The Piano (UHD Blu-ray) review

[David Vaughn]

Studio: Criterion Collection
Release Date: January 25, 2021
Rating: R
Film: 3.5/5
 
Plot
With this sublimely stirring fable of desire and creativity, Jane Campion (Bright Star) became the first woman to win a Palme d’Or at Cannes. Holly Hunter (Raising Arizona) is achingly eloquent through silence in her Academy Award–winning performance as Ada, an electively mute Scottish woman who expresses her innermost feelings through her beloved piano. When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited daughter (True Blood’s Anna Paquin, in her Oscar-winning debut) to the wilderness of nineteenth-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her ineffectual husband (Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill) and a rugged frontiersman (Reservoir Dogs’ Harvey Keitel) to whom she develops a forbidden attraction. With its sensuously moody cinematography, dramatic coastal landscapes, and sweeping score, this uniquely timeless evocation of a woman’s inner awakening is an intoxicating sensory experience that burns with the twin fires of music and erotic passion.
 
My Thoughts
I viewed this movie back when it was released on home video back in the 1990s and found it an absolute bore. Even my wife felt the same way and when the film showed up on my doorstep and she opened the package, she wasn’t too happy that I had requested it. I thought maybe 18-19 years having gone by she would either forget she had seen it before, or better yet, love it because our tastes in moves have changed a bit as we’ve grown older.
 
Well, so much for best laid plans. She went into the film not wanting to watch it and left after the first 20 minutes. Sadly, I couldn’t join her. The pacing is quite slow and frankly, I find the screenplay implausible from the characters point of view. The protagonist is someone who would fits the mold of a modern woman and not someone from the 1800s. Also, her forbidden love interest is someone who is a uneducated backwoodsman is such a sensitive man that would again, be found in a modern day romance novel. While the acting is good by all, I just couldn’t get into it for as much as I tried.
 
Video 9/10
 
Audio 9/10 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
 
Special Features:
 
·         New conversation between director Jane Campion and film critic Amy Taubin
·         New interviews with DP Stuart Dryburgh and production designer Andrew McAlpine
·         Interview with actor Holly Hunter on working with Campion
·         The Piano at 25, a program featuring a conversation between Campion and producer Jan Chapman
·         Excerpts from an interview with costume designer Janet Patterson
·         Water Diary, a 2006 short film by Cmpion
·         Trailer
·         An essay by critic Carmen Gray
 
 

 
 
Conclusion
I know my wife and I are in the minority when it comes to the movie. It’s reviews over at RT are over 80% from both critics and audience members, but it just didn’t connect with us. If you’ve seen it and like it, this is arguably the best the film has ever looked on home video and it’s worth picking up. Criterion is best-in-class in their presentations and as enthusiasts, we need to support their efforts to keep the discs flowing.
 
 
Reference Review System:
JVC DLA-RS2000 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
(Calibrated with Portrait Displays CalMAN color calibration software & C6-HDR Meter from Portrait Displays)
Stewart Filmscreen - Firehawk 88” 16x9 Fixed Screen
Trinnov Altitude 16 Audio/Video Processor
ATI AT527NC Powering Bed Channels
ATI AT524NC Powering Atmos Speakers
Panasonic DP-UB820 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
System Controller: URC MX-990
M&K S-150 THX Ultra (R-C-L Speakers)
M&K SS-150 x4 (Surround Speakers)
Atlantic Technology IC6-OBA x 4 Overhead Speakers
SVS PC-Ultra Cylinder Subwoofer
HSU VTF-15H MK2 Subwoofer
SVS SB-3000 Subwoofer
JL Audio Dominion F110 Subwoofer x 2
Mini DSP HD  controlling all subwoofers
Audioquest and Monoprice - Audio/Video/Speaker Cabling
PureAV PF60 Power Conditioner