Z/Web

Great first half, though without goals. Madrid possessed the ball but Leeds had the best chances. In the second half, Leeds continued the pressure, but it was Madrid who broke the deadlock. After a great save by Robinson on Figo’s shot, Hierro’s header beat him on the resulting corner kick. Minutes later, Raul got open alone and scored, leaving Leeds really in the pits. They fought hard, but to no avail. 2-0 Madrid.

Director: Francois Girard

An incredible, mesmerizing, and remarkable film. I’ll be honest and say I usually don’t like “art” films: even good ones tend to be ponderous and boring. Like brussel sprouts, they may be good for you, but they taste terrible.

This film held me captivated. I couldn’t stop watching, even for tonight’s Star Trek (don’t worry, I recorded it). I doubt it’s because I used to play the violin as a child: I hated practicing and grew to loath the instrument (though I can appreciate it when it’s played well). I must admit, however, the film inspired a curiosity in me: how would I be different if I hadn’t stopped playing?

This film is put together in a masterful fashion: we begin in the present at an auction where the Red Violin is about to go on sale. Then we switch to 17th century Italy where the master craftsman Nicolo Bussotti is making his finest violin in honor of his about-to-born son. Then we follow the violin’s life through 300 years and a half-dozen countries to the present day, at the auction. The film takes us to diverse places: Italy, Germany, England, China, Montreal, New York, each with their own language (subtitled, of course), and each with their own musical style (my favorite was the gypsy music). Periodically, the film switches to Bussotti’s wife, the expectant mother, as her fortune is being told by a tarot card reader, but we see that the future revealed is not hers or her son’s, but the violin’s. We also switch to the auction house. What’s amazing is that the director not only handles these switches with a deftness that brings increased power to the scenes, but he’s clever enough to overlap and vary them slightly, showing us identical scenes from different perspectives. It gives one the feeling that time is an ocean and we’re just drifting through it, hearing bits and glimpses of living history as we float past. The film is never boring: every time you think you know what’s going to happen, the film surprises you with little twists and turns. Gradually the film drifts into a modern forensic detective story as a violin scientist traces the history of the remarkable violin and attempts to verify its authenticity.

This film is as complex and varied as a symphony, with incredible violin music and performances (Pope’s solo is astonishing). It reveals a musician’s love for an instrument, a unique bond only musicians can truly understand. (The scenes with the young orphan, who sleeps with the precious Red Violin beside him, are incredibly touching.) This film encompasses myriad human emotions — grief, joy, wonder, lust, greed, hatred, and sacrifice — all through an inanimate object. By the end of the film, you’ll feel as I do, that the Red Violin is alive, and will outlive us all, and within it will forever live all the people it touched over the centuries.