Geoffrey Rush's Performance Carries The Film

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2017)

If there are any faults to the 1996 Australian film "Shine", is that it is taken under control of a narrative that is at times very clichéd. Also pretty sketchy is the sequences of events writer/director Scott Hicks puts into the film. But still the film is saturated with sheer brilliance as it tells the tale of piano genius David Helfgott (Geoffrey Rush)as we chronicle his story from the time he was a child, to a troubled young soul to an out of it adult and was played off nothing short of brilliance.
We first see Helfgott's problem stemming from his father, Holocaust survivor Polish-Jewish born Peter Helfgott (Armin Mueller-Stahl) who was very domineering in nature as he subjugates him which at times can be both a bit over-the-top but still very compelling to watch. I understand this is a biopic and not a documentary and there's bound to be some sort of dramatization, but it's hard to fully admit it or not if Peter Helfgott was really that cruel to David. Nevertheless it's very impossible that that this cruelty can ever be erased from David's mind and any kind of burden would be difficult to climb.
"Shine" then transitions towards David's youth to adult years (Noah Taylor and eventually Geoffrey Rush) where he gets the right training and musical experience with legions of friends helping him along the way. We see him succeed through his music to the point where he suffers a nervous breakdown which leads him to fifteen years institutionalized. However, once he's released, he comes back to playing great music in front of packed crowds and we as an audience cheer for his return as he was able to fight his way back to the top. There's a lot of quality behind it and it work effectively. In some ways the format feel very much like a sports film with a formulaic twist, but it's still very good in quality. We have the underdog musician with potential for greatness, then something lures him away, gets out of the jam and then faces the toughest challenge and then beats the odds.
Even though underdog stories in movies are quite predictable, but why this one is orchestrated this way is simply because it works. The story is easy to follow through and never cowers away from scenes that can be at times unpleasant for the eyes. The flow of the story just runs naturally. The complexities regarding Peter's fathering towards his son and David's musical skills can be quite layered and compelling.
If there was a weakness to "Shine" it would be that the three stages of his life seem to skim over and didn't have a complete disclosure behind it while the interesting scenes usurp the dramatic ones. The transformation between a sensitive kid with a quirky persona to the fragile eccentric can be complex in detail as life struggles David faces we aren't fully invested because it happens right from the early parts of the movie we know his capabilities are right there.
Performance wise the acting is really good. Geoffrey Rush is the rightful person to win the Oscar but his role is oddly selected due to the character being the ones that you've seen many times before. The remaining cast members range from solid acting to just going through the routines that Hollywood favours. Aside from that they play off the more natural performance Rush's acting ability to grasp at David's incoherent quirks and limited attention span.
Often times Hollywood likes their communications to be delivered very crisply. Very few people grasp or pause for words, it's all delivered straight and to the point and that's very acceptable. When a typical off-camera conversation comes on-camera, it takes the tone aback while the wheels are turning. What makes Rush's performance stand out is that we see a personality that is fractured that's contrary to the normal behaviour from his peers. The whole film may be Oscar inclined, but through Rush's acting this film's worthy to watch.