Stars:
Robbie Kay, Monika Schurmann, Nina DobrevStoryline
Middle aged Jakob Beer reflects on his life, this reflection which is all consuming. He is a Polish born and raised Jew. When he was an adolescent, his parents were shot dead and his sister Bella hauled away by the Nazis during World War II. Jakob witnessed these events from a hideout in their home. Running away, Jakob was found by Athos Roussos, a Greek national working on an archaeological project in Poland. Athos managed to smuggle Jakob out of Poland back to his native Greece. A few years later, Athos and Jakob moved to Canada where Athos began work as a teacher. Jakob has continual dreams about Bella, especially her piano playing but never knew Bella's ultimate fate. Jakob's reflections, especially the emotions stemming from his thoughts, lead to him becoming a writer of a successful book. His marriage to his first wife Alex, an outgoing and upbeat woman, fails because he can't get out of the somberness connected to his past at this time of his life. It isn't until he comes to ...
User Reviews
Very well made and moving film if at times unevenFugitive Pieces had a
fair bit to live up to. There is a great deal of talent in the cast and
the book is incredible, one of the best I've ever read actually. The
film may lack the emotional punch and dramatic thrust that the book had
but neither does it disgrace it. The book is a very difficult one to
adapt(almost unfilmable actually) and the film did so laudably, any film
or series that tries to adapt difficult to adapt should be applauded
for trying even if they don't entirely succeed.
The film does get
too wordy at times, the narration is well written and sticks quite
faithfully to the tone of the prose of the book but does over-explain
too and takes one out of the film, this was a case of the film
benefiting more by more show and less tell, as well as having a jumpy
nature. The scenes where Jakob is an adult don't make the same impact of
the scenes where he is a child, some of the scenes drag with the scenes
between Jakob and Alex coming over as a little dull and flatly
written(though well acted by Stephen Dillane and Rosamund Pike), and the
narrative structure can be a bit jumpy and confused. And the alternate
ending didn't work for me with that of the book being much more tonally
fitting and powerful, the film's less downbeat one felt out of kilter
and abrupt in how it deals with the characters' fates, almost like the
writers weren't sure how to end it.
Fugitive Pieces on the other
hand is very well made, it's gorgeously shot and the scenery and such
are evocatively done, especially in the scenes with Jakob as a child.
The music score is suitably elegiac, the direction is appropriately
nuanced and although uneven the script has some truly memorable lines
and in keeping with the stoic and sombre if very poetic nature of the
book. The story's also uneven but mostly effectively paced and while I
said that the book had more emotional punch and dramatic thrust that
doesn't mean that the film is devoid of those qualities, the war scenes
with Jakob as a child are incredibly harrowing and poignant. The acting
is very good from all involved with the most impressive being Robbie Kay
in one of the best child performances personally ever seen- playing the
role with so much heart- and Rade Serbedzija who is gruff but sincere. I
appreciated the subtlety of Stephen Dillane's performance, Nina Dobrev
is charming and Ayelet Zurer is compassionate and heartfelt. Rosamund
Pike is more than just eye candy, she does bring life and spark despite
the writing lacking lustre in her scenes with Dillane and the role being
a little thankless and vastly improved over the somewhat shallow and
unlikeable Alex in the book.
Overall, uneven and doesn't completely succeed, but very well-made, well-acted and moving, worth seeing. 7/10 Bethany Cox
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