Films about musicians or painters are always problematic since their artistic output is usually more interesting than the lives and interpersonal relationships of the artists themselves.
Coda starring Patrick Stewart as the aging concert pianist Henry Cole is no exception. Predictably there is a much greater emphasis on the protagonist's internal arc than the external one.
Henry's internal arc revolves around whether he can continue his comeback tour after taking a long sabbatical following his wife's death (which is revealed as a tragic suicide). His personal demons which include depression takes a toll on his actual performances in public to the point where he pauses before completing a musical piece during one particular concert.
Henry's external arc revolves around his relations with two critical characters: his loyal agent Paul (Giancarlo Esposito) and The New Yorker reporter Helen Morrison (Katie Holmes) who was inspired by him as a teenager right before giving up a music career and going into journalism.
Part of the plot involves Helen trying to convince Henry to permit an interview which will appear in The New Yorker. When he freezes trying out a newly tuned piano at Steinway Hall, she provides a rudimentary accompaniment which saves him from embarrassment.
After that Henry grants Helen the interview and the finished product serves as a source of voiceover narration throughout the narrative.
There is so little conflict in this film that director Claude Lalonde must fall back on the music, some sweeping cinematography and a surfeit of intelligent dialogue to keep our interest.
Nonetheless should we really care about Henry Cole? He's a bit full of himself and the issues he's dealing with-depression and encroaching old age-just don't lend themselves to much compelling drama at all.
Esposito and Holmes are fine in their roles but they ultimately have little to do in moving the plot along. If you can tolerate all of the concert pianist's "angst," then perhaps you'll like Patrick Stewart's performance.
I was uncertain about the film's climax-did Henry finally decide to call it quits or was there a sudden reversal in which he decides to play at the London concert? In the end I appreciated the music and the visual style of the film but the narrative focusing on the twilight of an aging concert pianist's career simply was too slow-moving and undramatic to really draw me in.
Coda starring Patrick Stewart as the aging concert pianist Henry Cole is no exception. Predictably there is a much greater emphasis on the protagonist's internal arc than the external one.
Henry's internal arc revolves around whether he can continue his comeback tour after taking a long sabbatical following his wife's death (which is revealed as a tragic suicide). His personal demons which include depression takes a toll on his actual performances in public to the point where he pauses before completing a musical piece during one particular concert.
Henry's external arc revolves around his relations with two critical characters: his loyal agent Paul (Giancarlo Esposito) and The New Yorker reporter Helen Morrison (Katie Holmes) who was inspired by him as a teenager right before giving up a music career and going into journalism.
Part of the plot involves Helen trying to convince Henry to permit an interview which will appear in The New Yorker. When he freezes trying out a newly tuned piano at Steinway Hall, she provides a rudimentary accompaniment which saves him from embarrassment.
After that Henry grants Helen the interview and the finished product serves as a source of voiceover narration throughout the narrative.
There is so little conflict in this film that director Claude Lalonde must fall back on the music, some sweeping cinematography and a surfeit of intelligent dialogue to keep our interest.
Nonetheless should we really care about Henry Cole? He's a bit full of himself and the issues he's dealing with-depression and encroaching old age-just don't lend themselves to much compelling drama at all.
Esposito and Holmes are fine in their roles but they ultimately have little to do in moving the plot along. If you can tolerate all of the concert pianist's "angst," then perhaps you'll like Patrick Stewart's performance.
I was uncertain about the film's climax-did Henry finally decide to call it quits or was there a sudden reversal in which he decides to play at the London concert? In the end I appreciated the music and the visual style of the film but the narrative focusing on the twilight of an aging concert pianist's career simply was too slow-moving and undramatic to really draw me in.