Saturday, December 14, 2019

The Song of Names











As evidenced in The Red Violin, Director François Girard is a master at crafting mysteries that happen over several years.

In The Song of Names, he tracks the disappearance of Dovidl Rappaport (Jonah Hauer-King), a young Polish Jewish virtuoso violinist, the night he is to make his professional debut in London, six years after the end of World War II. 
 
Martin Simmonds (Tim Roth), Dovidl’s surrogate brother from the family with whom the young boy from Warsaw lived for a dozen years, while he studied his craft, has been haunted with the why and how his best friend vanished.  It’s 35 years later that he discovers Dovidl (Clive Owen) may still be alive and goes on a multi-country search for him.


Editor Michel Arcand artfully weaves this poignant story back and forth through the years and the best part of the film is the ultimate reveal of the meaning of its title.  It’s simply beautiful and unforgettable.

I give The Song of Names a 4.1 out of 5.

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