Entertaining, Comical & Touching
Author: seymourblack-1 from United Kingdom
8 August 2012
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
"Shoot The Piano Player" is an enormously entertaining movie that utilises a variety of different styles, moods and sudden changes of pace to tell the story of a piano player whose attempts to achieve contentment in obscurity are thwarted by the actions of his criminal brother. This was Francois Truffaut's second movie and at the time of its making, he was clearly on a creative high, as what's seen on screen looks like the delirious outpourings of a mind that was totally passionate about filmmaking and also brimming over with ideas.
Truffaut's love of movies started at an early age and provided him with some respite from his very troubled childhood. As a young man he, like most of the well known New Wave directors, became a contributor to the film journal "Cahiers du Cinema" and together, they advocated a more informal approach to filmmaking with greater use being made of footage that was shot outside of the studios. The type of films that had captivated the young Truffaut were predominantly American B-movies and it was because of his great respect and affection for them that he made "Shoot The Piano Player".
Charlie Kohler (Charles Aznavour) is a pianist in a small but lively Parisian bar who finds that his regular routine is thrown into chaos when his older brother Chico (Albert Remy) seeks his help because he's being pursued by a couple of gangsters. It transpires that Chico and another brother, Richard (Jean-Jacques Aslanian), had worked together with Momo (Claude Mansard) and Ernest (Daniel Boulanger) on a heist but had double crossed them when they took off with most of the loot.
Charlie leads a quiet life looking after his youngest brother Fido (Richard Kanayan) and is helped in this by his good natured neighbour Clarisse (Michelle Mercier) who's a prostitute and also occasionally, his mistress. Helping Chico leads to trouble for Charlie when he and his girlfriend Lena (Marie Dubois) get kidnapped at gunpoint by Momo and Ernest, but fortunately, they manage to escape when Ernest's bad driving leads to him being stopped by the police.
Lena is a waitress at the bar where Charlie works and tells him that she knows about his past. Charlie had been a very successful concert pianist (known by his real name, Edouard Saroyan) but had given up his career after his wife Therese (Nicole Berger) had committed suicide. Tragically, she had taken her own life because she'd confessed to Charlie that the first big break in his career had come as a result of her agreeing to sleep with his impresario. Charlie's inability to come to terms with what she'd done had been more than she could bear.
After Charlie kills his boss in self-defence, trouble continues to follow him until events ultimately reach a climax during a shoot-out in a countryside location.
Charlie is a tragic and sensitive character who's a victim of fate. Not only had his career, which had elevated him to a new level of success, ended suddenly with the result that he'd ended up back in the type of environment that he'd originally emerged from, but also his love affairs with Therese and Lena both ended in tragedy and heartbreak.
There's a great deal that's melancholic and poignant about Charlie's story but the way in which it's told is often comical, irreverent and disconcerting because of the use of unorthodox styles of editing and pacing. This juxtaposition of humour and pathos could be regarded as a reflection of the normal balance of life which often leads to humorous things happening at times of great sadness or it could simply be what happens when someone who's so intoxicated by the possibilities of his art form gives his creativity free rein.
The quality of the acting in this movie is consistently good but Charles Aznavour's performance is positively exceptional. His facial expressions and body language are perfect and convey Charlie's vulnerability and innate sadness so well that it would be hard to imagine anyone else being able to improve on what he achieved in this role.
Author: bts1984 from Portugal
6 March 2012Truffaut introduced himself with 'The 400 Blows', a film of very good taste. His 2nd effort, 'Tirez sur le pianiste', isn't as good but it isn't a let down, quite the contrary, it's a generally quite enjoyable film that tells the story of a piano player in trouble.
This interesting french film is a clever combination of comedy, drama, crime, thriller and suspense. It approaches the policial genre, as well as the atmosphere sometimes approaches darkness, even the noir genre. Nevertheless, the levels of action are very modest. But I'm not the hungry for action type, so that fact doesn't bother me. Another thing is that there isn't one truly tense scene, even in the scenes which are supposed to be tense. Even the bad guys are not intrinsically evil enough to be much of a problem and therefore they're not really scary or intimidating.
It wouldn't be far from the truth claiming that another achievement is how this displays humor in less than good circumstances. For example, there is a scene when Charlie and Léna are being kidnapped by the bad guys and Charlie says a funny line about women: «If you've seen one, you've seen them all» - and they all erupt into laughter. Even I laugh out loud with that line, even more so considering it is so true.
The piano music by the talented musician Georges Delerue is relaxing to hear, it's like poetry for the soul. Cinematography is great and obeys to the principles of liberty so characteristic of Monsieur Truffaut.
Frankly speaking, I think all of the actors are great in this. And I mean all. Charles Aznavour, a talented singer, is just as interesting as an actor, as his performance proves. Albert Rémy is, again, great.
Richard Kanayan has a bigger role here as Fido Saroyan but still far from being a big role. Nevertheless, he is hilarious. That kid had charisma and talent. His big, floppy hair; his weird, raspy voice; his dance-walk style; his lips's movement; the fact that the actor was quirky and hyperactive... all of that made him unique and hilarious.The bad guys are funny and pretty cool for bad guys and they're well played by the actors: Claude Mansard as Momo and Daniel Boulanger as Ernest.The beautiful women (Marie Dubois as Léna and Michèle Mercier as Clarisse) aren't there just to "make it pretty" but act for real.
All in all, great movie. Only its ending is somewhat rushed and ambiguous, although satisfying aside the fact that the girl gets shot.
Title in Portugal: 'Disparem Sobre o Pianista'.
Author: Junker-2 from Wisconsin
4 November 2001
When is a low-budget gangster movie not a low-budget gangster movie? When it's Francois Truffaut's "Shoot the Piano Player."
Truffaut had given himself a tough act to follow. His first feature film, "The 400 Blows," was one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time. So it's not surprising that critics were at first somewhat disappointed by this, his second film. Most initially dismissed it as a failure. But "Shoot" is looking better and better as the years go by.
Charles Aznavour is perfect as Charlie Kohler, the piano player at a run down Paris cafe. The barmaid, Lena (Marie Dubois) is secretly in love with Charlie. She knows the secret of his past and that Charlie is not just another two-bit piano player.
But Charlie has more than one secret in his past, and even Lena doesn't know them all. He is one of the most famous men in Paris and, at the same time, an anonymous, penniless bum. His past is a million miles behind him and, at the same time, walking through his back door.
"Shoot the Piano Player" is an excellent movie made by one of the greatest film directors of all time. It is also one of those rare movies that seems to get better and better upon successive viewings. This is certainly one low-budget gangster movie that is not to be missed.
While playing piano in a bar, the pianist Charlie Kohler (Charles Aznavour) is approached by his crook brother Chico Saroyan (Albert Rémy), who has been chased by two gangsters. Charlie helps him to escape, but he upsets the two criminals, and they stalk Charlie and the waitress Lena (Marie Dubois), who is in love with him. The shy Charlie tells his past to Lena, when he was the former famous pianist Edouard Saroyan, and he quitted his successful career after the suicide of his wife, the also waitress Thérèse Saroyan (Nicole Berger). When his brother Fido Saroyan (Richard Kanayan), who is raised by Charlie, is kidnapped by the gangsters that want to know where Chico is, Charlie has to take an attitude with tragic consequences.
The film-noir "Tirez Sur le Pianiste" is a weird movie about a timid man that has difficulties to express and to have the correct timing with the words. He seems to communicate only through the piano keys playing music, causing the death of his beloved wife and girlfriend for not saying the right words in the right time. The story is original, and it is difficult to label a genre for this movie: is it a film-noir, a drama, a romance, a thriller, a dark comedy? I believe all the answers are correct. The result is an enjoyable movie, mostly recommended for fans of Truffault. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "O Tiro no Pianista" ("The Shot in the Piano Player")
Note: On 02 October 2011, I saw this film again.
Author: msroz from United States
8 October 2014
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
The false name of the main character that Charles Aznavour plays is Charlie Kohler, and he's a pianist. In real life, Charles Kohler co-founded one of the most successful piano companies of the last century. Aznavour deadpans his way through this movie, much like another Charlie, Charlie Chaplin. His brother's name is Chico, the faux Italian Marx brother. Aznavour attracts trouble in this movie the way that honey attracts bears. People near him and very close to him even die. He tries to help his crooked brothers who are being pursued by two gangsters because they took all the loot from a job.
He's more loyal to his brothers than he is to his lovers, who suffer as a result. Meanwhile Aznavour, who is shy, still manages to attract women. All he has is his job and piano playing, but we get no strong indication from the music he plays that it gives him or his listeners much pleasure. He ends up where he starts, but a waitress who loved him has fallen in the crossfire and so has the bar owner. This is a noir story told with noir photography, but containing so many asides and commentaries on other matters -- mostly love and male/female relationships -- that it becomes a mixed genre picture. That's not bad in this case.
The character of the content (the actual events) of this picture is distant, dour and the viewer has to take what joy he or she can from the humor, the cinematography and the asides. Truffaut is enjoying himself, but less so are we. Charlie Chaplin often was at the center of chaos too but here it's tragic and we do not feel the emotion. Aznavour's expression stays the same, rather sad and hopeless, as if he knows that it all will come to grief or nought. And yet there is a ray of hopefulness that comes through in spite of the message that tragedy and comedy are inseparably intertwined. The medium is the message, namely, that some of us can make a film out of it that provides some relief to others and to its maker.
The film's content is not happy, but the passage through its characters and their experiences still provides moments of joy and beauty.This movie is not a full-fledged noir, but so what? It's more than that. It's innovative and well constructed, although sometimes I wondered where it was going. Its characters are interesting, even if we do not get a handle on their motivations. However, I do not find Aznavour to be particularly attractive in the role. I can tolerate his character but that's about it.
From director François Truffaut (The 400 Blows, Jules et Jim), whether the title is Pianist or Piano Player, it doesn't matter, it wasn't a French film I would have heard of without the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, but one I looked forward to watching. Basically Charlie Kohler (Charles Aznavour) plays piano in a dive bar, following his wife's suicide he has become somewhat washed up, the waitress Léna (Marie Dubois) who works in the bar as well and is in love with him, but he may not be all he appears.
One evening while playing he is approached by his brother Chico Saroyan (Albert Rémy), a crook who takes refuge as he is being chased by two gangsters, Momo (Claude Mansard) and Ernest (Daniel Boulanger), Charlie is becoming inadvertently dragged into the situation and rejoin his family he no longer wanted to be a part of. Charlie confesses his past to Léna, his real name is Edouard Saroyan, he used to be a famous pianist, but quit his successful career after his wife Thérèse Saroyan (Nicole Berger) killed herself, she was also a waitress.
The situation gets more complicated when Charlie's other younger brother Fido Saroyan (Richard Kanayan), who lives with him, is kidnapped by the gangsters, forcing him to take drastic actions, but consequences will comes and it ends in tragedy. Also starring Charles Aznavour as Charlie Kohler, Michèle Mercier as Clarisse, Jean-Jacques Aslanian as Richard Saroyan and Serge Davri as Plyne. I will confess having to read subtitles can be annoying so I perhaps didn't see why critics give it five out of five stars, but apparently this is a forgotten gem, it does well to pay homage to classic film noirs, the melancholic romance is relatively interesting, and there are the right thrilling moments, it is a watchable crime drama. Very good!
Author: JasparLamarCrabb from Boston, MA
23 February 2013
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
In François Truffaut's 1960 masterpiece, Charles Aznavour plays a classic pianist working at a Parisian juke joint who gets in over his head with three shifty dames and two not so bright gangsters. Though clearly inspired by the works of Siodmak, Preminger & other noir masters, Truffaut creates his own film...a starkly photographed (in b&w by Raoul Coutard), decidedly unromantic (despite the lovelorn lead character) thriller. Aznavour is outstanding and the supporting cast, which includes Marie Dubois and Albert Rémy (as Aznavour's ne'er do well brother) is first rate. The movie is as much a tribute to Hollywood film making of the '40s as it is a classic example of the French New Wave. Truffaut was on a roll, sandwiching this film between his debut THE 400 BLOWS and the landmark JULES & JIM.
