Review of A Late Quartet (2012) by Walter M — 12 Nov 2012

At the first rehearsal for the Fugue Quartet, Peter(Christopher Walken), the cellist, feels something is not quite right and requests an adjournment. This is about all they can agree on, however, as Robert(Philip Seymour Hoffman) wants to supplant Daniel(Mark Ivanir) as first violin while making the acquaintance of Pilar(Liraz Charhi), a flamenco dancer, in Central Park. Otherwise, Robert and his wife Juliette(Catherine Keener), who plays viola in the quartet, have a grown daughter, Alex(Imogen Poots), who is herself a musician in training.

Right off the bat, "A Late Quartet" has certain things going for it like a great cast(nobody does thankless as well as Catherine Keener while it is nice to see Christopher Walken cast so against type), good music and intelligent thoughts on important themes like mortality. But sadly, it is not as good as it should have been due to its being forced, especially in its cliched soap operatic subplots that lead into a surreal climax, the more so after a little research. For example, Peter is already suffering from the death of the love of his life which could alone cause him to reexamine his life, so why also burden him with Parkinson's? At the same time, Alex's outburst comes as a breath of fresh air with its sudden injection of honesty into the proceedings.