The Piano

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing
Review: This movie is a fantastic piece of work. The cast is excellent. Keitel is great as usual, as is Holly Hunter, who despite not speaking throughout much of the movie, turns in an outstanding performance. The young girl is truly great as an actress, and Sam Neill has found the weaknesses and grace of a complex "villain". (Perhaps "villain" is too harsh a word.) The movie earned every bit of acclaim it has received, and then some. Very unique and touching. I can find nothing bad about the film...it's all good!

Rating:
Summary: A compelling film masterpiece.
Review: Anything with Harvey Keitel is worth watching. He fills the screen, but here he outdoes himself. This was the first Holly Hunter film which caught my attention and since watching it I have looked for others. All three principals put in magnificent performances. Jane Campion's direction captures the mood perfectly. Worth a second, third and fourth look.

Rating:
Summary: To understand this film is to understand love & passion
Review: I saw this movie when it was first released (and I was a naive 23 year-old). I thought to myself "I need to like this and tell everyone at the office on Monday that it was a great movie". Well, I didn't get it; I was young and stupid. I watched it recently for the first time since then (5 years later) and was totally blown away. This film is what "adult cinema" is supposed to be about--intense passion and eroticism. Not cheap sex, nudity, and high heels. This movie burned in my soul for the two hours I watched it and then some. Yes, the character of Ada (Hunter) is a complex and interesting one, but I must say that Baines (Keitel) was even more interesting to me. Here is a man living in an even more primitive culture than Ada, but feels such intense longing and passion that he has removed himself from his animalistic tribe. So it comes as no surprise that his life is forever changed when Ada rolls into town. He finally gets to explore these longings--that miraculously even surfaced within him--and Ada gets to do the same. So after Ada's lifetime of self-denial, and Baines' lifetime of loneliness, the two of them discover something that so few people ever do. THAT is why most people don't understand this film! I feel sorry for them...

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't add up
Review: A very impressive performance by Holly Hunter, some gorgeous cinematography, and lots of excellent costumes, can't make up for the fact that the script is unbearably pretentious, and extremely implausible. Art house fare can frequently make for some very compelling movies. "The Piano," however, is NOT one of them.

Rating:
Summary: A lush and complicated romance
Review: Jane Campion's "The Piano" plays upon many themes familiar to the post-modern and feminist audience: female sexuality, male colonial dominance, the image and personification of "native". Arguably one of Campion's finest films, the Piano takes all of these themes, and spins them into a strange matrix of relationships and conflicting passions. The title of the film is a not-so-subtle clue that the piano lies at the heart of this story. Owned by the mute Ada (Holly Hunter), the piano is presented as her voice, the central tool of her own self-expression. Her new husband, Stewart (Sam Neill), neither understands nor appreciates the necessity of the piano and, in failing to do so, estranges Ada from him. Into this vacuum steps Baines (Harvey Keitel) who better, if not appropriately, understands the use of the piano. Through a series of forced piano lessons, Baines slowly begins to win Ada from Stewart and from the piano itself. The conflict that arises between the three is intense, all the more so because of Baines and Stewarts mutual love for Ada. But only the man who understands the piano can win her.

A wonderfully lush film, shot in Campion's native home, New Zealand. The cinematography is complicated and calculated, and it is certainly a film that must be watched at least twice for all of the various meanings to transmit to the viewer.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful music, beautiful scenes,unique story.
Review: This movie has touched my soul. I cannot tell exactly why, but I 've seen it 4 times, and still want to see it again. I love piano, even cannot play it very well. In this movie, it is the feeling of Ada.She has such strong expressions in the melodies she played, and her eyes, her movement...... It's nothing about New Zealand, and doesn't matter where and when it happened, it's about woman's feelings, music, live and death. This is a good movie, It will be remembered .

Rating:
Summary: fine intricate story raising many questions
Review: The setting in a beautiful primitive area of New Zealand contrasts marvelously with the city raised Ada who is deaf mute and her most valuable possession and means of communication, the piano. One feels as if one of Ada's vital organs is to be removed when she is threatened with separation from her piano in this isolated strange land. The remainder of the story continues in this beautiful raw fashion of stark contrasts. Very sexually charged at times. It has been 2 years since I last viewed this movie but I still think of Ada frequently when I hear or play the piano.

Rating:
Summary: Sensual, erotic, intriguing romance; unique and provacative.
Review: This movie has quickly become my all-time favorite. The music is absolutely breath-taking, as is the acting by Holly Hunter (she won best-actress for this one). An intense love story with a beautiful and satisfying ending.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Overrated At Best.
Review: This movie made me nauseous. It was career death for Holly Hunter. Has anyone seen her lately? She seemed truly embarrassed after this movie came out. She can be a terrific actress as she was in 'Raising Arizona', but why she starred in this piece of trash, I will never know. Don't bother seeing this one. It is on my list of the ten worst movies ever.

Rating:
Summary: Could've been, Would've been, Should've been.....
Review: The Piano was a film with good intentions gone wrong. Even at the height of the movie's plot, there was a certain mood that was lacking. There was the absence of any real depth. The sad thing is that you could feel them trying. The idea itself is beautiful. Heartbreakingly so. Yet somehow, through actions and words, the movie loses the grip on the strings that are secured to the heart. It was disappointing altogether, with an ending that matched the rest of the movie perfectly, it was lacking.