Though it seems almost cruel that Aznavour never sings in the film, he most poignantly conveys profound sadness-stemming from a crazy family, betrayal, loss and squashed hope-during those moments when he never opens his mouth. The homage, of course, is invigorated by the New Waver’s own flourishes, like Boby Lapointe’s bouncy performance of “Framboise” at Charlie’s bar.Īnd then there’s that tiny piano man. Truffaut said that Shoot the Piano Player was made in reaction to The Four Hundred Blows, which he deemed “so French,” adding that he “needed to show that I had been influenced by American cinema.” An adaptation of David Goodis’s 1956 novel, Down There, this film more than nods to noir: Charlie is on the lam because he killed in self-defense his kid brother, Fido (curly-haired wild child Richard Kanayan), has been kidnapped by two nitwits cheated out of a deal by Charlie and Fido’s thug siblings Charlie’s new steady, Léna (Dubois), is a devoted dame. A Berkshire Theater Festival presentation of a play in two acts by Richard. The slight singer-songwriter, playing Charlie, an ivory-tickler at a dive who abandoned his career as a famous concert pianist after a family tragedy, may not be as indelibly associated with Truffaut as Jean-Pierre Léaud’s Antoine Doinel, but he’s just as heartbreaking. Shoot the Piano Player (DRAMA LARRY VABER STAGE, UNICORN THEATER 122 SEATS 18 TOP) Production: STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. Often overlooked, Truffaut’s wonderful second film-sandwiched between art-house evergreens The Four Hundred Blows and Jules and Jim-stars Charles Aznavour, master of the chanson, in his only collaboration with the director.
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