"The Pianist at Sea" is a feature film directed by Giuseppe Tonatore and starring Tim Rose, Bill Nunn and Melanie Thierry. It was released in Italy on October 28, 1998. . On November 15, 2019, it was re-released in theaters with restored image quality. The Douban film scored 9.2 points, ranked 13th in Douban recommended TOP250 movies, with 980,000 reviews, better than 97% of musical films and better than 98% of feature films. The film won 5 awards and nominated for 2 awards in 1999 in the second year of its release. Won the European Film Awards for Best Photography, Italian Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, Polish Golden Frog Award for Best Photography Nomination, Italian David Award for Best Director, Best Photography, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Music . And the best film and best costume design of the Sannio Film Festival. In 2000, he won the American Golden Globe Award for best soundtrack, the German Art Academy Film Association best foreign language film, the satellite award for best soundtrack, best art direction, and best production design nomination. Nominated for foreign screenings at the 2014 Beijing International Film Festival.
First of all, let's talk about the plot of the movie. This film tells the life of a legendary piano genius. The film is adapted from Alessandro Barrick's literary script "1900: Monologue". It tells the legendary story of an abandoned baby named "1900" who became a piano master on an ocean liner and became a piano master. On the first day of 1900, on the Atlantic Ocean, on the cruise ship Virginian between Europe and the United States, Danny Boardman, the worker in charge of adding coal to the cruise ship, picked up an abandoned baby in the first class and named it "1900". Born at sea in 1900 (played by Tim Rose), he was a person who never existed on land. He had no relatives and nationality. The sea was his cradle. He grew up with the Virginian to and from various piers. . However, good times did not often happen, 1900 grew to 8 years old, an accident on the ship, Danny accidentally died. Fortunately, like a miracle, 1900 began to show the extraordinary piano talent without a teacher, and he embarked on the journey of playing piano at sea. He performed piano in the band on the ship, and his excellent performance attracted more and more people who came here. Travelers. Jerry, the legendary pianist who invented jazz, heard about the superb skills of 1900, and specifically went on board to compete with him. After competing with him on the same boat, the momentum of 1900 became even stronger. But even though his band friend Max repeatedly encouraged 1900 to get off the boat and show his talent to the world, 1900 has never set foot on land.
Until one day, he met an old man and talked to him about how he felt when he saw the sea at first. He heard the roar of the sea, and the sea shouted "YOU". He was destined to meet the only remaining little daughter of the old man, and love Getting on her, as the girl disembarked and left, 1900's heart began to fluctuate. Just as we guessed whether he would set foot on land and start a new life for love, and surprise the world with his piano, he chose to stay on board. .
The second thing I have to mention is the filming technique and the intrinsic value delivered. The movie’s flashbacks, flashbacks of memories, the characters’ facial expressions and movement details are like clouds and flowing water, or the rhythms of soothing or tense related clips are very well grasped. The clue character Max is close to understanding 1900 and is moved by the world view of 1900. The boss talks about 1900 and introduces 1900 to the person who bombed the ship. He is also introducing us to this lonely and talented 1900. 1900 has the melancholy sensitivity brought about by the experience of the loss of his young father, and he has a keen insight into the hearts of the people, and mobilizes The ability of the audience to feel. For example, he replied with the language of rap listeners, and the way he honoured the father of arrogant jazz with pride. In 1900, he was completely loyal to himself, and no matter the rules, fame, wealth, or material things existed for him. He played for the upper class in the first class and the poor in the third class. In the miniature society on board, he has seen everything in life. The film constantly switches through his expression language and the expressions and reactions of the characters and opponents shown, and it wonderfully shows that 1900 is well versed in the world and sees through the world.
The film has a rich musical language. Xiao 1900 is attracted by the music to go to the first-class cabin to listen to performances. One day late at night, everyone on the boat was awakened by the beautiful sound of the piano, and followed the sound of the piano. It was actually the little 1900 playing in front of the piano. The moving melody touched everyone. The first time he played the piano, he said "Fuck him "Rules" is the best proof of his ignorance of the rules since he was a child, his friendMax applied for the job without saying a word and directly played the trumpet to show his talents. He was praised by 1900, and at the request of third-class passengers, he played ordinary and cheerful tunes. The most exciting thing is that he showed it to Max, using music to express all kinds of characters in the lobby. In the first round, he used a Christmas Eve song that he didn’t want to fight. In the second round, he was moved by his opponent and played the opponent’s song again. It was him. In the third round, he replied ruthlessly to his opponent, showing his arrogance.
and his extraordinary piano talent are accompanied by the optimism he learned from his adoptive father Danny. Old Danny said that adults without children would be sent to an orphanage. 1900 would not have low self-esteem because he was an orphan, but because he was. He made old Danny proud without going to the orphanage. Old Danny loves 1900. From the first time he saw the child in the empty cardboard box of TD brand lemons on the first-class piano, his tender eyes were full of fatherly love. Despite the ridicule of other workers, Danny decided to raise him, telling them that "TD" is the abbreviation of Thanks Danny, and to commemorate this special day, he named him: 1900. From the laughter of old Danny's upbringing, 1900's childhood was happy and proud. 1900 was very clever. At a few years old, he dismantled that "TD" was not "thanks Danny". From the conversation with Max in 1900, it can be seen that he also knew that he was abandoned, but old Danny's fatherly love Make up for the tragedy of his birth. His knowledge of death also began with Old Danny. When Danny was hit by a hook on the ship and fell face down, he was lifted up and the first sentence was an understatement, "I was hit", and he was lying on the hospital bed. On the verge of death, listening to Xiao 1900 reading the newspaper still laughed, and 1900 was optimistic until he died.
Finally, let me talk about the regret of the movie. As an ordinary person, I regret his death, but I can't understand why he couldn't go ashore. Why land is God's piano? He can only play the piano on the boat? It was the screenwriter who wanted to give this story a tragic end and brought the excitement of 1900 to an abrupt end. There is also a view that 1900, which was adopted by blacks, symbolized jazz, and his life's ups and downs symbolized the prosperity and decline of black and white jazz. He chose to destroy the Great Wheel Virginian together. In fact, he said that jazz actively abandoned the new era. , Do not want to change, stick to yourself. The reinforced concrete city is cold, but dreams are warm, but the relationship between people is warm. There are so many passengers with American dreams on the ship, as well as his favorite girl Padowan. In 1900, he saw through the hypocrisy of the American Dream. He told Max that the ticket evader, wearing someone else's clothes, wanted an affair in the ballroom, and accurately predicted that the first person to see the United States was the fanatical American dream patient. For Padowan, she is beautiful and moving, deeply attracted by 1900 staring at her intently, love flowing on the keys, and then created "1900's Theme". At the beginning of the film, Max played this song with a trumpet. At the end of 1900 The only record left is this one. He couldn't help approaching Padowan and couldn't sleep at night to go to the cabin to see her. When she disembarked, he finally met with her. She also replied with a good impression and told 1900 his address. After Padovan disembarked, he thought for a long time alone, and decided to disembark, standing in the middle of the gangway halfway down, and he could not get out again. He must be thinking in his heart, what about finding her? Perhaps life is like this, keeping a distance also keeps the best memories. He politely refused to persuade him to disembark the remarks of Max not only showed his unique worldview, but also made the audience ponder the meaning of existence while sighing. Just as we search and search all our lives, maybe all we are looking for are fantasy dreams. His soul only belongs to the Virginian, and he can't help but sigh that artists are destined to be alone.
Compared with the broken record he left behind, and the applauding and embarrassing story, I hope his talents can continue on land. After all, I am a layman, and my feelings about music movies are limited to this, just like Max who understands 1900. And the sentence echoed at the beginning and the end of the film is "a good story is enough." If our life can be a wonderful life or witness the wonderfulness of a legend like Max, it will not be a waste of life.
