Play By Memory

Rating: 3/10 (7 March 2004)

Some irony: every time a director attempts to be visually daring, the public doesn't accept it. Scott tried in 'Blade Runner', Cameron in 'Abyss', Spielberg in 'Empire of the Sun', and Kubrick in 'Barry Lyndon'. Why? Maybe because the scripts aren't accepted...
This is your only spoiler warning...
Here Polanski is visual in a different sense than these. Spielberg is an emotion-control freak determined to manipulate our every reaction in order to make us accept his vision. 'Schindler' especially relied on this tactic; weaving images, emotions, and especially music together.
Polanski survived the Holocaust, so most detail stems from his memory and not imagination. So, while Spielberg is a Hollywood Jew reminiscing on the Holocaust, Polanski is the real deal. His impersonal method is intentional since reality doesn't have background musical cues to warn us about upcoming suspense. Polanski's focus is also different from his Western brethren. Compare his visualization of the ghetto wall to what Spielberg did with the 'Jurassic Park' fence. The emphasis is not on people, it's circumstance. Brody is keen to surviving in these circumstances after 'Thin Red Line'. The last time Spielberg tried this was 'Raiders'.
Here Polanski is darker than Spielberg. Optimism is beat to death despite the loops the script takes into "made-for-TV" Land. Compare the "girl in the red dress" in 'Schindler' to the ghetto-runner boy. It's about comparing imagination to memory.'Training Day' had the same problems, but less insight into getting around them.
Film is music though the two art forms are different creatures. Both rely on pacing, measure, and beat, but film has three dimensions to sort through. This is distant and impersonal, yet understanding. Thus, Polanski shows he is more human than his Hollywood counterparts that want to amaze. On that note, this sorely deserved an Oscar for Best Sound. Even if the music is ersatz, the sound design isn't.
Spielberg tried this movie earlier to lesser effect: it was called "Empire of the Sun".
Final Analysis = = Learn from this...