They Shot the Piano Player is the story of Brazilian pianist Tenório Jr and his mysterious disappearance in the 70s. He played during the Bossa Nova wave, and his disappearance became a metaphor for Bossa Nova as a whole — a brilliant movement ended too soon by South American dictatorships.
The movie uses a fictional framing narrative in which fictional author Jeff Harris (voiced by Jeff Goldblum) researches Tenório’s disappearance and interviews actual Bossa Nova and Brazilian musicians. The film is animated to help meld the pieces together. Its style is flat and bright and has prominent South American vibes.
The movie lacks any real narrative thrust, jumping from interview to interview with scant story beats to tie them together. As a result, the pacing is abysmal, and the interviews become redundant recollections of how funny and pure Tenório was.
It’s a shame because the details of what happened are fascinating. I still like the movie, but in more competent hands, this could have been something great.