Taking Sides

Taking Sides begins with an appealing promise: István Szabó will treat its music drama framework as a route into character rather than an excuse for noise. The early chemistry between Harvey Keitel and Stellan Skarsgård gives Taking Sides an immediate pulse. The story of Taking Sides begins from a specific pressure point: After the end of World War II, a famous German conductor is accused of loyalty to the Nazi regime. By the end of its 1h 48m running time, the value of Taking Sides rests less on novelty than on the care of its execution.

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Harvey Keitel gives Taking Sides its most dependable performance, finding a clear emotional intention beneath the plot. Opposite Harvey Keitel, Stellan Skarsgård brings Taking Sides a contrasting pace that prevents the central relationship from feeling flat. Moritz Bleibtreu widens the ensemble of Taking Sides through reactions that suggest a life beyond the immediate scene. István Szabó serves the cast of Taking Sides best when a look or pause is allowed to finish before the story moves on.

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István Szabó shapes Taking Sides with an approach that feels dependable even when the material becomes familiar. The best directed passages in Taking Sides establish an objective, let the characters respond and then allow the pressure to change naturally. Familiar choices gain value from committed execution in Taking Sides, particularly when István Szabó resists the urge to underline an already clear emotion. My main reservation about Taking Sides is that some developments arrive well before they surprise, a limitation that interrupts rather than defines the experience.

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The central idea running through Taking Sides concerns creative expression, ambition and the need to be recognised. Harvey Keitel gives that idea a human scale, allowing Taking Sides to remain accessible even when its world becomes larger. By returning to German, Taking Sides turns theme into a source of pressure rather than a message waiting to be delivered. The handling by István Szabó lets Taking Sides leave a little interpretive room, which gives its better scenes an afterlife.

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At story level, Taking Sides turns the and World War II into the source of its main tension. The role played by Harvey Keitel becomes the viewer's route through Taking Sides, especially when German begins to alter the situation. Ronald Harwood gives Taking Sides momentum by allowing choices to create consequences instead of treating each scene as isolated information. Even when Nazi pushes the plot toward familiar ground, Taking Sides remains attentive to what that pressure means for its characters.

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The craft of Taking Sides is defined by sound mixed around emotional detail, supported by sound mixed around emotional detail rather than overwhelmed by decoration. Paladin Production S.A. gives Taking Sides a production framework in which performance captured with energy can remain connected to story. Made from a France production context, Taking Sides uses setting and design to clarify mood before dialogue has to explain it. The technical finish of Taking Sides works because image, sound and editing appear to be serving the same immediate purpose.

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For music film viewers who want performance to reveal character, Taking Sides is ultimately a satisfying recommendation with minor reservations. Its most persuasive combination in Taking Sides brings Harvey Keitel together with performance captured with energy under the direction of István Szabó. The fact that some developments arrive well before they surprise prevents Taking Sides from being entirely seamless. Even with that reservation, Taking Sides has a clear point of view and enough genuine feeling to justify the journey.