So despite my very limited knowledge of music, my inability to comprehend how the same piece of music can be played in infinitely different perfect ways, and my complete lack of understanding as to how you can express emotion through music, I can still appreciate The Performance.
The four leads are not only convincing musically (although what would I know?) they are convincing emotionally. Sure, that’s what actors are supposed to do, and sure, a real quartet actually provided the soundtrack, but the actors spent months learning their instruments and in particular the pieces they needed to perform. If they hadn’t, the legitimacy of the musical performance would have impacted on their performances overall.
By (probably) nailing the music (facial expressions and all – is there nothing Philip Seymour Hoffman can’t do?), the emotions expressed by each actor as relationships grow, collapse and evolve (not necessarily in that order) seem that much more sincere.
And that’s how you review a film you know nothing about.
