Shoot the Piano Player DVD Review:

It really is amazing how much art influences art. It is often easy to forget that great art is often if not always inspired from some other form of art, especially when we are talking about a film by a director like Francois Truffaut. With films that are obviously great works of art it is difficult to imagine where it came from. It is nearly beyond comprehension to me; however, Shoot the Piano Player is one of five films that Truffaut made based on American pulp fiction. When this is realized the film takes on a whole new meaning. It has the simple sensibility of a European film, yet the events are distinctly pulp fiction.

Each moment in Shoot the Piano Player is filled with apprehension that seems to flow from the lead character. As we are given the privilege of hearing his thoughts, it is clear that this is a pained man, but he also seems somewhat sentenced. Almost as if we have a sense of how things will end up for him in the end just by the mood he conveys in each scene, so that as things happen to him unexpectedly, there is a sense of knowing as well.

Shoot the Piano Player is a strange film, mostly because it is so difficult to classify. It is a crime film, but there is much more to it than that as well. It is the story of a famous piano player who suffered a tragedy and runs from the spotlight. He changes his name to Charlie Koller and begins working as a honky-tonk piano player in a small bar. He is recognized by the waitress and they slowly begin a hesitant relationship. The relationship is catapulted when they are forced to unite and run from a couple of hoodlums who are searching for Charlie’s brother who swindled them out of money. Charlie, or Edouard as he was originally named, comes from a family of misfits and crooks and it doesn’t take long for him to fall back in with them despite the fact that he has spent nearly his entire life away from them.

There are distinct moments of danger in the film, but there is no sense of urgency which is usually required for a crime film. It is all done in an elegant and quite manner that is very fitting of how the piano player takes everything. Even as people die he seems to be untouched, although there is a great deal more below the surface. It is a remarkable performance in a film which has no classifiable mood. While moments are filled with hilarity, the next moment turns serious, but none are at all overplayed.

The DVD has great and simple cover art of Charles Aznavour as the piano player. It is as indefinable as the film. Looking at the cover, one would be hard pressed to decide whether it is a crime film, comedy, or drama. The film is newly restored in a high-definition digital transfer that was supervised by the original director of photography Raoul Coutard. This is one the first disc in this two disc package, and it also contains an audio commentary by film scholars Peter Brunette and Annette Insdorf. While these are great choices for an intellectual commentary about the film, it seems to me that cinematographer Raoul Coutard might have been a more entertaining choice for commentary. The first disc also contains a theatrical trailer.

The second disc contains a number of great special features. There is a video interview with actors Charles Aznavour and Marie Dubois and the DP Raoul Coutard. There is also a rare interview with Francois Truffaut’s long time collaborator, Suzanne Schiffman. There are excerpts from two documentaries about the source novel and other details directly from Truffaut. Both excerpts were actually taken from a French television programs. There is also an illustrated audio essay titled, The Music of Georges Delerue. The last of the features includes the original screen test for Dubois. There is also a great booklet inside of the package with an essay from Kent Jones as he discusses the long term greatness of Truffaut as opposed to Godard. There are also interviews with Truffaut and some great photos. The booklet is 28 pages.



Ryan Izay