A moving drama with great acting, well-written script and beautiful music.

A mediocre, at times good film that could have been great. I felt that the script was formulated with great care for the music. The musical sequences are wonderful (contrasting to the usual horrific ones we see all too often where the actors clearly haven't been given any instruction), and the film felt as if it were written by and for musicians... for the most part. I do wish that the film had remained about the music, as the original storyline concerning an aging cellist struggling with Parkinson's was by far the strongest. As the film progresses, though, it becomes a melodrama built upon the backdrop of these professional classical musicians, rather than a preferred inversion that would have improved the experience for me. Let's keep with the positives. Christopher Walken was excellent, playing a sane man and a voice of reason to the growing drama around him. Hoffman performs with a reliable commitment. I thought that his desire for love, affection, and acceptance manifested into his dealings with other characters in an intelligent form. Keener and Ivanir do alright for themselves, but the story falls apart when the focus falls from Walken. The infidelity plotline involving Keener and Hoffman's marriage seemed serviceable as long as it didn't take center stage, but the romance between Ivanir and Poots was nonsensical and deserves a more full dissection. I could not stand Poots's character. At first I thought it might be her accent feeling unnatural, as a Brit playing an American. Then, I thought that perhaps her unnuanced, careless, boring performance as a snarky teenager was the problem. Eventually, I just realised that her character was written with none of the nuance, motivation, or path that I desired. She's simply just there. Every time we see her on the screen is time wasted. Who cares at all about her simply creepy romance with a man who has been part of a string quartet with her parents before she was born. We have no real buildup to the relationship; we are just supposed to lap up the drama like any soap opera fan on the hunt for brainless entertainment. The film's resolution was nothing of the sort. We have no idea of the termination of the conflicts between Daniel and Robert or Robert and Jules. You could stick any of the main four together and have no sense of where the character arcs in relation to one another completed. This is not a problem when it adds depth to the film to allow the viewer to assume for themselves and rejoice in creative freedom, but here it felt lazy. We are forced to spend more time on the melodrama away from Walken than with the music, but the film begins and ends with this music. Does this mean that we should not care about the characters, and only the music? Clearly not, because far too many of the conflicts could take place with any profession, characters, or settings. This film could have been so much more.

Too many films, including this messy love quintet, having to do with Beethoven's music mistake his manic depressive pathos for a melodramatic soap opera.

Moving and brilliant. Whoever coached the actors on fake-playing their instruments deserves an award. If you liked the movie, check out Beethoven's other string quartets.

Sublime music and a cathartic climax.

Beautiful, moving with some great performances.

This film was solid.

This film is one I can see as being the category of Movies For Grownups. And for classical music lovers, of course. The cast are all excellent in their roles and very able to handle being a group in the unenviable position of having to work far more hours a day in the company of just 3 other fellow workers in such an intense working atmosphere that few of us will ever have the ability to understand. Some critics said that the plot is too melodramatic, but I think that having to work so long and intensely in such a situation for such long hours for so long and have the anxiety of performance at such a high level of artistry and expertise must be unbelievably drama. I say--well done!

if you're a classical musician, this is painfully unwatchable. Everything is wrong: the way the musicians relate to each other, the way they talk about music, the physical movements. i couldn't finish it.

With little love for string quartets or orchestral music, this shouldn't really be for me. And the plot is pure 온라인카지노추천 movie. But i found it engrossing, emotional and a decent little movie. Where can you go wrong with Seymour Hoffman in one of his final films, and the always excellent Keener and Walken. Wet autumnal Sunday coming up, then give it a go.

Slow musical themed drama, which is mainly about the various relationships that exist amongst the musicians, rather than the music itself.

Good concept, however something more could have brought to the table

A musical/drama masterpiece. A must see for Hoffman's performance alone

Original story, yes, but it's the acting that's front-and-center, here.It's refreshing to see Walken in such a humbling role. Make no doubt, he can act. Hoffman is just as intense and troubled as ever (God, I mis him). Keener and Poots' acting is each gorgeous. And music... Praise-worthy. P.S. I was hoping that was the Nina Lee they were talking about (and that she'd actually make an appearance).

A sedate and stately drama about the dysfunctional private lives of classical musicians, Yaron Zilberman's A Late Quartet just screams "acting showcase." And it's hard to argue the film's chief pleasure isn't seeing Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, and Christopher Walken on top of their respective games. There's a lot more to this film, however-a lot of which doesn't reveal itself immediately. Unlike its characters, the film hits a few bum notes. But it crescendoes beautifully into something, well, beautiful. The film's conclusion is tough to argue, and it makes any earlier missteps easy to overlook. The quartet of the film's title is made up of the three mega-thespians listed above and Mark Ivanir (who's quite good, it should be noted). Ivanir's Daniel is the quartet's first violinist-the "star" who gets the most solo time. Hoffman's Robert plays second violin, and after getting nudged by a female friend, he announces he wants to split time with Daniel in the first chair-a move that upsets the rest of the group, including Keener's Juliette, the group's viola player and Robert's wife. But the quartet's troubles all begin when Walken's Peter announces he has Parkinson's. Their next concert will be his last, and while it's still a ways off, everyone needs to be preparing for the seismic shift that is the retirement of their eldest member and emotional leader. Peter really is the glue that holds these four together. Even Robert and Juliette only seem to hang on to their marriage because of Peter and the music they make. The threat of him leaving is enough to throw their lives and relationships into flux. Robert strays. Juliette fights with her daughter, Alexandra (Imogen Poots), who's sleeping with Daniel. It seems a lot has been suppressed in the name of good music over the course of a quarter century together. The film, at times, threatens to drown in melodrama. There's nary a happy moment to be found, and some of this somber material-like the Alex-Daniel affair-feels inauthentically shoehorned in to up the misery quotient. For Peter's farewell, the group is rehearsing Beethoven's Quartet No. 14, Op. 131-a piece with a unique structure that calls on the quartet to play seven consecutive movements without pause. And as one character remarks about it, "You can't ride the wild horses of the seventh without mounting them during the sixth." It serves as an apt metaphor for the film as a whole. A Late Quartet is quite moving in its final act, and while there are some bumpy spots along the way, they're necessary evils. Performance-wise, it's hard to single out one individual. Walken actually dials it down a bit and displays real fragility. Hoffman, too, restrains himself to a degree. He still has his typical blowup scene, but you actually see this character stop himself once or twice from blowing up again. It being Hoffman, you'll laugh a little inside. Catherine Keener might not have quite the pedigree of her two costars, but she might just outshine them here. It's a quiet performance. Her character is full of pain. (Peter, at one point, remarks about her instrument: "The viola is the voice of a wounded soul.") And while the men around her all have vices that either mitigate their pain or distract them from it, her pain is inescapable, and you see it on her face, always. The film, predictably, has some great music, and it relies on that music to wring the emotion out of you. Ultimately, that A Late Quartet is so unabashedly melodramatic is fine. When a film like this doesn't work, you know it. A Late Quartet works. You might not think so from the uneven first half or so, but you'll know it by the time these musicians take their final bows. http://www.johnlikesmovies.com/late-quartet-review/

Christopher Walken and PS Hoffman? I could watch those two read the Yellow Pages. If you're into great acting, check it out. Imogen Poots = Still a total uggo.

The strengths here are the central performances. They transcend the overly schematic plotting and self-conscious script, and almost convince you this is a small masterpiece. Unfortunately the director too often flirts with bathos, and you end up stifling laughs when there should be tears. But see it for the acting.

Ran into this movie that slipped through the cracks, the acting is great, always Hoffman puts out honest and natural performances and Walken plays his borderline comical self that is enjoyable. The story flows nicely that the 1 hr 45 minutes it runs for doesn't feel as long as it is.

Walken should have been nominated for an Oscar for this performance.

The script might be bit thin, but the performances and overall feel of the movie makes it a emotional and satisfying watch.