The quest for perfection drove Australian concert pianist David Helfgott mad. Director Scott Hicks didn't suffer the same fate making Helfgott's life story, but his film comes blissfully close to perfection.
Hicks, who is actually better known for several documentary series for the Discovery Channel, took a decade to make the film. And all his efforts were certainly worth it.
"Shine" is one of those cases where a film's name really fits. It's a beautiful, at times heart-breaking examination of love's power to both destroy and to redeem, and benefits from powerful performances, a thoughtful screenplay and a brilliant musical score.
As the film opens in the early 1980s, the nearly incoherent, 40something David (Geoffrey Rush) stumbles into a nearby restaurant/bar. Despite his ramblings, he proceeds to dazzle the patrons and employees with an impromptu piano concert.
The performance also brings back a wash of memories for David, especially of his childhood. Flashing back, he remembers participating in amateur talent competitions, many of which he lost in spite of his obvious skills.
While the losses seem to mean little to David, they grate on his domineering, exacting father, Peter (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a Polish-Jewish refugee who was unable to practice music himself but who is now living vicariously through David's successes.
Peter actually wants David to be able to play Rachmaninoff's maddeningly complex "Piano Concerto No. 3," a feat David finally accomplishes as a student at the Royal College of Music in London. But the effort has two drastic consequences for the now 20something David (Noah Taylor) - his father has all but disinherited him because he left home and a concert performance of the work has left him mentally exhausted and dangerously close to madness.
Fifteen years later, David's restaurant performances have made him the toast of the town. However, he still totters toward lunacy and hasn't quite accepted his father's death, which he only accomplishes after he meets Gillian (Lynn Redgrave), an astrologer whom he grows to love.
Helfgott's harrowing journey back from the verge of insanity, as well as his ultimate redemption through love, has made for riveting cinema, especially in Hicks' capable hands. The film never fails to be fascinating, even touching, though the director never stoops to weepy sentiments.
Also, with screenwriter Jan Sardi, Hicks manages to flash between past and present without becoming overly tricky or confus-ing, or worse, losing track of the message.
Of course, it helps that the film also has a bevy of brilliant performances, including those from Redgrave and Sir John Gielgud, who plays Helfgott's academy instructor. In an extremely difficult role, Mueller-Stahl is inhumanly cold and cruel yet manages to convey disappointment and hurt at times.
But the best is certainly Rush, who has already won acting awards from the New York Films Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association. He manages to be both charming and vulnerable, though much of his dialogue is muttered and nearly incomprehensible.
Don't be surprised if both Rush and "Shine" walk away with quite a few more awards.