Le Concert

Foreign, Dry Comedy
2.5 stars
Well, I liked the violin solo at the end… A disgraced former maestro (Alexei Guskov) for the Bolshoi Orchestra puts together a ragtag group of musicians to impersonate the Bolshoi for a performance in Paris to fulfill a lifelong dream. Russian and French with English subtitles. Co-starring is the talented Melanie Laurent of Inglorious Basterds as an esteemed violinist. Unfortunately I don’t know the history, but according to the film, Jews were being persecuted in Russia in 1980 and the maestro was disgraced because he had Jewish musicians in his orchestra. It’s a good premise, but I found myself stressed out by the disorganized Russians, the caper was improbable and I didn’t think it was funny. But I definitely liked the violin solo at the end.