Which movie is better, from a pianist's point of view:
Shine
The Pianist

I've seen Shine and I enjoyed it, though it wasn't my favorite movie. I haven't seen the Pianist. How is it?

Well to me The Pianist is a true jewel, a masterpiece. You just have to know it's not much about piano, except a few moments (that famous passage where Spilzman plays Chopin's op.23, principally).
But it's a great movie and you should see it.

However I haven't seen Shine yet.

The Pianist is more of a movie that revolves around World War II, though it also revolves around how Szpilman used music to escape the horrors of war. There are only a few select scenes where you actually get to see the pianist play something, let alone, the whole piece.

Shine is more musical, and involves Helfgott's struggles as a musician. There are several scenes that involve a piano being played and most of time you can see the pianist's hands.

Overall, I enjoy Shine more because there is a stronger musical part to it than The Pianist. Though, both are great movies.

thanks for the input, yeah i liked how you could see the pianist playing the actuall music in Shine.

Yeah, Geoffrey Rush deserves a lot of credit for actually learning the general hand positioning for the pieces he was shown playing. Although I think the hand double for the scene in young David's apartment (right after he snips the fingertips from his gloves) is hitting quite a few wrong notes.

for me Shine it's far better... i can see it again and again without getting bored...

My preferred movies are "The piano" of Jane Campion and "the legend of 1900" but of course I do like also Shine and the pianist

Damned !
I forgot "Immortal beloved" (Ludwig Van B )
and Amadeus

This is not a direct response to your question, but I recently was gifted with a most fantastic video called "The Art of the Piano." It is about 75 minutes long, and it features profiles on about a dozen great pianists of the 20th century. Each profile includes lengthy video excerpts of the pianist's playing (and yes, most of the time you can see his/her hands), as well as commentary on the pianist by contemporary piano greats (such as Barenboim). You can probably locate a version by doing a google search. Cheers!

Has anyone seen Liszt's Rhapsody yet? I havent and no one has mentioned it so far.

there was an old movie "The Competition" shown on TV a few times, staring with Richard Druffus(?) and Amy(?) in their younger ages, which was about a piano competition.

Shine

Shine also - like others in this thread, I could watch it (and have done) numerous times. It's much more musical than pianist. I also have the Helfgott biography video and credit where it's due, Geoffrey Rush played him brilliantly.

Interesting sidebar - my wife surprised me last birthday by taking me to see the "pianist". It was in an outdoor cinema by the lake here in Geneva and it was the only night of the roasting summer where it absolutely peed down (we couldn't change evenings unfortunately). There we were, sitting huddled under an umbrella trying to stay dry and on came the film...

You can't imagine my wife's reaction as the film started unfolding ... she honestly had no clue that it wasn't an upbeat film about a piano player (a piano version of "The Glenn Miller story" if you like) :rolleyes:

And it rained... and the thunder clapped... and it rained more... and the film went from depressing to really depressing ...

Having said that, there's no denying it was a brilliant film that we both appreciated.

Regards,

Gary.

Excellent video! It was called "The Art of the Piano: Great Pianists of the 20th Century", right? I saw that one as well, and thought it was amazing (especially the parts with Czerny and Horowitz). As for the original topic, I would have to say I like "Shine" more, because of how well Mr. Rush finger-synced his bit. Still, I enjoyed the ending credits for "The Pianist", where they actually show the hands that were playing Chopin's Polonaise for piano and orchestra.

I have watched it sometime last year. Nothing memorable about it. A very short film too if I am not wrong.

I've never seen a piano movie I liked.

Madame Souzatska was pretty good, Shirley MacLaine reminded me of my old piano teacher.

Ah, but Kreisler, ye ole backslider, what thought ye of "The Scarlet Fiddle"?

Ah, Madame Souzatska!. I was wondering when someone would mention this film. It's pretty good. Quite a bit of piano playing. The mother of the student is quite annoying I find though.

i saw Madame Souzatska too, which is good but not as good as Shine. Also, i remember seeing another piano movie (don't remember the name) staring Jane Symore(?) (from Dr. of Medicine) as a composer/pianist dying of cancer. the story is about a young pianist who admired her and wanted to study with her and finally got his wish as her student and later her lover and then whom she encouraged to compete in a competition where he won and then she died of course.

I think that character was supposed to be modelled after Adele Marcus.

Worst piano movie of all time - "Playing Mona Lisa."

Shine and The Pianist are both excellent movies, but for very different reasons.

Shine was relegated to the "art house" theaters and practically slipped into obscurity until it was nominated for an Academy Award. It has some great music scenes (my favorite is when Helfgott is playing the ancient upright missing its front panel with the "birdcage" action visible). Shine inspired me to do two things: 1) Sit on airplanes for nearly 20 hours to see Adelaide, where it was filmed, and 2) start piano lessons at age 38.

The Pianist is a very important movie to remind us of the horrors that ensue when politics are driven by hate. As a piano movie, it is okay. As a historically accurate portrayal of life in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII, it is a must see. We saw it the week after we got back from Warsaw, having spent a couple of days in the ghetto and the historical museum in Stare Miasto. It is gut-wrenching.
______________

If you are looking for a truly disturbing movie about truly disturbed people, see The Piano Teacher. It also has some good music scenes, but you will plumb the depths of psychoses to get there.

I prefer THe Pianist. Don't really like Shine, or David Helfgott.

pianobleu,

"The Piano" is the definitive film of the mud-as-art genre.

i remember now that i saw "the legend of 1900" on Bravo, which is a fine piece of work. the quy (Tim?) who play the pianist on the ship is fantastic playing piano himself in it.

For me it's a tie between Shine and Pianist. I think they are both excellent. Another older PW thread mentioned Spring Symphony about Robert and Clara Schumann which I received from Netflix last week. It was interesting but I don't speak German and the subtitles always take away some of the magic of movies IMHO.
Jon

If I were to choose one of the many mentioned as the one I really wanted to see again, it would be "The Legend of 1900." It was not seen/known like "Shine" or "The Pianist." But if you have the opportunity to see it - do. There is a lot of piano playing. Tim Roth is the lead and does a remarkable job playing a unique character (born on a cruise ship in 1900, he lives his whole life on the ship, never stepping foot on land; he is a piano prodigy who creates music inspired by the lives of the people he meets).

Here's a summary of my two favorite scenes: (1) 1900 (Roth's character) and Jelly Roll Morton have a piano duel, that ends with 1900 lighting a cigarette by the heat of the piano strings due to the high velocity piece he has just played - probably impossible, but a great scene nonetheless.

(2) The new trumpet player is seasick during a violent storm; he sits on the piano bench with 1900 and they unlock the brakes of the piano trolley and roll around the ballroom while 1900 plays a jazz waltz, and the trumpet player's seasickness is forgotten.

I seem to remember one called Impromptu with Hugh Grant as Chopin. Seriously.

Sir Lurkslot i am not sure to well understand "mud-as-art but, may be i don(t understand at all I precise that the music is quite fine ( Michael Nyman)
Did you see the film of Brnuo Monsaingeon about Glenn Gould ?

A couple more:

Lisztomania (1975) - starring Roger Daltrey as Franz Liszt, with Ringo Starr as the Pope. (I am not making this up!) Stupid plot, but still kinda fun.

The piano scene from Green Card.

-Mark