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10/18/08
The Violin (2007)
94
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:33
Fresh:31
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: Vargas makes a strong debut with The Violin, which features crisp photography, a poetic screenplay, and a breakthrough performance by Tavira.
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:00-00-0000
Synopsis: Don Plutarco, his son Genaro and his grandson Lucio live a double life: on one hand they are musicians and humble farmers, on the other they support the campesina peasant guerilla movement's armed... [More]
Starring: Don Angel Tavira, Gerardo Taracena, Mario Garibaldi
Director: Francisco Vargas
Reviews for The Violin
The weathered Tavina, who lost his hand in an accident at the age of 13, makes a fittingly indomitable hero. He's a character you're likely to remember - his face alone is worth a thousand words.
01/04/08
Shot in luminous, high-contrast black and white, it has the rugged if faintly self-important authority of a Hemingway short story.
01/04/08
A terrific debut by Vargas, who wrote, directed and produced.
01/04/08
Another sort of movie would find a feelgood way of resolving the story; Vargas's vision is more grim and more realistic, but it is persuasively real, and in Tavira the director has found a natural star of the screen.
01/04/08
Top CriticThe plot is slimmer than a bowed string and lacks tension.
01/04/08
A quietly gripping adversarial duel lies at the heart of this political thriller, which has been hailed as a masterpiece in Vargas's native Mexico.
01/04/08
Top CriticThe film’s strongest asset is octogenarian newcomer Tavira, who exudes stoic dignity.
01/04/08
A challenging yet rewarding watch.
01/04/08
Top CriticTold with ruthless efficiency and no sentiment or sermonizing, stands as a fitting tribute to the human spirit.
01/04/08
A slightly meandering build-up is saved by a second half that really cooks, with Vargas ratcheting up the tension by flirting with genre convention in order to deal with Plutarco’s unconventional psychological stand-off with a malodorous Captain.
01/04/08
Top CriticThe austere monochrome photography gives the story a gravitas that’s reinforced by the dignity of the amateur cast.
01/04/08
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10/18/08
An impressive debut for Mexican writer and director Francisco Vargas.
04/30/08
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04/03/08
The film from first-timer Francisco Vargas puts a human face on universal suffering. It is also about the power of music, as the title instrument saves (for a while anyway) three generations of peasant men in their roles as guerrilla fighters.
03/07/08
You may not remember how exactly this trio passed the time during most of the film's too-spare 98 minutes, but Plutarco is a character you likely won't forget.
02/28/08
The Violin is so beautiful to look at, it almost wouldn't matter if it had a story. But it has one, and it's riveting.
02/22/08
Life-or-death matters are handled with compelling gravity.
02/08/08
It's all stripped down to a conflict more abstract than historical, a fable of heroic defiance in the face of brutal oppression.
02/08/08
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