Grand Piano hit Blu-ray on May 20th from Magnolia Home Entertainment
The experience I had watching Grand Piano theatrically during Fantastic Fest was a singular one. I was swept away by the mystery, the thrills, the music, the tightness of the narrative, and the grandeur of some of the filmmaking in what was clearly a very restricted set; as the film transpires in “real time” over the course of one night in a concert hall. I’m a sucker for “real time”, well-written macguffins, and De Palma-esque thrillers and camera work. And Grand Piano offers those elements in spades. Unfortunately my theatrical experience was singular in every meaning of the word, as my revisit of the film on home video removed a fair amount of the sheen. While I still enjoy this film a lot, it seems clear that the pesky details and cut corners that didn’t bother me on my first rapturous viewing reared their heads pretty fiercely this time around.
Moments before his comeback performance, a concert pianist who suffers from stage fright discovers a note written on his music sheet.
Several elements of Grand Piano are simply brilliant, and held up without reservation upon a second viewing. Perhaps the most key element to the whole project, as it is based around a piano concert, after all, is Victor Reyes’ musical compositions for the film. Elijah Wood’s character Tom Selznick was the student of an eccentric master who had written an “unplayable” piece of music. 5 years prior to the film, Selznick had attempted to play this piece, failed spectacularly, and then promptly retired from his concert piano career. So on the night in which the film takes place, you had better believe we as an audience are wanting to hear some impressive, nay impossible, piano music. And not only is the music melodious and complex sounding, but Elijah Wood largely pulls off the illusion that he is playing it all himself. And some shots would indicate that he really is playing significant portions. This all goes a long way towards increasing the reality of this thriller, which is important, because the element of the killer with a laser sight aimed at Tom rings more and more false the more you think about it. But before I get to all that, one other element of praise for the music and direction. For a film like this, in a single setting, spanning only a few hours, director Eugenio Mira had to rely on the musical score for even more than just ambiance. The music drives whole set pieces. This is music that our characters are also all hearing and/or playing. And it all had to be carefully orchestrated to accentuate the action sequences. The power and scope of this success should not go unnoticed, and Mira’s collaboration with Reyes here is remarkable.
The silliness of the film’s premise (written by Damien Chazelle), which involves a sniper pressuring Tom to play all the notes of the evening perfectly or he will shoot him, felt like “all part of the fun” upon first viewing. But once that initial thrill wore off, and I knew where things were heading, the experience was simply less rewarding. And it has to be mentioned that there was some truly egregious VFX work that I had somehow totally missed before. Tom has a limo ride to take him from the airport to the concert hall at the beginning of the movie which is so blatantly green-screened that it hurt my heart. And the shot which had previously been my favorite, and which has a whole featurette dedicated to it in the bonus features, involving a split screen that appears to sprout out of a single take, actually crumbles when you pay close attention to how much poor CGI is used to accomplish it. And the final, action-packed climax in which Tom squares off against his would-be assassin ends up more eye-rolling than awe-inspiring when scrutinized.
Now I’m coming off overly harsh on a film that I gave 4.5 stars to on Letterboxd after my first viewing. But you know what? I genuinely hope any of you who are tempted to give Grand Piano a spin would do so, and that you have as great of a first experience with the film as I did. I imagine that if you are along for the ride by about 30 minutes in, then you’ll have a total blast with Grand Piano, and may even heap glowing praises such as “De Palma-esque” on it like I did. The movie deserves that kind of response from folks who love a good thriller, or love feeling tense for a movie’s entire run time. And I didn’t really delve into the performances all that much, but Elijah Wood nails the nervous-but-capable lead. Most of the main cast does an admirable job and you’ll thrill to see Alex Winter of Bill & Ted fame up on screen once again.
The fact that it comes apart a bit upon a second watch, and that the movie looks a lot cheaper and more digital than I noticed on first viewing, are legitimate problems. But being in the right mood for a silly, yet well-paced and sweaty-palmed thriller might just allow you to see past the flaws and have a ball.
The Package
As mentioned, I really wish this movie looked better on Blu-ray. There’s a cheap, digital feel to it that I couldn’t shake. But at the same time, if you take into account what the budget on this film probably was, and how fully director Eugenio Mira fooled me on my first viewing, you’ve got to appreciate all the sweeping camera work and escalation and musical genius of it all… and forgive some of the necessary cheats along the way.
And what is the deal with the marketing materials and artwork for Grand Piano? Every poster and DVD cover I’ve seen for this slick and classy-looking film is shoddy and hideous. Could the marketing folks not have brought a little De Palma or Hitchcock-inspired artwork to the table here?
Bonus Features
The Making Of Grand Piano, Soundtrack, Coaches, Following Eugenio, Stunts, Visual Effects, Wayne’s Shot, Interviews, AXS TV: A Look At Grand Piano.
A hefty offering of bonus features offsets the lack of a director’s commentary, and in the end this is a good release for a fun little film, even if the artwork is pretty ugly.
And I’m Out.