THE CONCERT
4 out of 5 stars

what an uplifting story re: an orchestra that reunites after the communist govt in russia shut them down... the characters, the storyline, and of course, the concert itself is AWESOME. BRAVO!!! :)

the plot: after 30 years, a disgraced orchestra conductor named andrei filipov now turned janitor of the bolshoi theater in moscow, intercepts a fax from the prestigious chatelet theater to play a concert for the french public. he shares this info. with his BF sasha, a former cellist now ambulance driver, and he suggests that they play instead of the real bolshoi orchestra. so, the both of them get their general manager back on board, track down former musicians, even somehow convince this russian gangster guy to fund their trip, under the condition that he get to play in this concert, of course! :P but MOST of all: andrei the conductor wants to perform with the renown yet young violinist anne-marie jaquet (y’all might recognize her as shoshanna from QT’s inglorious basterds), and there is an important reason why... they have all these ridic demands for the chatelet theater, and it’s just comedy from there... they demand to eat at some restaurant that doesn’t even exist anymore, demand a cruise on the seine, and stay at a 3 star hotel...which it was in 1979? LOL, it’s all ridic but the real issue is being able to pull off this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity AKA THE CONCERT. andrei picks tschaikovsky’s famous violin concerto, and he’s not even sure he can pull this off. with his orchestra running around paris like wild hogs, who knows? also, andrei and sasha promise to tell anne-marie the truth re: her biological parents... (the truth is sad but makes a great plot- it has to do with the KGB sending russian jews to siberian death camps)

if you like foreign flicks, this one is definitely for you. my gripe is that there weren’t enough stories/connections to tie all the musicians together, but you get the general idea. lots of random moments that don’t tie well either i.e. that wedding they all went to?, but maybe that was just a cultural lost in translation issue? IDK... i really liked the characters of sasha and ivan, especially ivan since he still thinks the communist party of france actually has some power? :P you definitely end up rooting for these underdogs, and the music they produce is just delightful. as we learn from this movie, we learn that harmony, both musically and spiritually, are needed to keep our spirits alive even after encountering tragedy... ;)