The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)

Film Review: "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" (2005)World-premiering at the "Berlinale" in February 2005 in its 55th edition, little did superior film festival "Cannes" know that up and coming auteur-director Jacques Audiard had been on the run for a precision script of supreme beats, alongside with his strong-beating leading actor Romain Duris, at age 30; together they had been creating an independent masterpiece following a man called Tom, a small-time metropolitan criminal with his fingers all over Paris, France to reach for advantages in daily budgetary needs and life-style, while his pounding, all vivid dream of playing the "Concert Piano" slowly slips away; as Tom's father, portrayed by always-authenticity supporting actor Niels Arestrup, knocks his son off his feet by begging him to drive-in money from real estate rent fall-outs as well as approving his new girl-friend as Tom quickly gears up his chances, putting his fate into his own hands by practicing the piano over hitting harder targets in Paris' street to night life.Cinematography by Stéphane Fontaine and production design keep their independence with hand-held camera manuveurs on close-to none-dressed, on-location sets, when director Jacques Audiard raises suspense as character tension points in thought-out script, especially with his leading man Tom, when his discipline at piano lessons and gentle, but short-lived love affairs with a best friend's girlfriend, all superb cast with further two female supports as actresses Linh Dan Pham and Aure Atika, withhold passion and desire not only with regard to leading actor Romain Duris, but also for the amazed spectre's eye, how well this 100-Minute-Editorial ingnited by editor Juliette Welfing flows; as producer Pascal Caucheteux entrusts his director completely in delivering throughout post-production by adding galvanizing scoring beats by composer Alexandre Desplat to finish off motion picture excellence. Copyright 2018 Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC

In this drama a man finds himself split between his violent life as an enforcer for his loan shark father and his desire to be a concert pianist.This French film is somewhat unusual in its combining of disparate genres. What could otherwise be a fairly typical crime narrative about a violent individual at a turning point in his life is given an extra dimension when he decides to take advanced piano lessons from a Chinese woman who speaks little to no French. This improbable turn of events takes the story down a less familiar path. Aside from his criminal and musical activities, the central character also makes time to engage in an illicit affair with the wife of his closest business associate and finds himself in the midst of a dangerous situation in dealing with no-nonsense Russian gangsters who his father is trying to take a debt off. All these differing dynamics result in an entertaining and varied film. Romain Duris is very good in the lead role and carries the dramatics mostly given that he is in every scene. All-in-all, I found this one to be a very satisfying and quite diverse drama which managed to combine a variety of ideas very well.

Struggling to find your own place after having grown up between two worlds so different you wonder how they could meet in the first place. Killing the father symbolically to reach the dead mother. Trying to catch up with a promising future you let go. Ending up living it by proxy. Finally being caught back by the world you managed to leave. Because no matter how much you feel far from a world you grew up in, it's part of you, it's constitutive by rejection or acceptation of what you became. Because you can't just turn your back and hope everything you want to ignore will disappear. Because you have to deal with your past to find a balance between your background and your expectations. Another one of those stories I cherish where it's about reaching yourself, stuck between two worlds. Also another piece where Audiard manages to make petty gangsters likable.

I think the people who have posted rave reviews for this film have seen too many movies and are ready to go nuts if the movie is in French. Honestly, there is nothing interesting about some small time thug trying to re-establish his potential as a classical piano player. I mean come on, who cares? The character is all over the place in terms of emotions and in the end amounts to little. American film buffs who drool over Euro-trash productions and see things in them that are not there, just boggle my mind. Get outside into the sun and pull some weeds, folks, you will be doing yourself a huge favor. Stop stunting your mind with artsy, pretentious movies that you think make you look like an intellectual.