GRAND PIANO is a thriller in the vein of Alfred Hitchccok resulting in a modern day version of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH with the pianist being the center of a plan to uncover the secret of his late mentor Patrick Godureaux’s piano by playing an unplayable piece, La Cinquette, which the pianist Tom Selznick (Elijah Wood) failed to play during a catastrophic performance years ago.   Tom’s wife Emma (Kerry Bishe) has drawn Tom out of retirement to play a packed theater in Chicago for a long awaited concert, but he soon gets a message from an anonymous sniper (John Cusack) that says “Play one wrong not and you will die”.   Tom must survive the most difficult performance of his life as he also tries to get help without the sniper noticing.

 

GRAND PIANO is an intense thriller where Elijah Wood and John Cusack match wits spectacularly.  John Cusack is excellent as a cold blooded sniper where you can see the desperate tension in Elijah’s face as he tries to outwit the mystery sniper he hears through an ear piece.   It is impressive they were able to shoot this in Spain and make it feel like a theater in Chicago.   Director Eugenio Mira is a director I hope to see another film from soon.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

THE MAKING OF GRAND PIANO- a great 15 minute making-of featurette that reveals that the theater was part set filmed against a blue screen/ green screen background.

Interviews with Director Eugenio Mia and star Elijah Wood

 

SOUNDTRACK focuses on how they fit the score to the filming of the concert so the music could match the performance of the musicians and how they could tweak it to fit the pacing of the story in a way they give a film approximation of a classical concert.

COACHES- behind-the-scenes with music coaches who coach Elijah Wood and Don McManus for their musical performances in the film

FOLLOWING EUGENIO- cast and crew talk about the genius and energy of the director

STUNTS- a behind-the-scenes look at the stunts of the film

VISUAL EFFECTS- a look at the visual effects that created a virtual theater

WAYNE’S SHOT- how they put together several shots to make one seamless looking tracking shot

AXS TV: A LOOK AT GRAND PIANO- a promotional fluff piece on GRAND PIANO

 

Previews for NYMPHOMANIC, STAGE FRIGHT, and THE PROTECTOR 2

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: GRAND PIANO has two excellent performances form Elijah Woods and John Cusack in one of the most intense thrillers of this year- this thriller would make Alfred Hitchcock proud.

 

This DVD review is ©5-18-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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