Shine
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Movie Reviews of Shine
Movie Review: Winning at Life!
Summary: 4 Stars
SHINE is a truly inspiring film about how one musician, David Helfgott, overcomes his domineering father and the unforgiving Rachmaninoff 3 to find joy, love and much deserved recognition.
David's first obstacle is his father, Peter Helfgott, who repeatedly bullies his son to 'always win' and then repeatedly denies him the ability to do so by abusing him and preventing him from getting proper teaching abroad.
When David escapes his abusive father to study at the Royal College of London, he finds another cruel master, Rachmaninoff 3, perhaps the most difficult of piano pieces. Practicing night and day allows him to overcome this obstacle- but at a heavy price- it is indelibly etched in his soul.
He descends into maddness- in which he continually fingers Rachmaninoff, and even starts speaking in a fast, stuttering fashion (perhaps based on the piece), forgets 'important' things such as putting on his clothes.
While David never fully overcomes his illness, it doesn't matter. As the film moves on, it becomes clear that neither his father nor Rachmaninoff 3 could conquer his ebullient spirit. Returning to the piano years later (by wandering into a bar) he wins instant recognition for his virtuoso performance. Later, his charming but humble personality delights a wealthy astrologist, Gillian Murray. They marry, and with her support he returns to the concert scene, and fame. More importantly, he lives with joy- not being afraid of jumping up and down on a trampoline or running with abandon on the beach, or putting his shoes on backward.
Peter Helfgott wanted his son to win piano competitions. David ends up winning so much more- he wins by leading a life filled with joy and love, and by inspiring others to do the same.
Movie Review: Genius Pushed to the Edge
Summary: 4 Stars
The loving, but possessive, father's effect on his son is poignant. The son's genius is recognized, and he is pushed toward realizing it, but simultaneously held back, creating tensions in the son which ultimately lead to a breakdown. We understand that they are Jewish. The scene of the father looking over the fence, is at once foreboding of, and reminiscent of, peering through the fence at Auschwitz, or some other Nazi extermination camp. The son's decision to break away in deciding to pursue training in England, saves him from the Holocaust, but can only increase the guilt feelings that he experiences. The use of Rakhmaninov's Third Piano Concerto, profoundly comples and beautiful, gives a rich texture to the tapestry of this moving film biography. Art is redeeming, and after years of breakdown and suffering, the master pianist finds his own salvation, and his ability to accept love.Movie Review: A Pleasant Surprise
Summary: 4 Stars
I knew nothing about this DVD when I bought it except what I read in the reviews on Amazon. This movie being based on a true story made it extra enticing. I was not disappointed. Once I stopped concentrating so hard on deciphering what the main character was saying, as due to his mental defect, he spoke very rapidly and repeated phrases, it was even more enjoyable. If you enjoy someone triumping over physical, emotional and social hardships, this movie is for you. I don't know if Geoffrey Rush was nominated for an Oscar, but he should have been. Excellent acting.Movie Review: Really good drama
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoy this DVD, the main movie is inspiring, and if you love classical music you will enjoy this title. The special features are good; you have interviews and the point of view of the director.Movie Review: Shining Brightly Only in the Light of Fiction
Summary: 3 Stars
This film portrays the fictionalized account of pianist David Helfgott and the woes he suffered at being a piano prodigy from an early age. A film that is somewhat uplifting but really over-the-top as to the merits of the main character, his life, and his accomplishments when compared to the lives of other professional musicians and composers.
The film takes poetic license in showing how David Helfgott's gift for performing on the piano was frustrated by an abusive father and instant fame. The film goes back in time and shows how David became a Rachmaninoff virtuoso but how the pressures of public performance and instant fame forced him to retreat back into a secluded private life. David's talents and desire for publicity reemerge after performing for a small crowd at a bar and encountering his future spouse. Although the film is relatively well done, David Helfott is an unsympathetic character who is overly neurotic, uncommunicative, arrogant, and altogether hostile. Unlike the lives of great composers or other great musicians, there is nothing exceptional about Helfott's personality or accomplishments to make his unpleasant traits palletable. He is not a Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Wagner, etc., whose vices and misdeeds can be forgiven due to their genius and unique contributions to the arts. In short, although Helfott certainly has talent at performing on the piano, there is really nothing about him or his performances that equate him either at or above the level of other pianists such as Rubinstein, Lupu, Brendel, Perriah, etc. The dramatic life and trials of Spielman during WWII in Polanski's "The Pianist" was a true story far more deserving of being put on film than Helfott's which, in comparison, seems pretty mundane.
This is somewhat of an uplifting story about how fame and attention are too much for those that are overly eccentric and have a demanding father as a music tutor. Otherwise, there is nothing particularly spectacular about David Helfgott, his personality, or his skills as a pianist that make this film shine through. The only things shining bright here are the exaggerations as to the "tragedies" of the artist's life making him a rather unsympathetic hero when all is said and done. When compared to the tragic lives of other performers such as Jaqueline du Pré, I don't find this dramatic biographical exaggeration to be anything special to make a movie stand out. Cellist Jaqueline du Pré had her life and artistic career cut tragically short by M.S. from which she later died and the film covering her life was a great depiction of her triumphs and painful end. Such tragedies make David Helfgott seem as little more than an overconfident prodigy who had an emotional breakdown when he realized, at the critical moment of a public performance, that he wasn't shining brightly enough to be a public performer in the spotlight afterall. Too bad! Why should anyone really care? There's always serious pressure and competition in these circles and life isn't always fair! In the end, his life's hurdles as a professional musician weren't exceptionally harder to overcome than those overcome by other professional musicians or composers. In that light, David Helfgott's relatively mundane life and minimal fame as a pianist hardly seem to be worth making a movie about.