So much average

i must have seen a different film!!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Hmmmm... Inhaling before to write my first word, suspended in the air... because I want that word to be beautiful.One of my talents is in writing. I have no financial success. Although I have been published - for free.I do not have an awesome screenplay or a breathtaking novel to give. I write poetry and I write notes, texts, messages. Every time I write I pour love into it. I love typing words and, funnily for the first time, by watching this sensitive beautiful documentary have I seen myself as a pianist.I feel very grateful to Bernstein for honoring artistry. And very grandly grateful to Ethan for sharing this gift with us all. I want to tell Ethan although you may never read these lines: I consider you to be one true deep and intense artist and you could be honored by not having received any academy award. That may truly show how intimate and pure your art is many times.I have seen an actor who has been trying to receive an award for years receiving it for a work that was created around this purpose and in which that actor did a compilation of some of the most intense scenes he did in his career. He got it but what did it really mean? I have written elsewhere - and I maintain it - that if awards were truly rewarding pure genuine performances, they would have been rewarding you for Training Day. At least. My favorite performance of you, in all I saw of you, was in Before Sunset. I watched this movie an alarming number of times. I still can see you on the Bateau-Mouche talking true feelings to the 'love of your life'. It wasn't simply the obvious romantic aspect of your performance that appealed to me, no, no, it was this fully alive, vibrant, almost tangible expression of your face when you expressed your certainty that you could have lived with the love of your life. Hmmmmmmmm....I, too, have been bullied into this world of achievements that we all know, that we all grew up in, we who use IMDb casually. I have gotten depressed by the upside-down nature of this world where the worst performances gather the biggest fortunes, where the sincere lone artists get mocked for being unknown. Therefore, I bow to both of you, for having rewarded me with these true reminders of what art is, poured into me via this film, and comforting me in the need I have to honor my true essence instead of following the pressure of a world which always wants more tinsel and glitter.

This is an exceptional documentary centering on Seymour Bernstein, the classical pianist, composer, and teacher. Now 88-years-old, he retired from concert appearances at age 50 to devote more time to teaching and mentoring others. Bernstein had me rather mesmerized with his distinctive tones, as he spins fascinating stories and anecdotes from his life, adding some quite profound words of wisdom that he's gathered over his lifetime.The superb actor Ethan Hawke directs the documentary, and I read that he regards Bernstein as a mentor of his. Both men during the interviews, reveal some very personal aspects of their life, including stage fright and how to get fulfillment for the remainder of their time on this earth.Overall, I was totally engaged, from start to finish, in this remarkable movie, and there's some wonderful classical music to enjoy as well.

Sane, clean and perfectly put together, this film is a quiet rebellion against vulgarity and sensationalism so prevalent in today's entertainment and art. The documentary is a portrait of a classical pianist, drawn by a movie star, in which a master musician ponders on the relationship between a person and his inner creative self. A topic like this always runs a risk of coming across as abstract and esoteric, which in this film is delightfully not the case. The conversation ends up being about subjects painstakingly relevant to any performer: stage fright (and what an artist should make of it), craft, truthfulness to the source, eccentricity versus authenticity, teaching, artistic bravery and success.The film is filled with wonderful stories like this one: drafted into the army during the Korean War, Seymour finds himself marching for miles tirelessly while his fellow soldiers, seemingly stronger and more fit than he is, faint of exhaustion. He attributes his endurance to his "musician mind set", an explanation, both, unexpected and convincing in the context of the film.Seymour's every action is motivated by honesty. If there was a stage in his life where he did not feel completely in peace internally, he corrects that eventually, always bringing himself to a state of a perfect inner comfort. There are a few examples of these struggles in the film – the most notable one, of course, is Seymour quitting his successful concert pianist career in favor of teaching. Very appropriately, the film mimics its subject in its honesty and uncompromising taste. Unfortunately, it also does so in its limited popularity. Call me naive, but I really don't get how a piece of nonsense like Fifty Shades of Grey grows in its media presence with every new bad review it gets, and how a treasure like "Seymour…" gets overlooked by 99.9% of cinema goers.One more thing. The film is a visual and musical feast. From Seymour's shaded solitary apartment in Manhattan, to the breathtakingly beautiful views of Central Park, to the Rotunda of Steinway Hall, to piano pieces by Chopin, Schumann, Beethoven and Bach, there are countless delicacies for the audiences to savor. If the film had no other merits, but cinematography and musical score, it'd be still worth watching.

.....about a man who made it his life mission to feed others' souls through the study of music of great emotional richness, intellectual depth and beauty. A must see and a wonderful reprieve from the shallow, titillating stuff we are continually inundated by. Subtle camera angles, expert scene selections and gorgeous musical choices create a tempo to this movie that engages the watcher without doing all the work for him. Kudos to Ethan Hawke for recognizing the substance, wisdom and humanity of Seymour, for resisting the temptation to insert his ego into the story, and for allowing conversations that require the audience members (whether they play the piano or not) to exercise their minds, to think, consider, wonder, reflect about their own lives and passions. You may find yourself, like me, wanting to hear those kernels of wisdom and truth again and again, to deepen your understanding and glean more fully their meaning, and to be moved once more by Seymour's magical, beautiful artistry.