Rated R for language
Starring Elijah Wood, John Cusack
Directed by Eugenio Mira
The Story:
Tom Selznick (Wood) is a concert pianist who suffered a meltdown 5 years earlier. After the passing of his mentor, he is coming back to the stage to perform, but he's scared. As he starts playing, he finds some mysterious scribblings from a mysterious stranger (Cusack): Play the music correctly, or I'll kill you.
Sheesh, everyone's a critic!
Oh wait...
This movie was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to getting turned off and sent back around the 20 minute mark.
I'm pretty sure my honey wishes I had done just that, as I believe I endured another hour of eyerolling and groaning about the film.
But I soldiered on...
It may have even gone past the 20 minute mark.
Waaaaaaaaay too long of a setup for what was going to transpire, but I guess you have to pad somewhere to make the movie stretch to 90 minutes.
It does pick up when Cusack's killer is finally...finally! introduced to the movie.
Voice only.
He doesn't appear until the last 10-15 minutes of the film.
Luckily, he brings enough Cusackian charisma to the voice of the killer that he pretty much saved the film from being an abysmal failure.
Not by much, but close enough.
Hidden amongst the dramatic tension and Elijah Wood fearing for his life, is a heist film tucked away as a clever after thought.
That helped keep the final grade up as high as it is, but again, totally your call if you want to sit through it.
I would recommend if you do watch it, and naturally a week or two after I sent it back.....
It's now available for streaming on Netflix...
Just skip ahead to when Wood realizes his life is in danger, and start from there.
You'll like the movie more, and won't feel like you suffered through that dragging first half.
Final Grade: C-
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nope, this one is only being played once.
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