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Shine: Fitting title for a fabulous film

I saw Shine a really long time ago but still remember how much I enjoyed it. I even bought the soundtrack afterwards because the music was just too terrific to pass up.

Geoffrey Rush did a terrific job in the main role of David, a former child prodigy born to a strict father who wants to see his son succeed but also does several things to sabotage his son's success. Whether this sabotage was done consciously or subconsciously, I was never really certain.

Awkward, shy and nervous but tremendously talented all the same, as a teenager David also puts tremendous strain on himself and as can be predicted he eventually cracks just as he's about to peak and is institutionalized. For most of the movie we see him mumble and fumble around as a now even more awkward adult who hasn't quite been able to recoup his lost talent. He meets some very interesting people who see the gem which still remains beneath the dust and decide to help him out.

This was a really great film which will make you laugh, cringe and possibly cry. Nothing I say can possibly do this film justice. Even if you're not a huge fan of classical music you should still check this one out. There's a reason why Shine has received such rave reviews and raked in a truckload of Oscar nominations. Rent this one and experience Shine for yourselves!

Antoinette Davis

{5 votes}

May 25, 2006

A Light For All

Shine is probably the best biopic I've ever seen. Biopics are always tricky. Many of them are too long and cumbersome as they attempt bravely and foolishly to capture an entire life within the short curve of a feature film. Others attempt a wide-scattershot technique that gives us enormous amounts of information that fails to cohere into a sense of a life.

Shine follows the story of David Helfgott, the pianist who was severely traumatized by his father from childhhood on, such that the natural direction of his life was almost irrevocably derailed. It is a painful story, but David sinks beneath the waves, then surfaces in a way that is genuinely inspiring. To call this cloying, or the way the film conveys it as cloying, is to severely miss the point.

There are numerous performances of note in this film, not least of which Geoffrey Rush. This was a breakout role for him and it is one of his best. Noah Taylor does wonders playing David from age 13 to 20 or so. Most biopics mess up the whole thing when they bring in different actors to play the character at different ages. Something indescribable works here in this aspect, and the sense of the whole person of Helfgott emerges with clarity and even beauty. These are stunning performances.

I think it is impossible to watch this and not be charmed and moved by this story. The soundtrack is performed by Helfgott, and John Gielgud, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Lynn Redgrave give terrific supporting efforts, and the narrative flows seamlessly, following in part the shape of a musical journey. We come to know Helfgott in essence, and the feeling is complete.

An interview with the director on the dvd is quite interesting, especially the actors and the piano playing. As far as classical music is concerned, you don't need to know a thing about it to appreciate this film. This is not about music, rather it is about the journey of a life, finding one's purpose, and living it fully. You will be inspired!

Thomas Bauer

{11 votes}

August 10, 2005

Piano 101

This film was directed by Scott Hicks and co-written by both Scott Hicks and Jan Sardi . I was lucky to catch this film lately and it was a pleasant treat . I was not sure what to expect but the direction of Scott Hicks kept this movie moving. The strong performance of Geoffrey Rush as David as an adult kept me interested. If one enjoys the piano and a well thought out story , one should not miss this film.

Bryan Murray

{4 votes}

October 15, 2005

Shine is tops, but how about Naked Lunch?

If you liked Shine as a great, surreal way to present a biopic, check out Naked Lunch. Theoretically an adaptation of Burroughs' classic satire, it is in fact a biopic to wrap around and make sense of the novel. However, the biopic is so completely submerged in the drug-addled, hallucinatory, in-denial brain of Burroughs that unless one goes in knowing what it is, the movie just comes across as yet another in a long list of Cronenbergian mindfucks. A subversive orgiastic 3way of Burroughs, Cronenberg and Naked Lunch crossbred with a genre-fuck of the drug film, the biopic, the adaptation and the film noir, it more than makes up for being paced a little slow by compensating the viewer with an innovativeness that an incredibly lamely written and directed (but very well acted) biopic like Ray can only dream of.

Kristof O'Morain

{5 votes}

August 11, 2005

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