The Piano Teacher, 2001

I have sat all the way through a lot of difficult and demanding movies, but something worried me quickly when this movie started, and my concern increased when the main character, a woman approaching middle age, climbs into bed for the evening with her harpy, neurotic mother. The situation turned hopeless as far as I was concerned when a short while later the younger character walks into a pornographic-movie arcade's private viewing booth. The moment she started to appreciatively sniff at the rancid aromas left around her in there, I said, OK, this may be based on a novel by a Nobel-prize winning author, but it simply is not for me! I turned it off -- something I almost never do, having a sort of dedication to give all serious (and even not-so-serious) art a full chance to demonstrate itself. Therefore I do not want to give it any stars at all, not even the one-star "hate it" rating. Instead, I want to give it the slash-in-the-circle "not interested" rating. (The computer won't let me write a comment if I give it "not interested," so it gets the single star.) This may be satisfying stuff to someone else; I think I am becoming a youngish old-fogey, and am starting to value the time remaining to me differently than I used to! For adult-child/parent movies, try "The Subject Was Roses" -- or even the less great "The Effect of Gamma Rays." I have not seen "'night Mother" but have heard interesting things about it. If it is the degrading sex-thrill of screwed-up pathological neurotics you seek, minus leavening humor or wit, that's perhaps a choice here (like I say, I didn't watch much of it). Why not try (the original) "Swept Away" if you seek a serious mismatch situation that is not ultimately merely about human self-cancellation? OK -- enough of this; go watch whatever you want! 9.08

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