Forks froze midair. The roast chicken at the Café Carlyle was delicious, but once Nico Muhly began playing the music he composed for “The Reader,” the focus shifted from food and chat to the sad emotive sound he created for this unsettling film. The Julliard trained 27 year old composer had worked with Philip Glass on Stephen Daldry's movie, “The Hours,” and was now center stage in the room where Woody Allen performs on many a Monday night and Glass and others like Alan Bergman, Chuck Scarborough, Joan Micklin Silver, Mira Nair, Ed Victor, Alan Alda sat in rapt attention as he played from three sections, particularly the part where Michael (the young lover played by David Kross and then Ralph Fiennes) decides not to visit Hanna in prison. The music underscores an important aspect of “The Reader,” the irresolution of its conflicts. Much has been written about post-Holocaust era emotions involving guilt (for survivors and perpetrators), victimization, rage, requisite redemption, revenge, restitution, cries for justice. Hanna (played bravely in plain face by the usually gorgeous radiant movie star, Kate Winslet) says, in effect, the dead are dead. Similarly, a survivor played pitch perfect by Lena Olin rejects Hanna's money saying, the Holocaust was not therapy. Which is merely to say, that we all, left pondering the horror of this untoward history are doomed to mull it over forever. There is no rest for this story. Art falls short. Bernhard Schlink may have raised the guilt issues for second generation Germans to best-seller level, and this film beautifully shot, directed, acted, and scored should follow to packed houses and awards as a resonant re-articulation in excellent cinema, but trust me on this, no one is going to walk away and feel they have now understood what actually happened in Europe more than a half century ago. The historical catastrophe, as Manohla Dargis reports in the New York Times, may grow fainter, but that is more a function of time, not because of fine films like “The Reader” that remind us just how open a wound the Holocaust remains
Fantastic night shot with great colors and reflections. Happy new year!
Posted by: Herve Leger | August 13, 2011 at 01:51 AM