Grand Piano (2014)

Simply A Masterpiece

Don't Believe the Hype

Absolutely Fantastic

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

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.

When pitched the idea might have seemed novel if hardly riveting, (a concert pianist about to perform finds a note on his sheet music telling him that if he plays a wrong note he and/or his wife will be killed), but this thriller, penned by current Hot Young Thing Damien Chazelle and directed by Eugenio Mira, is surprisingly suspenseful. Indeed this is the kind of conceit that Hitchcock might have toyed with, (something similar was seen some years back when Colin Farrell found himself trapped in a phone-box with a sniper's rifle trained on him). Of course, that movie, "Phone Booth" had the streets of the city to play with; the problem facing Mira is how to keep us glued to a limited set, (in this case a concert hall), and a fixed time span, not to mention 'inflicting', on perhaps a less than enthusiastic audience, a lot of semi-classical music. That he, and lead actor Elijah Woods, as well as the off-screen voice of potential killer John Cusack, pull it off is a credit to them all. Also, for something so seemingly insular, Mira makes excellent use of the widescreen. Perhaps more destined for cult status than mass consumption but certainly worth seeing.

If sound makes up more than half of the movie experience then Grand Piano is as simple of a concept as it is brilliant. In Grand Piano the worlds greatest concert pianist is set to make his return to the grand stage after freezing and failing an epic piece a few years prior. He plans to make his return while playing the piano of his recently deceased mentor and this is where the movie finds the inspiration for its title. However someone has scribbled down threats in his notes and he is now forced to play every note perfectly if he wishes to stay alive.Elijah Wood plays the main part brilliantly even though he seldom has anyone to act off of and his energy in playing the piano shines through and most of the time comes of as real rather than fake. Using the score in a two-fold meaning, both as a story mechanism and as a suspension builder, works great most of the time and it really showcases the talent behind the movie.Much like many other movies that are based around simple concept or locations it struggles to keep things interesting throughout the entire running time and this plus some stereotypical minor characters unfortunately keeps the movie from being as great as it could have been. But as it stands its a unique, often thrilling, movie that dares to think outside of the box.

In the Trivia of this movie, it states that the last 13 minutes ( of the total of 90) are the credits. I could add that also the first 5 minutes or so of the movie are credits. So basically, what you are watching is a 70 minutes long film, placed in an opera, during a concert. The idea had bored at me at first. And really, the trailer seemed to be the only action that was going to happen in the movie. But it turns out quite well. It actually turns out quite amazing for a movie focused on a guy playing the piano for at least half an hour on the screen. One thing that really bothered me was the main actor. I mean, sorry, but Elijah? Elijah Wood? Frodo?? It was actually quite funny: Frodo with scene fright, puts on the RING, disappears in the middle of the show, crowd goes wild. Funny. Still, the movie was great, but focusing the entire plot inside of a building can be a bit of a yawn-maker.