The long staircase, with no end in sight, is like the unknown long road of life. Max, the trumpeter sitting on the steps, slowly tells the wonderful and poignant life story of his only confidant in his life. This is the prologue to the film "The Pianist at Sea", and the legendary life of the genius pianist in 1900 begins.
On the first day of the twentieth century, Danny, a black coal filler aboard the Virginia, picked up a beautiful boy on the piano in the ballroom, and to commemorate this special day, Danny named the boy 1900. Danny loved the child very much, taught him to read and write, and the father and son spent eight years of warmth.
In an accident, Danny unfortunately died. At Danny's funeral, there were moving voices in the distance, and someone told 1900 that it was music. Orphaned again in 1900 lonely and silent. By chance, 1900 saw through the blurred glass the piano that had been with him for a lifetime, and the scene inside was strange but colorful. The young orphan 1900 has never left the Virginia since the day of its birth. On a quiet night, he had never studied piano before and played beautiful music. The melodious sound of the piano attracts many tourists who are about to fall asleep. He danced briskly on the keys with his small hands stained with soot, and in front of the piano he was like Mozart regenerating, and the melodious sound of the piano was intoxicated by everyone, and what was even more surprising was the boy sitting next to the piano.
One night many years later, the sea broke out in the wind and waves, and seasickness caused the new trumpeter Max to turn from side to side. 1900 then appeared before him and told him that he could help him. 1900 took him to the piano and asked Max to loosen the brake bolt, and the piano swam freely with the tilt of the hull, 1900 let Max sit next to him and play a beautiful song on the side of the swimming piano, and 1900, sitting at the piano, was like an angel, intoxicated by the music. In 1900, he took Max on a romantic and unforgettable musical journey. The swimming piano crashes the captain's door, and the 1900 disaster and Max are punished by the captain to work as coal fillers, and the two form a deep friendship in the tribulation.
In the cooperation with the band on the ship, 1900 never refused to obey the rules, often halfway through the performance, abandoning the band, throwing away the score, improvising, his free and free and passionate play never disgusting, but let everyone prefer this highly skilled piano genius. The otherworldly performances are pleasing to the eye. In his performances, there is often a faint sadness as incomprehensible as a wandering thought. His ability to accurately describe the inner world of tourists with music has to be impressive.
Max once asked him why he didn't go ashore, where he could live a different life and there would still be a lot of people who liked him, and in 1900 he thought that the people on the shore were constantly searching and never stopping, and this was not the life he liked. It is precisely because of his uncertainty about this world that he was destined to be born in 1900 on a ship, grow up on a ship, and eventually die in the fate of a ship.
Soon, 1900's fame grew, angering Jerry, who was known as the grandfather of jazz on land, so Jerry sent someone to inform him that he was going to have a jazz piano duel with him. In 1900 a duel was won when people felt hopeless. In a wonderful duel with Jerry, 1900 was favored by the record dealer, who recorded a record for 1900 on the ship, and during the recording, a young and beautiful girl appeared outside the window, the girl had a pair of dark blue eyes like the sea, and a strand of hair brushed her face under the sea breeze. He fell deeply in love with this girl he had met by chance, and the most simple, gentle, and moving strings from the bottom of his heart flowed from the tips of his fingers. This string rhythm is beautiful and breathtaking, and the romance is suffocating. The sudden love made the naturally sensitive and timid piano genius feel too heavy, and late at night, after a very complicated thought, he came to the third class of the female guest to find the sleeping girl and kissed the sleeping girl. The next day, in the crowd he found the girl who was about to get off the boat and wanted to give her his record, but he could not have such a chance, and the crowd of people ruthlessly separated him from the girl.
Finally, one day he told his friends that he was leaving the Virginia to find the girl he loved. He made a final farewell to all the crew members who had come to bid farewell. 1900 slowly walked up the gangway connecting the strange world that he had never stepped on, and suddenly he stopped, looking at the city standing in front of him, and the streets crisscrossed in front of him, and the fear and uncertainty in his heart made 1900 stop, and a moment later, he threw his hat into the air and returned to the ship.
The 1900, which returned to the Virginia, fell into depression. A man sat on the deck, lonely and lonely looking helpless and sad. The sad look was the same as when I lost Danny as a child. A few months later he told Max that he would never leave the Virginia.
A few years later, Max left the Virginia. Frustrated, Max arrives at a musical instrument shop and intends to become the trumpet that has been with him for decades, learning from the old man who sold the instrument that the Virginia, where he once worked, will be blown up in twenty-four hours. Everyone thought the ship was empty, and only Max knew that in 1900 he would never leave the Virginia. Max finally persuaded the construction man to board the ship with him to look for 1900.
The cries of friends did not make the 1900 appear. Max borrowed a phonograph from an old musician. On board, Max turned on the phonograph, and inside came the beautiful song representing the innocent love of 1900. The dilapidated Virgin is no longer as glorious as it once was, and the music flows through every familiar corner, bringing great sadness. Every corner sees through the vicissitudes of time. Max finally finds his long-lost friend in the cabin, 1900, but he tells Max that he's sorry he can't go with Max, he can't leave the Virginia, he can't control the world of flowers and flowers he's never traveled, and for him, the Virginia is all he has. With understanding, with sentimentality Max and 1900 doing a final goodbye. With tears in his eyes, Max took heavy steps to leave 1900 step by step. At this time, 1900 stopped Max and told Max the story of what happened after he arrived in heaven in a relaxed tone, seemingly relaxed, but actually bitter humor that gave people laughter and tears of sorrow. The explosives were carried onto the ship, and 1900, without a piano, played the first music of his childhood in his heart, and made a final farewell to life with music. The explosives were detonated, everything fell silent, and a genius pianist fell silently. The old music merchant finally returned the trumpet to Max, and Max left the old music merchant with the trumpet, the quaint street, the long alley, Max's figure is getting smaller and smaller...