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Movies / On DVD / The Pianist
The Pianist

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The Pianist (2002)

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Reviews Counted:168

Fresh:160

Rotten:8

Average Rating:8.2/10

Consensus: Well-acted and dramatically moving, The Pianist is Polanski's best work in years.

Runtime: 2 hrs 30 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Roman Polanski's THE PIANIST is based on the memoirs of the talented pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrian Brody), a Polish Jew, who miraculously survived World War II. The first half of the film... Roman Polanski's THE PIANIST is based on the memoirs of the talented pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrian Brody), a Polish Jew, who miraculously survived World War II. The first half of the film transports viewers to 1939 Poland, and brings it to life clearly and believably. Szpilman is a tall, handsome, winsome man who is revered for his piano performances on public radio. He lives with his family--an intelligent, loving, and spirited bunch--in an upscale flat in central Warsaw. Bombings have begun to torment the citizens of Warsaw, and step by step, the Nazis infiltrate, the Jews are branded and set apart from their neighbors, imprisoned in a ghetto, and slowly exterminated. The story is told through Szpilman's eyes, and thus carries as much confusion and fear as disgust and torment. Polanski paints Warsaw in bleak shades of gray and black, expressing the helplessness of the Jewish people and the cruelty of the Nazis with captivating photography. In the second half of the film, which takes place in the early 1940s, Szpilman is alone, having managed to avoid the trains to the death camps. His struggle to survive, with some help from non-Jews but mostly his own will to thrive, takes place in long, silent, languid stretches filled with the imagined piano music that inspires Szpilman to live. In a climactic scene of immense beauty and spine-tingling tension, Szpilman must actually perform for a German soldier who is inexplicably patrolling the near-deserted and utterly dilapidated Warsaw ghetto. THE PIANIST, in the subtlety of its sublime and heartbreaking tale, is carried by the intensely moving performance of Brody, whose transformation is truly unforgettable. [More]

Starring: Adrien Brody, Emilia Fox, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay

Starring: Adrien Brody, Emilia Fox, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Michael Zebrowski, Ed Stoppard, Jessica Kate Meyer, Julia Rayner, Ruth Platt

Director: Roman Polanski

Director: Roman Polanski
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Roman Polanski, Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde
Composer: Wojciech Kilar
Studio: Focus Features

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Reviews for The Pianist

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out
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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
08/01/03
Empire Magazine
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | comment Comment
02/04/03
Sight and Sound
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N/R

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Full Review Source: FilmFour.com | comment Comment
01/29/03
FilmFour.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Here Polanski looks back on those places he saw at childhood, and captures them by freeing them from artefact, and by showing them heartbreakingly drably.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
01/28/03
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic
N/R

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Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
01/27/03
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
01/26/03
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
N/R

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Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
01/25/03
This is London
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Memorable as a showcase for Brody's superb talent.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
12/24/02
Laura Bushell
Laura Bushell
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

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Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
11/14/02
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Roman Polanski's "The Pianist" is the director's finest achievement, and elevates Adrien Brody (Oscar win for Best Actor 2002) to eminence in his representation of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew who survived the Nazi occupation of Warsaw.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
05/26/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

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Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

While the film itself may not live up to the advance hype, Brody exceeds expectations.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
02/01/09
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

Une belle réussite fait menant à une réflexion honnête sur un sujet face auquel on aurait pu croire que tout aavait déjà été dit.

Full Review Source: Panorama | comment Comment
07/04/07
Jean-François Vandeuren
Jean-François Vandeuren
Panorama

[I]t takes six or seven people to keep one half-dead Jew alive.... Wladyslaw's situation is extraordinary but what's happening on screen doesn't really feel so extraordinary. There's almost no emphasis, no point of view.

Full Review Source: Blogcritics.org | comment Comment
03/22/06
Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Blogcritics.org

We have been to these ghettos before, seen the skeletons (both alive and dead), smelled the burning. It's not a movie at all for us, is it?

Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | comment Comment
01/04/06
Jordan Hiller
Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
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Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | comment Comment
09/30/05
Scott Nash
Scott Nash
Three Movie Buffs

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Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
03/14/05
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
 
 
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Latest News for The Pianist

October 01, 2009: Hollywood Wrestles with Polanski Arrest Opens in new window
Since Roman Polanski's arrest over the weekend, more than 100 celebrities have signed a letter asking for his release -- and continuing Hollywood's deeply conflicted response to... More...

November 09, 2007: Damian Chapa Preps Polanski Biopic
Love him or hate him, Roman Polanski has definitely led an interesting life -- a life that will soon receive the biopic treatment. More...

February 26, 2007: How Does "The Departed" Rank Among Oscar's Best?
So Martin Scorsese finally has his long-overdue, much-deserved Oscar. But where does "The Departed" stack up in the annals of Academy history? More...

February 13, 2007: Adrien Brody in the Running for "Hulk" Sequel?
It's just another piece of casting gossip at this point, but I found it amusing enough to spread around. How would you Marvel maniacs feel about Adrien Brody as Bruce Banner in... More...

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