Music Box

Directed by Costa-Gavras, Music Box follows Jessica Lange’s Ann Talbot as she agrees to defend her father (Armin Mueller-Stahl’s Mike) in court after he’s accused of heinous war crimes. Filmmaker Costa-Gavras, working from Joe Eszterhas’ screenplay, delivers a slow-moving drama that admittedly grows more and more compelling as it unfolds, with the picture’s excessively sluggish opening stretch threatening to undo and cancel out its compelling premise and stirring performances (ie one can’t help but wish, early on, that Costa-Gavras would just get on with it, already). It’s clear, then, that Music Box improves substantially as it progresses into a midsection focused almost entirely on that aforementioned court case, as Costa-Gavras has suffused this portion of this proceedings with a handful of admittedly (and unexpectedly) spellbinding sequences that effectively compensate for the somewhat erratic pacing. (There is, for example, a stirring scene wherein a woman testifies about her violent experiences during the war.) The thoroughly watchable atmosphere, which is heightened by Lange and Mueller-Stahl’s sporadically electrifying efforts, paves the way for a second half and climax that’s generally more enthralling than one might’ve anticipated, which does, in the end, cement Music Box‘s place as a better-than-average courtroom thriller that’s capped off with a decidedly memorable final few minutes.

*** out of ****