Fantastic story, mediocerly executed

Rating: 6/10 (21 January 2004)

Shine is a Fantastic true story of Pianist David Helfgott and his battle with mental illness, brought on by several factors in his life, each resulting from his "piano prodigy" status. Although the story is a fascinating one, and very touching at times, it seems to me, to be executed quite poorly for the big screen. David's mental illness itself seems rather inconsistent throughout. One minute he will be talking erratically in his own way, and the next he will be entertaining guests at a modern cafe, by gracefully playing the piano, with several women at his side, only to return to his former state moments later. This only serves to remove any belief in the performances of the cast. One thing I think really took away what could have been a fantastic film, is the portrayal of Helfgott, by actor Geoffrey Rush. It is evident from his initial scenes where he has gotten his inspiration for the role (Dustin Hoffman in Rainman) but the result is more of an embarrasing imitation of an eratic Woody Allen. I know that many people regard this actor as one of the greatest of our time, but Shine represents quite the opposite.
What we have here is a fantastic story of battles though life, turned into a fantastic screen-play, and subsequently, and quite sadly, turned into a simply mediocre film