Grand Piano

A classical piano star literally plays for his life in Spanish director Eugenio Mira's entertaining (if also implausible) thriller. After a five-year hiatus, Tom Selznick (Elijah Wood) returns to Chicago for a concert, during which he will play his late mentor's piano. Tom's last performance didn't go well, so he's worried about choking, but the conductor (Don McManus) points out that the program is so complicated most audience members won't notice a mistake or two (even so, it seems unrealistic that Tom would perform without rehearsing with the orchestra beforehand). While he prepares, Tom's actress wife, Emma (Kerry Bishé), and her friends (Tamsin Egerton and Allen Leech) arrive to see the show. When he begins to perform, Tom notices messages on the sheet music threatening him with death if he plays one wrong note, so he leaves the stage during the breaks, which arouses the audience's attention, although not their alarm. In his dressing room, Tom receives a cell phone message to put on an earpiece which enables instructions from Clem (voiced by John Cusack), who also threatens to kill Emma. In its reliance on the architecture of a performance hall, Grand Piano recalls Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, and while the script grows increasingly more ludicrous, deft cross-cutting and smart pacing keeps it humming along. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include interviews with director Eugenio Mira and star Elijah Wood (35 min.), a “making-of” featurette (17 min.), a “Coaches” featurette on music training (5 min.), a “Following Eugenio” segment (5 min.), “Wayne's Shot” on a scene (5 min.), an ASX TV featurette (3 min.), as well as production segments on the soundtrack (4 min.), stunts (4 min.), and visual effects (4 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an implausible but often engaging thriller.] (K. Fennessy)