"The Concert"

On its release in 2009, the New York Times hated it, as did some of our own papers; but we are still raving about last night's chaotic Cheltenham Film Society offering - a take on Russian Jewish musicians somehow getting it together to play Tchaikovsky in Paris's Théâtre du Châtelet. As a romantic tear-jerker-cum-action-packed political farce, it risked falling between every stool; but as a piece of magic-realist escapism, it was a great evening out, for this general music-lover anyway. Buena Vista Social Club on speed.

The fragrant Melanie Laurent steals the show, run close by Gheorghe Anghel of the brilliant Taraf de Haïdouks, stars of a couple of our Cheltenham festivals in past years. I felt sorry for those who left when the film started running without subtitles: they missed a treat.