Review: They Shot The Piano Player

 Animated docu-series were all the rage I would say five years ago, and there were quite a few focused just on different music scenes. Everything from Mike Judge’s Tales From The Tour Bus, Drawn and Recorded, Road Stories, and the litany of other animated docu-series that had elements of sports, partying, etc., were all over the place. Typically, the idea is the stories are so insane that there would be no way to recreate said stories in live-action so animated docu-series were a great way to kind of help lend a visual to the insanity that was being told usually by an interviewee.

In the case of They Shot The Piano Player, I’m not so sure this film couldn’t have been a live-action film, but if it means I get to listen to the cooing sounds of Jeff Goldblum’s stellar performance for almost ninety-minutes, then I’ll take it. Ironically, Goldblum stars as “Jeff” who is wondering the whereabouts of Brazilian piano virtuoso Francisco Tenório Júnior of whom went missing in 1976 during Project Contra. As we learn more about Tenorio, we learn more about the real-life disappearance of the aspiring musician and get enough evidence to probably make a judgment call on the presumed murder. Carlos León Sancha (Eight Crazy Nights) provides the animation services and does so quite well, eloquently showcasing the more pompous atmosphere as we’re hearing about Tenorio’s upbringing which leads dark turns and corners again reflected by Carlos’ far more intense atmosphere by the time we get to the end.

As mentioned, Goldblum’s adept delivery helps iron out any points of lull whilst taking on this harrowing story of creation, exploration, and death, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal direct a terrifying revelation of what happens when the United States and other foreign powers meddle in international affairs they have no business being in and we often pay for…timely even.