[.ca] The Piano (Widescreen/Full Screen) (ISBN 0784011176)

From Amazon.com:
Jane Campion's The Piano struck a deep chord (if you'll excuse the expression) with audiences in 1993, who were mesmerized by the film's rich, dreamlike imagery. It is the story of a Scottish woman named Ada (Holly Hunter), who has been mute since age 6 because she simply chose not to speak. Ada travels with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her beloved piano to a remote spot on the coast of New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a farmer (Sam Neill). She gives piano lessons to a gruff neighbor (Harvey Keitel) who has Maori tattoos on his face, and, well, things develop from there. The picture takes on a powerful dream logic that simply defies synopsis. It's a breathtakingly beautiful and original achievement from Campion, a unique stylist. The Piano won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Oscars for Hunt, Paquin, and Campion's screenplay. --Jim Emerson

A Different Look At Romance:
All the things that characterize a Hollywood romance are turned upside down and changed about in this film. The usual fare is the interactions between two urbanites with huge polished smiles stuck to their faces. They enter a relationship which is loud, giddy, and giggly. In The Piano, the woman doesn't speak at all and both men are stoic sorts who have lived in a hard land. A lot happens under the surface where we can only guess at it. In mainstream films, the emphasis for the man is rushing in and grabbing the woman of his dreams with all possible speed. But here, just once, the quiet, patient, and tender man emerges with the lady. And what's more, when we first see him, we fail to see through his hard exterior. Even the viewer comes to know this man's virtue only over time. I found this to be an incredibly beautiful story and as if that alone wasn't good enough, I also greatly enjoyed the cinematography and the music. This is one of those films that I find guilty of being incredibly good on all counts. And a final note about male nudity: Yes it is in this film. Both male and female are seen completely nude. And there's nothing wrong with the male part. We men have beautiful bodies too. Art of the past has had no compunctions about showing nude males and correctly so. I'm not sure I can understand this modern prudery.

Creative Artists in a Bad Soap-Opera:
What went wrong with this film? Everyone involved has done brilliant work before and after this production, yet when they combined all their talent together they ended up with a movie that steamrolled the creator's statement over the characters and their actions. None of the characters act in any sense other than to be moved as pieces on the gameboard for the writer in an attempt to say "something." What that something is is obviously supposed to make us sympathize with Hunter's character, but she is drawn as such a cartoon (a boorish, manipulative cartoon at that), one can never feel anything for her other than wonder why she is ruining everyone else's life around her? Perhaps for the kicks? It would certainly seen so, as she has no reason to even be in the film except as to create unhappiness for all the other characters. If one wants a film dealing with the ability for the human spirit to rise upon inprisonment, there are many, many, MANY better films than this one. One can only leave this movie feeling cold and depressed because it never is more than cardboardish, hateful characters doing terrible things to each other (including a clumsy attempted-rape sequence) until the out of the blue "happy" ending that seemed tacked on to help the bitter pill be easily to swallow by American audiences. Shallow and desperate.

BREATHTAKING!:
I haven't seen this movie for a long time, but saw it again the other day. I forgot how powerful it was and how breathtaking all the actors are as well as the scenery. Strong performances and beautiful music (I bought the soundtrack long ago and had to dust it off after seeing this movie again!). As for some of the negative comments of seeing Harvey Keitel naked (full frontal, too), and found him disgusting looking, well, folks, that's how most people look in real life!

Artistic no:
I rented this movie thinking it would be very good and interesting to a point but I found the nudity and explict sex sceens disguisting. The sex sceens and nudity I found pointless for this film. I understand it was part of the story but it could have been less more to a PG-13 rating. Harvey Kitel's frontal nudity sceen was horrible and gross. (...)

A moody drama that was very bittersweet.:
This is the first film I have seen with Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel. They both gave good performances, and the movie itself was strange but likeable. Anna Pacquin and Sam Neil also gave great performances. The movie did have a lot of nudity that was really un-neccesary. The cinematography was good and the setting was a cool, dark, but beautiful place. The film was very different and really surprised me, like most films do. I recommend this for romantic buffs, and people who love to watch great performances.