The last card in the deck is always the card of Death. But this time around it's upside down. The varnish on the violin is human blood, but it's the soul of it that travels through centuries making it immortal. Some things are worthless, some have great value. It's not always easy to tell which is which, though.

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My son and I don't always agree on movies. His genre is often to dark for my tastes. But his enthusiasm over this movie won me over. He and I couldn't stop talking about it! What a beautiful and mysterious ride throughout history. How could it be almost 25 years old and no one we know has seen or heard of it. We are avid movie buffs, but somehow we missed this treasure. Now we both consider it to be one of our favorite movies of all time! You must see it to appreciate it. You might even want to see it twice to really appreciate it.

As one professional reviewer stated, "This is filmmaking of the highest order" and I would have to agree. Each piece of art in this world has its own story that many of us will likely never know, some mundane while others full of wonder and mystery. This film does a remarkable job portraying the so-called "red violin" story that travels far and wide both in distance and time. It reveals the power of music and art's ability to connect us through culture and history. The auction serves as a focal point that helps emphasize shared appreciation for relics and antiques across the world that we hold onto dearly for value, admiration, appreciation, status, to name a few nouns. I'm personally not the biggest fans of flashbacks but enjoyed how the movie weaves the story back and forth between the auction and the violin's history, allowing itself to capture various aspects of humanity from rich to poor, religious to secular, East to West, and manages to do so without an ounce of snobbery or foolishness.

The Red Violin follows the trail of a rare instrument from its creation in 17th century Italy to its sale at an auction in Montreal in the present day. Along the way, it passes through the hands of lovers, prodigies, artists, and revolutionaries, inspiring all those who touch it. From beginning to end, the story is riveting, helped along by an Oscar-winning score, beautiful cinematography and set design, and strong performances from an impressive cast, including the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Greta Scacchi, and Sandra Oh, among others. The Red Violin, as it whisks the viewer around the world and through time, never fails to entertain.

I enjoyed this in terms of being a part period drama, with a mystery element. I liked seeing how the lives of the various owners of said violin changed in time, what happened and so on. I did find it a little confusing/frustrating due to the fact it kept changing from one timeline to another, from, say, hundreds of years ago and suddenly back to the modern day (or as it was when the film was released, in the late 1990s). However, my favourite aspect to this film was the actual violin recitals played throughout - I'm not a big lover of classical music but the music was/is very good. This is an intriguing part character drama, with numerous characters depicted and also a mystery film, with some great instrumentals present. I would definitely recommend this film, yes.

The underrated director that gave us the unfairly maligned 'Silk' in 2007, churns out a tender and character-driven epic that really flew under the radar upon release, unfortunately.

This unique film took place across many centuries and countries, with various languages and employed a method of storytelling pleasantly conducive to one centering on the mysterious provenance of the titular instrument. I actually appreciated the use of flashbacks as opposed to a linear narrative, as this helped ground me in the present day and made it easier to understand the importance of different scenes, which may have otherwise felt boring, had I not known where this was ultimately headed. Taking nothing away from the story, some of these "chapters" actually looked kinda rough to me and felt more like a made for tv quality production as opposed to a film I would expect to see in a theater. The score however was quite good and featured plenty of stirring violin pieces. As a big history fan who took many museum studies based courses, I always find books, films, and documentaries related to this subject matter more interesting than most. 7.5/10 Samuel L. Jackson Binge: I didn't realize Jackson would end up playing as large a role in this when, after appearing in the opening current day shot, the meat of his role was relegated to the final fifth of this film. He was quite convincing in his role and ended up playing a much larger part in the plot action by the end. SLJ January #48

Sorry, but I have to disagree with so many others. This movie movie went from the heights of Everest to the abyss. At 1:20:00 exactly I quit watching because I refuse to wade through the mud to see another diamond when there might not even be another diamond, just a piece of gravel. This movie flashes t & a like that would save it, but guess what, it just proves my point that we were watching a real stinker. In short, this movie makes Love Story look like Russian version of Anna Karenina.

I really enjoyed most of this film. It is a really original idea as an object (the violin) links many different stories, eras and cultures. Overall I enjoyed it but I did not like the ending and I am sorry to say but I was not impressed at all with Samuel L Jackson's performance. I adored him in Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown but he basically plays the same character here and it is totally wrong for the part. A man who would be a curator would be far more refined with his language and gestures. Overall though, I still liked it and think it is worth watching.

The most skillfully executed component of this movie was the score; it was absolutely phenomenal. It added so much warmth and many layers of emotion to Anna's tragic story and the long journey her spirit would embark on. 10/10 would recommend.

If you have never seen this movie, you need to watch it. Right now, It's on Amazon Prime at no additional cost. It's not a perfect film, but it is still a great story. It shows how this amazing "Red Violin" weaves it way through the last 300 years and ultimately ends up at an auction house. Samuel L. Jackson is really good in it.

The biggest flaw and appeal of The Red Violin is that is not character-driven. So while characters and plots come and go, it tells the story of a unique violin through the centuries. This makes for an interesting story-telling device. We follow the red violin from its inception in Italy, to its purchase by an orphanage in Austria, where it falls into the hands of a sickly child prodigy, to its theft by gypsies, where is passes hands and is eventually traded to a British violin virtuoso, to a pawn shop in China, where it becomes the possession of another child who grows up in the Cultural Revolution and the violin is nearly destroyed, to an auction block in Montreal, where a cantankerous violin appraiser portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson discovers it is the notorious Red Violin, exclaiming "It's the Red Muthafuckin Violin!" in a particularly memorable and poignant scene. At the beginning of the film an old crone read the fortune of the violin luthier's pregnant wife. We learn at the end how the violin is connected with the wife, and how the crone's fortune was actually about the violin, another interesting device. The Red Violin is interesting viewing with a little something for everyone.

Wonderful movie. Possibly a bit pretentious at times but certainly holds its own as an entry among the other films of the last great cinematic years: “98-‘99.

"...authentically mesmerizing; this masterpiece of a film interweaves historical vignettes — taking the audience on an emotional, intriguing & mystical ride of a prized-instrument's origins — transcending the cliché of collectors and dealers chasing treasured artifacts..." 95/100

Saw this some time ago. It was interesting to follow an instrument through a story.

The idea of telling stories through history based on a violin is not bad, the problem is that the stories told are not that interesting. The one about a child prodigy is particularly pointless.

One of my favorite movies.Tears well up in my eyes everytime i watch this movie.The music in this movie is beautiful and i dont usually like classical music.

Netflix 2/13/19 This was a really interesting story, well told with a fun and unexpected twist at the end. Loved the concept of following a violin through centuries of travel and ownership. Didn’t care much for the Fredrick/Victoria segment but everything else was compelling. Beautiful music earned it a 2000 Academy Award for Best Music, Original Score and well deserved.

Mile mmel bir kurgu, farklı zaman ve mekan hikayelerini hiç tempo dusurmeden anlatan harika bir film. İzlemediyseniz muhakkak tavsiye ederim.