Big Picture Big Sound

Perfectly Awful Except for the Perfect Ending

I regard it as bad news when something is called a comedy and I don't laugh. However, all isn't necessarily lost in such a case. There's always a chance that it could still be a good story or feature great acting. As an absolute last resort, maybe there could at least be some superb special effects. "Le Concert", Radu Mihaileanu's latest film is a lost cause, with a stupendous final musical number. Unfortunately, that is the only nice thing I can say about it. It is chock full of post-Cold War Russian jokes and portrayals, to the point that you almost long for the Cold War. The performances are so over-the-top, that it is difficult to control your disappointed groans.

But, and it's an enormously important but, there is that final concert scene. It is a great piece of music, featuring beautiful solo work by some in the orchestra. It is also intensely moving. Until that point the political and human messages were lost, even though they were incessantly thrown into our faces. At times, I found it so oppressive that I toyed with the idea of walking out in the middle. Somehow, it's almost all worth it after you experience such a great musical piece.

Mihaileanu skims over the reality of how anti-Semitism took its toll on Soviet Jewry, in regards to their being barred from participating in the largest orchestras in the Soviet Union, choosing to focus on a more individual story. Andrei Simoniovich Filipov (Alexei Guskov) is fired in the middle of a concert as the conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra for hiring Jewish musicians. He is then demoted to being a janitor. Jump forward 30 years and a fax comes in from the Châtelet Theater in Paris, wanting to book the orchestra because of an unexpected opening in their schedule. Andrei seizes the moment and he rounds up his old musician buddies and they all set off to perform once again. And perform they do. So well, in fact, that I think it's worth seeing "The Concert", despite 75% of it being not worth a look-see. Perhaps you might consider spending an hour in another theater and then moseying on over to "The Concert" for a most rewarding finale.