Doina
2010 · 17m
Directed by Nikolas Grasso
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, musical
Tones: contemplative, tender
Doina, a talented teenager training for an important international piano selection, must choose between the path everyone has planned for her and her own true passion.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A coming-of-age piano drama about choosing your own path—it's the exact story everyone's been telling for twenty years, and Grasso doesn't seem interested in breaking the spell, just inhabiting it competently.
Grasso positions himself within the lineage of the European coming-of-age film with assured formal control; the contemplative pacing and tender handling of the classical music world show a director conscious of craft tradition and restraint.
What elevates this beyond the familiar premise is Grasso's decision to let the piano itself become a character—the specific way he frames Doina's hands, the ambient recording choices during her practice sessions—these granular sonic and visual decisions transform the internal conflict into something tactile and earned.