Archive of films Grand Piano / Grand Piano

Spain
2013, 90 min

Section: Variety Critics’ Choice: Europe Now!
Year: 2014

"Speed on a piano” is what Spanish genre stylist Eugenio Mira’s third feature has irresistibly been dubbed in festival circles — and true enough, this appealingly absurd thriller finds a prodigious pianist (Elijah Wood) quite literally playing for his life as an unseen gunman threatens to pull the trigger at the first missed note.


Synopsis

"Speed on a piano” is what Spanish genre stylist Eugenio Mira’s third feature Grand Piano has irresistibly been dubbed in festival circles, and true enough, this appealingly absurd thriller finds a prodigious pianist (Elijah Wood) quite literally playing for his life, as an unseen gunman (John Cusack) threatens to pull the trigger at the first missed note. The execution, however, is akin to a less kinked-out Brian De Palma potboiler, with Mira’s swooping, playful technique as intricate as the protagonist’s arpeggios. Setting out to tickle viewers rather than terrorize them, this not-quite-horror film – written by Damien Chazelle, whose Whiplash won top prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival – is refreshingly blood-shy. In a potentially Gothic twist, the piano is a spooky relic once owned by the musician’s deranged, deceased mentor, who also composed the fiendishly difficult piece that has previously proven his stumbling block.

Guy Lodge

About the director

Eugenio Mira

Eugenio Mira (b. 1977, Castalla, Spain) is a director and musician known by the pseudonym Chucky Namanera. His debut Birthday (2004) was followed by Agnosia (2010), which critics described as a baroque retro-futuristic thriller. In the film, a young woman is kidnapped in order to extract important industrial secrets she received from her father. Mira is already a fixture at festivals of fantastic film. At one such festival, he met Elijah Wood, who is known for his interest in genre films and in promising directors in this cinematic field.

Contacts

Bowline B. V.
Weidhof 1, 2935 RD, Ouderkerk aan den IJssel
Netherlands
E-mail: [email protected]

The Solution Entertainment Group
6087 W. Sunset Blvd, 90028, Hollywood
United States of America
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.thesolutionent.com

About the film

Color, DCP

Section: Variety Critics’ Choice: Europe Now!
   
Director: Eugenio Mira
Screenplay: Damien Chazelle
Dir. of Photography: Unax Mendia
Music: Víctor Reyes
Editor: J.L. Romeu
Producer: Adrián Guerra, Rodrigo Cortés
Production: Nostromo Pictures
Cast: Elijah Wood, John Cusack, Kerry Bishé, Tamsin Egerton
Contact: Bowline B. V., The Solution Entertainment Group
Distributor: Bowline B. V.

Guests

Rafael Cabrera Yagües

Other

Eugenio Mira

Film Director


YouTube

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