Shine (1996)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerThe story is told masterfully and fluidly. The amount of stunning moments is astounding along with the powerful and heartfelt ending. The story is powerful and moving in a very inspired way. The "Fall or Break Down" sequence is astounding. Geoffrey Rush, Noah Taylor, and Armin Mueller Stahl all do outstanding jobs. Stahl portrays his character perfectly. Geoffrey Rush plays the part of a mentally broken down man in search for reassurance. Rush performs perfectly.The pacing in the beginning is a little slow but it is intended to build up the characters. The runtime is also a little bit long.Pros: Touching and powerful story, great ending, amazing acting, the break down sequence, and Geoffrey Rush's performanceCons: Some slow pacing and an overlong runtimeOverall Rating: 8.5

This is a marvelous bio-pic of a man who suffers throughout life for his art. David Helfgott, an Australian, is a wunderkind pianist who is abused and betrayed by his father, and robbed of his childhood. It is sort of the classic smothering that takes place when a sensitive artist loses his soul for a time. Eventually, Helfgott gets to perform but finds himself immersed in schizophrenia and mental illness for years. The world lost him for a time. But there's more to the story. Geoffrey Rush, whom I had never heard of at the time, is brilliant as the damaged artist. He expresses the deep depression of the character and his genius. The film is able to show the darkness of the soul through its cinematography. The film is inspiring but only because of its portrayal of pain

Shine is a very famous movie here in South Australia because it was made by one of our own about one of our own. If it wasn't that this movie made a big impact in the States, earning it some academy awards, it would have sunk into obscurity. As it did go well in America, we begin to raise it to a level that it cannot really hold. Shine is a good movie, I agree with that, and yes it does deserve Academy awards, especially for the actor who played the adult David Helfgott, but I feel that us South Australians have made too much out of this movie.Shine is about David Helfgott, a child prodigy with the piano. He was taught by his father and blitzed the competitions when he was young. He was thus offered tuitions and even given the chance to train in America. Unfortunately his father would not let him. Later he is given a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London, and he goes against his father's wishes and travels to London to learn. His desire to please his father leads him to perform one of the hardest pieces ever written and he ends up having a nervous breakdown which leaves him scarred for the rest of his life.The movie is about his life, but it seems that Hicks wanted to place an importance on David's relationship with his father. This should be the central point of the story. He plays the piece that his father wanted him to play and almost killed himself in the process; the movie finishes with his father's death, yet in the later part of the movie his father, and the relationship with him seems to take a back seat. There is only so much that one can do when one is creating a biography though, yet we can see that his father did have an enormous impact on his life.I call David Helfgott's father Mr Insecurity because that is what he seems to be in the movie. His major goal is the preservation of his family yet the harder he tries to stick it together the further he pushes it apart. When he sees the children beginning to fight over a letter from David's host parents to be in America, he decides that he does not want David to go. This is not the beginning as you can see his displeasure from father go further back. He dislikes the upper class company that David will no doubt start keeping and fears that he will reject his father, who is from the poorer side of society. His father knows his status and is scared that he will loose his son, but he manifests his fears when David demands to go to London, and his father lashes out and disowns his child. Thus instead of keeping the family together, he tears it apart even further.Shine, I think, is an average movie. It does deal with real people going through real things, and Scott Hicks definitely has a talent in creating movies, but I do not think that this movie is really worth all of the praise that people gave it. The only reason it is praised because it is a movie filmed in South Australia that made it to Hollywood.

This is one of top 5 films I ever see. Story is very strong and performances are for 20. First time I watch this movie I just keep sitting after for 10 minutes and wonder... THIS IS ABSOLUTE MUST SEE MOVIE. Geoffrey Rush is brilliant and this part is how you say made for him. There is a thin line between genius and laugh but Geoffrey is made it. The best scene is David playing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #3 - Helfgott's own recording of the piece is used - and the aftermath. I do not prefer this kind of music - but after the movie I got myself humming Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #3.Geoffrey Rush got an Oscar for this performance