As The Concert begins, Andrei Filipov (Alexeï Guskov) is a man who loves the orchestra and wants to conduct one... but is a mere cleaner at the Bolshoi. He intercepts a fax asking for the Bolshoi's orchestra to play at the Châtelet THeatre in France and wants to take his own orchestra across in their place. His friend Sacha (Dimitri Nazarov, first in the picture below-right, with Alexeï Guskov third) tells him to put the fax away before they all end up in jail, but can he pull it off? Well, they haven't got a full orchestra, they have no funding and they haven't played together for 30 years... Well, they only need 55 musicians(!) They'll start by getting Ivan Gavrilov (Valeri Barinov), the head of the Communist party to manage them, the same man who wrecked their chances of making it big 30 years ago! Andrei's choice of concerto for them to play is also the very same one which was dashed at the time, so it's also a chance for him to get back at Ivan as a result. Thus begins the search to put together the band for one big concert... hang on, that sounds like The Blues Brothers. Well, it could be a number of similar films but it's wonderful fun, brilliantly acted by its mostly unknown cast - with the two leads racing round in Sacha's ambulance to organise all the orchestra's members - and expertly-directed by Radu Mihaileanu who knows how to fill the 2.35:1 widescreen vista. The Concert is brilliantly played for subtle laughs, especially from the two leads. The rest of the cast is rounded out by them wanting Anne-Marie Jacquet (Mélanie Laurent, right) as the soloist; Anna Kamenkova Pavlova plays Andrei's wife, Irina, whose job is to organises extras to turn up to events to make dignitaries look popular; François Berléand as Duplessis, the director of the Châtelet THeatre; and Miou Miou as Guylène, Anne-Marie's manager. At two hours, there are moments where it can lull a little, generally in the drama segments which don't pull off as well as the comedic ones, but there are many, many moments of genius and, overall, it's a must-see movie.

Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic theatrical ratio, the picture is sharp, nicely detailed and colourful with no problems whatsoever. For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen upscaled via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player. Audio-wise, you get a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, which is great for the music and perfectly fine for dialogue. There's one moment where split-surround gets a shout. It's okay, but not stand-out. Sadly, the extras aren't a patch on the film. There's merely a trailer (2:11) in anamorphic 2.35:1 which rather gives away too much; and an interview with the director (13:49). The menu features a static shot of Mélanie Laurent with her violin against several clips of the film scrolling along to the tune of Mozart's Piano Concerto N°21 in C Major, K 467, which also plays during the opening credits. Subtitles are in English only and there's a paltry 12 chapters, typical for Optimum, but typically depressing. It just isn't enough. I work on the rule of thumb for approximately one every five minutes, ensuring one apiece for the opening and closing credits.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2010.