SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER Movie Review

Tirez sur le Pianiste
Shoot the Pianist

Former concert pianist Edouard Saroyan (Charles Aznavour), disillusioned, unlucky in love, and world-weary, has changed his name to Charlie Kohler and now plays a very different kind of tune at the piano of an undistinguished Parisian bar. Yet even here he's unable to avoid commitments, and the underworld types he falls in with lead him down an unpredictable and poignantly tragic path. Based on the novel Down There by American crime writer David Goodis, François Truffaut's second feature film marked a total change of pace from his stunning portrait of a shattered childhood, The 400 Blows, yet it's every bit as successful. Shoot the Piano Player is a risky and audacious blend of genres, in which slapstick asides are successfully juxtaposed with romantic wistfulness, all in the middle of a chase scene. The film may be an affectionate tribute to Hollywood “B” pictures, but Truffaut and his enormously gifted star never lose sight of the pianist's human dimension, and they refuse to allow the inventive cinematic techniques to run away with the movie's heart. A classic of the French New Wave period, it remains one of Truffaut's most exuberant and touching films. (It also marked the beginning of Truffaut's long, fruitful collaboration with composer Georges Delerue.) Be sure to see a letterboxed version.

NEXT STOP … Breathless, Gun Crazy, Mississippi Mermaid

1962 92m/B FR Charles Aznavour, Marie DuBois, Nicole Berger, Michele Mercier, Albert Remy; D: Francois Truffaut; W: Marcel Moussey, Francois Truffaut; M: Georges Delerue. VHS, LV, Letterbox HMV, HHT, WFV