The Concert (2010)

First of all, I'm very familiar with classical music because it's played all the time at home, so I guess I wasn't impressed or felt emotional at all by Tchaikovsky's music, like other reviewers were, since I've listened and watched the whole Violin Concerto many times before. Because of that, I was expecting some more from this movie besides the music, something that entertained me, or at least interested me. The top reviewer of this movie said it was worthy of paying a ticket just for the opening credits. THE OPENING CREDITS. Bravo. The problem is after that comes a 2-hours long (an editor, somewhere?) colossal bore about some orchestra conductor who was fired for defending Jewish musicians (same Jewish that are later completely ridiculized with the same old boring clichés I'm very sick of), and now works as a janitor in the same theatre where he used to conduct. Right, unbelievable. Any normal person would never come back to work at the place where he was humiliated that way, and much less to clean the floor. Dignity, anyone? Then he cheats the Bolshoi and reunite his old orchestra (they haven't played in 30 years) to cheat on the French making them believe they're the famous Bolshoi Theather Orchestra instead of a group of gypsies, and perform a concert in Paris. Everyone says this is a very funny movie. Well, I didn't laugh once, for the simple reason I'm not a racist, and that I've seen this dusty clichés in at least another 350 movies. Nobody in Paris notices they're not the Bolshoi Orchestra, even when they doesn't act or look like professional musicians, they go get drunk and play in the subway instead of rehearsing, in fact they didn't rehearse at all, AND A FAMOUS Paris THEATRE LETS THEM PLAY ANYWAY WITHOUT EVEN CHECKING WHO THEY ARE! Haha yeah I know, I should suspend my disbelief because it's a farce. Sure, and it's a very cheap one too. You suspend it, I didn't. They play awfully the first notes of the Concerto, and then, when the blonde violinist I was supposed to cry for when I couldn't care less about starts to play, the magically got it right and play it beautifully. Terrific. But of course, I'm just insensitive. You can go and laugh and cry and stay at the edge of your seat for 2 beautiful hours. Cry when the director tells you to cry, even when there's nothing to cry for, and believe that all those implausible situations might be real hilarious facts. Thank God I'm not another puppet. Goodbye.

I have to say i saw this movie not expecting anything, well expecting to regret watching it... but DAMN i was so wrong.It made me cry, it shocked me, amazed me, gave me goosebumps, it was an amazing ride.What i loved about this movie is that, it tricks your mind, it is so well written that you think that you know what will happen, and at the very end slaps you in the face, and shows how wrong you were.The last 15 minutes are EPIC, the performance given by Mélanie Laurent was, Jesus, AMAZING, she made me love her, she made me believe in her.For those who think that this movie is a plain boring drama, NO. It has comedy parts, really well placed, perfectly written where you laugh.So i really think that for anyone who loves, Music, Drama, Love, and a good script and perfect performances, this movie will be perfect.Give it a try you will be surprised, i surely was.

In Moscow, the former conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra Andrey Simonovich Filipov (Alexeï Guskov) is presently the janitor of the theater. Andrey felt in disgrace with the Communist Party thirty years ago for protecting the Jewish musicians and was no longer allowed to conduct an orchestra. One night, Andrey reads a just-received fax while cleaning the office of the Bolshoi's director Leonid Vinichenko (Valentin Teodosiu) and he hides the document. He learns that the Châtelet Theater in Paris has just invited the Bolshoi Orchestra to perform a concert in Paris within two weeks. Andrey shows the fax to his friend and musician Aleksandr 'Sasha' Abramovich Grosman (Dimitri Nazarov) that drives an ambulance and he decides to reunite fifty-five former musicians of Bolshoi to travel to Paris and perform The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He invites the Communist leader and former KGB Ivan Gavrilov (Valeri Barinov) to manage the orchestra and he requests the solo of the prominent musician Anne- Marie Jacquet (Mélanie Laurent) and to stay in Paris for three days. When they arrive in Paris, Andrey meets Anne-Marie while the musicians wander in the city, partying and raising money. The unprofessionalism of the Russian musicians forces Anne-Marie to call off the concert; but Sasha convinces her to come to the theater. Meanwhile Andrey grieves the incident with the violinist Lea thirty years ago and hides a secret from Anne-Marie. What is the connection between Andrey and Anne-Marie?"Le Concert" is a film not only for movie lovers, but mainly for music lovers. This dramatic comedy tells an adorable bitter-sweet story about losses and second chance in life through music, or better, the wonderful and awesome Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. The director Radu Mihaileanu, from "Train de Vie", once again plays with tragic situations, using a witty screenplay with charismatic characters and making laugh and cry out of joy. I have seen the sequence of the concert at least eight consecutive times, full of emotion and with tears in my eyes. This is one of the most beautiful and touching climax I have ever seen in a film.The cast is fantastic and Mélanie Laurent is awesome, giving credibility to her violin solo during the presentation. Last but not the least, this film should have been at least nominated to the Oscar. My vote is ten.Title (Brazil): "O Concerto" ("The Concert" – not available on DVD or Blu-Ray)Note: On 10 August 2011, I saw this outstanding film again on DVD.

I've wanted to see this ever since the Oscar nominations came out and I browsed the entries for BFF over breakfast - it caught my eye then as an appealing premise. I was rewarded finally on a transatlantic flight to the UK last Sunday. Though the screen was small, the noise suppression headset provided an audio banquet of delight and yes, I had several moments of laugh-out-loud appreciation for this highly-entertaining film. I've always been a sucker for Russian literature & music; I've long been amazed that some of the most powerfully impressive art has come from one of the harshest environments and span of history (indeed, I'm a third of the way thru The Brothers Karamazov right now and I haven't touched Dostoyevsky in 40 years, since high school). The movie is a balance of emotion - it touches and massages every one, with humor, sympathy, concern, disappointment, frustration, anxiety, and the music, always the music. Seeing a familiar face again (Ms. Laurent) was an unexpected bonus, and her appeal for me was the same I realize now as it was in Tarantino's film, as some unfortunate's daughter, and you can't help but desire for her comfort and happiness. Best movie of the year, so far. Oh, and I'm downloading the soundtrack now from Amazon.