A Late Quartet (2012)

One of my all time favorites.

Instant Favorite.

hyped garbage

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It is not the best movie but it has very good moments I really enjoyed. The act of all actors and actresses are terrific. I liked some moments in this movie, like the time that Alexandra called her mom jealous after she found out about her affair with Daniel, or the moment Peter is looking from balcony and you expect he is committing suicide. Still, there is something missing in the plot and it is in my opinion a greater end to all this. I do not know how to address this. I like the acts, the story, some moments but still after all I was expecting a better end. However, the story seems so reasonable and there was no flaw in it. The reaction of Robert, as an instance seemed so reasonable and the other things happened after that.

Christopher Walken, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Mark Ivanir, and Imogen Poots experience "A Late Quartet" and its ramifications in this 2012 film.Walken plays Peter Mitchell, a musician involved in an ensemble called the Fugue Quartet. The quartet has played together for 25 years and consists of Robert & Juliette Gelbart (Hoffman and Keener), and Daniel Lerner (Ivanir). Imogen Poots plays Alexandra Gelbart, Robert and Juliette's daughter.Mitchell is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and, realizing he won't be able to play much longer, informs the group and seeks out a replacement.The news causes all kinds of disruption. Robert, the second violinist, decides that he no longer wants to play second violin; he wants to move up to first chair. When Catherine tells him that she's discussed this with Daniel, and he is better as second violinist, he feels betrayed and acts out.Robert confronts Daniel and criticizes his work, telling him that he has no passion. Daniel then acts out in a way that has an effect on the Gelbarts.Nothing much happens in this movie, but I was crying at the end.Frankly there wasn't enough plot to keep this thing going for 105 minutes -- 45 would have been fine. It would have been a nice short film.That being said, there were some very powerful scenes. One of the best was the confrontation between Catherine and Alexandra, who vilifies her mother for having her and then traveling eight months of the year. A bad mother-daughter fight that will resonate with a lot of people.The scene at Peter's house during rehearsal, when Daniel is confronted by Robert and Juliette. The final scene was very touching.Christopher Walken gives a beautiful performance of a man who has to face the hardest thing a professional can face -- the loss of ability. There comes a time when an athlete, a dancer, a singer says, my time is up. And it's sad because a musician should be able to keep playing! I thought Walken captured his character beautifully.Hoffman's role was not as good, but he was excellent as usual. What a crying shame that he is gone.Catherine Keener and Imogen Poots were both solid -- again, for me, these were not great roles. Both were honest and real in their emotions in what they had to do.Mark Ivanir gave a more subtle performance -- his character is cerebral, uptight, and not exceptionally verbal. He's perfect.If you're a musician, you possibly will get more out of this than others -- hard to say. I think there are some universal emotions expressed in this film. It's just not electrifying. Not everything needs to be.

A stellar cast do their best with what could have been an interesting exploration of the professional and emotional lives of top-class musicians. Unfortunately, cack-handed directing and writing means 'A Late Quartet' lacks subtlety and brings suspended disbelief crashing to the ground.Such suspension is necessary if, for example, we are to take Christopher Walken (doing his best to smother his trade-mark voice but admittedly adding a much needed third dimension to his character) seriously as a world class Cellist... The film failed to sell me the world of classical music and the lives of these characters. 'A Late Quartet' prefers excruciating exposition and hammy facts about Beethoven, which at times render the dialogue copy and paste from Wikipedia, to a sense of tone and genuine observation. Sautet's 'Un Coeur en Hiver', for example, admirably achieves what 'A Late Quartet' fails to do; namely inducting an audience into the exclusive world of classical music and high culture without treating them like idiots. The result is a beautiful film which allows the music and its characters to take centre stage, and I longed for 'A Late Quartet' to do the same and deliver on its potential. However, it fails to strike a consistent tone. At one point a scene involving Poots, Keener and Ivanir comes dangerously close to descending into a farce straight out of a lowest-common-denominator RomCom, in just one of many examples where the film contrived to undermine itself.Nonetheless, 'A Late Quartet' is not terrible and I was entertained. It offers flashes of sincerity and a few touching moments which I would attribute to the quality of the actors and an interesting conceit. However, I found myself laughing at it much more than I was moved by it. A film which is definitely hard to take as seriously as it wants to be taken.

As is usual, there are a group of reviewers who have given this film a single star. This is ludicrous. It seems that it is wrong to cast actors in a movie about classical music because they have to simulate playing instruments. This is also the snobbish response to audiences who are so stupid they can enjoy the conflicts among characters who have a particular gift. They are accused of being melodramatic. That's like saying you don't like Westerns because you grew up in Dodge City and these people are pretending to be cowboys. This is a touching story that centers around the Fugue Quartet which has been together for a long time. The cellist, played by Christopher Walken, has trouble fingering the instrument, and later finds out he has onset Parkinson's disease. He is determined to perform a Beethoven string quartet one last time before calling it quits. There is another subplot, the second violinist, played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, has fallen into great tension with his wife, who happens to be the Violist. He feels alone and unappreciated. One evening he has a one night stand with a woman he has met jogging. His wife finds out and they separate for the time being. Of course, they are still forced to rehearse and prepare for the major performance. I won't get into the activities of the first violinist. Yes, there is melodrama, but built into it is a great deal of wonderful musical drama. Enjoy watching some of our best actors in a really fine movie.