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Director: Eugenio Mira
MPAA Rating: R
Film Pulse Score: 6.5/10
Despite the ludicrous premise, Eugenio Mira’s Grand Piano is a surprisingly taut thriller that proves to be both entertaining, and a well-crafted homage to the works of Alfred Hitchcock. In a film so centered around music, it seems only natural that it’s written by Damien Chazelle of the Sundance breakout Whiplash, and directed by the composer of the amazing Timecrimes. Fold in some great cinematography by Unax Mendía and you get a suspenseful and fun single location movie that feels more De Palma-esque than anything De Palma is actually doing right now.
Elijah Wood plays Tom Selznick, a master pianist who retired from playing five years prior due to a meltdown on stage that left him with crippling stage fright. Tom has decided to come out of retirement in order to perform a concert in honor of his recently deceased mentor. Unfortunately, after he begins playing, he discovers a note written on his sheet music that claims if he plays a wrong note he will die. After finding an earpiece in his dressing room, a man’s voice (John Cussack) instructs him to play a perfect concert or else he and his wife (Kerry Bishé) will be killed.
As if the unrelenting stage fright weren’t enough, Tom must now play a perfect concert, not missing a single note, all the while keeping an eye on his wife who is watching from the balcony above him. To make matters worse, the piece that he needs to play is the same “unplayable” one that caused his breakdown five years prior.
Although we never see Cussack’s character till the finale, we know that he’s always watching, shining an ominous laser dot at Tom, constantly threatening to kill him and his wife if he makes a mistake. Not knowing the motivations of this man, what he looks like, or where he is, adds to the overall suspense of the film, which packs it on very heavily. Between the music mounting in speed and complexity, the constant threats through the earpiece, the stagefright, and several other spoiler-ish plot points, this is a film that piles on the tension to great effect.
Since nearly the entire film takes place within the concert hall, some creative camera work was done in order to keep things moving and interesting. The camera swoops through the giant auditorium, always moving, keeping pace with the kinetic feel of the film. It circles around Wood at the piano, impatiently waiting for him to come up with a plan to get out of this situation. For fans of the visual aspects of De Palma and Hitchcock films, there are a lot of similarities, and I mean that in the most complimentary way.
Grand Piano is a quick, all killer no filler thrill ride that has a ridiculous storyline and a slightly lackluster finale, but it makes up it with the great music, visuals, and suspenseful tone. If you’re looking for a solid thriller that gets the job done in 90 minutes, this is your movie.
