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The Pianist (Widescreen Edition)

The Pianist (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $14.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Film-- Ben N. At The Movies
Review: this is a wonderful film played by academy award winner Roman Polanski this is a great powerful movie must i say more see this movie good plot great actors fivew stars

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful Movie
Review: I had to see this movie at a bizarre time of day and it was well worth the effort. This is just a beautiful piece of work. Adrien Brody's performance is wonderful. He conveys such depths of emotion with a simple glance. I usually do not like Holocaust movies but I really enjoyed this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Cinematic Masterwork
Review: There is a sequence in The Pianist where Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) struggles to open a tin can of watermelon because of his hunger. The can falls off the mantle of the fireplace, then rolls to the seemingly ominous feet of a lone German officer. He asks Szpilman who he is, what he's doing in the abandoned house, and what he used to be. Szpilman, dirty and unshaven, striking an almost pathetic figure in the face of this immaculately dressed military officer, answers that he is, or was, a pianist before the war. The German seems intrigued and asks him play, leading him to a grand piano. Szpilman plays, his fingers hesistant at first then growing increasingly confident, and as he plays to prove to his enemy of his ability, his authenticity, there is an awakening of the musical passion and human soul of which he was robbed by the Nazi occupation of Poland. The scene in itself is incredibly moving, however Polanski enhances it by shooting without superfluous camera movement or sentiment. The effect is both elegantly restrained yet infused with an outpouring of genuine human emotion, probably one of the almost unbearably poignant moments in the entire film.

Polanski's film is quiet and grim in its style and pace. It is difficult to watch only in the sense that his cinematic vision possesses the fearlessness of challenging the audience to listen to the voices of the oppressed, silent no more. This film, however, is not a simple polemic between the abstractions of good and evil, but rather an intensely personal statement of how devastating and disturbing war is for everyone involved. His camera is unflinching in its evocation of the almost unfathomable mass destruction of cities, the routine murders of human beings with a very abrupt cut style emphasizing its senselessness. There is even a stretch in the film where Polanski is deliberately episodic in order to give a sense of the days of anxious waiting, waiting for an absolution, or perhaps, waiting for death. Though it is oft said that adversity builds character, it can also be said that adversity reveals it. And The Pianist certainly, certainly is Polanski's elegiac tone poem to both the dead and living victims of the Holocaust as well as an affirmation that even in the darkest of times, the human spirit will find a way to survive.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This piano man didn't deserve 3 oscars!
Review: The Pianist is a good film, but not great. I don't understand why this was such a big winner at the Oscars! (Even though Chicago took home double as many Awards, with 6)

First- I don't think Adrien Brody deserved the Best Actor Award. Did anyone even see Nick Cage in Adaptation!? He was so excellent. The only reason why he didn't win was becasue that movie had an off-beat type of brilliance.

Second- Why in the world did Roman Polanski win? In a way I am glad the Martian Scorsese didn't win because I believe he'll be back in the upcoming years with an even better film that will sweep the awards, including Best Director. But, what about Rob Marshall? Chicago would have been nothing without him! Rob had the great idea for the musical numbers being metaphors and daydreams in Roxie's head. Plus, Marshall choreographed all the numbers! That is amazing dedication. Plus the editing was smooth and well done. I just didn't sense that Polanski had the same pashion.

Thirdly- Charlie Kauffman had the Oscar stolen from him for best screenplay: adapted material. Every scene and line in Adaptation shines with creative characters and brilliant words. Actually, the movie's main showcase is the writting, because it is SO GOOD! I have NO idea why the pianist won, and if you see Adaptation, you'll be wondering too.

That being said, I thought that The Pianist was definetly one of the better films over the past year. I think everybody knows that this is nowhere near Schindler's List. But, then again, what film about this subject matter is? Not a bad effort at all. But, not worthy of all the praise.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Adrien Body fails to convince in a lukewarm film
Review: Polanski, a survivor of what we have all come to accept as 'humanities darkest hour '(notwithstanding many other equally confounding, affecting and, as yet, cinematically un-surveyed 'darkest hour''s) has delivered a curiously affected, slovenly piece. All the sketched outlines of an outstanding film are present and accounted for: galvanising (if overly familiar) backdrop, a strong central perspective and experiential trajectory (in the form of Szpilman's tenacious, determined character), excellent production values. All that is missing is a sense of effort on the part of those most centrally involved.

Polanski's direction is undistinguished, mechanical, heaving the 'The Pianist' along with all the zeal of a put upon carry donkey. The pace of the film is leaden and contains a high 'oh, get on with it' quotient, which should be fatal for a film with such high-minded, literate pretensions. The scenes of the ruined Warsaw ghetto are intensely re-created, but fall more or less in line with those images we have come to expect from a film dealing with an aspect of the Holocaust, adding absolutely nothing onto the already fixed perceptions burnished onto (many of) our collective conscience (courtesy, in some ways, to the far superior 'Schndler's List').

The main problem with this film, most puzzlingly (read: alarmingly), is Oscar winner Adrien Brody. Although sporting the requisite haunted look, he never quite gets under his character's skin, or allows sufficient erudition as to his motivations (a must in a realist text like this). This robs the already moribund film of what could have been its greatest, and saving, virtue.

All said, the film is not bad, per se. It might have been more accomplished. Hopefully Hollywood will now shift its attention to some other worthy historical texts.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Well Done
Review: Above all, The Pianist is an excellent film. I waited until after the Oscars to see it. So I won't pretend that I was an early, unbiased fan. I saw it because I heard so many good things about it and because it won several awards. It was described to me as, 'A better and more personalized version of Schindler's List.' So I went in expecting a quality film. And I was not disappointed. I tried to be as objective as possible when viewing it and I don't think the Oscar hype had an effect on me.

The film had some fairly cliché elements. Such as the standard animalistic Nazi soldiers who parade around and randomly shoot Jewish citizens. I also thought some of the scenes in the ghetto were heavy handed. As though our faces had to be rubbed in the filth before we would understand the despair and evil humiliation that the Jews withstood. But these problems are small and they didn't really effect the film as a whole. And the 'psychotic Nazi soldier' cliché was countered effectively by the Nazi officer who showed compassion in the end. The biggest positive element of the film was the way it showed the best that man can be while also showing the worst that man can be. It really made me sit back and question many things. It brought up ethical issues like 'might makes right versus universal individual human rights' and 'when is killing right or wrong and who truly decides?' The film had an intellectual quality that raised it from simply being good, to being excellent.

If you are looking for an expertly crafted film about the survival of a real man in an unimaginable situation, The Pianist fits the bill. I recommend it to anyone who would appreciate an excellent historical drama and a story that captures both the best and worst qualities of mankind.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It got boring
Review: I didn't enjoy it yes it was well made but it is very overhyped and isn't anything to rave about , Not really worth your time unless you love long dull films.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Love- Life-Music-War... The Pianist Is A Masterpiece.
Review: I saw The Pianist on my birthday 3 months ago.
I had heard some good reviews and was very interested to see what Polanski had been up to lately.
I was astonished, moved, and speechless.
The movie embodies everything that I love about film....a true story being told with love and great care for the past, and in a way that makes you feel the pain that the characters experience.

Adrien Brody will now get the credit he deserves after his 10+ years in the industry. His performance was genuine and brilliant. He has been my favorite actor for a few years and out did all of his previous work with his role as Wladyslaw Szpilman. I cannot think of a more deserving performance of the Best Actor Oscar in recent years.

The Pianist is an unforgettable film about a simple man who hangs on when all hope and life is lost from the world he knows.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: If I could give it zero stars I would
Review: Simply bad. I like intelligent films and this film is not one of them. It's long, tediously boring and by the end I was not rooting for the survival of the main character. Everyone in the theatre was asleep by the time this film was over.
Stay way, stay far away.
My review may be unpopular but at least it's honest and not driven by Oscar hype.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Master filmmaking
Review: Polanski proves that being adept at the surreal or fantastical does not preclude a director from composing an effectively thoughtful and linear story. If anything, Polanski demonstrates that true vision knows no bounds. Like many, I wasn't sure how much more of the Nazi regime imagery I could stomach. Quickly I became endeared to the character and found myself pulling for his survival as if it was really taking place. These days it is so difficult to become so absorbed in a film. For a movie to pull this off requires an amazing vision and a successful unfurling of that vision and all its detail. Many forces seemed to work together to achieve this accomplishment.

What is so profound about this film is the degree to which the viewer becomes transmogrified through the course of following the central character in his determination to survive.
The war scenes and depictions of brutality are, in my opinion, done truthfully and in a manner that lends credence to the story.

This movie captures the fundamental human feelings that ultimately pull us all together. It does so without catering to any sense of "political correctness." Good and evil are demonstrated by Nazis AND prisoners.

More than another "war movie," this film transcends genres and moves into the realm of greatness. Whatever you think of Polanski the man, this film is brilliant.


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