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Wednesday
Darn! I wrote all my afterthoughts about ' the pianist' just to get disconnected. Sigh. All those overwhelming emotions and critics I had are more or less eroded now. But basically, i think that the show is being over-sensationalised. It was pretty disappointing,nowhere near what i was expecting.
Considering the techincalities, the cinematography was very plain, there was obviously no intention in creating any atmosphere like other war films e.g my favourite AN. That is the first BORING bit. Even thin red line has that deafening silence which i like alot, this has nothing.
Next, the plot. It is a mere documentary style reproduction of the biography and the narration of the events which is similar to another award winning holocaust movie, Schindler's List. In my opinion, the pianist again pales in comparison with SL. Polanski seems to be obsessed with hate for the Germans that he packed the show with repetitive scences of verbal abuses and graphic gore that I think were overused in the film. SL also attempted to show the horror of the holocaust and i think they did it better with fewer scenes but very well designed ones. The constant 'horror' has a desensitizing effect that after a while, no one really feels for the victims anymore. In a way, its precisely these repetitive shots that makes the whole show draggy.
Finally, the only part that I think was best done: the degeneration of the pianist. Its true that not everyone can be a hero in war and that most of them suffer and degenerate. I must admit that Adrein Brody's performance was exquisite. He truly deserves that Oscar award. As a matter of fact, he is the only character that is 3-D in the show. As far as i recall, there is no other character development for any other actors in the show. I'm appalled at the shallowness of the whole show! but again, one might argue that its precisely this shallowness that the show can bring out the dehumanisation in war. Well, true too. Anyway, back to the Adrein's character, he's a man of very few words but its through his acting that we see how a strong and dignified man slowly gets worned down to be a brainless aimless spineless leech who cannot even survive on his own. However i feel that the degeneration of the pianist and the backdrop of the holocaust doesnt tie in tightly. It seems like two seperate entities: one busy telling the events of the holocaust, and another about a jew's survivial story. But if someone changes the backdrop to lets say..... a child suddenly losing his parents and become a street urchin, the degeneration of humanity can also be portrayed in a similar fashion.
All in all, the pianist is indeed a grade higher than many other crappy commercial movies but compared to the really classic films, it's just like Titanic: overly hyped with some but definitely not enough, depth.
4/09/2003|0comments [speak] 