This short made my entire day. I went in completely blind, and it hit me like an earthquake. And then it hit me again when I started thinking about it, with continuous aftershocks the more I kept thinking about it. That's one telling sign of a good work of art. In terms of both content and execution, the movie is exactly where it wants to be at any given moment. In the five short minutes of its runtime it takes you on a *wild* ride, building up tension that erupts in a massive pay-off that is both deeply emotional and viciously clever, but it never feelsforced or exploitative. Like a good dish, it immediately traps you in and leaves you invigorated and deeply satisfied. Instead of thinking "okay, next", you want to stop there and savor the taste. You've just consumed something delicious; you liked it not because of its nutritional quality, nor because it was small enough not to cause inconvenience—you liked it because it was a quality dish in its own right. Director Tetsuro Kodama is most certainly a chef, and Pianoman is his unique recipe.

All things considered, it's easily one of the best movies I've seen, regardless of the length.

(P.S. You can skip the trailer. It functions as a sort of a prequel, but I don't think it adds anything to the story.)