Review of Shine (1996) by Jenni V — 02 Mar 2012

Play me a song, you're the piano man! Nominated for seven Oscars in 1996. Geoffrey Rush won an Academy Award for Best Actor as piano genius David Helfgott. Though the movie is not even two hours long, it does have that drag-on quality. Even so, not a bad story, and very-well acted by Rush, so that should get you through it.

I've long thought musicians are probably the free-est people in the world. Slash, for instance, could have walked into any bar in the 1990s and played for money. Such is the case here...kind of. As the movie goes, but not necessarily the true story, Helfrott learns to play while suffering from an abusive father. At the height of his playing as a young man, he has a mental breakdown and goes to a mental institution. After while, he begins to get involed with piano again. Soon, he is sort of own his own, and he stumbles upon a restaurant with a piano. Soon, he's the star again as the house pianist.

Interesting story. The character is always a little odd, but after the breakdown, he really seems more like a savant. Little social skill but he can rock the holy hell out of a piano. I always like to see stories about people who are extremely talented in one skill but are otherwise failures. It's as if all the learning possibly by one person is funneled into one skill. That's great.