Mea culpa about Lanzmann and Beauvoir. But living with her didn't help him make a good movie--SHOAH was dreadful, I thought.
There's a Polish poet whose works might make a good companion piece to The Pianist. His name is Mislov Czilawz...and, unfortunately, the spelling is way off.
I stopped reading poetry years ago, but developed a yen for it when I returned to grad school. Unfortunately, I ended up in a proseminar on Wordsworth. Wordsworth's ego squelched my appetite for poetry for another decade.
I will read this Polish poet, however, and return to poetry at least for the time being.
Plainoldme, you must be thinking of the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz. Not only the spelling but the order of his name was confused.
Plainoldme: you are too confident in yourself as a source of information. You got Milosz's name completely wrong.
The last half "The Pianist" was a work of restraint and visual poetry. I realize it would not have had the impact it did without the lengthy escalating of fear and injustices to mankind in the first half.
What makes this a great film is the vision of Roman Polanski and his cinematographer Pawel Edelman. The discreet long shots and subtle camera angle choices made the viewer feel he/she was witnessing this story from a respectable distance. The atrocities were there, the material was strong and emotional but it made you feel you were witnessing history without blood and guts being thrown in your face. The camera shots from the overhead windows were great examples of this.
The woman who was shot dead and fell in a graceful kneeling position and remained that way for a period of time through several scenes, is also an example of exceptional visual direction.
I agree that the scenes with the large unopened can of food carried around by Szpilman (Adrien Brody) added an ironic event to the story...having food and not being able eat it due to a lack of a can opener of any kind.
Adrien Brody's performance was one of great restraint as well. In some scenes he acted as though he was immortal which also put the audience on the edge in a subtle way. He did show fear in the roof scene which made for an exciting contrast. Recently I read in a Adrien Brody interview, that Polanski persuaded Brody to do the actual high roof scenes himself without using a double and he really was frightened while performing those scenes. (To convince Brody, Polanski did the roof scenes first to prove it could be done before Brody would consent to do them.)
THE PIANIST was the only great film I have seen in the past few years. It is destined to become a classic. Unfortunately, it is not likely to be recognized by the Oscars for 2 reasons...Polanski's reputation, and the crowdpleaser CHICAGO, which I also liked on a much lower level. But THE PIANIST is a work of art. Polanski is one of the few truly great film directors alive. Couzz made some very good observations about the second half of the film, but the first half, showing the step-by-step Nazi persecution of the Warsaw Jews, is equally strong in its own way. Frank Finlay as the father is heartbreaking.
Larry:
I did appreciate the first half of "The Pianist". The second half of the story was more difficult to tell because it was elusive, introspective and with very little dialogue which takes great directing skill.
"The Pianist" is a work of a highly skilled mature artist. Rob Marshall (Dir: "Chicago') is not in Polanski's league but he is over 25 years younger and has directed only two films.
I am aware the DGA gave their directing award to Marshall. Let's hope he will grow in skill and live up to the confidence placed in him by the Directors Guild.
Couzz:
Right you are--the second half of THE PIANIST was harder to tell and showed Polanski's mastery. But having said that, I thought Rob Marshall did a first-rate job for a novice director. When you consider all the ways CHICAGO could have gone wrong, he is to be commended for his work.
