A Masterpiece. Mind blowing.

Rating: Null/10 (4 September 2004)

The Red Violin Wow. I was strolling the lanes of Blockbuster today and I fortunately picked up The Red Violin. I have nearly watched this film about 5-6 times before, but each time I always find another movie just getting ready to go and I put this one back as its always my backup. I didn't really know that much about it, but I was curious, so today I finally used my 3rd rental spot on it. Boy am I lucky I chose this.
The Red Violin is a story about this violin that was created in 1683 by this relatively famous violin maker. It passes through many hands and is owned by various people of four different languages, five countries, and 300 years. It is practically mythical around the world. But, out of chance, it ends up in an auction house in Montreal where it is what everyone came for. It is the main event. I'll leave out all the various stories, but they are magnificently done and all quite interesting.
This magnificent script alternates between the year 1683, the year that the certain owner has the violin (I believe they show ~4 different owners), and the current year (the present) and does it incredibly smoothly. It constantly keeps you on an edge by giving you bit by bit of the auction, until the end when they finish it up. I found this to be a great way of presenting this. Made you really want to see what happens because they kept repeating this.
Besides the alternating between time periods, I enjoyed the great characters of various cultures and many different music periods that I encountered as I watched. All these very different people came upon this violin and you can see that while they were so different, they all hailed it as a masterpiece. As a treasure. They all knew that it was special. They all masterfully linked with this violin.
Along with this, every character that was introduced was very interesting. You only were with each one for a relatively small amount of time, but that was no matter. You quickly cared for them and their relationship with the violin. You always wanted it to flourish, while still being disappointed time after time.
I'm going to try to leave out any specifics of each of the stories, but they are all incredibly interesting. I put a fair amount of backing behind The Red Violin and I definitely recommend it.
Four stars, 10/10, A+ etc.
err well I forgot to mention the beautiful score that accompanied this. What was so amazing is how each different piece that was played went along with the character that the movie was focusing on at that time. Each person had their own little piece. Its of course some magnificent violin that accompanies the film. I unfortunately heard about this part and didn't spot it myself. I was looking for it the whole film and I am glad I did. It added another dimension to it.