Fingers

Jimmy Angelli wants to be a concert pianist and spends his days at the piano. But he makes his living doing his father's work: collecting debts for a bookmaker with mob connections. His hands play Bach and beat people. As the distance between the two lives narrows, Jimmy's hold on himself comes apart. This was James Toback's first film as director. The narrative follows the course of a collapse rather than a plot; the link between scenes is sometimes only Jimmy's state of mind. The portable tape player he carries in the street, endlessly playing music of the 1950s and 1960s, is used as the character's way of sealing himself off from the world. Harvey Keitel plays Jimmy and the film rests almost entirely on him. Jacques Audiard remade the same story in France in 2005. Who it's for: Viewers who like 1970s American cinema, narratives of personal collapse, and Harvey Keitel. Who it's not for: The violence is sudden and harsh and some scenes contain sexual violence. The writing of the women is also seriously troubling.