The Piano

Jane Campion's intense and intimate 1993 story of a mute Scottish woman named Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), who is essentially sold into marriage to New Zealand landowner Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neill) on an isolated island, is a period costume drama gone native. Ada is a single mother (a very young Anna Paquin, in her feature debut, plays her precocious daughter) who—in a way—speaks through the piano she has brought with her from home. After her emotionally barren husband—who strives to maintain European decorum in this jungle—abandons the piano to the wilds (a sign of how little respect he has for Ada), the couple's rough-hewn neighbor, George Baines (Harvey Keitel), buys it. Baines, with his face tattooed in the manner of the natives, is a European who has embraced the local Maori lifestyle, but he desires Ada and offers to trade the piano to her in exchange for sexual favors, to put it bluntly. But there are grave consequences to this illicit relationship. An earthy, erotic story full of passion, jealousy, and anger, The Piano won three Academy Awards (for Hunter as Best Actress, Paquin as Best Supporting Actress, and Campion for Best Original Screenplay) out of eight nominations, including Best Picture. Bowing on Blu-ray, this is highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)