Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: Grand Piano (2013) - NP Approved

Cast: John Cusack, Elijah Wood, Tamsin Egerton
Director: Eugenio Mira
Country: Spain
Genre: Thriller

Editor’s Notes: The following review is part of our coverage of Fantastic Fest 2013. For more information on the festival visit http://fantasticfest.com and follow Fantastic Fest on Twitter at @fantasticfest.

Imagine the last twenty minutes of The Man Who Knew Too Much, but instead of just Hitchcock behind the camera you also had the likes of Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski and Steven Spielberg joining him. This is the closest I can come to describing the cinematic ecstasy that is Eugenio Mira’s Grand Piano. On the surface, Grand Piano is an awesome idea executed to near perfection, but moments into the opening of this movie it becomes clear that this is an exquisitely crafted love letter to moviemaking and the minds behind our favorite movies. If you love movies even in the slightest, Grand Piano is required viewing.

On more than one occasion I caught myself literally chewing my nails during this movie. Eugenio Mira has crafted one of the most suspenseful movies in recent memory. Not a frame in the film is wasted, no line of dialogue superfluous.

The movie opens with an incredibly nervous Tom Selznick (Elijah Wood) desperately hoping he finds a way to avoid his big comeback concert. It’s been five years since he’s taken the stage, the last time proving to be a complete catastrophe when Selznick was unable to successfully perform one of music’s most difficult pieces. Elijah Wood is an actor gifted with a rare form of charisma that makes him instantly likable and easy to identify with no matter the role, and he is nothing short of great here as a man riddled with a crippling case of nerves trying with all his might to keep it together. Little does he know that his stage fright is about to kick into overdrive.

Moments after taking the stage, Tom discovers threatening notes scribbled throughout his sheet music. There’s a man hiding in the balcony with a gun pointed at Tom and his wife. If Tom makes a single mistake, the man hiding in the balcony pulls the trigger. It’s such a ridiculously unique premise for a movie you can’t help but strap in for a ride. And what a ride it is!

On more than one occasion I caught myself literally chewing my nails during this movie. Eugenio Mira has crafted one of the most suspenseful movies in recent memory. Not a frame in the film is wasted, no line of dialogue superfluous. A good part of the brilliance in Elijah Wood’s performance lies in the fact that he successfully tunes us into the anxiety his character is experiencing. But Grand Piano is far more than a well-made thriller. It’s a reminder of why we started going to movies in the first place.

Throughout the course of the film, Mira employs hypnotic, fluid tracking shots that recall the works of Alfred Hitchcock, occasionally sprinkling in a visual kinkiness seen in a De Palma film and toys with light and frames expressions in a way that only Spielberg could have taught him.

I have had the amazing chance to talk with Eugenio Mira a couple of times while attending Fantastic Fest. Mere seconds into a conversation with the director it becomes incredibly clear that this is a man with an unbridled passion for movies. His excitement about movies and the way he talks about the filmmakers who inspire him is incredibly contagious. Throughout the course of the film, Mira employs hypnotic, fluid tracking shots that recall the works of Alfred Hitchcock, occasionally sprinkling in a visual kinkiness seen in a De Palma film and toys with light and frames expressions in a way that only Spielberg could have taught him. In lesser hands, this approach to filmmaking would have been labeled as more of a rip-off than homage. However, Mira injects the material with so much of his own voice that the film defies such categorization. Movies like Grand Piano are why I started going to movies in the first place, and people like Eugenio Mira are the reason I continue to watch them.

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Daniel Tucker

Director of Media & Staff Film Critic

I never knew how movies could make your imagination soar until I saw "Star Wars," I never realized how inspiring they could be until I saw "Rocky," and I never truly appreciated film until I saw "Goodfellas." Film has been a central part of my life as long as I can remember and it continues to mold who I am. My " movies to watch" list is miles longer than my "movies I have watched" list. My only regret is not having enough time to watch them all.

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