PERFORMANCE

The best way to describe ‘Performance’ in a horribly ineloquent yet completely apt way is this: I just don’t buy it. The film tries to convince its audience that these four people have rehearsed, played, lived, travelled and even fallen in love together for 25 years, and yet they don’t seem to know each other at all. They display outright resentment, and each person is willing to throw their entire history together away all too easily.

The music is rich, beautiful and used well throughout. The supremely talented cast do what they do best and leave you thankful for finally being introduced to the wonder that is Mark Ivanir, but the story’s depth is a farce - we’re coming in right at the end, when in actual fact it’s the 25 years that lead up to this point in time that’s the real story, robbing the film of that tension and rich history, leaving it feeling superficial and fake.

The tool of using Opus 131 to parallel the story is interesting and even brilliant if you follow classical music - but how many people can truly say that and actually pick the distinction? So instead of this being a quiet nod and undertone to the film, its frequently and quite literally referenced throughout, causing it to become trite and quickly lose its appeal.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s good stuff here, it’s just simply not great - but worth a look for music lovers who want to peer behind the velvet curtain of a practicing New York quartet.