The Berkshires won at the 96th Academy Awards, just not how you would have imagined last November. Back then, the conventional wisdom behind “Maestro” was that it would garner more wins during awards season leading up to the Oscars.
Ironically, conventional wisdom is often more fickle than accepted.
Still, I am delighted “Maestro” received as many nominations as it did. I very much enjoyed Bradley Cooper’s passionate biopic about the legendary Leonard Bernstein. Yet we now know another biopic about a different genius, J. Robert Oppenheimer, took home the gold.
Nevertheless, the Berkshires scored a modest win when “The Last Repair Shop” won for Best Documentary Short Film. That is because music is even more basic to this story than it was in “Maestro.”
You must set aside 39.5 minutes for “The Last Repair Shop.” At the same time, swirl a glass of your favorite red wine as you savor the gentle warmth and sheer humanity of this short. Then wait for it. Toward the end, you will glimpse Norman Rockwell’s painting “Piano Tuner” on screen.
If at first you miss it, rewind about seven minutes from the end of the film, and there you go. Rockwell’s canvas conveys the subject matter’s intergenerational features, if only in a different setting: old-timers fixing students’ musical instruments in the literal last repair shop of its kind in America.
Set amid the Los Angeles Unified School District, young and older bond over a mutual love of music, not to mention personal attachments to their musical instruments. If it weren’t for the dedicated craftspeople who carefully restore a warped cello, repair a busted clarinet, or bathe a dirty French horn, the students would suffer immeasurable loss.
At the same time, this doc calmly reveals some deeply personal accounts of immigration, which seem to predate the current political morass. Regardless, these moving stories will strike a chord with audiences who appreciate that music is a universal language. Truly, “The Last Repair Shop” will completely restore your faith in humanity.
And, Hollywood, if you are listening, a very modest suggestion to capitalize on the incredibly musical nature of the Berkshires: a Norman Rockwell biopic starring Bill Nighy.
Until then, check out “The Teachers’ Lounge,” starting Friday at the Triplex Cinema. I caught this last weekend and totally enjoyed it. If you liked “Anatomy of a Fall,” you will probably enjoy this film, too.
Nominated for Best International Feature, this German movie raised my blood pressure for 98 minutes. A very dramatic narrative, I enjoyed how it made me think about being a teacher or a student nowadays, not to mention a parent or a school administrator.
I also appreciated how much the film says about what happens when people jump to conclusions, let bias blur the picture, and otherwise give up on critical thinking. In the final scene, the teacher and one of her students sit across from each other. He has finally learned how to solve the Rubik’s Cube.
But so much more happens before this quiet closure. “The Teachers’ Lounge” imparts some big life lessons from a script that can only be called taut.
