Shine | | Cast : | Geoffrey Rush, Armin Mueller-Stahl | | Director : | Scott Hicks | | Studio : | New Line Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | November 20, 1996 | | DVD Released Date : | February 08, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 01, 2005 | | Summary | "SHINE" - For the Most Part, It Does | Content
 | Before I watched this movie yesterday, I knew this was Geoffrey Rush's Oscar-winning performance, that Joel Siegiel considered it to be one the greatest movies ever, and that it won plenty of trophies. But I had no idea what the movie was actually about. I'd seen no trailers and knew very little about the actors' resume (even Rush's movies I can only count to about 10). So I was fortunate to watch this DVD with a fresh perspective.
This is the fall-and-rise (that's not a typo) of David Helfgott, a very gifted pianist who is trained since he was a boy (Alex Raflowicz) by his deeply disturbed father Peter (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Eventually, after turmoil within the family becomes unbearable, Helfgott as a teen (Noah Taylor) attends the Royal College of Music, and practiced Ragmaninoff's "Rach 3" (supposedly the most difficult piece in the world) with such determination and intensity that he perfected the technique, but the emotional ride eventually broke him. As an adult, which is when the movie first introduces us to Helfgott (Geoffrey Rush), he is a rambling confused man, who finds his way back into the joy of piano-playing in a small Australian restaurant.
If this sounds like another version of "A Beautiful Mind," have no fear. This movie wisely ignores the psychological talk, and relies on the emotions of the characters. "Shine" does not care about what's going on inside David's mind, but how his somewhat abusive childhood and unattended confusion is making him feel and interact with the world around him. The facial expressions tell the story, not the doctor's diagnosis (which there is none). Armin Mueller-Stahl's performance as Peter Helfgott is absolutely marvelous. He is a man capable of loving his son, but does so with such intensity (and sometimes violence) that he can't embrace his gifted son the way David needs. John Gielgud gives another great performance as David's College professor, who pushes and pushes, but with more balance and affection than Peter does. Lynn Redgrave as the woman who befriends and helps heal (in a way) David is also excellent. Geoffrey Rush is terrific in "Shine," but the movie could've better defined him. You see, he's kind of the lead, but Rush doesn't actually allow us into his performance until the second half of the movie. We're introduced this bizarre, over-friendly stranger in the opening minutes of "Shine," which is supposed to get us questioning "Who is this baffling man?." I actually find Noah Taylor's turn as the teenage David more interesting and moving than Rush's portion of the character. Which is probably why I don't like this movie quite as much as most do.
You see, this movie is actually two stories. The first is the focus on the tension between David and Peter. This is very well-executed, because Mueller-Stahl's intensity battling Taylor's innocence and desperation is absolutely amazing. Even when the two are not together while David is away, you can still feel the anger and conflict, because David and Peter must have felt those same strong emotions...day after day, night after night.
The second story is Rush's half of the film, when the grown-up David Helfgott is trying to cope with the world now that he is alone. Director Scott Hicks makes it very clear that the people in David's life helped heal him, but what about David's efforts? Instead of any genuine feeling, there are times when he's used simply as a mentally-damaged man who has difficulty absorbing the words that the other characters speak to him. We share the frustration and test-of-patience that Redgrave's persona must've felt, but it's almost too effective. When Peter tells the rambling David "Get to the point," the man who I truly felt opposition for actually expressed my feelings exactly. I didn't feel any progress, but maybe there really wasn't any and I misunderstood that part of the movie. But if that's true, then where's the success story?
Don't get me wrong...this is a well-made movie. There are no plots holes or inconsistencies whatsoever. Hicks has great control of the camera and wonderful attention to the simplest detail. His timing is dead-on, and listening to his interviews on the DVD merits a second viewing. I just felt that the comeback part of the movie need more story. This movie is only 105 minutes including credits. With actors like this, I would've gladly taken a 2-hour picture.
However, Rush and Redgrave are still heart-warming in their roles. When the world applauses David's skills in a concert, and we see his tears, we feel that for once his pain and suffering have ended. Hope is the theme here, and I felt it.
FINAL NOTE - If you're wondering why the movie is called "Shine," Scott Hicks answers that question on the DVD. But you should watch it for yourself, because you'll understand soon enough. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 21, 2005 | | Summary | Take with a whole handful of salt in your popcorn... | Content
| Brilliantly performed, emotionally appealing to the max...it's important to remember that the plotline in this film is, to be tactful, heavily fictionalized. If enjoyment alone were a just measure, I'd give it five stars, but available facts indicate that it is not just heavily fictionalized but exceedingly unfair to some individuals in David Helfgott's original family circle. His dad, Peter Helfgott, is characterized as a prim and prissy monster who uses the Holocaust to justify all the tyranny he exercises in his grim and nasty little household. However, this scenario does not seem to have been literally true at any time, and bipolar illness such as Helfgott seems to have suffered does not require the undermining effect of an abusive parent, just an unfortunate heredity. Only logic of a specially American and sentimental kind demands a monstrous parent as the cause of this effect.
I'm sorry to say I swallowed the plot whole the first time I saw it. It's that effective and affecting, but feels manipulative after garnering a few of the facts...I don't particularly enjoy enjoying something that perpetrates vicious calumny against a real individual who seems to have done nothing to deserve it. Shine does have absolutely brilliant imagery, such as the shots of Geoffrey Rush as David Helfgott in the unbounded joy of full manic flight, jumping on a trampoline, and fine acting...Lynn Redgrave's Gillian casting David's astrological chart on her PC and deciding to marry him, which decision can be seen in the slight arching of her brow before she slips off the big diamond ring she's recently accepted from another man. If the director could have operated on the premise that David's illness was tragic and his talent was great, and that Gillian's love for him was idiosyncratic and absolute WITHOUT adding a pseudo-Dickensian villain to the mix, Shine would be in the same luminous category as A Beautiful Mind. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 28, 2004 | | Summary | Some Good Drama Some Overdone | Content
| Shine is a movie that definitely took a great deal of thought and planning. The premise is the realtionship of a classical piano playing son prodigy with his passionate yet abusive father. When the father refuses to allow his son to pursue his talents in London, our hero runs away to rebel against his father.
Later on he suffers a nervous breakdown and stammers terribly throughout the course of his adult life. He finds a love interest and is able to find eventual success in his musical pursuits.
There is some excellent cinematography particularly of the sheer expression of our hero's piano playing ability. Somehow the repetitive scenes of our hero standing in the rain or throwing his eye glasses off gets a bit wearisome. Nonetheless, our hero perserveres in the end so the sense of triumph does extend this rating to about 3 1/2 stars. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 13, 2004 | | Summary | All-time sleeper of a movie. | Content
| A film so good that even though the leading man only appears in a half-hour or so of the film, he wins about every award known to film actors. The rest of the film didn't do so bad either. There is some hyperbole, the "Rach 3" isn't unplayable, but everything fits to get the various points across. I think what impresses me most is the overall quality of the production and acting. Not a comedy, not a psycho-drama but a rather joyful one hanky view of someone's rather screwed up life. Lots of good music too. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 25, 2003 | | Summary | OUTSTANDING movie presented on an average DVD | Content
| Bear in mind that this was one of the first generations of DVDs that were released, and so many of the additional features that we enjoy now were never added in these earlier release titles. I do hope that "Shine" is re-released with more in- depth features, including something that focuses on David Hefgott, the pianist that this movie is based on. I truly hope the decision is made to interview or document Helfgott in some way. That's the only reason I deducted a star, because the movie is outstanding. I would urge those who enjoyed this film to contact FineLine Pictures, who released the movie, and urge them to create a special edition DVD to include this. The real David Helfgott actually contributed as a musician (pianist, of course) for this wonderful film about his life, dramatizing his struggles through his childhood and breakdown as an adolescent. Yet it isn't about gloomy and depressing accounts but about survival and living to the best of one's abilities. Those who have little patience with people who are schizophrenic may become a bit uneasy at the performance of Geoffrey Rush who played the adult Helfgott. Rush's acting was impeccable and very believable, which is why some might be a little agitated or confused at the stuttering and incomplete and rambling dialog by Rush's character. But have patience in getting to understand Helfgott as the movie progresses. It can confuse the viewer since there are flashbacks and flash forwards. But you know, this was one beautifully produced movie. It has had high replay, because the film simply touches the heart. Just relax and allow the movie (and Helfgott's character) absorb you. By the end, you'll really FEEL how much of a journey that David Helfgott traveled to arrive where he did. And for those who enjoy Lynn Redgrave, my gosh. Her portrayal of Gillian was superb. Redgrave didn't even get any type of top billing and she didn't appear until late in the movie, yet I felt like Gillian and David were my own family by the end. The DVD's special features include a movie trailer, a video clip of an award presented to Rush (look for Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise together in the audience) and a somewhat unusually- formatted Q/A with director Scott Hicks (about a dozen questions are displayed and when you select one, a video with an answer by Hicks plays). "Shine" wasn't meant to be a tearjerker movie, but it got to me. I sometimes can't watch even the trailer without getting a lump in my throat. Lovers of piano concertos and also those who appreciate classical music would be especially grateful for this cinematic gem. |
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