The One Note Man

The history of music has been, in significant part, a struggle between two rival philosophies. There are those who strive for perfection, finding genius in the ability to reproduce a complex piece with absolute precision; and there are those who like to do it differently every time, to discover new possibilities. That struggle takes on wider relevance in George Siougas’ Oscar-shortlisted short film, which sees a musician who is very much of the former school plunged into chaos by a tiny, unpredictable incident.

It’s an elegantly told tale, bookended by narration from Ian McKellen but otherwise finding no place for spoken words. Music and montage takes their place, creating something of the effect of an old silent comedy. There’s a frantic note to it, a lot of repetition, closely observed details building into something intense. Romantic feelings serves as a catalyst for the hero’s emotional journey, but we must wait to see if they will build into a theme of their own. When one feels unable to express oneself in words, one might say it with flowers. If that fails, perhaps music can come to the rescue – but for a man whose role in the orchestra is, as the title suggests, to play a single note, that’s far from easy.

The production design and colour work are excellent here, bringing the musician’s carefully ordered world to life. His home, full of little keepsakes, suggests a life which has ground to a halt rather than one never lived in the first place – and yet when the camera alights on a young couple in the park one gets the feeling that he is noticing love, or understanding the point of it, for the first time. The hues of the world around him grow just slightly warmer. Flashes of red enter his blue-toned world. The familiar comedy of a smitten man suddenly become more attentive to his appearance is approached in an affectionate way which lets us see a lot of his personality through small gestures, through the way the light catches his eyes.

Of course, it’s the music itself that stands out most, and credit for that goes to Stephen Warbeck. It’s rare for a score to do quite this much heavy lifting or integrate so directly with the plot. Casting actors who also have musical talent means that what we see played directly convinces, yet none of them fall short on other aspects of what they need to do. if this much care went into the production of other romcoms the genre would have a much better reputation. This is a diligently crafted piece of work, and a treat to watch.