A Late Quartet may be writer/director Yaron Zilberman's first feature film, but that hasn't stopped him from attracting some seriously heavy duty acting talent to his cast.
Members of the titular string quartet are played by the likes of Catherine Keener, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christopher Walken, with the story seeing cellist Walken leaving the team due to Parkinson's and the resulting fallout contaminating the relationship between husband and wife Seymour Hoffman and Keener.
The setting seems to very Woody Allen-esque – though without the self-aware sense of humour – and the story something Vikram Seth would have happily stretched out into several hundred Onegin stanzas. In other words, it's definitely not aiming for the Transformers 'n' explosions crowd.
Currently screening at the Toronto Film Festival, A Late Quartet hasn't been getting the raviest of rave reviews, but should still be well looking out for once it comes to the UK at some point next year.
How can anyone discuss A Late Quartet without discussing what appears to be direct plagiarism of Vikram Seth's award winning novel, "Equal Music?" Even to almost exact dialogue, e.g. re the role of the second violinist. This can't be mere coincidence and I'm wondering when it will finally be explored - perhaps in the courts! More
