Shine

Saw Shine, a biopic about David Helfgott, a piano prodegy as a child who grew up to win recognition and fame before burning out and losing his mind. The film starts in his childhood, under the thumb of his domineering and controlling father, a Polish Jew with a long burn mark on his forearm from when he "got too close to the fire poker." His father is proud of his gift but demands perfection, that he must win every competition. When scholarships from foreign schools start coming in, the father forbids him from leaving the house. It's realistic and scary, but not monstrous.

Throughout the film, the Rachmaninoff piano concerto no 3 is held up as the ultimate piano piece. His early teachers beg his father not to subject him to the "Rach 3" as they call it. When David finally does attempt it, he snaps. From a life of extreme inhibition, he loses all of his inhibitions, running nude through parks and blathering endlessly in little jokey circles. He's mad, but charming, but really quite nuts. He bounces from music-lover to music-lover, each getting frustrated by having to take care of a man-sized person with the mind of a child. This is a feel-good sort of film, so things turn out okay, but it's many a twist and turn getting there.

This dude is portrayed as a mad genius, his genius held in check only by his madness. The film has many a twist and turn as David's fortunes rise and fall, poetically nonsense-ified by his ramblings. The film is sweet ultimately, and full of lush, gorgeous, beautiful music, powerful enough to drive a man mad.