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Allegro (2005)

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From Time Out London

Christoffer Boe’s ‘Reconstruction’ was a visually striking, highly imaginative first feature, a little flashy in a calling-card kind of way but refreshing in its readiness to provoke reflection on love’s complexity. This follow-up takes a similar tack in introducing us – first by way of a narrated animated prologue, then through live-action drama – to Zetterstrøm, a solitary lad whose consoling love of music leads to a somewhat perfectionist determination to make it as a concert pianist. This he succeeds in, but so accustomed is the adult Zetterstrøm (Ulrich Thomsen) to feeling lonely that he’s barely able to accept the affection bestowed on him by the beautiful Andrea (Helena Christensen) after a fateful encounter in Copenhagen’s dark, but far from mean streets. Then, suddenly, she’s gone from his life, and he decides – again successfully – to forget about her and pursue a career abroad. Trouble is, his memories remain in the Danish capital, in a newly and mysteriously blocked-off area that the authorities simply designate The Zone…

Cautionary fable meets science-fiction, then, as, a decade later, the pianist is pulled home by the film’s initially unseen narrator, who reckons the now unwittingly amnesiac musician should confront his past; for one thing, his technically faultless playing might improve. But it’s not just Zetterstrøm’s expertise that’s a bit cold: for all the movie’s fundamentally romantic observations on the need for openness and trust, you can’t help feeling it’s the Bach on the soundtrack providing the emotional underpinnings. Still, the film looks great, there are moments of engagingly absurd, bone-dry humour, and it’s all brisk and brief enough never to outstay its welcome. Inventive, entertaining and pleasingly bold.

Author: Geoff Andrew

Time Out London Issue 1882: September 13-20 2006

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