WRITING CULTURE 2012: Film, Food & Beyond

     The film I chose to watch and review is entitled L’Accordeur and I found it to be… oh wait, you don’t speak French and have no idea what I just said right? I’m so sorry, L’accordeur simply means the Piano Tuner.  Now this film is very well executed and for 13 minutes it definitely packs a punch.  I truly did not know what to think when initially selecting this movie. I won’t lie, I was drawn in by the fact the lead character was a blind piano tuner. I mean, come on, if that isn’t an original character I don’t know what it.

     The film is about a visually challenged Piano tuner whom was once a great pianist but after failing to win a coveted piano competition falls into a deep depression and finds comfort in pretending to be blind.  Within the first few minutes of the film he lets us all in on the secret that he isn’t blind and gives us the magical reason that he does it, and it is because… “tips are better, people are nicer and less suspicious” astonishing isn’t it?, its not wonder more of us don’t pretend to be blind to get that same satisfaction. He also exclaimed to “know things about them that no one else does”.  In other words people let their guard down around him because in their minds their thinking “why shouldn’t I get undressed in front of a blind person, he can’t see me” but little do they know he is actually watching(cue creepy music).

     The beginning of the movie gets you comfortable with the character and what he actually does for a living, which is the interesting world of piano tuning(did you catch the sarcasm there).   At about the 8 minute mark you see the main character ringing the bell of an unassuming older woman who seemed very nervous about letting him in but finally relents after finding out he is blind.  Once in the house he see’s  something that truly freaks him out, he see’s a…hey wait a minute, I’m supposed to be giving you a synopsis not a spoiler alert.  Go see it for yourself, its only 13 minutes not to mention FREE and you can’t beat that.

     In relation to other thrillers, I would say that this one really catches you off guard and gets into your head unlike most movies where within the first 20 minutes of the film you’re able to tell exactly what’s going to happen and you have about 2 people in mind that could be the killer.  I enjoyed this movie and found myself  being relaxed by the soothing piano that seemed to always be in the background of every scene.  The main character was very likeable and I truly didn’t despise him for pretending to be a blind person, I actually thought it was pretty cool that he found a way to make his job as a piano tuner more exciting, please don’t tell my mother I said that.  Hmmm, now I need a unit of measure so I can show you just how good it was and since everyone uses apples or stars I need to be original. I got it!!  I’m going to use something that will put everyone in a New York state of mind and nothing says New York like pigeons, yes, Pigeons. So out of 5 Pigeons I give the film 4 and a half Pigeons. The only reason I gave a half is because I’m upset with the director for leaving me in suspense at the end and making my mind go in so many directions as to what happened.  That could be a reason to give them 5 pigeons but for those that know me, I don’t like being left out of secrets.

 Watch the Piano Tuner(click the blue words, I dare ya)