I’ve been a member of LoveFilm for some time now and - aside from the fact that the discs are damaged too frequently - I quite like it. My general approach so far has been to add a whole bunch of films I want to see and then browse the various lists people have made in order to add films that are similar in genre and taste.
Tonight I watched an enjoyable film called Shine which fell into this category of “browsed and randomly added cos they look good”. The blurb made it sound quite dark and heavy. And it was - although this was tempered towards the end by a pleasant (and cheese free) ending.
The main plot is about a boy/man who can play the piano. In a child prodigy sort of way. Unfortunately he deals with severe emotional distress brought about by a nurturing yet stifling father. What is interesting is that his madness (which is very well portrayed) is pretty benign. Aside from episodes of excess water, nakedness and attempted breast fondling (ok, well it’s better than being really violent) - he’s mostly calm with outbursts of harmless rapid fire speech.
As with Lars and the real girl - this is a story of tragic mental illness overcome (to some degree at least) by love. Unlike Lars, Shine is subtle and more is left to the viewer. Also unlike Lars, Shine is a true story.
Highly recommended viewing - particularly if you like classical music.