Comments on: Sometimes a pianist is not just a pianist

Question: Sometimes a pianist is not just a pianist

kingfisher, his musclebound cat — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:12:40 -0800

Shoot the Piano Player, The Beat My Heart Skipped, Five Easy Pieces, and . . .

Other past-piano-player (or in the case of Shoot the Piano player, ex-virtuoso now bar piano player) films?

By: iconomy

iconomy — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:16:22 -0800

The Piano

By: iconomy

iconomy — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:18:03 -0800

Oh I didn't parse the past piano player part (too many Ps ;) at first. I'm pretty sure there was one starring Tyrone Power, will try to find.

By: churl

churl — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:20:49 -0800

Shine? Or do you only want films where the pianist stops playing the piano completely?

By: macadamiaranch

macadamiaranch — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:21:23 -0800

Shine?

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:23:58 -0800

In The Birthday Party (based on the Harold Pinter play of the same name), the main character, Stanley Webber, is a former piano player.

By: puritycontrol

puritycontrol — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:32:45 -0800

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:33:47 -0800

The excellent noir film Detour from 1945 has a main character who stops playing the piano during the story.

By: frosty_hut

frosty_hut — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:43:16 -0800

There's the 1978 James Toback film Fingers, on which The Beat That My Heart Skipped was based, with Harvey Keitel. Except I think he's trying to become a pianist (rather than used to be one). I haven't seen it yet but plan to...

Are you doing research, or are you a pianist yourself?

By: dobbs

dobbs — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:50:43 -0800

Perhaps The Piano Teacher.

By: Lentrohamsanin

Lentrohamsanin — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:33:48 -0800

Mad Love (aka The Hands Of Orlac) sort of fits, though the piano playing resumes after a brief interval...

And seconding Detour. Warning: it is a completely ludicrous film, but it works.

By: poppo

poppo — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:41:38 -0800

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore has Alice playing the piano in a bar, though I can't remember whether she is supposed to have previously been a virtuoso

By: staggernation

staggernation — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:19:12 -0800

There's The Page Turner, which happens to be showing right now in NYC.

By: platinum

platinum — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:31:19 -0800

I honestly can't recall whether the piano player ever actually quits playing in The Legend of 1900, but no list of piano-related films should be without it!

By: zebra3

zebra3 — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:33:47 -0800

I am also unsure whether you want films with ex-piano players or merely past films about piano players.

At any rate, The Favour, the Watch, and the Very Big Fish is an amusing absurdist comedy with a central character who is at various times in the film a pianist, a prisoner, and a creepy ex-con.

Johnny Staccato was an above-par 50's detective show about a jazz piano player who became a private dick.

By: GPF

GPF — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:49:25 -0800

Beautiful Girls. Timothy Hutton's character visits his childhood home and wades through small town relationships to conclude he's happy playing the piano and dating a yuppie lady in the big city.

By: rob511

rob511 — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:38:55 -0800

An Oscar-nominated short from 2006, Two Hands is a documentary about Leon Fleisher, a renowned concert pianist who for many years lost the use of his right hand.

By: cgc373

cgc373 — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:02:21 -0800

Jeff Bridges in The Fabulous Baker Boys is a virtuoso jazz player who's stuck playing crappy bar gigs with his brother (actually played by Beau). He's playing way under his level of talent for the paychecks.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:46:03 -0800

Anatomy of a Murder, where the most ignominious scene has Jimmy Stewart pretending to sit in for Duke Ellington on piano. Note exactly what you're asking for, but related.

By: Cochise

Cochise — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 02:30:12 -0800

Groundhog's Day

Bill Murray's character becomes a piano virtuoso.