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12 Rounds Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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$9.99 Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Pianist, The
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MPAA RATING: R for violence and brief strong language
Starring Adrien Brody, Daniel Caltagirone, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard, and Julia Rayner
Wladyslaw Szpilman, a brilliant Polish pianist, a Jew, escapes deportation. Forced to live in the heart of the Warsaw ghetto, he shares the suffering, the humiliation and the struggles. He manages to escape and hides in the ruins of the capital. A German officer comes to his aid and helps him to survive. (Focus Features)
| GENRE(S): | Drama | Musical |
| WRITTEN BY: |
Ronald Harwood
Wladyslaw Szpilman (book) |
| DIRECTED BY: | Roman Polanski |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: May 27, 2003 Video: December 31, 1969 Theatrical: December 27, 2002 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 148 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | UK / France / Germany / Poland / Netherlands |
Received 7 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Roman Polanski, who won the award) and Best Actor (Adrien Brody, also a winner). Also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture. Named Best Picture of 2002 by the Boston Society of Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics. Winner of the Palme d'Or, 2002 Cannes Film Festival
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 91 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
[Anonymous] gave it a9:
Don't mistake this for a film about the 2nd World War. Don't even expect a film about Auschwitz or the Holocaust. This is solely about the life and times of a pianist [the title might hint at this]. For a film to retreat solely to his isolated point of view as the world he knows changes beyond recognition is unusual and powerful in equal measure. Personally I found it much stronger than Schindler's List as it does not attempt to paint a black and white picture [pun intended] or generate heroes or villians where they did not exist. If you expect the protagonist to shoot his way out of Warsaw, blow up the Guns of Navaronne, or lead a darng escape out of a POW camp, you should look elsewhere.
richard h gave it a9:
Spectacular film. hard to call it polanski's best since Chinatown is may be one of the top 5 films of all time, but if you don't feel incredibly moved by the film - check you pulse, because you might be dead.
Hui W. gave it a9:
The Pianist, a movie depicting the holocaust of Nazi like Schindler's List, arouse me a question that is why the western people could not pay more attention to Nanjiang Massacre. Even some of them never heard the history. Only during WW II from Dec.,1938 to Jun.,1939, more than 300,000 people was killed by Japanese army in their own country. I suppose maybe this history can be good materials for a historic movie.
Felix Q. gave it a10:
It just does not get much better than this. This film does not make use of elaborate or groundbraking camera techniques, doesn't over-play it's coloring or even it's wonderful sets- Roman allowed the story to speak greatly for itself. In simplicity, this film achieved more than Space Odyssey did with all it's grandeur, in my opinion. My mother, a professional musician, asked why it was called 'The Pianist', as there wasn't much applicable piano playing in the movie- but the title is about so much more than that. To me, it basically hands you the character on a silver platter- music is all he is, and is such an underlying force in his survival. The scene where the officer tells him to play once he's been found in the house, I could feel that passion of returning to his own little world. Music creates that head space for him and he becomes unaware of the officer, just being able to get rid of so much pent-up emotion that it makes me cry every time I see it. Adrien Brody is beyond belief, keeping his performance subtle and relying on the strength of the character and the force of the story to bring this one to life. Like I said, this movie never resorts to visual over-stimulation (although that has it's place) but still manages to give you a photographic piece of art to accompany the majesty of the film itself. One of the few in my DVD collection.
Dave C. gave it a4:
Can't go wrong with Adrien Brody, whose performance is, at once, intense and sympathetic, yet the character he is playing is little more than a void in the film, where we should in fact be thinking of him as the protagonist. Many sections of the film are risible where the ought to be taken seriously and at other times, I wasn't even convinced. The piano playing sequences are pretentious and obvious and the rest of the film feels like a missed opportunity. Why doesn't it tackle issues like the prejudices of slavic poles towards the jews. I never got the sense of what it might have felt like to be jew. Polanski has evidently been more pre-occupied with making a crowd-pleasing thrill ride. What a waste.
Richard gave it a10:
What is it with some viewers? Are they babies who have to be spoon fed every emotion? Polanski doesn't try to hit you over the head and instead just lets the story slowly build. Many of the images in this film are unbelievable and leave you filled with horror. At the end of the film when Brody is back in the radio studio playing the piano (where the film began) we understand EXACTLY what he is feeling when he looks at his friend who has walked into the sound room. I guess some people need to be hit with a baseball bat in order to feel anything. The low votes for this film are just a reflection of our dumbed down and numbed culture.
stephen c. gave it a2:
This film didn't take an angle to the events of the Holocaust, unless you count the fact that the lead could play a bit of piano. It showed the horror of the time but in a tasteless manner and really brought nothing new to the subject. Adrian Brody put on a sad face for the movie and won an oscar. An awful film.
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