Popular reviews

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  Review by Robert Prather ★★★★½

  A tear jerker for sure. I watched this in support of my local art house theater The Hippodrome in Gainesville, FL.  I’m so glad they selected this film as part of their virtual cinema.  Probably Jews and Arabs will both find it controversial. But I think this film is built on love and hope for a better future.  With some nods to obvious cinematic tropes (i.e. Romeo & Juliet) it does a good job of making you care about the characters even though you don’t get to know much about many of them at all. It’s worth a watch all the way to the final musical piece. If you don’t cry at the end do you have a heart?

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  Review by Karl-Ludwig Gumbel

  Oh for f's sake. My fondness for classical music and orchestras lulled me into giving this German production a chance and i once again regret not listening to my instincts. This movie thinks it is a great ambassador of peace and understanding, a meaningful work of art that has things to do. But in fact it is just a collection of amateurish tropes. We have a colossal white savior, showing young people that their history of war and hate can be overcome by three weeks of group therapy and a an inspirational story. We have a completely forced and predictable Romeo an Juliet subplot, leading to a scene (lets call it the "deer in the headlights" scene) that is so…

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  Review by Omar Franini ★★

  Heartland International Film Festival 2020

  Peter Simonischek, the veteran German actor mostly known for the titular role in Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann, is by far the best element of Crescendo, and his portrayal of the conductor rises above the limitations of the script. The actor brings a lot of charm and warmth to the character and portrays him as a strict yet tender person who is willing to do anything for the concert and for the young musicians’ sake. Simonischek is also quite effective and moving in showing the doubts and the past surrounding his character, but once again the movie fails to explore this in detail.

  FULL REVIEW ON CLAPPER 

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  Review by SaintPauly ★★

  Like me in high school: pretentious and aggressively melodramatic, though it turns out all right in the end.

  This Romeo and Juliet romance between a young Israeli woman and a young Palestinian man at the rehearsals of a classical music Concert for Peace is so over the top you'll feel a little air sick, though it comes down to earth in the 3rd act.

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  Review by Tsai_Hsiao_Sung ★

  「2021 府中放映。以巴衝突。古典音樂跟衝突噪音的感官互斥、情緒渲染。離開烏托邦的感傷。這兩處還可以。交響樂大師指導音樂的心力少，大多時間都在兼任人生導師、搞社會實驗跟心理治療。節奏拖沓，幾乎是讓人走進精神時間屋。表演痕跡太重，粗糙、直接到讓人困惑，對白不順。看得很累。拿手機自拍犯蠢的舉動，讓我想到坐在小板凳上看莒光園地宣教影片的好時光。Boléro，可能有好的立意，但不夠好。」──2021.01.19

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  Review by joshrowley ★★★★

  Beautiful; bold; honest; hopeful; important; musical; tragic; underdeveloped; well-acted; well-crafted.

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  Review by dets77 ★★

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  Regina Palast 18.01.2020 20Uhr

  Eine Film über eine Utopie oder das Unmögliche möglich zu machen....
  Einige palästinensische und israelische Musiker sollen zusammen ein gemeinsames Konzert zu Friedensverhandlungen geben und werden dabei begleitet....
  Jeder dieser Menschen hat seine "Verletzungen" und diese stehen permanent diesem Ziel entgegen...
  Ich sehe das "ehrenhafte" Bestreben das dieser Film dazu beitragen will, das sich daran etwas ändert...aber für mich gelingt das eher weniger, nur die Liebe zwischen einem palästinensischen Musiker und einer israelischen Musikerin läßt kurz Hoffnung aufblitzen, die aber durch einen unglücklichen Unfall aber wieder erlischt...., aber zumindest haben diese beiden Figuren etwas mehr Tiefe, als die meisten Menschen dieses "Projektes"....
  In vielen Momenten sehe ich oft nur oberflächliche Gesten ...., wobei die "größte" in…

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  Review by Pablo Elfaro ★★★

  The concept was amazing but the pacing sucked. 

  The ending could’ve been stronger, it was warming but it didn’t have the impact a movie with this idea should’ve had. Still it was good and some bits were interesting to see, but meh. 

  Liked the music and the characters, liked the dynamics and all but idk it’s like something was missing and at the same time there was too much of something else, I guess too much talking and not that much impact.

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  Review by eitanwoco ★★½

  La música no puede terminar un conflicto generacional entre Palestinos e Israelís, y al parecer tampoco puede generar un desarrollo de personaje notable.

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  Review by Toni ★★★★★

  Is music tearing down a wall?

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  Review by CLAPPERltd

  HIFF 2020
  Crescendo doesn’t end on a high note (no pun intended) as the crowdpleaser ending feels a bit forced and doesn’t truly earn its emotions. Dror Zahavi accomplishes in transmitting his message but the over-simplistic nature of the narrative and the weak script prevents the movie from becoming something more than a Sunday afternoon TV movie.

  - Omar Franini

  Read the rest on CLAPPER

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  Review by bridgehsu ★★★½

  Music scenes are all memorable.
  The best parts in this movie is putting oneslf in someone’s position.