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Show Fhe f Pianist' Plays a Unique Interpretation of the Holocaust The Pianist" playing the piano at a radio station when Germany starts bombing the jfocus Features I I Directed by Roman Polanski Screenplay by Ronald Harwood, based on the book by Wladysaw city. A lesser director would cut to Szpilman Produced by Alain Sarde, Robert Benmussa and Roman Polanski Starring Adrien Brody, Emilia Fox, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay and Maureen Lipman Rated R n laugh-out-lou- d (Opens Tomorrow at the Broadway) 00 by orchestra to swell up, but Polanski stays on Szpilman as he tries to finish the piece, until he's told to evacuate the building. On the way out, he meets a pretty woman and starts flirting with her before running out of the building. While the film is never funny, Polanski lightens things and adds poignancy by accenting the desire to live normaltimes. In one scene, ly in war-torthe family argues over the best place to hide the flower pots and Szpilman 's sister eventually starts crying because no one listens to her ideas for a hiding place. There are also moments reminiscent of Ernst Lubitsch's backstage comedy To Be or Not to Be" and Buster Keaton's "The General," but those references hold up as normal parts of the dramatic, serious film. Once the Germans occupy Poland, Szpilman can't be seen with his lady friend, and his time spends playing piano in a dub for the richer Jewish people who could buy themselves out of trouble. At one point, he has to stop playing in the middle of a song so that a customer can drop his coin on a table and make sure that it's (out offour) people may think they've enough movies about the but Roman Polanski's The Pianist" skillfully studies the life of a survivor in a way no film has before. The hero is talented, but not brave, and survives from the help of others and thanks to luck. The film is based on the autobiography of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a virtuoso pianist who survived the Nazi occupation of Warsaw, Poland, and was one of the few Jewish people in the area who never went to a concentration camp. Director Polanski survived the Holocaust as a boy by fleeing through a hole in a fence and surviving in the countryside, and knows first hand the pain of remaining after one's loved ones have died. The personal care he put into the film is palpable. Polanski has directed some wonderful ftlms, including "Chinatown," one of the best films ever made, but his recent films like The Ninth Gate" were an insult to his previous greatness. This film marks his return to cinema. Polanski's confidence is obvious when the film opens on Szpilman Some SUNDANCE continued from page RIO Splendor," a biopic of cartoonist and friend R. Crumb Harvey Pekar. If the competition films are the heart of the festival, the Premieres are the muscle. Directors premiering their work this year include Oliver Stone ("Comandante"), Thomas Vinterberg ("It's All About Love"), Neil Labute ("The Shape of Things") and Ernest Dickerson ("Good Fences"). "Levity" will open the festival at Abravanel Hall. The film tonight stars Billy Bob Thornton, Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter and Kirsten Dunst. Since all these actors could make more money appearing in a film, writerdirector Ed Solomon's screenplay presumably has something appealing. "Levity" also marks the first time Mark Oliver Everett, aka E from the band Eels, has written music for a film. Alex Proyas, director of the stunning but underrated sci-f- i masterpiece "Dark City," will show "Garage Days," about an Australian garage band trying to make it big. Bob Dylan probably won't be at the festival, but his acting debut, "Masked and Anonymous," will. In the film, which he allegedly wrote as well, he plays a cult performer who gets out of prison to play a fund raiser. In addition to the Premiere festivities, the festival will host a party on Main Street in Park City Friday Jan. 17 from p.m., inspired by the use of the street during the Olympics. There will also be more Sundance-relatethings, including the new Sundance House, which will offer refreshments and free Internet big-budg- 0 d Despite what the festival programmers tell you, American . o 'V- f - - n Jeremy Mathews access. V V - the bombs falling outside, or cue an Nazi-Polan- d non-Jewis- h real how the Nazis gradually restricted the Jews, first by restricting their rights and making them wear yellow stars on their clothes, then by moving them into the ghettos and finally loading them into trains and sending them to the camps where many met their deaths. Polanski's storytelling logically explains how people who didn't want to be violent or risk dying chose not to revolt against the Nazis We see Spectrum is basically for films that didn't make it to competition. But keep in mind that the programming is sometimes shaky, and good films like "Blue Car" have ended up here instead of competition. Last year, the programmers introduced the American Showcase as a films by bigplace for been who had names ger pushing the smaller films out of American Spectrum. Two actors make debuts in this category, Matt Dillon with "City of Ghosts' and Salma Hayek with "The Maldonado Miracle." cateOne of the World is gories in Sundance the Cinema section, which offers a wide non-premie- re behind-the-came- ra j Adrien Brody plays a Jewish pianist who can't practice his art during Nazi occupation of Poland in "The Pianist." who they outnumbered in the hopes of everything blowing over when France and England came to the rescue. As history knows, things didn't blow over, but by the time everyone realized that people were going to die, most people were malnourished and being loaded on a train in no physical condition to fight Szpilman doesn't get on the train, thanks only to a Jewish policeman who orders him out of the line because he knows how talented he is. The scene creates tension between the historical knowledge of where the trains are going and the hero's desire to stay with his family members, who weren't as lucky as him. Because he doesn't get on the train, he has to live with the guilt of surviving while his loved include the controversial French film "Irreversible," which tells the story of a rape backwards, and "Cremaster III," the latest three-hou- r installment of Matthew Barney's five-paepic. The Native Forum features several examinations of race relations in places where natives were forced off their land by white men, like Australia and the United States. Tips for Utahns: should decide Local festival-goer- s whether to see the films in Salt Lake City or Park City based on what they want to get out of the festival. Salt Lake City screenings are easier to get into and the film is the same thing you'd see up the moun and that all the auxiliary festivals like SlamDance and its parasite vannabes lilie IIoDance and DigiDance are necessary. e tain. While some shows sell out, the wait-lis- t lines are shorter. The problem is there are only six venues, limiting the options of what to see. So if you're planning on seeing five or six films in one day, Park City is the obvious choice. There's also better luck in Park City if you're on celebrity watch because some actors and filmmakers don't attend the Salt Lake City stuff. If Salt Lake City residents want to take in a movie with less stress, however, the answer is the local screenings. If you don't get in on the wait list, at least you won't have driven very far. and can only work as a supply secretary. He helps the resistance smuggle guns, but never fights in a ones died. Adrien Brody plays Szpilman with great reserve. Since he appears in every scene, the film requires Brody to deliver a strong performance without much dialogue. A great portion of the film involves Szpilman witnessing things or hiding alone. A lesser actor would overact, but Brody uses subtle expressions that mean more than the big ones. We see Szpilman imagine the joy of music while he hears only silence and explosions, to staggering effect Polanski paces each scene with perfect pauses that add to the overall effect and allow Brody to expand on his character's emotions. Physically unfit Szpilman is inca- pable of the hard labor required from the remaining ghetto workers, by Jeremy Mathews rt Many have called this growth a problem, claiming that the festival lias lost its soots array of films from different cultures. Even if the films are brilliant, they might not find distributors. Good word is out on "Whale Rider," from New Zealand, about a Maori tribe choosing its next chief. This year, the festival is introducing a separate World Cinema category for documentaries. The nine films include "Balseros," a study of Cuban emigrants by Spanish filmmakers, "Bus 174," a Brazilian film that examines a Sao Paolo bus hijacking and "Frescoes," a Russian examination of the contemporary life in Armenia. The Frontier selections, experiworks, mental andor avant-gard- 'Jil,,,,.-,.-- ' "AGuy Thing" MGM Rated PG-1- 3 (Not reviewed) Jason Lee plays a man who wakes up with a strange woman (Julia Stiles) after the night of his bachelor party. Presumably, when he tries to cover it up from his fiancee (Selma Blair), comedy ensues. When he finds out the woman is his fiancee's cousin, more hilarity ensues, "The Hours" Paramount Pictures Rated R 3.5 (out of four) The Hours" stars three top actresses Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep, all in top form as women In three different time periods struggling with sanity and identity. Each character's story revolves around Virginia Wolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway. An unrecognizable Kidman plays Wolf, who sits depressed in the English countryside, struggling with sanity and wishing she could go back to London. Moore plays a 1950s suburban housewife coping with depression while her son looks on, worried. And Streep version of plays a modem-da- y Mrs. Dalloway. Director Stephen Daldry riot. Just as it doesn't have a standard hero, "The Pianist" doesn't have a simple moral like many Holocaust movies. Szpilman's brother is more headstrong and adamant about standing up for himself than Szpilman is, but he ends up in a concentration camp and Szpilman sur- , vives in Warsaw. Szpilman relies on the help of but others, Jewish and also witnesses cruelty and cowardice from people, Jewish and He is, like most people, simnon-Jewis- h, non-Jewis- ply a human being, talented in his field and reliant on luck to survive in the face of atrocities. jeremygred-mag.co- m gets strong performances out of his three actresses, who are likely to receive Oscar nominations, except Moore, who will be recognized for "Far From Heaven" instead. "Kangaroo Jack" zero reels (See review) "National Security" Sony Pictures 3 Rated (Not reviewed) Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn play two security guards. One's a (fill in the blank) the other's a (fill in the blank) and they don't get along! Anyway, PG-1- their incompetence and in- fighting could very well lead to laughter. If you don't think it will, Zahn has been at Sundance in the past, so maybe you should go to Park City and try to see him and say "Hey Steve, be funny." The tagline on the poster is "They only look like cops." But, as someone pointed out to me, they don't really look like cops since they're not in uniform or anything. It is a comedy, so I guess that's a joke, too. "The Pianist" 4 (out of four) (See review) deals with various issues and jeremyred-mag.co- jeremyred-mag.co- I 16. I R11 h |
