I'm a man and I disliked the move. I don't know whether I disliked it more than The Piano Teacher but it is certain that Holly Hunter's indifferent, unlikable and unsympathetic character is on par with Isabelle Huppert's. I'm not going to write a review, there were many already. I found it more interesting to read the reviews and peruse their emotions.My own emotions evolved thus during the movie: 1. Wonderment; for the beautiful opening photography of powerful waves crashing on the virginal beach, the anticipation of tantamount protraction. 2. Bewilderment; why would anyone like to live in mud surrounded decrepit shacks with abiding rain? 3. Apprehension; for how unsympathetic the characters had become, and how indifferent I feel. 4. Repugnance; for the carnal affair devoid of love or tenderness, and demeaning and gratuitous nudity. 5. Loathing; for the movie's incoherence and unintelligibility, it's defiance of logic and for braking the opening promise, and most of all for the bad taste in my mouth when the movie credits started rolling on.The movie certainly elicits strong emotions. Women: "Men who did not like the movie are 19th century troglodytes who believe women's place is in the kitchen". Un inane and extraneous comment in itself. Men: "I wish Ada had drowned along with her piano". How strong must a person feel to wish for the heroine to be dead?Is it that that men cannot really understand women? Is it that that we are wrong thinking of women as ethereal beings in need of our love and protection?If what move portrays is what women dream of and fantasise about; men, how wrong we are in our strives in dating, and worse yet, marriage?

This is a movie about a million year old story in a 19th century New Zealand setting. The plot which is predictable and dull, progresses with a very slow pace and nothing really interesting happens. The dialogs are scarce... well, for the obvious reason. On the positive side, the cast is strong and acting is good. The annoyingly indirect narrative is one of an artsy crowd pleaser with full of symbolism, which pretentiously attempts to cover plot holes of the story turning around 3 unlikable characters and a kid who merely acts as a messenger. In all this travesty, Maori folks are used as a room decoration. Harvey Keitel strikes again baring his butts and genitals for no apparent purpose. This whole mess is certainly a good consumption material for the artsy fartsy crowd who'd go rapturous to tell how much handy-dandy this flick is and decipher its subliminal messages. In reality, it is downright a borefest, although a certain quality cannot be denied owing to the nice scenery.

With Sam Neill and Harvey Keitel, I was expecting to see one of the best movies ever. Each of them, alone, are reasons to see a movie, as they are amazing actors, usually involved with interesting if not thrilling films.This was not the case.The lead Character, Ada, is an annoying, weak creature, with almost no will of her own. Her life is left adrift to the wind, like a feather carried away. She stopped speaking, she had a child, now she is force-wed to a rich man, and none of these was her own choice. Throughout the film, almost nothing she does is her own choice. She can't speak, because she has nothing to say. She is an empty vessel, that happens to be a very good piano player, but by no means she could ever be considered an artist. There is nothing artistic in her lack of personality, her lack of character and her lack of strength. Art is all about the opposite, a triumph of will, expression and attitude, over the meaninglessness of human existence. The only thing that Ada shows is denial and refusal. She wouldn't even give in to Harvey Keitel's desire, but not because she doesn't want to. "Want" is an unknown word for her. That is, because all she can do is deny. She is driven to him by instinct, not by conscious decision. She is a weak, pathetic human being, that also stands against all values of female empowerment, and not only should she have drowned with her piano, but not have existed in the first place. Such characters are a disgrace for the human race, and only can be used as stepping stones for the forces of tyranny. On top of all that, she is accompanied by her even-more annoying, obnoxious daughter (although, a great performance by Anna Pacquin).Sam Neill's character makes no sense also. His attitude towards life is equally a submission to the slavery of non-free will. He marries a woman he doesn't know, and believes he is gonna love her, and she will love him back, and even though these could've been customs of those times - this suggestion doesn't make sense, even by neolithic standards. We are humans, and deep inside we all know what love is, no matter what social standards and fads of a certain era may try to force into us.So we're left with our "hero" being George Baines, a potential rapist. If I was a woman I'd be even more angry with this sexist, sentimental piece of garbage that tries to glorify victims, weakness and passiveness.Don't fall far this movie. We've grown out of this stuff as a species.

I don't understand some of the praise The Piano received. Holly Hunter's acting is not as good as I expected. She mostly keeps the same emotionless face throughout the movie, even in the two scenes where Ada certainly feels incredible pain. I don't see how challenging could it be for an actress to pull that off. Young Anna Paquin is good, but not as good as I thought she would be. She is adorable and does an accent and all, but not for a moment blew my mind.Some say this is feminist. Maybe it's because I'm a man and can't fully understand it, but watching the movie I thought my female feminist friends would feel offended by the screenplay. Ada is weak and allows awful things to happen to her - yes, she loves that piano and wants it back (you could never tell by Hunter's expressions), but maybe she should have been more "vocal" about it instead of becoming a prostitute. She hardly resists such disgusting proposals, even though she's not supposed to be perceived as a slut.Some say this is romantic and passionate. To me, it felt like a creepy story about a woman who falls in "love" with a disgusting man, and it reminded me of Stockholm syndrome. It worked a lot better in Beauty and the Beast. The Piano is a very unpleasant movie, and no eye candy could save it.