A bland, out of tune melodrama
There’s a line in Dante’s Peak that’s both hilariously misplaced and utterly cringe-inducing. “I haven’t been with anybody in a long time,” Linda Hamilton retorts. “Well you know what they say,” Pierce Brosnan replies, “It’s like riding a bicycle. Once you learn, you never forget.” If that made your toes curl and roll your eyes, that’s exactly what you’ll experience watching My Father’s Violin. This Turkish Netflix movie is a cheesy, bland and artificial film that tries to manufacture tears rather than actually building its characters up into deep, interesting personas. To be fair, the music is fantastic, paying homage to plenty of old classical compositions, while the cinematography is decent across the board. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to save this one. The story centers on a young 8 year old girl called Ozlem. Her father, Ali Razir is a street performer and together they eke out a living with some of their friends. Unfortunately, when Ali becomes ill and dies, Ozlem is left in the care of his estranged brother, Mehmet. With bad blood between the brothers and Mehmet’s arrogant, selfish attitude a big hindrance, can Ozlem thaw his icy heart and make him see the true meaning of life? This essentially forms the crux of My Father’s Violin, which is both utterly predictable and way too long. The movie shifts its way through all the usual plot beats, including misunderstandings, musical montages and the inevitable lightbulb moment for our main character as they realize what’s really important. While the messages themselves are okay, they’re lost in an artificial drama that likes to toot its own horn one too many times. Look, I love classical music but the number of times the camera lingers on characters playing the violin far longer than they should is innumerable. It not only slows the pacing of the movie down, it cynically feels like a way to pad the run-time out too. There is absolutely nothing new or original to be found here, with the movie recycling age-old tropes seen in early movies all the way through to now. I mean, even It’s A Wonderful Life had better character development than this and that film released back in 1946. My Father’s Violin then is an overlong, out of tune melodrama that keeps playing long after the lights have gone down. Good cinematography can only get you so far and with cheesy dialogue, weak characters and a creaking screenplay that just abruptly ends, this is one film that’s unlikely to leave you wanting an encore. Read More: My Father’s Violin Ending Explained
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