The Red Violin

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, intense world cinema
Review: The Red Violin is a beautiful and emotionally involved picture that tracks its namesake from it's creation in Italy through spells in Vienna, London, communist China and ultimately Toronto in present day. Very likely the best picture of any language to be released in 1999, not only should it be on Amazon.com's essential video list, but it should definitely be a permanent part of your DVD or video collection.

Rating:
Summary: An enchanting trip through centuries of music
Review: "The Red Violin" is made up of five sub-plots that range across five countries and four centuries. The story begins in 17th century Italy, where we meet master violin-maker Niccolò Bussotti in the process of making the finest violin of his career. We then follow the violin down the ages as it is transported to 18th century Austria, 19th century England, 1960s China, and 1990s Canada.

Although, as some other reviewers noted, the characters in the movie are not explored very deeply, in my view, the Red Violin itself is the main character in the movie. Seen this way, the humans in the movie are all supporting characters, who are important as long as they contribute to a defining moment for the violin. Thus, generations of the violin's players and possessors glide by before our eyes, with the movie zooming in only on those that have left an impression on the violin itself -- an Austrian Wunderkind, a womanising English virtuoso, a Chinese Communist Party activist, et al.

The five stories, although disparate in terms of the human characters' fates, are all a continuous progression for the violin. The segments are tied together by two scenes that keep recurring throughout the movie: a fortune-telling session in the 17th century, and the sale of the violin at the block in the 20th, with representatives from each of the five segments vying to get their hands on it.

Finally, the most interesting aspects of the movie, for me, are the wonderful soundtrack, and the fact that the actors perform in their own languages, adding an important dimesion of authenticity to the film. And while the ending seemed unjust to me the first time I watched "The Red Violin", by the third and fourth time, I found myself more accepting of it.

Rating:
Summary: Uneven but fascinating and beautiful musical journey
Review: Having once been genuinely passionate about the violin myself, I figured that, at the very least, Francois Girard's THE RED VIOLIN would at least be entertaining. But, finally having seen it all the way through recently, I didn't expect it to be fascinating and even tear-inducing---Joshua Bell's violin solos and John Corigliano's music (which won a well-deserved Oscar) are almost beautiful beyond words.

It is true that, on a whole, some parts of the film work better than others. This is basically an anthology of stories with the Red Violin being the connecting thread---barely---and while three of the stories are fascinating and even enlightening and moving (the Cremona, Vienna, and Montreal sequences), the two others (the Oxford and Shanghai sequences) are either unintentionally funny (the former) or simply slight and kinda pointless (the latter). And yet the dud sequences are hardly enough to counteract the great things in the movie: not only its technical flash and beautiful music, but its resonant theme about how we all, at one point or another, yearn for perfection and can't let it slip away so easily when we find it. Certainly instrument evaluator Charles Morritz (Samuel L. Jackson, in a restrained but powerful performance) cannot let his vision of perfection, which the Red Violin embodies, escape him.

If nothing else, THE RED VIOLIN will perhaps enlighten non-music lovers about why we love the violin, and even music, so much. And that is enough for this uneven but overall wonderful film to be worth seeing by everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Don't analyze it, just watch it for what it is.
Review: While I find this movie captivating to watch, and wonderfully done, the story does have a multitude of holes in it. The most glaring probably is how an instrument that spends most of it's life in such ordinary circumstance or in relative hiding becomes the sought after holy grail of a modern auction house. The instrument is really only in a position of high profile lime light once in the story that is documented in the film. The rest of the time it spends as a fairly generic piece being passed around to children in an orphanage, roaming the countryside with gypsies, in a pawn shop or hidden from authorities. This doesn't seem like a likely life of an instrument that would be known by and sought after above all others by what is portrayed as the foremost experts in their field. Even the bidders in the auction seem to only have interest in it from a sentimental value and not for the perfection that the modern auctioneer values it for.

The movie is however, almost hypnotically watchable and it is hard for me even to deprive it of the single star I have. On one side the movie appeals because of the intellectually complex plot, but by the same token fails because the holes in that plot seem like they would be obvious to the same group that would be drawn to the film. This is this films paradox. All in all a very entertaining film that you have to remember not to analyze.

Rating:
Summary: Sensuous, Sumptuous & Sonorous (plus DTS)!
Review: "The Red Violin" is a fascinating and complex film which uses several plot devices to tell its story. Central to its emotional core is a beautiful original score by American composer John Corigliano which weaves a spell over all who encounter the violin. The DVD presentation offers DTS digital sound, a feature I had not before encountered on DVD. My receiver/amp lit up like a Christmas tree and my surround speakers took on an enchanted life of their own. The solo violin of Joshua Bell speaks for the violin throughout the film. I was very impressed with the sound and the video image was consistently clean and sharp throughout. There is an interesting look at the making of the film in special features, plus a partial cast listing that's a bit disappointing. No matter! The film story is what is important here. At the outset, the film takes us to Italy of the 1600s in the workshop of a violinmaker. The master of this shop has a young, pregnant wife and he shows her his finest violin...one he created for their unborn son. Troubled by strange feelings, the wife seeks out one of her servants who reads Tarot cards, and from this point on, the film's first plot device grabs the attention and never lets up. There are five cards. The first card is turned over and its meaning explained. We are then shown that the baby is dead at birth and the wife died shortly after. And you want to say, "Whoa!" The next plot device appears in modern-day Montreal where an auction of rare violins is in progress. Each time this scene appears throughout the movie, we see a different person in the audience and are treated to that person's connection to the prized item on which they wish to bid: The Red Violin. From there, the story unfolds in time...Austria in the 1700s, England in the late 1890s (a very, very sensual segment), China in the early 1920s and mid-1950s and finally back to Montreal. Back and forth the story moves, from auction to tarot reader (a new card interpretation with each visit) to story, along with the subplot of Samuel L. Jackson's master appraiser unraveling the mysteries of the red violin prior to the start of the auction. It's a fascinating, masterfully crafted film with wonderful performances and soaring music. "The Red Violin" entertains and stuns. This is a film crafted by filmmakers who not only love film but love music. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Rating:
Summary: I love his movie except for one thing....
Review: The tarot card reading through out the film is an integral part ofthe story bt if they could have found another way to convey the story, I would have given it 5 stars but the astrology stuff gives me the creeps! Otherwise a superb movie from beginning to end.


Rating:
Summary: A SENSUAL, SOULFUL, MULTI-LAYERED PLEASURE
Review: What a novel allegory for a story: a seemingly cursed but sought-after violin with a melancholy sound and unusual color meanders through three centuries of owners and as many continents before being discovered by a modern-day auctioneer.

This voyage starts a tad slowly, the first fifteen minutes had me skeptical, but when it ropes you in it really does with its vivid, poignant meditation of our relationship to beauty, our shadow-need to possess and even control it, our soul's craving to be nurtured by its radiance.

Especially memorable is the score that accompanies the mellifluous cinematography, a marvel in itself, especially the violin selections played by virtuoso Joshua Bell.

A few attempts to create the mystique of eroticism and suspense are admittedly clunky. The crone with tarot cards who foretells the violin's story looks like a character from The Princess Bride or a child's fairy tale. An episode involving Greta Scacchi as a seductive novelist who warms up a long-haired English virtuoso before his performances makes one giggle and triggers a desire to shout, "Watch out for that bow!"

But the director more than compensates for this by infusing the sort of visual splendor that rewards a discerning viewer with several captivating strands of the story that unfold only with ongoing consideration. It is a pleasure to mull the complex themes afterwards.

A most unusual film, no great action, no glorious climax, but a haunting mood around a spell-binding theme. Filmmaking of the highest order, and recommended with equal enthusiasm.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and sad
Review: I happened upon this movie one evening while channel surfering. It caught my eye with it's beautiful cinematography. Oh, it is a gorgeous movie! The stories are heartbreaking yet not depressing. I watched with a lump in my throat, sighing from time to time at how tragic but lovely these stories are. It has something for everyone, love, obsession, art, excitement, adventure, and a happy ending. I recommend The Red Violin to anyone, any age as long as adult supervision is present due to some sexual content (very little though). My daughter, who plays violin, fell in love all over again with her instrument. This film will capture you immediately and stay with you for a long time to come.

Rating:
Summary: WHY AMAZON'S REWIEW IS SO UNFAIR
Review: Just consider average customer's rewiews 4.5 stars and then consider Amazon's, just unfair.

This, along with The Legend of 1900, are one of my top 10 movies.

I have two copies just in case one gets damaged ¡

Rating:
Summary: Montage of art and subterfuge, seriously flawed by racism.
Review: For its artistic accomplishments, dreamy score and for the sheer beauty of this touching tale, I cannot praise the film Le Violon Rouge highly enough. I enjoyed it immensely. Yet I agonized over grading this film because, for all its beauty, the film suffers from two major flaws.

One has to do with plain old movie making gone wrong; the other has to do with overt, though quite possibly (and I hope) overlooked, racism. Let's deal with the technical matter first.

The actual scenes of the Tarot reading are performed well enough, but since these are germane to the film, one would expect the director and assistant director in charge of continuity to have given more attention to the details of the setting. Over the course of the film, we come back to this scene again and again; thus, the table upon which the Tarot are read becomes the stage. Objects on a `stage' should not move about without reason. Yet amulets, gemstones and bones which start out in a pile, appear inexplicably laid out in the following scene; spoons at the left of the `stage' (which are not there to begin with) appear in a neat row and then disappear again from beneath Anna's left elbow. Inconsistencies such as these turn up in nearly all films and go virtually unnoticed, and can be forgiven, except when they form the crux of the matter at hand, the spinning wheel from which the yarn is being spun. In this instance they are inexcusable.

My second objection, the one of racism, I would rather overlook, but I cannot. During the life of the violin, in its many moves from hand to hand and land to land, this film depicts it being stolen only twice-once by gypsies who rob a grave to obtain it, and later by a black man, the international expert himself. Coincidence? In the case of the latter, I hope so. I do not think Samuel L. Jackson would have taken this role knowing that he was to be made the butt of a very sad joke. But, whereas he may have given voice to a protest if he felt like doing so by turning down the part, the people known as "gypsies" were allowed no voice, and traditionally have not been given one over the course of history.

Throughout history, the Romani have been portrayed in film and in literature as thieves, scoundrels, criminals, tramps, and the like. Hitler killed possibly five-hundred thousand Roma people in gas chambers while no on raised even the slightest protest or spoke on their behalf. I suppose that Francois Girard saw no harm in depicting them as grave robbers. However, to have done so is to perpetuate a dangerous lie about these gentle and nomadic people. Not since Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) called a fully grown Sam (Dooley Wilson) "boy" in the 1942 film Casablanca has there been such an overlooked and outrageous racial slur in a film. I must call director Francois Girard to task for his grave error in judgment.