Watch The Concert For Free

Redundant and unnecessary.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I was apprehensive at the start of this movie, the language for instance, Russian, French, I don't really understand them so despite being used to reading subtitles it's always nice to understand the actual spoken language a bit. However, the movie will capture you in such a way this hurdle is easily overcome. It's funny, no, you won't laugh your socks off, but it's just funny at times. It's also mysterious as you will see things developing from which you want to know where it goes. It's a human story, taken from life as it's played as such, like if it's real, not acted. Watch it and be amazed, well worth the time.

I thought I could sum up my feelings about Le Concert by using a simple analogy: this film is sort of like your best friend who has a good heart, but sometimes does and says the wrong things. You know your friend always means well, and sometimes even delights you with a special treat, and so you continue to love him/her. Like that well meaning friend, Le Concert has some technical flaws, and at times doesn't seem to make sense, but this film absolutely has a heart of gold. Just look past the little flaws and take it for what it is: a feel-good film that will have you smiling at the end. That's what friends are for.

In Moscow, the former conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra Andrey Simonovich Filipov (Alexeï Guskov) is presently the janitor of the theater. Andrey felt in disgrace with the Communist Party thirty years ago for protecting the Jewish musicians and was no longer allowed to conduct an orchestra. One night, Andrey reads a just-received fax while cleaning the office of the Bolshoi's director Leonid Vinichenko (Valentin Teodosiu) and he hides the document. He learns that the Châtelet Theater in Paris has just invited the Bolshoi Orchestra to perform a concert in Paris within two weeks. Andrey shows the fax to his friend and musician Aleksandr 'Sasha' Abramovich Grosman (Dimitri Nazarov) that drives an ambulance and he decides to reunite fifty-five former musicians of Bolshoi to travel to Paris and perform The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He invites the Communist leader and former KGB Ivan Gavrilov (Valeri Barinov) to manage the orchestra and he requests the solo of the prominent musician Anne- Marie Jacquet (Mélanie Laurent) and to stay in Paris for three days. When they arrive in Paris, Andrey meets Anne-Marie while the musicians wander in the city, partying and raising money. The unprofessionalism of the Russian musicians forces Anne-Marie to call off the concert; but Sasha convinces her to come to the theater. Meanwhile Andrey grieves the incident with the violinist Lea thirty years ago and hides a secret from Anne-Marie. What is the connection between Andrey and Anne-Marie?"Le Concert" is a film not only for movie lovers, but mainly for music lovers. This dramatic comedy tells an adorable bitter-sweet story about losses and second chance in life through music, or better, the wonderful and awesome Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. The director Radu Mihaileanu, from "Train de Vie", once again plays with tragic situations, using a witty screenplay with charismatic characters and making laugh and cry out of joy. I have seen the sequence of the concert at least eight consecutive times, full of emotion and with tears in my eyes. This is one of the most beautiful and touching climax I have ever seen in a film.The cast is fantastic and Mélanie Laurent is awesome, giving credibility to her violin solo during the presentation. Last but not the least, this film should have been at least nominated to the Oscar. My vote is ten.Title (Brazil): "O Concerto" ("The Concert" – not available on DVD or Blu-Ray)Note: On 10 August 2011, I saw this outstanding film again on DVD.

I've wanted to see this ever since the Oscar nominations came out and I browsed the entries for BFF over breakfast - it caught my eye then as an appealing premise. I was rewarded finally on a transatlantic flight to the UK last Sunday. Though the screen was small, the noise suppression headset provided an audio banquet of delight and yes, I had several moments of laugh-out-loud appreciation for this highly-entertaining film. I've always been a sucker for Russian literature & music; I've long been amazed that some of the most powerfully impressive art has come from one of the harshest environments and span of history (indeed, I'm a third of the way thru The Brothers Karamazov right now and I haven't touched Dostoyevsky in 40 years, since high school). The movie is a balance of emotion - it touches and massages every one, with humor, sympathy, concern, disappointment, frustration, anxiety, and the music, always the music. Seeing a familiar face again (Ms. Laurent) was an unexpected bonus, and her appeal for me was the same I realize now as it was in Tarantino's film, as some unfortunate's daughter, and you can't help but desire for her comfort and happiness. Best movie of the year, so far. Oh, and I'm downloading the soundtrack now from Amazon.