The Red Violin (1999) 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Samuel L. Jackson.
"The Red Violin" is a cold, sterile feature that leaves you uninvolved and detached.
It's a movie that seems almost clinical, as it traces the 300-plus-years history of the legendary musical instrument of the title.
Opening in the 17th century, the story shows how violin-maker Nicolo Bussotti created the instrument as a gift for his unborn son. But when tragedy strikes, the violin becomes the personification of its maker's grief.
From there the violin comes into the hands of an orphaned child prodigy at an Austrian monastery. Again, tragedy strikes as the child is struck down at the moment of his triumph.
We follow the violin through the centuries as it finds a home in England and in Mao's communist China before being discovered by expert Charles Morritz (Samuel L. Jackson), who mounts a painstaking investigation to prove its authenticity.
The violin becomes Morritz's obsession, just as it is for all those who converge on a Montreal auction house to bid on it. Morritz, however, is the only one who knows the secret of the instrument and can understand and appreciate its creator's intention.
"The Red Violin" could have been a touching, inspirational story, as soaring as a Beethoven symphony.
However director Francois Girard fails to make any emotional connection with the viewer. Here is a story that could have made use of various camera angles and lighting to heighten its impact.
Girard, for some unknown reason, uses mostly master shots, keeping his camera - and thus us - at a distance. We get no feel for the miracle that is the violin. It's resonance, its purity of sound are not emphasized enough to make an impression.
Nor are any of the performances memorable. It's as if Girard wanted all his actors to play second fiddle to his violin.
"The Red Violin" promises much, but delivers little. It is dull at times, a bit pretentious and a might murky. The movie's music soars over its story and performers. And that is its only saving grace.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at cbloom@iquest.net
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