For once, a movie's Japanese release title tops the original — that exclamation mark at the end of "Orchestra!" captures the clunky exuberance of this story that clutches at the hearts and ears of all music lovers, whatever the genre.
Internationally known (and renowned), "Le Concert" is the tale of a band of misfit musicians reassembled as the Bolshoi Orchestra after a 30-year absence. Though the film's predictability comes at you like an overly enthusiastic horn section, there's no denying its generous spirit and a genuine reverence for classical music, in particular Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35. By the end of the film, you'll probably be able to hum it in your sleep.
Directed by Radu Mihaileanu, "Le Concert" plays like a Russian brand of "The Blues Brothers," minus the car stunts and mayhem but with a similar deadpan humor bouncing off the premise of a self-imposed musical "mission." In "Blues Brothers" Jake Blues (John Belushi) gets his band back together after a three-year prison stint and they all hit the road until reaching a climactic concert scene. "Le Concert," on the other hand, is Russian, which in this case means protagonist Andrei (Aleksei Guskov) endures a much longer punishment and "hitting the road" involves Russia's notoriously unreliable public transportation.