Christopher Walken is back for his third movie this year. This is never a bad thing-especially when you have actors such as Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Imogen Poots backing him up. However, A Late Quartet-while featuring excellent performances from everyone in the cast including Mark Ivanir feels as if it has something missing. Throughout the film-it rubbed me the wrong way. Yes-Walken is perfect and Hoffman, Keener, Poots and Ivanir are all wonderful but all the characters just kind of sat there for me.
In the film-Walken plays Peter-a member of a quartet who has been diagnosed with Parkinson's. When he hears the news-he asks the other quartet members-married couple Robert and Juliette (Hoffman and Keener) and Daniel (Ivanir) to let them play one last farewell concert. Their loyalty towards one another is tested in varying ways,however. The most significant is Robert and Juliette's daughter, Alexandra (Poots) dating Daniel.
I think what the film needed was a more cohesive narrative. It bounced from one thing to the next without giving me anytime to soak in just how excellent the film was. Walken is bone chilling in his role. I do not mean he plays an unlikable character...I simply mean he is so good and churning out empathy from the audience that we start to get chills thinking about what is going to happen to him. Walken has always been a great actor but not since 2002's Catch Me If You Can has he proven to be a great serious actor. Hoffman and Keener have great chemistry and give us a complex story that may have gone by a bit too fast to completely understand. I hate to sound cynical or snobby here-it is simply my opinion. Ivanir and Poots feel good together and both give off excellent individual performances but it felt as if they really shouldn't have been on screen together that much. The film is obviously passionately about its subject and earns respect for that but it feels as if first time writer and director Yaron Zilberman along with co-writer Seth Grossman let the movie flounder too much.
For the performances alone I will have to recommend A Late Quartet. I did not find it to be a great film by any means but it certain does feature people who know what they are doing. Walken is as good as ever (and that's coming from a guy whose favorite actor is Walken) and the rest of the cast bring their a-game. Just don't go in expecting any great shakes and you should be fine.
(3 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language and some sexuality)
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