Movie: A Late Quartet

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Dan Worley
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Movie: A Late Quartet

Post by Dan Worley »

A Late Quartet http://www.alatequartet.com/

I enjoyed this film. Great story idea.

It's on Netflix streaming and other places.

My favorite scene is when Christopher Walken's character recounts auditioning for Pablo Casals.

Just don't go into it thinking it's all about the music or you will be disappointed. It's about relationship, career, commitment, sacrifice, compromise, and loss.
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Shooshie
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Re: Movie: A Late Quartet

Post by Shooshie »

Saw that several months ago. I enjoyed it very much. I thought of it again recently upon the news of Phil Hoffmann's death.

Usually I have trouble watching movies about musicians, because they get everything so wrong. But this one really didn't bother me on that level. They seemed to have gotten more right than most, and secondly it was as you said: not really about the music, but about relationships.

I did have one little problem with it. Hoffmann's character wanted to play lead now and then. The movie lent credence to the idea that he just wasn't a lead player, and therefore wouldn't be suitable in that role. Anyone who can play 2nd in an internationally renowned string quartet can play lead just as well. Playing 2nd actually takes greater skill in some ways, since it's a job that requires mimicking the styles of the 1st player while making it sound like it's your own idea. Also, it requires expressing in parallel with the lead while staying out of his/her way. That means suppressing the ego for the greater good. It's very demanding! I've played lead most of my life, but when I've played 2nd, it's always taught me how much harder it is to do that, and in a way it has given me the greater satisfaction to know that I had the power to make someone else sound better than he/she usually did. The lead players often asked me why they found it so easy to sound great when I played 2nd to them, which of course was a compliment. So, Hoffmann's character would have been great as lead. The movie would have been more accurate to portray the lead guy as someone who would not have the skill or maturity to play 2nd. The apparent hierarchy of the positions belies the requisite skill to render them expertly.

But I digress. The movie is really about relationships, and they needed a "straw man" conflict, the desire for Hoffmann's character to move up the ranks, in order to produce the necessary tension. To tell more than that would be a spoiler, but that much you can glean from the trailer, so I don't think I've overstepped any bounds. It's just unfortunate that the movie makes you think that 2nd violin is a "rank" and not a critical arbiter of ensemble sound. Still, it's the best musician movie I've ever seen, possibly excepting The Competition back in the 1980s, with Richard Dreyfuss and Amy Irving. I found it to be very inspiring, but I was actively engaged in the same things they were doing, so I guess it was in the context of things for me.

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Dan Worley
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Re: Movie: A Late Quartet

Post by Dan Worley »

Shooshie wrote:Saw that several months ago. I enjoyed it very much. I thought of it again recently upon the news of Phil Hoffmann's death.
Ugh! What a kick in the gut. I didn't know about his death. What a complete drag, and he has three kids, too. So sad. I'm really bummed. I hate drugs! What a waste.
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Dan Worley
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Re: Movie: A Late Quartet

Post by Dan Worley »

Shooshie wrote:I did have one little problem with it. Hoffmann's character wanted to play lead now and then. The movie lent credence to the idea that he just wasn't a lead player, and therefore wouldn't be suitable in that role. Anyone who can play 2nd in an internationally renowned string quartet can play lead just as well. Playing 2nd actually takes greater skill in some ways, since it's a job that requires mimicking the styles of the 1st player while making it sound like it's your own idea. Also, it requires expressing in parallel with the lead while staying out of his/her way. That means suppressing the ego for the greater good. It's very demanding! I've played lead most of my life, but when I've played 2nd, it's always taught me how much harder it is to do that, and in a way it has given me the greater satisfaction to know that I had the power to make someone else sound better than he/she usually did. The lead players often asked me why they found it so easy to sound great when I played 2nd to them, which of course was a compliment. So, Hoffmann's character would have been great as lead. The movie would have been more accurate to portray the lead guy as someone who would not have the skill or maturity to play 2nd. The apparent hierarchy of the positions belies the requisite skill to render them expertly.
Thanks for explaining that further. I didn't know anything about 1st and 2nd violin in a quartet until I watched this film. I thought they did a pretty good job of explaining it in the park and cab scenes (with it not sounding too expository). But yeah, for story reasons they couldn't go the opposite way with it. Sorry, you're good enough to play 1st but not 2nd.

Interesting stuff.

Still completely bummed and upset about (and with) Hoffmann (though I understand the power of addiction). So sad for his children.
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