"The Name of Songs" (2019 release from Canada; 113 min.) brings the story of Martin and David. As the movie opens, it is "London 1951" and Martin and his dad have a full venue as they await the arrival of Polish 21 yr. old violin prodigy David. But David is a no-show, and the concert is canceled. We then go "Thirty Five Years Later" and now middle-aged Martin is a judge in a music competition in Newcastle, where a boy Peter has something that once clearly belonged to David. It makes Martin to want to track down David. We then go back even further in time, to 1939 when David and his father are visiting with Martin and his family, and David's father decides to leave David with them (ostensibly so that David can take private music lessons, but likely also to keep David out of Poland, about to be invaded by the Germans). At this point we are less than 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the latest film from longtime Canadian director Francois Girard. Here he brings the novel of the same name (from Norman Lebrecht) to the big screen. I haven't read the novel so I cannot comment how closely the movie sticks to the novel. What I can say is that the film seems to be well-intended, but unfortunately is dreadfully boring, devoid from any and all emotion. I didn't notice a single person cracking a smile in the entire movie. I'm not spoiling anything that there is a connection with the Holocaust. And yes, the Holocaust is a very serious matter, and many movies have tackled it in a way that makes your blood boil at what happened and ache for the people who lived through it. But I never felt any connection with any of these characters. Tim Roth (as the adult Martin) tries the best he can with the weak hand he's been dealt. Clive Owen, on the other hand, as the adult David, is simply sleepwalking through the movie. I can't recall a worse performance in Owen's distinguished career. The movie features a ton of classical music, which for me is one of the better aspects of this movie.
"The Song Of Names" premiered at last Fall's Toronto International Film Festival to ho-hum acclaim, and showed up last weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. I went to see it this weekend. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was not attended well (8 people to be exact). Given the nature of the film and, more importantly, how weak a film it is, I cannot see this play much longer in the theater. Of course I encourage you to check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments: this is the latest film from longtime Canadian director Francois Girard. Here he brings the novel of the same name (from Norman Lebrecht) to the big screen. I haven't read the novel so I cannot comment how closely the movie sticks to the novel. What I can say is that the film seems to be well-intended, but unfortunately is dreadfully boring, devoid from any and all emotion. I didn't notice a single person cracking a smile in the entire movie. I'm not spoiling anything that there is a connection with the Holocaust. And yes, the Holocaust is a very serious matter, and many movies have tackled it in a way that makes your blood boil at what happened and ache for the people who lived through it. But I never felt any connection with any of these characters. Tim Roth (as the adult Martin) tries the best he can with the weak hand he's been dealt. Clive Owen, on the other hand, as the adult David, is simply sleepwalking through the movie. I can't recall a worse performance in Owen's distinguished career. The movie features a ton of classical music, which for me is one of the better aspects of this movie.
"The Song Of Names" premiered at last Fall's Toronto International Film Festival to ho-hum acclaim, and showed up last weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. I went to see it this weekend. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was not attended well (8 people to be exact). Given the nature of the film and, more importantly, how weak a film it is, I cannot see this play much longer in the theater. Of course I encourage you to check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.