The best film so far this year

Rating: 9/10 (6 October 1999)

A whole film about the history of a violin! How can this possibly make for riveting cinema? But it does. There is not one particular story or performance (apart from the music itself) that really stands out. I was even a little unsure of Samuel L Jackson's casting ; but the film works as a whole as a wonderfully interwoven mix of stories bound together by the sale at auction of the violin. I can't say that I have seen another film like this but it does have the feel of those compendium type Hammer Horror films of the sixties...not the content but the style. Anyway my wife and I just loved it. 9/10