Product Description

SHINE IS THE COMPELLING AND POIGNANT STORY OF A YOUNG MAN WHO DEFIES HIS FATHER'S WISHES IN ORDER OT PURSUE HIS DREAMS. BOTH THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND POWERFUL, IT TELLS A STORY OF REBELLION AND OF INDIVIDUALITY THROUGH THE EYES OF A PIANIST WHOSE ONLY FORM OF SELF EXPRESSION IS FOUND IN THE KEYS OF HIS INSTRUMENT.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9588 in DVD
• Brand: NEW LINE HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 1997-07-16
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
This tearjerker by Australian filmmaker Scott Hicks is a surprising story about real-life classical pianist David Helfgott, an Australian who rose to international prominence at a very young age in the 1950s and '60s, and suffered a psychological collapse after enduring years of abuse from his father (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Hicks has three very fine actors portraying Helfgott at different stages of his life, including the adorably wry and goofy Noah Taylor (Flirting), who takes up the character's teen years, and Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush, giving a great performance playing the musician as a schizophrenic adult. Despite the Helfgotts' compromised psychological health, Shine is hardly a depressing experience. If anything, the story is really about how long one person's life can take to make glorious sense of itself. Sir John Gielgud, in golden form, plays Helfgott's teacher. The DVD release presents the film in its widescreen format, and also includes a Q&A with director Hicks and Rush's Golden Globes acceptance speech. --Tom Keogh