REVIEW: CHEVALIER

3/5

The Soloist. 

108 Mins. Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Samara Weaving, Lucy Boynton, Marton Csokas, Alex Fitzalan, Minnie Driver & Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo. Director: Stephen Williams. On: Disney +. 

Fiddle me this. Making Mozart mad with his string selection, 'Chevalier' bows down to no one.  A Frenchman about to take over the world like Victor Wembanyama. Thanks to Disney +, we can now stream another favourable Fox Searchlight Pictures film from earlier this year like 'Empire Of Light' or 'Rye Lane'. Made by 'Lost' director Stephen Williams, this biographical drama looks at the life of French-Caribbean musician Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George's. The untold story of the 18th century composer now has ears lent. Making its debut at the 47th international Toronto Film Festival last year, this fiddler on the roof of the French Revolution was handy with both a bow and a fencing sword, striking the deepest chord. A champion composer and Creole free man of color. The Paris Opera concertmaster showed his life mattered, even though the torturing trials and tribulations of his story made his song sheet a bittersweet symphony. 

Composed with 'Tár' like notes, this 'Belle' beautiful looking period piece reveals one of histories 'Hidden Figures'. On his own like a Jamie Foxx soloist, with real hair under those traditional powdered barrister wigs of pomp and circumstance fancy thrill, Kelvin Harrison Jr. is the real thing as the Chevalier, Joseph Bologne. Making 'Waves', the 'Monster' star who began his career with a bit part in '12 Years Of A Slave' plays a free man with boundless beauty. From the epic escapism his vivid violin playing gives everybody. To the raw ravaged reality that his character still doesn't have the same rights as those paying to see him perform. His hands that play so beautifully still locked in invisible chains with no gold. Adding to his already formidable filmography ('Cyrano', 'Elvis') with this high-note. From 'Enders Game' to 'The Trial Of The Chicago 7', nothing else holds his stage quite like this. It's just the type of music that comes from his Louisiana home of New Orleans. A carnival of classic music. No need to wait to applause. Take a bow, young man. The world is yours.

Samara Weaving steps out of those Margot Robbie lookalike comparisons (played off perfectly in the la la land of Damien Chazelle's 'Babylon') and her famous father's (Mr. Smith, Hugo) shadow to stir here across the strings. Marie-Josephine de Montalembert, a beautiful voice who won't be silenced by the imposing figure of her husband. Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, played with measured menace by Marton Csokas of 'Lord Of The Rings' and 'Loving' fame. His best role since he booked 'Noah', 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2', 'Sin City: A Dame To Kill For' and 'The Equalizer' in the same summer of 2014. Hire THAT agent! Alex Fitzalan's Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and a welcome return of Minnie Driver as Marie-Madeleine Guimard continue to bring these period paintings to picture life. Yet it's the moving mothering of National Theatre treasure Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo that really sobers you with a significant speech. 

Add the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' of Lucy Boynton as Marie Antoinette and you really will be crying Galileo at this grand opera of outstanding proportions with production tighter than a corset. The beauty spot is in the costume department. The real talent lies with the attached strings that sing. Swiping and battling from the fiddles of Cadenzas to the cadences of fencing that really speak to this battle of bravado. Even if this French film in the English language doesn't even at least attempt to speak a little bit of mother tongue before switching to an American accent in one line of a letter like Tom Cruise's 'Valkyrie' (which is actually worse). But that's OK, you can suspend your disbelief in a world where most of our heroes were even more ridiculous frills and capes. Yet, there are deeper issues that lie here other than whether one's wig is on straight. Racism and freedom in France until the flag is raised in revolutionary times. The growing social discontent plays like all we hear today as we try to take something from 'Chevalier's' notes. Something that lasts the test of time as the legend that is Joseph Bologne still stands in his own nobility. Sing his name. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'Belle', 'Tár', 'Hidden Figures'.