Synopsis
Moments before his comeback performance, a concert pianist who suffers from stage fright discovers a note written on his music sheet.
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Cast
- Elijah WoodTom Selznick
- John CusackClem
- Tamsin EgertonAshley
- Allen LeechWayne
- Kerry BishéEmma Selznick
- Alex WinterAssistant
- Dee WallaceMarjorie Green
- Don McManusReisinger
- Stephanie GarvinTheatre Guest
- Mino MackicTheater Security
Recommendations
- 91
The Playlist
An expertly timed, painstakingly assembled and endlessly engaging game of cat and mouse, Grand Piano succeeds as a whole for the same reasons that Selznick does—namely, because Mira brings all of its elements to work together in concert, and then executes them like a virtuoso. - 80
Village Voice
Making this kind of thriller has all but become a lost art, yet Mira clearly believes that high style is worth bothering with. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
The young Spanish director Eugenio Mira and his American screenwriter Damien Chazelle have fun paying homage to the pulpy potboilers of yesteryear. - 70
Film.com
Wood’s energetic, tightly wound performance carries the movie; his ability to juggle all the different information coming at him — keeping time on the piano while speaking and hitting his cues — is admirable and probably exhausting. - 67
Austin Chronicle
That it all ends on a somewhat flat, false note is less a failure of the filmmakers than it is a testament to a certain amount of overzealousness in the screenplay – which, of course, echoes the nail-gnawing tension unfolding onscreen. Bravo! - 63
Slant Magazine
Eugenio Mira thrills in watching his main character attempt to worm his way out of a most unusual hostage situation, synching his indulgences of style to the pianist's wily physical maneuvering. - 63
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
A nail-biting thriller in the classic Hitchcock style. - 60
The Dissolve
To its credit and sometimes detriment, Grand Piano keeps a frothing-at-the-mouth level of insane melodrama going for 75 minutes, aided by Wood’s sweaty, terrified performance, a screenplay rich in ridiculous contrivances, and a swooping camera that never stands still.
