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I was expecting "A Late Quartet" to rely on heady themes of classical musical. Before going into it, I did at least learn some of the emotions that are involved in Beethoven's Opus 131, and interestingly, that was probably enough. I still believe that music fans will get a lot out of it, but it's meant for fans of relationship dramas where the slightest word or indiscretion can do a number on the players' psyches.

The quartet is made up of cellist Peter (Christopher Walken), first violinist Daniel (Mark Ivanir), second violinist Robert (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Juliette (Catherine Keener) on the viola. Peter has just developed Parkinson's disease and is contemplating leaving the quartet. He's the oldest and the de-facto/emotional leader of the group and he's the only one that seems to have matured past the maturity level of a teenager. That's an insult to the other characters, but it works to the benefit of the film.

Daniel as the first violinist is the musical leader. They look to him for which direction their quartet should go musically. Which leaves us with Robert and Juliette, a married couple. Robert has the ego of a leader and Juliette has the determination of a leader. Their emotional instability is set to wreak havoc on the success of the quartet as well as on the life of their daughter Alexandra (Imogen Poots). There are affairs aplenty, passive aggressive snideness, violent outbursts of rage, and so many questionable decisions – on everybody's part. Daniel may be the leader, but depending where your sympathies lie he might also be the worst offender.

Above all else, "A Late Quartet" is an actor's film. Powerhouse performances from Hoffman and Ivanir; a fantastic powerful and sympathetic performance by Poots; and an emotionally strong performance by Keener. And somehow Walken fit in nicely in the more subtle and low- key role. Hoffman is funny when Robert's being passive aggressive, scary when he's mad, sympathetic when he's clueless, and incites our rage/passion when he's in the right. Keener manages to invoke the exact opposite responses through those emotions while Daniel walks the thin line between evil and sympathetic through all of his insidious and, at times, kindhearted moves.

To like this film you will need to be able to get invested in all the relationship dynamics going on. But if you're a fan of any of the five principal actors, that should be pretty easy. I'm in love with Philip Seymour Hoffman and while I didn't think it was possible to top his career best performance in "The Master" (2012), he just may have done that here.

First things first: this is emphatically not Dustin Hoffman's weak, flaccid 'comedy', Quartet. Turn around, walk quietly away and we'll pretend you weren't here.

A Late Quartet is a moving, thought-provoking, entertaining and thoroughly rewarding journey through the final act of four friends' musical life together. From the opening scene to the final chords, the music sweeps us along the emotional roller-coaster of four friends with more complicated relationships than the members of ABBA and stirs in us feelings of sadness, contempt and judgment: How could s/he? What were they thinking?

In their 25th year together, the world-renowned Fugue String Quartet endeavour to mark the momentous occasion with a remarkable tour, but rehearsals falter when their cellist, Peter (Christopher Walken), announces he is in the early stages of Parkinson's Disease, placing the quartet's tour and future in jeopardy. The concern each of the other members experiences acts as a catalyst for their own clumsy actions, and what has been a solid unit for a quarter of a century fractures with maximum pain, frustration and anger as resentments rise.

A Late Quartet is truly an ensemble piece and, no, I'm not trying to be funny. To elevate any of the four above the others would be to miss the point of the film entirely. Just as the characters have their position in the quartet (and this becomes a plot strand), so, too, do the actors have their place; but their roles are different, not greater or lesser than another's.

Walken might initially be deemed the principal as the recently bereaved elder statesman of the group, and Peter's desperation as both his body and his life's work stop functioning is heartbreaking. He is impotent in both matters and battles to find the mature way to seize control of his own destiny again. He might have won an Oscar for The Deer Hunter, but this is his most powerful, unselfconscious performance in many years.

Robert (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Juliette (Catherine Keener) are husband and wife, second violin and viola respectively. Theirs is a marriage of mutual respect but as Robert deals with the quartet's crisis in his own naive, foolish manner and Juliette lashes out in response, the existence of genuine love in their companionship is brought into question as each defends themselves with verbal attacks, one bludgeoning, the other stabbing. There is nothing 'Hollywood' about their performances and the rawness both characters expose in each other is palpable to any viewer living in the real world. A word once spoken cannot return and an action performed cannot be undone.

In terms of star power in the cast, Mark Ivanir is way down the list, his career largely highlighted by video game acting, but as first violinist, Daniel, he is a very powerful force both in the quartet and the film. His intensity is a large part of what keeps the quartet together but it easily presents itself as a blunt weapon of stubbornness and arrogance. But, damaging though his stubbornness might be, for much of A Late Quartet it seems to be the one constant that keeps them together. Alas, not even Daniel is immune to the crisis and he, too, falters foolishly, convincingly and cringingly.

The weak link in A Late Affair, and the principal reason it falls just below perfection, is Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later, Fright Night) as Robert and Juliette's daughter, Alexandra. A violinist under the tutelage of Daniel, she is precocious, spoilt, selfish and a brat in a young woman's body. That Alexandra is unpleasant is not the issue; she adds another dimension to the film and background to each member of the quartet. That Poots pouts (yes, you may smile at that one) almost unendingly is. She fails to give us a full picture. How can anyone love this creature? She is two-dimensionally awful and has slipped ever so slightly over the boundaries of subtlety and into pastiche. It's a small criticism, but it's a bothersome issue.

Writer/director Yaron Zilberman (his only other credit to date is multi-award-winning documentary Watermarks) has give the word a striking and beautiful feature in A Late Quartet. He has written his characters realistically and directs them with tenderness, evidently caring deeply about them (well, perhaps not Alexandra) and insisting on truth in story and performance. He has now directed as often as Dustin Hoffman but his quartet resonates with his audience and remains indelible in our minds in a way that Hoffman can only forlornly hope for his own fading musicians.

Sit quietly through the credits and beyond, even if the cinema goes dark and you are left alone. A Late Quartet is not a film to rush away from and is an experience to embrace, silently. Take note, trio of chatterboxes at The Watershed!

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A Late Quartet is a beautiful film in so many ways - what is has to say about music and aging, about the pure satisfaction of devoting oneself to an academic, intellectual life - and the sheer effort required to be great at anything, let alone great at a classical instrument is sincere and rings true. Morevover, the acting from the ensemble and the cinematography are exemplary.

I loved this film in so many ways - but while conflict is necessary for any plot, here the multiple conflicts end up feeling a little improbable and manufactured and I just could not quite accept it all as one package.

Having said that this was still one of the most enjoyable dramas I've seen in a while - it's a great topic with a great cast (and a great soundtrack) and well worth your time if you're in the mood for something more thoughtful.

I watched this movie out of appreciation for Hoffman. So glad I did. Independent films such as this one have really begin to open my eyes to another world of cinema.

It's always great to see new faces and uncover some true talent, like Mark Ivanir. I only saw him in the Good Shepherd, but this performance will remain with me for some time. He seemed very attached to his role.

I recommend this movie to anyone who has a growing interest in classical music. It definitely furthered my interest. Listening to Chopin as I write this. :)

Be warned, the plot seemed slow and at is some times difficult to relate to. However, still a very good movie to open your mind to.

The moments when and idea for a story, the intelligence of a script to tell it, the sensitivity of the director to make it work, and the cast of extraordinary actors to make it visual come all too infrequently these days in the films that cross our theater screens. A LATE QUARTET is such a complete success on so many levels that it should be considered a standard for filmmaking excellence. It is cerebral, yes, it is best appreciated by people who are involved in some way with classical music even if that be solely as an audience, but the dynamics of this little 'community' of people drawn together by a lasting contract to rehearse and perform for the better part of their time and the effect of physical proximity and the risks of intellectual/artistic distances have rarely been so exquisitely painted.

The honored Fugue Quartet has been living and performing together for 25 years: first violin Daniel Lerner (Ukrainian American actor Mark Ivanir), second violin Robert Gelbart (Philip Seymour Hoffman), cellist Peter Mitchell (Christopher Walken), and violist Juliette Gelbart (Catherine Keener) make such perfect music together that we would never guess their lives are askew. Peter is diagnosed as having Parkinson's Disease and understands that his performing days are now severely limited; the Gelbart's marriage is at risk because of the tatters of time and the dealing with daughter Alexandra (Imogen Poots) who reacts to her history of being an alone child by entering into a physical affair with obsessive Daniel and Robert's ill-advised one night stand with the young beautiful Pilar (Liraz Charhi); Robert's surfacing jealousy of wanting to be first violin: the struggle with whether the quartet should disband due to Peter's illness or continue with a new cellist. All of this complex interplay of human relationships is underlined by the quartet's rehearing of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 14, opus 131 - a long quartet of seven movements played without interval. It is a sensitively drawn allegory that takes us all the way to the end of the film.

In addition to the bravura acting of the four lead actors there are side stories that are enormously touching: the affair between Alexandra and Daniel, the conflict between Alexandra and her absentee mother (a brilliant scene), the schism between Robert and Juliette as the foundation of their marriage begins to crumble, and the extraordinarily sensitive moment when Peter longs for his deceased wife Miriam - first while listening to a recording of Miriam singing Marietta's Lied from Korngold's opera 'Die Tote Stadt' and then as the image of Miriam (Anne Sofie von Otter) is seen and heard in is mind.

Each of the actors in this masterfully crafted film is astonishingly fine. If there were an Oscar for Ensemble this would have won hands down, but the performances by Christopher Walken (the finest of his career) and Philip Seymour Hoffman are exemplary and the characters Catherine Keener, Mark Ivanir and Imogen Poots create are utterly unforgettable. The highest recommendation for this work - it is a film every sensitive person should see.

Grady Harp

Christopher Walken, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Mark Ivanir, and Imogen Poots experience "A Late Quartet" and its ramifications in this 2012 film.

Walken plays Peter Mitchell, a musician involved in an ensemble called the Fugue Quartet. The quartet has played together for 25 years and consists of Robert & Juliette Gelbart (Hoffman and Keener), and Daniel Lerner (Ivanir). Imogen Poots plays Alexandra Gelbart, Robert and Juliette's daughter.

Mitchell is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and, realizing he won't be able to play much longer, informs the group and seeks out a replacement.

The news causes all kinds of disruption. Robert, the second violinist, decides that he no longer wants to play second violin; he wants to move up to first chair. When Catherine tells him that she's discussed this with Daniel, and he is better as second violinist, he feels betrayed and acts out.

Robert confronts Daniel and criticizes his work, telling him that he has no passion. Daniel then acts out in a way that has an effect on the Gelbarts.

Nothing much happens in this movie, but I was crying at the end.

Frankly there wasn't enough plot to keep this thing going for 105 minutes -- 45 would have been fine. It would have been a nice short film.

That being said, there were some very powerful scenes. One of the best was the confrontation between Catherine and Alexandra, who vilifies her mother for having her and then traveling eight months of the year. A bad mother-daughter fight that will resonate with a lot of people.

The scene at Peter's house during rehearsal, when Daniel is confronted by Robert and Juliette.

The final scene was very touching.

Christopher Walken gives a beautiful performance of a man who has to face the hardest thing a professional can face -- the loss of ability. There comes a time when an athlete, a dancer, a singer says, my time is up. And it's sad because a musician should be able to keep playing! I thought Walken captured his character beautifully.

Hoffman's role was not as good, but he was excellent as usual. What a crying shame that he is gone.

Catherine Keener and Imogen Poots were both solid -- again, for me, these were not great roles. Both were honest and real in their emotions in what they had to do.

Mark Ivanir gave a more subtle performance -- his character is cerebral, uptight, and not exceptionally verbal. He's perfect.

If you're a musician, you possibly will get more out of this than others -- hard to say. I think there are some universal emotions expressed in this film. It's just not electrifying. Not everything needs to be.

There is a scene of Christopher Walken, playing the older declining cellist Peter Mitchell recounting an audition with the great Pablo Casals, where he said his rendition of a known classic was "just awful, nothing but mistakes" but the Maestro praised it with evident sincerity. Mitchell had remained disturbed by the seeming lack of candor, until many decades later when both were at the top of the pack over a glass of wine he asked him about it. His response is a lesson for reviewing this film and beyond.

"I heard those mistakes, but I also felt your passion, your conveying it in strong sensitive lyrical phrases that others rarely achieve. Those critics who keep track of every wrong note are missing out on what music and life has to offer." And so I will leave the defects of this film to others, as there are many scenes that detracted from what I experienced, a rare sensitive exploration of life using a string quartet as exemplar and metaphor. I only went to the art house to see this expecting it to be, based on the reviews, a formulaic movie that happened to be shot in my old neighborhood of Lincoln Center area of New York. My wife is an amateur violinist who always came home from her week long chamber music camp with the glow of playing in groups such as this film depicted.

After seeing this film I understand why. These depicted consummate musicians, who rather than the solo careers available to them, chose to form a single instrument, one that required that most human ability of merging of individuality into something that can only be achieved by--the word for it is "symbiosis," different organisms uniting in a common goal. While the conflicts of ego, sexual attraction, fame and glory may seem hackneyed, it is because this is the universal challenge of sustaining any such group-from a marriage to a nation.

In my old neighborhood, a young world-famous violinist bought into our coop building. We lost touch when I moved to California a decade ago, and wondered why with unlimited solo bookings he had played with a chamber group. This film explained why, not only from a musicological level, but from the human desire to be part of something beyond our individuality. That is the element of this film that transcends music.

You see, I also play in quartets, but they are doubles tennis with two people on each side ostensibly playing against each other. Yet, for it to work, for it to give the same type of pleasure that my wife and soloist friend got out of chamber music, all four have to work together enjoying the virtuoso shots of any of the foursome, no matter which side of the net they are on. And like in this magnificent film, the ego that makes for the excitement, when taken too far, to the point of self serving line calls leading to animosity, can destroy the entire experience.

And as a string quartet playing off of each other in an "allegro" passage; in tennis, a flurry of volleys followed with a running get that is returned for a winner can bring joy to the performers and the audience. This perfect miniature of a film, like all great productions, is only achieved by such seamless excellence that no one can tell where one individual's contribution ends and the other's begins.

It is about the most sublime and entertaining lousy flick I've ever seen.

Four people, different characters bind together over music. They are part of a quartet, a very renowned one. Their lives have ups and downs but the music keeps it all together.

The film is about the beginning of the end. One member is diagnosed with a myasthenia and will not be playing much longer and as if this was not enough life for the remaining members has surprises that could tear decades of working together apart.

So, we come to the point where the characters will allow total disintegration by giving in to their indulgences or they will acknowledge their shortcomings and keep it all together, where all this comes full circle in a very emotive and utterly memorable end.

A treat of a movie; filled with great performances, intelligent dialogue and eloquent stimuli.

Most reviews of "A Late Quartet" are nonsense. Don't see this movie if you expect to better your understanding of Beethoven's last compositions. Don't see this film if you expect to listen to his Opus 131 uncut. Don't see this film if you have a hyper-sensitivity to melodrama. This film isn't in the least a melodrama even if, thank goodness, it is far less heady than anything Henry James or Jane Austen might have created.

What "A Late Quartet" is is a simple psychodrama that happens to deal with the lives of performing artists in New York, New York, a particularly artistic milieu. Are artists sometimes conflicted? Do they experience loss? Do they love? Do they debate whether instinct or methodical behavior yields the better result? Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

The story line is interesting enough, the acting is first-rate, the direction is tops from the top dog to the second assistant viola instructor of Ms. Keener. We liked the film, which was apparently a big-budget production. That's a shame, because, judging from the box office numbers, it may never cover its costs.

Go see it.

I have recently been diagnosed as having Parkinson's and this movie was recommended by another person with Parkinson's. I went to the movie to see if I could relate to what was going on. I was blown away by the music, the script,the settings and the performances musical or acting. To go to this movie and miss the whole tragedy of all in the movie is to miss the obvious.

It isn't about how good the music was played, whether the movie portrayed realism in human interaction, not the obvious flaws of the individuals, nor the film making's errors. To me it was all this as a whole, absolutely faultless in combining the plot with subplots, the tensions, the love, and the compassion of great artists doing what they loved playing wonderfully well.

I have to wonder where the criticism comes from other reviewers. Is it their perfectionist expectations, or is it from a lowered self esteem brought about by never achieving their dreams. And the script was a reflection of their anger.

And, although Parkinson's was part of the plot it was handled in a very thoughtful way. I would be happy if my whole family would go to the movie to see just the way a person so afflicted has to hold their cup with two hands to keep from spilling their drink. And, because it is a well made wonderful movie filled with enjoyment. Only two people left the movie house before the credit were finished.

"A Late Quartet" looks at music as a metaphor for people's lives. The subject is a group of musicians: two violinists (Mark Ivanir and Philip Seymour Hoffman), a viola player (Catherine Keener) and a cellist (Christopher Walken). When the cellist finds that he is developing Parkinson's and probably won't be able to play for much longer, a series of things begin to happen which have a profound effect on the foursome.

While the movie make substantive use of classical music - Beethoven, Hayden, Bach, etc. - there's also a sense of how the music effects the characters' egos. The first violinist really comes across as a jerk in some scenes. Not that the other characters are much better. Some scenes grow REALLY intense.

It turns out to be a very interesting little movie. The collection of classical string quartets and suites to set the stage for what eventually must come to pass represents an insightful look at the role that music plays in our lives. Good support comes from cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey and "My Dinner with Andre" co-star Wallace Shawn (also of "The Princess Bride" and "Toy Story").

We can only speculate on the direction that Hoffman's career would've taken had he not died.

It's always difficult watching actors pretending to play instruments. In this film the main four actors of the quartet almost pull it off. I shall ignore the pathetic attempt of the daughter. I understand that the main four were coached, and so some of the techniques were obviously well rehearsed (although, of course, we don't hear any of the genuine racket that they'd be producing). But I was absolutely amazed that none of the coaches stopped the actors from looking down their instruments and watching what their own fingers were doing. This practice just made them look awkward and childish, it being something a beginner would do in maybe the first few months of learning. After that period, your eyes are only ever on your music (or the conductor as well, if you're in an orchestra). What your fingers are doing is something that your brain is controlling totally sub-consciously. You aren't even aware of it most of the time. This spoiled the whole film for me as they all just looked ridiculous.

A renown string quartet has been together for 25 years. The leader Peter Mitchell (Christopher Walken) is given disturbing news that he has early stages of Parkinson's. He announces his probable retirement and all the buried tension comes bubbling up. Robert (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Juliette Gelbart (Catherine Keener) are the couple of the group but their marriage is a wreck. Their daughter Alexandra (Imogen Poots) is rebellious and disenchanted with her parents. The last of the quartet Daniel Lerner (Mark Ivanir) becomes entangled in a troubling relationship.

It's needless to say how great these actors are. They have amazing presence and it's wonderful to see them interact. The story does start slowly and end slowly. It's a slow simmer until Imogen Poots gets involved in the story. Even with the conflicts, the story is still a little too reserved with the emotional outbursts. I'm not advocating for overacting, but this is a group of impressive actors. They can handle a bigger explosion without overplaying it.

As the film opens and the four members of the renown, Manhattan based Fugue string-quartet grace their humble audience and stage, they slowly bow…and the film cuts.

Like so many movies before it, the film starts where it ends.

Like a cheap, brand new suit or a stuffy high-brow gala, Yaron Zilberman's A Late Quartet is a fine piece of high cultured entertainment with low-brow issues.

Graced with fine classical music and an impeccable musical score from Angelo Badalamenti, the music is just the setting for a simple story of passion and love. But the twist in the narrative as the film unfolds, is not the love and passion the quartet shares for one another, but rather a sizzling passion for the sounds and beauty of classical compositions.

Like any hobby or refined passion, A Late Quartet is a showcase of how music affects the lives of people who allow them to be engulfed by the mesmerizing strings of some of the greatest musicians to have ever lived.

Once together, the Fugue is a metaphor of beauty, wisdom and harmony; consisting of a group of people who are diverse both physically and emotionally. The members of the quartet include violin I and perfectionist Daniel Lerner (Mark Ivanir); violin II and the emotional impulse of the quartet Robert Gelbart (Philip Seymour Hoffman); viola and the sensible lone female composer Juliette Gelbart (Catherine Keener); and finally the glue and backbone of the quartet, aging cellist veteran and mentor to all three players Peter Mitchell (Christopher Walken).

Upon learning of his weary health and the early signs of Parkinson's disease, Peter must share with the quartet his illness and impending future of the group. His influence goes far beyond what he brings to the stage, since he and his recently deceased wife Miriam (Anne Sofie von Otter) raised Juliette from an early age as an orphan. And his teachings of classic music to Daniel as a student makes his departing the quartet emotionally straining and difficult for everyone.

As the option to find another cellist arises and the chance for the group to evolve as they approach their quarter-century anniversary, Robert sees this as an ideal opportunity to play switching roles as violin I and II—with hesitation from the obsessed Daniel and his nonsupporting wife Juliette.

What transcends from the melodrama between these people and the struggles they face as a group of human beings, putting aside their passion for classical music, is a portrait of love, lost and acceptance. The film plays as a modern-day fable to unleash one's passion and wonderful moments of fulfilling your dreams with realities.

A Late Quartet may be a heightened sense of melodramatic wonder, thanks to the highly emotional and super sensitive Sting Quartet No. 14 by Beethoven in the film's finale or the wonderful sounds of the Brentano String Quartet playing on behalf of the Fugue. Nonetheless, a few things are certain.

A Late Quartet is a masterclass in acting for all four masterful and meticulous actors.

A string quartet playing together for 25 years is faced with the difficult choice of replacing their cello player due to him suffering from the early stages of Parkinson's disease. The predicament ignites a cascade of crises in which all the old wounds of the past seemed to be ripped open and where some new ones emerge.

The film is a masterclass in the craftsmanship of acting and casting, and succeeds in making a modest story to truly come alive. Seymour Hoffman once again shows his amazing talent as an actor and the other leads never fail to keep up. But it is Christopher Walken who really steals the show in the role of the ailing cello player with a stunningly perfect delivery that puts many performances currently considered for Oscars and what not, to shame.

The current rating for this film is probably the result of the thinness of the story and perhaps the silliness that occasionally accompanies it. Nonetheless, The film is certainly worthwhile despite the obvious little flaws in the story.

73/100

This movie grabs you from the get go with its unique tone and story. Even though it revolves so much about classic music and instruments you don't need too be a fan of that to enjoy this beautiful story about friendship, family, sacrifice and love.

This is a well crafted story but make no mistake it get's knocked out of the park by the heavyweights of acting. Keener, Hoffman and Walken bring out the best in each other making every scene special and just when you think a scene was that great of a performance you'll get another one and another one until you realize just like them that things don't last forever.

It was the cast list that attracted me to this film and really I knew little else about it than this and the title. The plot sees a string quartet struggling with the news that one of them must draw his career to an end as he faces a fight with Parkinson's; this leads to changes, confrontations and challenges within the tight-knit group, their families and acquaintances.

If my very basic plot summary sounds a bit soapy then that is almost certainly because the film has the air about it – it is very much a NYC melodrama featuring the interconnecting relationships of a small group of Manhattan artists. There is illness and questions of mortality, there is a marriage in trouble due to many things which manifest themselves in temptation to affairs, and there are other sexual and professional tensions which bubble over with the slightest bit of help. It is a narrative that really doesn't do much that you don't expect and it is one that plays it out reasonably by the numbers; the classical number throughout gives it an air and edge that perhaps the actual content doesn't deserve but still, it is a decent film that is worth a look.

The reason for that is the same which brought me to the film in the first place – the cast. We have famous names and faces here, but they are famous by virtue of being good – none of the main cast members are celebrities first and actors second. The most pleasingly surprising of them is Walken; I love the guy but he is a walking caricature of himself now, so it is good to not only see him doing a normal role, but to do it so well. He is not really the lead in the film as the lion's share is done by Hoffman and Keener, along with Ivanir making up the foursome. All are strong and it is necessary because their performances and the music is what saves the film from being a much lesser melodrama.

In lesser hands this is what it could have been and, to be honest, even in this film it is a fine line at times. Mostly it works though – not ending up a brilliant film or even close, but a solid and balanced one thanks to the tone and the strong performances by a very able cast.

By Ray Silveyra www.thatsmye.com There comes a moment in Beethoven's "String Quartet No. 14″ where at the apex of its 7th and final movement, Beethoven treats us to a contrast of the darkness and depth of the strings versus a stirring and almost angelic caress of the melody. To every note, there is meaning, to every chord we hear reason,and as the piece reaches its conclusion, we may not fully understand why, but we understand that the music must end.

If only Yaron Zilverman's A Late Quartet took a lesson from Beethoven, the audience would have been exposed to a more thoughtful, and quite frankly, less frustrating film.

A Late Quartet, starring Christopher Walken, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Mark Ivanir, revolves around members of a world-renowned string quartet, who upon learning their cellist must leave the group at the start of the season, struggle to stay together amidst personal turmoil.

The film is, at times, entertaining. The plot definitely leaves room for some decent storytelling. However, the film's biggest flaw is that the four individuals in this quartet are so indulged in a reality that this string quartet is the most important thing in the world, that the movie-goer is often left asking why is it so important. The screenplay, written by Zilberman and Seth Grossman, tries to cover this fatal flaw by simply telling the viewer that the string quartet is so important because it just is. The string quartet is both the source and solution to these individual's problems. Although it may be easy to see why it is the source of the characters' problems, the film does not firmly establish why the quartet is also the solution to the story's issues. And without this reason, without being told why, the entire plot feels melodramatic and whiny. To that point, certain sub-plots of the film (specifically, one concerning the daughter of the couple in the film) become frustrating, and at its end feels unresolved.

The only saving grace of the film is the superb acting of its cast. You know that the actors are buying into the reality that the quartet is as important as the script wants us to believe. Because of this, often times, you are attached to what happens to certain characters. Unfortunately, this adds to the frustration when these characters find solutions that just do not seem good enough. However, Christopher Walken gives his best performance in a decade, since 2002′s Catch Me If You Can. And Catherine Keener was a true standout for me, showing a constant and heartbreaking longing both on and off her viola.

The quartet in the film play Beethoven's String Quartet No. 14 as their final performance. It's unfortunate that a piece so full of reason and meaning is featured so prominently in a film that seems to lack this so-called reason and meaning. Ultimately, A Late Quartet, is a well-acted film, that falters due to a weak plot and its own self-indulgence.