Review of Grand Piano (2013) by Brett B — 09 Mar 2014

Save for a minor misstep deep into the third act, GRAND PIANO is a classy, hugely entertaining piece of suspense. The premise is - admittedly - a bit preposterous, but it's executed with a completely straight face, and in addition to presenting a fantastic central scenario, the script also gives us a vividly-characterized lead in the form of Elijah Wood; the script beautifully sets up the protagonist's nerves and feelings of doubt before plunging him into an even more taxing situation, and through it all, Wood is great.

Director Eugenio Mira employs some near-virtuosic camerawork, framing, and staging, and although there's a distinct Hitchcock flavor coursing through Mira's directorial style, there's also more than a little vintage De Palma in here, too; that's really just a film buff's way of saying that the movie is splendid from a visual standpoint.

Also splendid is the score by Victor Reyes; indeed, the greatest pleasure this film has to offer is in the marriage of images and music, which is - at times - utterly thrilling and exhilarating. Without getting spoilery, the third act stumbles just a little bit with a choice that somewhat renders the threat to the characters just a tiny bit less frightening, but the movie's firing on all cylinders up to that point, and its final moments are appropriately effective, so the misstep is easy to overlook.

All things considered, GRAND PIANO is as fun a thriller as I've seen in a long time.