On March 18, 1976, pianist Tenorio Jr, one of the most promising Brazilian musicians of the time, disappeared without a trace after leaving his hotel in Buenos Aires to buy cigarettes. New York, 2010, Jeff Harris, an accredited music journalist, sets out to discover the truth about Francisco Tenorio Júnior, a young Brazilian samba-jazz pianist who disappeared in Argentina and who was working as a pianist for the famous musician Vinicius. Then the stubborn New York music journalist begins a hectic investigation to discover the truth behind this case, which occurred a few days before the coup d'état in Argentina.
This is a drama, it is a musical, and it is at the same time a documentary about the past and the present, adding an acid criticism of the South American dictatorships that proliferated in the seventies. They Shot The Piano Player (2023) captures a fleeting time filled with creative freedom at a turning point in Latin American history in the 1960s and 1970s, just before the continent was engulfed by totalitarian regimes. Dealing with a New York music journalist embarking on a quest to discover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of the young Brazilian piano virtuoso named Tenorio Jr. The journalist's voice in the international version is that of Jeff Goldblum who previously worked for Fernando Trueba in 'The dream of the crazy monkey'. A celebratory origin story of the world-famous Latin musical movement Bossa Nova; 'They Shot The Piano Player' captures the details of a time gone by with creative freedom emerging and new musical styles exploding and influencing all parts of the world but especially in the United States. The film and its title pay tribute to Tirad on the Pianist (1960) and Jules and Jim (1962) by François Truffaut. To help accurately represent Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and other South American countries of the 1970s, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal undertook an extensive research trip and were able to view photographs from government archives of the time. The geography of the cities where the action takes place is as accurate as possible to the design of real life, in fact all the buildings are real buildings. There is also a lengthy description of the Mechanical School of the Argentine Navy located in Buenos Aires, and today converted into a museum, where suspects were apparently kidnapped during the time of General Videla's dictatorship. There they subjected the prisoners to severe torture, one of the main executioners being Captain Astiz, nicknamed the Angel of Death.
The film based on real events is made three years after the premiere of the animated film "Chico y Rita" (being the first Spanish animated film nominated for the United States Academy Award for Best Animated Film) Trueba and Javier Mariscal They team up again in this film, nominated for best animated film at the Goya 20124, a tribute to Latin music that combines documentary with political reflection, samba-jazz, Bosa nova, film noir and thriller. This intelligent but somewhat slow film was well and professionally directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, although it becomes somewhat tiresome due to the multitude of interviews that occur throughout the somewhat long story. Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal's collaboration dates back 10 years ago when Trueba asked designer Mariscal to create a poster for his Latin jazz documentary Calle 54 (2000). The two would work together frequently, to the point of being co-owners of a jazz restaurant in Madrid. Trueba directed numerous hits such as ¨Sal gross¨, ¨Demasiado¨, ¨Milagro De Candeal¨, ¨Year of Lights¨, ¨The Girl of Your Dreams¨, ¨Calle 54¨, ¨Embrujo De Shanghai¨, ¨Chico y Rita¨ . Trueba was President of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and received the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1994 for ¨Belle Epoque¨ (1992). And the film "The Artist and the Model" was also handled with gentle confidence by Trueba, as always. And while "The Girl of Your Eyes" was a great success, one of his last films, "The Queen of Spain," was a resounding failure. Rating: 6/10. Passable and decent Spanish animated film.
