Coral Gables Art Cinema screens "The Piano" in a new 4K restoration Saturday, Aug. 29, at 2:30 p.m. The one-time showing arrives less than seven weeks after star Sam Neill died July 13 at 78.
Neill died of pneumonia weeks after beating cancer
Neill, the New Zealand actor known for the "Jurassic Park" franchise, died of pneumonia at a Sydney hospital. His agent, Philip Grenz, said in a July 16 statement that Neill had beaten stage-three blood cancer months earlier and was cancer-free at the time of his death.
"Sam passed away from pneumonia. Prior to becoming sick, Sam had valiantly fought and beaten lymphoma through a new treatment called CAR-T therapy," Grenz said.
A Gothic tale of silence, marriage and a beloved piano
In Jane Campion's 1993 film, Neill plays Alisdair Stewart, a rigid colonial landowner in New Zealand awaiting the arrival of Ada (Holly Hunter), the woman he has arranged to marry, and her young daughter Flora (Anna Paquin). Ada, mute since childhood, communicates partly through her cherished piano.
When Stewart refuses to transport the instrument from the beach, it passes to his neighbor George Baines (Harvey Keitel). Baines offers Ada a way to earn it back key by key through increasingly intimate encounters.
Cannes triumph and three Academy Awards
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1993 and shared the Palme d'Or with "Farewell My Concubine," making Campion the first woman to win Cannes' top prize.
It earned eight Academy Award nominations and won three: Best Actress for Hunter, Best Supporting Actress for Paquin and Best Original Screenplay for Campion. Paquin was 11 when she filmed the role.
How Sony Pictures Classics restored the film in 4K
The restoration was created by Sony Pictures Classics from the original 35mm negative, scanned in 4K at Australia's Fixafilm laboratory. Campion and original cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh supervised and approved the color grading. The original 5.1-channel audio was also remastered.
A career spanning more than 150 roles
Neill's career spanned more than 150 roles across five decades. In 1993 alone, audiences saw him as paleontologist Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" and as the desperate Stewart in Campion's Gothic drama. His other credits included "Dead Calm," "The Hunt for Red October," "Peaky Blinders" and "Hunt for the Wilderpeople."
The screening is part of the cinema's Special Presentations series and a broader summer theatrical rerelease of the restored film. No additional showtimes are scheduled.
If you go
"The Piano" — Saturday, Aug. 29, 2:30 p.m. Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave. Rated R, 121 minutes. Tickets: $8 members, $11.75 nonmembers. Information: gablescinema.com.
Upcoming in Coral Gables
- Paws in the Pool at Venetian Pool, Sunday, Oct. 4
- Juno-winning Afro-Cuban duo Okan at Coral Gables, Saturday, Oct. 10
