X
- 2019
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 53 m
- 2019
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 53 m
Summary Tim Roth and Clive Owen star in an emotional detective story spread over two continents and a half century. Beneath the film's stunning and pulsing musical revelations burn the horror of a war and the lost souls extinguished from history.
Directed By: François Girard
Written By: Jeffrey Caine, Norman Lebrecht
- 2019
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 53 m
- 2019
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 53 m
The Song of Names
51
6.9
Where to Watch
Summary Tim Roth and Clive Owen star in an emotional detective story spread over two continents and a half century. Beneath the film's stunning and pulsing musical revelations burn the horror of a war and the lost souls extinguished from history.
Directed By: François Girard
Written By: Jeffrey Caine, Norman Lebrecht
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
51
27% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
60% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
13% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
51
27% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
60% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
13% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
It’s a profound, affecting and beautifully told chronicle of faith, family, obsession and the language of music.
The pieces are there for a profound piece of work, and The Song of Names’ high points are worth the occasional narrative slog.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 User Ratings
6.9
43% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
57% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 User Ratings
6.9
43% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
57% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
I absolutely loved this movie, a period piece set during WW II in which the horrors of Treblinka play a pivotal role. The plot was compelling, and it held my interest throughout the film. The acting was superb, the musical score was gorgeous, and the overall look of the movie was beautiful.
I cannot begin to understand the mediocre reviews the critics gave to this movie, especially when so many of them seemed to think "Jojo Rabbit"--a weird and monumentally unsuccessful attempt at satirizing **** and the **** worthy of consideration for Oscars. "The Song of Names" has a bit of an art-house air to it, but it is precisely the kind of film that intrigues moviegoers in search of more than a cinematic display of special effects.
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This is a hauntingly authentic and beautiful story of friendship between two extraordinarily gifted individuals during a tragic time in history. The power of culture is vividly on display with the brilliant acting of the young actors and their adult counterparts carrying this story through to its powerful and profound conclusion.
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The Song of Names evokes a certain kind of quality film that we associate with Holocaust dramas. Laudably, the movie fully escapes lugubrious wallowing, yet, perhaps as a partial result of this, The Song of Names lacks dramatic intensity and depth.
There’s a mystery at the heart of The Song of Names, but it isn’t much of a mystery, and once it’s solved, the movie loses what little interest it has. Though not exactly a Holocaust drama, the film is one in which the Holocaust figures tangentially, but crucially. Yet the movie’s overall effect is strangely inert.
Mainly, this movie chatters when it should sing.
It’s a fatally old-fashioned and lugubrious historical drama, muting the emotional payoff it labors so hard to deliver.
There’s ultimately too much strained seriousness in The Song of Names' dramatically flimsy and symbolically heavy episodic narrative, making Girard and Caine’s already dated feel-good historical drama seem especially tacky.
What at least gives flavor to this drama is the music. The story lacked something for the viewer to immerse in it and the performances are wasted, especially Tim Roth.
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This is a very Jewish movie. I am not familiar with their religion and culture. But I still like **** plot is complicated. There are three eras that are 1940's, 1951, and 1986 in the movie. You need to watch the movie carefully, otherwise, you might not follow the story. The Jewish violinist is very strange. he disappeared many times. From a Japanese perspective, he is very irresponsible. I guess you have a different opinion if you are Jewish. Overall, this is a very Jewish movie. Unfortunately, I am not a Jewish man.
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There have been many films about the Holocaust covering it from many different angles so a new film must be in the excellent category because 'good' isn't good enough and though "The Song Of Names" has some interesting sections it has too much working against it.
One of the interesting parts is the name of the film itself and if there really is a song of names and after some research, I have to do more research because I haven't found a definite answer yet!
The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine, based on a novel by Norman Lebrecht, goes back and forth from the 1930s to the 1980s with 3 different actors playing the 2 main characters Davidl Rapopart and Martin Simmonds when it could have easily been done chronologically.
The story is about a 12-year-old violin protege, Davidl who is brought from Poland to England by his father hoping to find a place for him to escape from the ****. A music publisher, impressed by the boy's talent, agrees to take him in and after a minor skirmish with the publisher's son who is a couple of years younger, the 2 become fast friends. At the age of 21 Davidl is to give his musical debut completely subsidized by the publisher but never shows up and has disappeared. The film then follows Martin as he looks for his friend and tries to find out why he disappeared.
There are many awkward scenes and some that take your breath away such as the one where Martin and his wife walk through Treblinka, a **** death camp, where tall, standing stones memorialize the dead. Some in the audience may not be aware that Davidl having a bar mitzvah means he is now a man at 13. The musical moments shine while it is hard to really rate the performances due to the going back and forth through the decades.
"The Song Of Names" is a good movie but not quite good enough to attract enough of an audience.
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(Mauro Lanari)
[.....] Film about the Shoah melodramatically below average.
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Production Company
Serendipity Point Films,
Lyla Films,
Feel Films,
Film House Germany,
Echelon Productions, Inc.,
Ingenious Media,
Proton Cinema,
Riba Films
Release Date Dec 25, 2019
Duration 1 h 53 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline They Began as Rivals, Then Became Brothers. One of Them Disappears. An Obsessive Search Over Two Continents and a Half Century Begins.
Awards
Canadian Screen Awards, CA
• 5 Wins & 9 Nominations
Le Gala Quebec Cinema
• 3 Nominations
Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
