88 Keys and a Dozen Problems.

Rating: Null/10 (22 September 2003)

Dark and bleak entry from writer-director Jane Campion (Oscar-winning for the former and Oscar-nominated for the latter) which concerns a mute British woman (electric Oscar-winner Holly Hunter) who moves to newly colonized New Zealand in the mid-19th Century. She has been promised in marriage to Sam Neill by her father. Thus she makes the long trek to the South Island of the small country with little more than her young daughter (surprise Oscar-winner Anna Paquin) and her most prized possession (the titled item). Hunter has refused to speak supposedly since the unfortunate death of her first husband and uses the piano as an outlet to express her feelings and thoughts. Immediately it is realized that Neill is not capable of love and that native Harvey Keitel may be the person that Hunter desperately needs in her life. A forbidden love affair blossoms between Hunter and Keitel, but how will Neill and Paquin react when Hunter's secret disappears? "The Piano" thrives on its performances (Hunter and Paquin in particular) and has a soul of its own with its haunting score. However Campion's screenplay is not near as concrete as I would have liked. She seems unsure of where she wants to go with the story and ultimately her direction suffers as well. Honored left and right in 1993, "The Piano" pales miserably to "Schindler's List" and lacks the overall heart and intensity of "The Remains of the Day". Still a good movie, but never quite hit the right notes with me. 4 stars out of 5.