Weekly round-up

Making music, Hawaiian hissy
fits and an illicit affair

TROPICAL TROUBLE: A Perfect Getaway

by MALCOLM FRASER
MARK SLUTSKY and
CHRISTOPHER SYKES

Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037

A placid documentary that follows the year-long process of making a Steinway concert piano, from the falling of the lumber used in its construction all the way to the final tuning. The stars of Ben Niles’s film are the culturally diverse group of blue-collar workers who work in the 19th-century Steinway complex in Queens, New York, using the same techniques that have been employed for over a century to create pitch-perfect instruments.

There’s a certain pleasure in just watching something be made, in a beautiful object taking shape. This is a placid, un-flashy film that is content to linger on the fine details of the workers’ craftsmanship. That said, if you’re feeling at all sleepy going into this film, as your faithful correspondent was, having just kicked the coffee habit the day he watched Note by Note, well, you may have a struggle to remain conscious ahead of you. This is also probably the most senior-friendly movie of the year, in particular a scene where a Jewish family buy a piano for their semi-mustachioed pubescent scion as his zeidy kvells in Yiddish. But that’s not a knock— this is a thoughtful and very enjoyable movie. (MS)

PIANO MAGIC:
Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037

A Perfect Getaway

Boardroom dealings in Hollywood make for interesting contemplation. Example: writer/director David Twohy’s (Riddick franchise and Pitch Black) latest offering, A Perfect Getaway. Initially financed by MGM, Getaway was successfully plucked after a bid by the brainiacs over at Universal. What a fortunate turn of events for the pencil pushers at MGM responsible for greenlighting one of the year’s worst films.

Getaway pits three couples against each other on the rugged Hawaiian island of Kauai. A series of murders have been committed and there’s reason to believe the killers have escaped to the island’s remote trails. Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich star as backpacking honeymooners who haphazardly run into another pair of newlyweds: bohemian couple Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton. When Zahn refuses to give the unkempt duo a lift, Hemsworth aggressively blows a hissy fit.

As Zahn and Jovovich reach their destination and set out for their hike, they run into Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez and befriend the twosome. While informing them of Hemsworth’s tirade, it comes out that Olyphant is himself an odd character and also ex-special forces. Is he capable of killing for fun?

The pic is an unfulfilling whodunit that explains itself through a sequence of flashbacks around the one hour point. When the killers are outed they must (gasp!) off the other couples and keep away from the feds. The plot twist and ensuing chase sequences are preposterous, and there’s not an ounce of satisfaction as Twohy starts (seemingly) bumping off characters. What the bigwigs at MGM and Universal saw in this dud is the real mystery. (CS)

Les Grandes chaleurs

The feature directorial debut of well-known Québécoise TV actress Sophie Lorain, this comedic drama (adapted by Michel Marc Bouchard from his play) tells the story of Gisèle (Marie-Thérèse Fortin), a recently widowed social worker who discovers that her deceased husband was cheating on her. She finds solace in a torrid affair with one of her former clients, barely-legal rogue Yannick (François Arnaud). While she tries to extricate herself from the liaison and keep it discreet, against the romantic youngster’s efforts, suspense builds up in her family about the delicate matter of revealing the identity of her late husband’s paramour.

Set in a beautifully captured Quebec City, the film rolls along at a nice pace and its performances are quite good. It’s also interesting in coming from a distinctly female perspective, representing the MILF’s point of view for a change; in particular, Arnaud (who you might recognize as Xavier Dolan’s boyfriend from J’ai tué ma mère) is portrayed as the most outright male eye candy this side of a gay porno.

But as hard as it is to dislike outright, the film has some serious stumbling blocks. A number of the supporting characters—especially Fortin’s two grown kids and Arnaud’s comic-relief gang of ne’er-do-well buddies—are grievously underdeveloped, and the tone shifts strangely throughout, as if Lorain is unsure whether she wants to go fluffy or serious. Landing right down the middle between Quebec film’s vibrantly creative edges and its ultra-cheeseball mainstream, it’s a distinctly dim star in the national cinematic galaxy. (MF)

ALL FILMS OPEN THIS FRIDAY, AUG. 7