'A Late Quartet' - Best film of AFM2012 (Walken, Seymour-Hoffman, Keener, Ivanir, Poots)

I want to tell you about a film I saw at this year's American Film Market that in my opinion blew all the others out the water:

"A Late Quartet" is a film about family: A story about a string quartet and its internal dynamics which doesn't exactly scream must-see at first look. Performances from the likes of Philip Seymour-Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener and Imogen Poots will hopefully be enough to get people through the door. Equal parts touching and funny, it holds music up for one and all to appreciate and treats it with such respect that we never, for one beat, question how it can be so utterly all-consuming for these characters.

This is, in part achieved through a masterpiece of a script that takes its time, weaving the various themes together like a complex melody; expertly sowing seeds for later plot turns without labouring them. It's Sorkin-esque without the preaching. Perhaps it's delivery succeeds because it deals with issues that never grow old - love, jealousy, sickness, insecurity, parenting, obsession, infidelity and playing the second fiddle (literally and figuratively).

Yaron Zilberman (who penned, produced and directed) gives a lesson in subtlety which builds throughout, forcing us to care not just for the characters and their imploding quartet but even the music itself. Where on earth Yaron Zilberman (46) has been all these years is a mystery (with only one previous documentary credit to his name) but we can only hope this affords him the chance to do more. The score too, fits seamlessly with the live music, evoking emotions for the characters that far exceed even the pitch-perfect performances from the Hollywood stars. Live action is expertly seasoned with documentary inserts - a Brechtian device that allows us to laugh at old pictures of the actors while establishing the international credentials of these virtuoso musicians.

I've been trying to put my finger on the single aspect of this production that made me identify with it to such an extent. And my conclusion is that it's undoubtedly the story...oh and the script...and of course the cast, and their performances - not to mention the editing and score...and direction.

Perhaps, it's better to say that this represents one of those rare occasion in cinema when everything comes together in thrilling and wonderful harmony. Or as Seymour-Hoffman's character says of 'The Fugue' quartet, it is 'so much more than the sum of its parts'. Go and see it.

Updated 11/11/12: just found the trailer as it is now in theatres:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=NX66lRnNmqs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DNX66lRnNmqs