A Late Quartet (2012)

Loved this lush drama of a classical string quartet and their interpersonal tangles. Glorious sunny, wintry Manhattan (I wonder if the exteriors were shot on the same day with fresh clean snow in Central Park, perhaps the storm late in the movie shot the day before) and interiors that are Woody Allen-like in their opulence are alone worth the price of admission. 

And then there's the cast! Christopher Walken (profiled in Dark Horse) for the first time in years gets to play a man of dignity, the recently widowed cellist Peter, who sets the plot into motion. He expresses volumes without uttering a sound. Catherine Keener (most recently in these pages in Cyrus) is the violist Juliette, who was adopted by Peter and his wife when she was orphaned at birth. She is spectacular as usual. The always reliable Philip Seymour Hoffman (last mentioned in The Master) is her husband Robert, second violinist--capable but not too confident, even after 25 years together. Then there's Mark Ivanir (known best to me for a recurring role on Royal Pains as Dmitry (he's had that name 4 times so far--he was born in Ukraine) and two episodes of The Riches, he was in Schindler's List (1993), small part in What Just Happened, and lots more) as the intense first violinist Daniel. 

Never having played a stringed instrument myself, I thought it looked like the four were playing (and the two or three coaches per actor will be gratified to know that, as will the Brentano String Quartet, the New York Ensemble who actually played). The luminous Imogen Poots (A Solitary Man) shines as Juliet and Robert's headstrong daughter Alexandra. Beautiful Liraz Charhi runs in the park with Robert, and I enjoyed the cameos by cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey (I love her Indian green beans with three kinds of mustard) as the doctor and Wallace Shawn (his first role was in Manhattan (1979), his best known are probably My Dinner with Andre (1981) and Rex the Green Dinosaur in the Toy Story movies (1995, '99, 2010), and my favorites include The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), Radio Days (1987), The Princess Bride (1987), The Moderns (1988), Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), and Clueless (1995)) as another musician. The Sotheby's auctioneer is a real one and cellist Nina Lee appears briefly as herself (warning: if you click through from her page to the movie's website, the trailer is rife with spoilers).

The movie's title comes from the piece they are rehearsing to perform, Beethoven's String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131, regarded as one of the most challenging pieces a string ensemble can perform, composed shortly before Beethoven's death in 1827. Other music is composed by Angelo Badalamenti, best known for Twin Peaks and everything afterwards by David Lynch. And speaking of Lynch, his frequent collaborator, cinematographer Frederick Elmes (also Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth (1991), Ang Lee's The Ice Storm (1997) and Hulk (2003), Mira Nair's The Namesake (2006), and Brothers, to name a few), shot the gorgeous pictures inside and outside in the city as well as a horse farm somewhere else--still snowy. Even the interiors are in sun-drenched rooms.

Yaron Zilberman directs and co-wrote (just one documentary under his belt) with Seth Grossman (wrote and directed an award-winning short film, a feature with Ellen Burstyn, and has a comedy set to come out this year), basing the script on several real life quartets.

Nonetheless, I heartily recommend this, not just for musicians, even though it scored only 70% from critics and 76% from audiences on rottentomatoes. I know that Jack would have liked it, too, but he was otherwise occupied with his football team's victory today.