Admirable film.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I knew that this film was listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, as a documentary of sorts I didn't know anything about the subject matter, but with high ratings by critics I was looking forward to it. Basically it is biopic about Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. The difference with this film is there is not a single narrative, it is made up of thirty-one short films, or vignettes (sketches) (the thirty-second film is the end credits), mostly featuring Gould's music.The thirty-two short films are: 1) Aria - a man walking in a white wilderness. 2) Lake Simcoe - Glenn's childhood, his Mother (Katya Ladan) watching him learning to play piano. 3) Forty-five Seconds and a Chair - Glenn Gould (Colm Feore) sat in a chair. 4) Bruno Monsaingeon: musician and collaborator. 5) Gould Meets Gould: text by Glenn Gould - Gould talking to himself in a studio. 6) Hamburg - Gould diagnosed with bronchitis in the lung, then doing a piano recording and doing something with the maid. 7) Variation of C Minor - an animation of an audio wave line. 8) Practise. 9) The L.A. Concert - Gould walking through the theatre corridors meeting people. 10) CD318 - piano playing on stage, with close-ups of they keys, hammers and strings. 11) Yehudi Menuhin: violinist. 12) Passion According to Gould - Gould listening to piano. 13) Opus 1: a Composition by Glenn Gould - four men sitting playing string instruments. 14) Crossed Paths - various friends and colleagues interviewed. 15) Truck Stop - "Downtown" by Petula Clark playing in a roadside diner, there is eavesdropping on many conversations. 16) The Idea of North: A Radio Interview by Glenn Gould. 17) Solitude - Gould walking and talking in the snow with an invisible interviewer. 18) Questions with No Answers - journalists and interviewers asking Gould questions, face to face and on telephone, no responses are heard. 19) A Letter. 20) Gould Meets McLaren: Animation by Norman McLaren - dancing spheres in a forward moving sky. 21) The Tip - phone calls about shares in Sotex. 22) Personal Ad - Gould advertising to find someone as odd as him. 23) Pills - close-ups of drugs, with names and descriptions given, and their side effects. 24) Margaret Pacsu: friend. 25) Diary of One Day - writing of words and number sums on screen, and an x-ray of a body moving and the brain. 26) Motel Wawa - an interview on the telephone, and a window looking out to a beach. 27) Forty-Nine - Gould in a phone booth. 28) Jessie Greig: cousin. 29) Leaving - driving and Gould dying, following a stroke he suffered brain damage and was taken off life support. 30) Voyager - a space shuttle launch. 31) Aria - a repeat sequence. 32) End Credits.Also starring Derek Keurvorst as Gould's Father, Devon Anderson as Young Glenn Age 3, Joshua Greenblatt as Young Glenn Age 8, Sean Ryan as Young Glenn Age 12, Kate Hennig as Chambermaid and Sean Doyle as Porter. Feore gives a remarkable performance as the talented musician, the music of the real Gould is beautiful and goes well with the scenes, the editing is well done, and each segment, whether its acted, an interview or animated adds something different, you can draw your own conclusion of the real man being focused, a brilliantly crafted and most interesting biographical drama. Very good!

This is a great film, and it goes into territories that few films even recognize, let alone approach. It does start a little slow, and the first few 'shorts' can come off as a bit ... well, pretentious, to be blunt. But past that, it's a fantastic portrait of an interesting character, and one which satisfies on a number of levels --- creatively, intellectually, and even emotionally.What sets this film aside from many others are two main elements; the first is the novelty by which the film is presented: 32 short films, some of which are quite the same, but many of which are unexpected blasts of what can only be called 'experimental film'--- some of which seems almost silly, given how far technology and special effects have come since 1993. The 'films' really are quite short, and many of them are almost like small 'puzzles' which unfold so quickly that it's not until a second viewing that their underlying message becomes a bit more obvious, and it becomes clear how well-tied together all the shorts are. This is not short-attention span theatre, but it moves quick enough that once you get into the film, it's difficult to stop watching.The other element which makes this film so great is the basic premise, and the way in which it refuses to be dumbed down for the audience. This is the rare case of a movie that respects it's audience, even at the expense of losing half an audience by not being bombastic and overly obvious. The first few shorts are the weakest, but they establish the basic character and 'backstory' of Gould quite well" He's a piano virtuoso who has become so amazing at playing piano that calling him 'genius' is a bit of an understatement. And while his character has a definite surplus of eccentricities and quirks, this film doesn't focus on his genius as we're used to seeing films treat the subject. Whereas most films make out a person;s genius to be a heavy burden to carry, which always seems to come at a high cost and lead to a desire for normalacy (to make we in the audience feel better for not being geniuses, I suppose), 32 Short Films goes in another direction: Here's a genius who enjoys being who he is, who makes the most of his mostly self-imposed loneliness by turning it into art, who enjoys the intellectual challenge of his own conflicts with intellectual society. Rather than the familiar portrait of genius as a soul-crippling condition which becomes almost indistinguishable from minor autism, we see a full human being, realized and thoughtful, able to confuse the sometimes-adoring, sometimes-confrontational media by admitting that he doesn't think it's worth talking about music--- how about talking about Indian rights, or the supernatural, or something that has no ostensible connection to music or anything piano-related? If you play music, or if you are an aficionado of classical music, there's a whole depth to this film which you'll enjoy, although it's not as at the forefront of the film as you might suspect. This is not a film about music, but the sort of person who plays music, recognizable as a character APART from the skill which defines him so much for everyone else.This movie is a bit dated. That's really one thing it has working against it in some sense--- it feels at times like a movie from the 80's, and not in a 'cool 80's' way. Nonetheless, there's a certain air to the film which seems to disregard any particular age entirely, and this makes sense in a way, because Gould was clearly not one to feel confined to the age, and the ways in which things were being done.There are so many things that are tempting to say about this film, which are probably just my own interpretations and conclusions, which it's probably better not to go into, simply because half the enjoyment of this film is developing those realizations yourself. Even if you can't stand classical music, you'll find this film rewarding.Highly recommended.

I'll admit, I'm a sucker for films about artists-- especially troubled eccentrics. Canadian Glenn Gould, one of the most celebrated and controversial pianists in history, is honored in this brilliant cinematic portrait.Rather than travel the middle-of-the-road, as did last year's biopic "Ray", director Francois Girard and screenwriter Don McKellar offer thirty-two vibrant, momentary glimpses of Gould's life, which combine, like the facets of a prism-- or the notes of a melody. Each short film is a piece of a puzzle that spans childhood to old age. While the styles vary from narrative to abstract, one constant is the hypnotic beat of Gould's genius fingers across the keyboard.Though I don't know a lot about classical music, this film made me hungry to learn more. There's a lovely scene where a hotel chambermaid falls spell to one of Gould's dazzling recordings. At that moment, so did I.Actor Colm Feore respectfully portrays the perfectionism, idealism, and anguish that eventually unraveled Gould's career. Oh, but what a career it was!

I saw this on DVD and enjoyed it thoroughly. The means of portraying a person - through short and disconnected vignettes - was surprisingly natural. When you think about it, this is often how we learn about people: a collection of stories, incidents, things their friends say about them, memories from childhood. Not only that, but it nicely parallels some of the music, such as the short pieces in Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier. Each has a different mood, but together they paint a complete picture. This movie is a lot of fun for anyone who is fond of classical music and willing to experiment a little bit with film.