Contents

1996




Shine (1996)  
 
Directed by 
Scott Hicks    
  
Writing credits 
Scott Hicks   (story) 

 
Jan Sardi    
  
Cast (in credits order) verified as complete  
Geoffrey Rush ....  David Helfgott (adult)  
Justin Braine ....  Tony  
Sonia Todd ....  Sylvia  
Chris Haywood ....  Sam  
Alex Rafalowicz ....  David Helfgott (child)  
Gordon Poole ....  Eisteddfod Presenter  
Armin Mueller-Stahl ....  Peter (David's father)  
Nicholas Bell ....  Ben Rosen  
Danielle Cox ....  Suzie as a child  
Rebecca Gooden ....  Margaret  
Marta Kaczmarek ....  Rachel  
John Cousins ....  Jim Minogue  
Noah Taylor ....  David Helfgott (adolescent)  
Paul Linkson ....  State Champion Announcer  
Randall Berger ....  Isaac Stern  
Ian Welbourn ....  Boy Next Door  
Kelly Bottrill ....  Louise as a baby  
Beverley Vaughan ....  Rabbi  
Phyllis Burford ....  Synagogue Secretary  
Daphne Grey ....  Society Hostess  
Edwin Hodgeman ....  Soviet Society Secretary  
Googie Withers ....  Katharine Susannah Prichard  
Maria Dafnero ....  Sonia  
Reis Porter ....  Postman  
Stephen Sheehan ....  Roger Woodward (younger)  
Brenton Whittle ....  Announcer  
Marianna Doherty ....  Suzie as a teenager  
Camilla James ....  Louise as a child  
John Gielgud ....  Cecil Parkes  
David King ....  Viney  
Danny Davies ....  Registrar  
Helen Dowell ....  Sarah  
Louise Dorling ....  Muriel  
Sean Carlsen ....  Student  
Richard Hansell ....  Ashley  
Robert Hands ....  Robert  
Marc Warren (I) ....  Ray  
Neil Thomson (I) ....  RCOM Conductor  
Joey Kennedy ....  Suzie as an adult  
Ellen Cressey ....  Nurse  
Beverley Dunn ....  Beryl Ascott  
Andy Seymour ....  Bar Customer  
Lynn Redgrave ....  Gillian Helfgott  
Ella Scott Lynch ....  Jessica  
Jethro Heysen-Hicks ....  Rowan  
John Martin (V) ....  Roger Woodward (older)  
Bill Boyley ....  Celebrant  
Teresa La Rocca ....  Opera singer  
Lindsey Day ....  Opera singer  
Grant Doyle ....  Opera singer  
Leah Jennings ....  Musician  
Kathy Monaghan ....  Musician  
Mark Lawrence (II) ....  Musician  
Gordon Coombes ....  Musician  
Luke Dollman ....  Musician  
Margaret Stone ....  Musician  
Tom Carrig ....  Musician  
Helen Ayres ....  Musician  
Suzi Jarratt ....  Vocalist  
Samantha McDonald ....  Vocalist  
  
Produced by 
Jane Scott (I)    
  
Original music by 
David Hirschfelder    
  
Additional music by 
Frédéric Chopin    
Franz Liszt    
Sergei Rachmaninov    
Ludwig van Beethoven    
  
Cinematography by 
Geoffrey Simpson    
  
Film Editing by 
Philippa Karmel   (as Pip Karmel)  
  
Production Design by 
Vicki Niehus    
  
Art Direction 
Tony Cronin    
  
Costume Design by 
Louise Wakefield    
  
Makeup Department 
Lesley Vanderwalt ....  makeup artist  
Paul Williams (VI) ....  hair stylist  
  
Production Management 
Elizabeth Symes ....  production manager  
  
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director 
Guy Campbell ....  second assistant director  
Carolynne Cunningham ....  first assistant director  
Henry Osborne ....  second assistant director  
Tom Read ....  third assistant director  
  
Sound Department 
Martin Bayley ....  assistant sound editor  
Jim Greenhorn ....  sound mixer: UK  
Toivo Lember ....  sound recordist  
Livia Ruzic ....  dialogue editor  
Roger Savage ....  sound re-recording mixer  
Gareth Vanderhope ....  sound editor  
  
Special Effects 
Ray Fowler ....  special effects  
  
Stunts 
Richard Boué ....  stunt co-ordinator  
  
Other crew 
Jon Blaikie ....  action vehicles  
Maurice Burns ....  location manager  
Martin Cousin ....  hand double for Noah Taylor  
John Donoghue ....  gaffer  
Sally Eccleston ....  focus puller  
Ricky Edwards ....  assistant musical director
conductor  
Mark Ellis (IV) ....  assistant editor  
Sam Garwood ....  steadicam operator
steadicam focus puller  
Serena Gattuso ....  production co-ordinator  
Kerry Heysen ....  creative consultant  
Scott Heysen ....  production runner  
Sharon Howard-Field ....  casting: USA  
Philip Le Masurier ....  special photographer (uncredited)  
Karen Lindsay-Stewart ....  casting: UK  
Andrew Marshall (III) ....  unit manager  
Adam McCulloch ....  draftsman  
Heather Muirhead ....  production secretary  
Liz Mullinar ....  casting australia)  
Jan Pester ....  steadicam operator  
Geoffrey Simpson ....  camera operator  
Simon Tedeschi ....  hand double for Alex Rafalowicz  
Jo Weeks ....  continuity  
 
   

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                                 SHINE
                       A film review by Steve Rhodes
                        Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****):  *** 1/2

It widely acknowledged that there is a fine line between genius and madness. Less well recognized is the narrow separation between a father's obsessive love and an abusive domination. SHINE is a true story of an Australian piano prodigy that examines this border between brilliance and insanity and between protection and suffocation. With some incredible performances, expect to see this movie on many best of the year lists.

As the story opens, we see an apparently homeless person, David Helfgott (Geoffrey Rush), babbling nonsense in the rain. His manic speech pattern has the cadence of an auctioneer, and his sentences sound like gibberish. As he does throughout his adult life, he smokes a cigarette rain or shine, even while jogging to get fresh air.

The story is told in a long series of flashbacks. The first is to David (Alex Rafalowicz) at about age seven playing in a piano contest. He loses, but one of the judges, Ben Rosen (Nicholas Bell), offers to tutor him.

You see David has never had a lesson other than from his autocratic and stubborn father, Peter (Armin Mueller-Stahl from THE MUSIC BOX). His father is self taught and proud of it. His children can learn music and become stars without help from the outside. He can teach them everything they need to know.

The sets by Vicki Niehus capture well the poverty of the Helfgott (means Help God) family. They live in a house with a corrugated aluminum exterior and a peeling paint interior. Rosen, in contrast, has a huge white house with verandas on every side and every floor.

When David (Noah Taylor from FLIRTING) becomes an adolescent, he is offered a place at a great music school in the US by Isaac Stern (Randall Berger). As Stern puts it, "America. You know, land of the free, home of the brave. You know, Mickey Mouse." But, it is not to be.

David's father runs the household with an iron glove. He does it as a protective mechanism since he is a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust. Peter's violin had been smashed by his father. Peter abuses David, and one can assume that his father probably abused him. Most of Peter's abuse of his family is mental, but he does hit David some. He alternates behind hugging and telling him how much he loves him, and trying to toughen him up. Peter cautions his son, "In this world only the strong survive. The weak get crushed like insects."

The film has three great performances. Rush will probably draw the most praise, but I was just as impressed by Mueller-Stahl and Taylor. The effect that Peter has on David is devastating and almost terminal, but you will find yourself feeling sorry for Peter as well. He can barely cope with the world, and life has not been kind to him. In most films, when the father terrorizes the son this much, the audience instantly hates the villain father. Here it is much more complex. The script by Jan Sardi and the directing by Scott Hicks never go for the cheap thrills or easy put-downs. This is not a documentary, but it has a documentary's inherent authenticity.

Eventually, David gets a scholarship and goes to the Royal College in England. There he is trained by Cecil Parkes (John Gielgud), and there he finally plays the almost impossible Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, known as Rack 3 to pianists. His father tried to force it on him at age seven.

The concert at the Royal College, where he plays the Rack 3, is the centerpiece of the film. The cinematography by Geoffrey Simpson (LITTLE WOMEN) is at its best here. Watch how David's hair is backlit so that you can see the sweat pouring off of every hair follicle. Simpson uses a blend of speeds which the editor (Philippa Karmel) then combines into a montage that leaves the viewer as exhausted as David.

At a certain point, David's brain snaps. It is easy to understand some of the possible reasons. After electroshock therapy he becomes little more that a curiosity back in Australia. Like an animal at a circus side show, he plays to amuse the crowds at restaurants. They get a kick out of seeing a guy who appears crazy being able to play such lovely and difficult classical music.

As could only happen in a true life story, there is an astrologer named Gillian (Lynn Redgrave) who shows up. Although engaged, she ditches her fiance to marry David. If it weren't real, this part would have been ludicrous.

There is much to admire in SHINE, but its beauty has to be seen and heard. The piano music in the film is played by the real life David Helfgott, and it is sublime. Words can not adequately convey this moving tale. Scott Hicks could have approached this story as a morose tragedy. Instead he has us look David in the eye and see his humanity and his gift. An uplifting story of a person who learns how to cope with the brutalities of his existence, and if not thrive, at least survive. He goes from being a sane but unhappy child to being an insane but finally happy adult.

SHINE runs 1:45. It is rated PG-13. There is some rear male nudity, very brief sex, and the violence of hitting. There is no bad language. Given its frank treatment of child abuse, I would suggest the film is for kids only say eleven and up. I recommend the picture strongly and give it *** 1/2.


**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: December 17, 1996

Have I Seen This Movie: Yes
And What Did I Think?: Shine is an appropriate name for this film because it really does shine from an amazing performance by Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush. He portrays real-life pianist David Helfgott who is a genius at playing the piano but suffers a breakdown after he is driven by his father and teachers. He spends a few years in a mental institution and then tries to get his life back together by returning to the one true thing he loves, playing the piano. He starts by playing piano in a bar and eventually returns to the concert hall. There are some great perfomances in this movie, most notably Geoffrey Rush who received both an Oscar and a Golden Globe award, among others as well. Also Noah Taylor, who plays David in his teenage years gives a great performance too. In addition to Rush's and Taylor's perforance, Armin Mueller-Stahl gives a stirring performance as David's abusive father who beats him. He wants nothing to seperate his family and denies David from leaving home to study music. Once David decides to go anyway, his father disowns him. This deeply affects David and is key to driving him to his breakdown. John Gielgud plays David's music teacher at college and also partly contributes by pushing David too hard. The first part of the movie has a lot to offer with the relationship between David and his father. However, the second part of the movie which involves David's relationship with Gillian, played by Lyn Redgrave is kind of rushed and we don't see much passion between the two, and we are left wondering what exactly Gillian sees in David. However it is rather amusing to see David's ecentric behavior here which Geoffrey Rush does brilliantly. Shine is defintely worth watching if you want to see a funny, smart drama and to see the true genius of David Helfgott.

I give Shine 4 out of 5 stars

Review written January 11, 2000

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