Allegro
Allegro
| 30 September 2005 (USA)
Allegro Trailers

Famous pianist Zetterström returns home to his native Denmark, to give a concert, just to find out that the choices he has made in his life have affected his love life greatly.

Reviews
Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some
Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.
Eric M. Van There's a fine and potentially powerful sci-fi-as-metaphor idea at the heart of this film: the notion that the painful memories you wish to repress might be actually taken from you and placed somewhere ("The Zone," a la Tarkovsky's Stalker).The trouble is, the film is not told from the point of view of the protagonist. His emotional journey would have been powerful if the audience had been *asked to share it.* Why can't I remember more than ten years back? What happened ten years ago? What connection, if any, does my memory lapse have with the mysterious region in my former home city called "The Zone"? Who is the woman in this picture: might she be a lover I have somehow forgotten? Unfortunately, while all of these things are puzzling to our hero, the answers have already been spelled out for us, because the story has been told in a linear fashion, and is actually narrated by an omniscient voice who explains everything point-by-point, essentially before it has happened. This greatly reduces the movie's emotional impact: we are now a passive observer rather than an active participant.It is, in other words, the anti-Memento. I've long been championing the artistic cause of puzzle movies like that one, and Donnie Darko, Eternal Sunshine, and Upstream Color ... because real life is a puzzle that lacks an omniscient narrator. I wish Boe had trusted his audience much more and dared to tell this from the proper POV: that, and better casting of the female lead, would have made this an 8/10. As it is, it is worth seeing more as an argument in favor of more challenging narrative structures.
SEAL SAILOR Either a person who does not understand any bit from the film, or a person who has a personal antagonism against the director can write that sort of a comment. Sorry, but this is, definitely, not fair...Although the film is indeed has some progressive aspects, it cannot be evaluated as an "Art Cracked." Actually quite down-to earth story, and it is as real as anyone can face with a truth he/she had lost in his/her past as Zetterström is going through within the film.The "poor acting" critique is another issue. It is a part of the symbolism the director is using within film. (I don't want to tell here about the story.)The film is a must, not only for the ones within industry, but for anyone.
Tobias Lynge Herler (www.philm.dk) Don't hesitate: watch this rare Danish movie, it's anything but typical and a delightful twist of standards in the Danish movie trends of today."Allegro" has this unique story that surprises and wants more than just to amuse and please: this script is simply very well written and surely ends up like nothing you've seen before.This film is anything but boring and one of the highest recommended Danish feature films at the time being!Really challenging and far from typical Danish, great acting and many surprising twists.
Roger I don't understand how the previous reviewer could accuse this film of trying to be too mysterious and of being "overexplained"--these seem inconsistent to me. For my part, I found it straightforward and a bit didactic but I do think the psychological phenomena it pointed to are worth thinking about. Those who remember "Reconstruction" will find this exercise similar in style but less ambitious. It does have its flaws--for example, the devices used to attempt to generate suspense are not very effective. I would say this film succeeds more at getting those in the audience who are attuned to the questions it raises thinking than it does as pure entertainment.