of long fluid sweeping shots. The two central performances are pretty great. Some of the cast really isn't but it gets away with it very well. The explanation for the set-up may not make much sense but it's easy to forgive since I don't think the movie is really asking to be taken that seriously. It's probably not going to impact your life much but to simply pass the time with this movie is terrific light entertainment..
skeptic skeptical
I ended up watching this twice, and to be honest that really only happened because it lasts a mere 1.5 hours, so I decided, "Why not try to figure out what this was really about?" I'm still not sure what exactly to make of the plot, but my best guess after two viewings is that it's supposed be a metaphorical depiction of a neurotic pianist's nervous breakdown. I don't really believe that any of the action which occurs during his historic comeback concert really happens in the world of the film.Instead, it seems more likely that the pianist (who reminds me a bit of Pee Wee Herman!) has taken refuge in his own mind and is listening to voices in his head. There are some interesting insights offered here about the nature of performance and the self-doubt which can plague the minds of people who spend nearly all of their time in practice rooms alone attempting to perfect the creations of composers--the true "creators" in the world of music. He is even playing a piece of music entitled "Slave Morality"!The problem with that interpretation is that it doesn't make very much sense. Still, it does make more sense than the alternative, that he is in reality giving a concert and listening to someone harassing him and threatening to kill him and his girlfriend (a famous actress), if he hits a single false note. No, this must be all occurring in his head, especially given the ending, which seems to represent his final break from reality. This was okay. Rather artistically put together, and with decent production values. A bit contrived, in some ways. Definitely a creative idea. Not a masterpiece, but better than a lot of movies these days.
AD
