The DVD rental trial is working for me: I get to avoid the rubbish on TV. I finally got to see the 2005 film, ‘The beat my heart skipped‘. I’ve seen a couple of films about pianists, and I enjoy watching how pianists are portrayed in film. Most are troubled (Isabelle Huppert’s ‘The piano teacher’, David Helfgott in ‘Shine’), while some are heroic (‘The pianist’). In this remake of ‘Fingers’, starring Harvery Keitel as the musical thug, it strips away the original’s gratuitous sex and violence and leaves more room for the viewer to indulge in the leading character’s (Tom) emotional crisis: stay in his dad’s shady real estate business, or fulfill his dreams of becoming a pianist. Quickly paced, and has a nice soundtrack (Bach’s toccata in E-minor, Brahm’s very masculine Rhapsody in G-minor).
Three and a half out of five popcorns
Alicia Izharuddin 