Not What I Expected!

Rating: Null/10 (12 October 2003)

Once I found out there was a movie called "The Pianist" and that it won la palme d'or in the Cannes Festival, I wanted to see it as soon as possible, especially just after learning Woijeck Kilar was providing the musical score in this movie. That's one of the main reasons I thought it'd be my favorite movie. Unfortunately it is not.
I must begin by saying that the movie has some quality and is really interesting because it's based on the true events of a War survivor, which is worth watching; however, I found the movie very simple. "Simple" is the word I must use throughout this review, because the movie tells a very dramatic story, but the acting is shallow and Adrien Brody really doesn't show dramatic expressions or sadness. He's too simple and quiet while losing everything and being a survivor of War; he acts as if nothing happened. He's too quiet, and uninteresting. When playing the piano his facial expressions seem to be dissembled, instead he seems not to really feel the music he's playing as any great pianist would.
Adrien Brody's last scene where he's found by the police who want to catch the Germans and says "I'm cold" is overdone, It's not moving as it pretends to be; on the contrary it's pretentious and really unbelievable. Adrien Brody annoyed me with his quietness, he should have shown suffering and dramatic expressions without him overacting, but he didn't. He was too calmed, it seemed he didn't realize he was In a War. I knew he'd win an Oscar, even though his performance wasn't so good, however I'm happy that he did, because he's young and needs to take on more important roles to really show better acting skills.
Another disappointment of this film, is Kilar's music. As I mentioned earlier, I thought his music would be as beautiful as the musical score he provided in 1996's "Portrait of a lady". however, his music in "Portrait of a Lady" puts the music of "the Pianist" to shame. The music in "Portrait" is way more beautiful, interesting and dramatic; however, in "The Pianist" it's dull, simple, and with no depth. The music played by Adrien Brody is not really one of the pieces I like, it's too quiet, simple and romantic, which I dislike; however the music in "Portrait of a Lady" is a triumph, because it's so dramatic, and so beautiful that you can't really stop listening to it, especially the shubert's part played by one of the supporting characters in the movie.
Of course "The Pianist" is not a total loss at all. It really shows very sad scenes, one I can remember is when the Nazis threw a person in a wheeled chair out of the window. Another great scene is when the people had nothing to eat and were really starving. I also liked the scene where the little boy tried to cross the wall and was trapped in it and Adrien Brody tried to help him.
To me the greatest scene was when the German was touched by Adrian's playing, and helped him survive. That was really great and shows the complexity, sadness and realism of War.
The pianist has very disappointing parts. It's not really what I expected; however it's still one of the best movies of 2002 and deserves all the praise it received. 7/10