MOVIE REVIEWS

Review by CinemaSerf

"Paul" (Kevin Bishop) is an impressionable young pianist who is delighted to be asked to turn the pages for the acclaimed "Richard" (Paul Rhys). That's that! Well, no - not quite. "Paul" is travelling with his mother "Pamela" (Juliet Stevenson) and when they arrive in Barcelona he realises that he has just missed the latest concert from his idol, but finds his hotel and goes to visit. A drink leads to a back rub leads to some over-large boxers and... Talk about love at first sight? Well that's a non-starter and so he gets back to study at Juliart in New York where he studies piano whilst sleeping with as many wealthy old men as he can - usually in the same building. Coincidence! More to come as one of his partners knows another who happens to be the manager/boyfriend of "Richard". Small world? Smaller when mum goes through his suitcase and finds a porno magazine and a photo she thinks is incriminating. That's when all hell is let loose with enough home truths to sink a battleship. There are times when this is quite touching, and Bishop does put some effort into his performance, but Stevenson (and her accent) are dreadful, Rhys is little better and by the conclusion I had really lost interest in this shallow character study of hormones and tantrums that really does fall off the cliff in the last half hour. On the plus side, there's some nice Mahler and photography of the stunning Gaudi architecture.