I see that Shirley MacLaine complained that no one got to see Madame Sousatzka
in its first run. Well I can say that back in 1988 I did get to see this film with the
late Daniel Strausbaugh in its initial run. Seeing it again 31 years later it is as
fresh and original as it was on first viewing.
Playing the title role of a strict and demanding piano teacher recently settled in London MacLaine is far from some of the characters she did in her salad days. She's a good teacher, but she intrudes a bit too much into the lives of her students. She's not one to just take the money from parents who want their untalented kids. She's like a jockey who wants only to ride stake horse races.
Such a thoroughbred is Indian kid Navin Chowdhry whose mom Shabana Amzi is a single mom with a catering business who has sacrificed all for her talented kid.
The thing is Navin is a regular kid who likes to kid things such as rollerskating. A habit MacLaine cures him of. She nurtures his talent and him. But he does grow away from her because teenage boys do have hormones even if they're piano prodigies.
The cast is uniformly fine and this film should be better known. MacLaine's scenes with Chowdhry are special. You really do think this is a demanding teacher and pupil not just actors playing them.
If you like Shirley MacLaine this is a must.
Playing the title role of a strict and demanding piano teacher recently settled in London MacLaine is far from some of the characters she did in her salad days. She's a good teacher, but she intrudes a bit too much into the lives of her students. She's not one to just take the money from parents who want their untalented kids. She's like a jockey who wants only to ride stake horse races.
Such a thoroughbred is Indian kid Navin Chowdhry whose mom Shabana Amzi is a single mom with a catering business who has sacrificed all for her talented kid.
The thing is Navin is a regular kid who likes to kid things such as rollerskating. A habit MacLaine cures him of. She nurtures his talent and him. But he does grow away from her because teenage boys do have hormones even if they're piano prodigies.
The cast is uniformly fine and this film should be better known. MacLaine's scenes with Chowdhry are special. You really do think this is a demanding teacher and pupil not just actors playing them.
If you like Shirley MacLaine this is a must.