BEAUTIFUL, DISTURBING, FLAWLESS...A MASTERPIECE!

Rating: 10/10 (1 April 2003)

Polanski's "The Pianist" is an absolute masterpiece. There's really no way to describe it without writing pages, but there's a reason it's currently at #45 on imdb's top 100 films ever (and climbing). As a film student, I must say that this is probably the most brilliant direction job in the past two decades...Polanski's absolutely masterful sense of timing, his ingenious attention to detail, his passion, and his care for the actor's craft shines through to the end of this film--every color, every grain, every outfit, every face, every camera shot is an artwork, creating a film experience like few others. This movie also has an incredible combination of joyous scenes, horridly disturbing scenes, and scenes that are so powerful and beautifully-realized that it's hard to take--I've seen many films in my days, and I've cried during about ten of them--usually just teary eyes though. During this film tears were uncontrollably streaming down my face, and I sat in the theater, simply in shock at what an experience this film is. Afterwards, on the trip home with a group of friends, none of us talked once for the mile walk. Once getting home, I was so profoundly moved and had so many thoughts and feelings I couldn't read, watch TV, anything...it all seemed so unimportant and trivial. I was rooting for Almodovar at the Academy Awards for his amazing job on "Hable Con Ella," but I had not yet seen the Pianist--all I have to say is that it deserved to sweep every category of nomination. Brody absolutely, without a doubt deserved his award (his performance was one of the best, most precise, most accurate, and most heart-felt I've ever had the pleasure of watching), and it also deserved the Best Screenplay award. But I have a feeling that not even the Academy, notorious for it's payoffs and balanced out voting tactics, could let the show end without Polanski winning Best Director. The fact that "Chicago" won for Best Picture is a travesty, and I really don't know how that cast got up there and accepted that award, knowing how ridiculous their victory was...but that's the multi-million dollar politics of the Academy Awards. Anyway, I'm rambling, but EVERYONE must see this film--will go down in history as one of Polanski's best, Brody's best, and as one of the greatest cinema accomplishments of all time.