Well-intentioned, but it doesn't work...

Rating: 4/10 (19 February 2006)

The true story of David Helfgott, a piano virtuoso who suffered a mental breakdown early in his life while under the thumb of his demanding father who, for the purposes of melodrama, is not just embittered and jealous but abusive as well. Well-acted, fairly well-made film has a jumbled narrative that moves along in fits and starts, with most of the real story left off-screen. Movies about domineering dads goes back to "Fear Strikes Out" and beyond, but the clichés have remained intact. This father-son relationship doesn't work because the filmmakers are too literal-minded about the material, which seems dramatically heightened anyway. There are moving moments, and Geoffrey Rush is worth watching in his Oscar-winning portrait as Helfgott, but the picture itself is rather cold. ** from ****