Rating: 
Summary: I'm A Convert!
Review: Anne Marble has been trying to make me a fan of classical pianist Glenn Gould for ages. After watching this film twice and then ordering the CD of the music, I must admit that she has won. I don't even like classical music generally but Gould's passion and charisma cross all boundaries plus reach out and grab one by the throat. I just can see me collecting one CD after another of GG's in the future and I didn't need another obsession! A great scene in this film is GG playing the piano while we see items from his medical situation pass across the screen: Xrays, blood pressure counts and so forth. This was a very effective way of foreshadowing his stroke and death at age 51.
Rating: 
Summary: Exactly the right approach for this enigmatic eccentric
Review: As loyal and close-mouthed as Glenn Gould's family and friends have been over the years, a standard biopic was pretty much out of the question. So, the creators of this film hit upon the ingenious idea of applying the montage technique to Gould's life. The impression thus created is a bit breathless--we're re-engaging with the subject thirty-two times in the course of the film, remember--but effective. Some sections are simple and brief; one is just a circling shot of Gould (an actor,really) seated in an empty room. Others have more narrative focus, like the one in which Gould makes a killing in a bear market. One bit I would have liked to have seen recreated was Gould's visit to Russia in the late '50s. Van Cliburn had wowed the Russians shortly before. They were impressed with Gould also, but they had cause to be nervous of him, too. On a now out-of-print cd that I own, Gould is lecturing conservatory students in Moscow about twelve-tone and atonal music, playing selections as he goes. The translator dutifully translates, but the students are edgy, and some can be heard slipping out of the room. The reason? Stalin had banned such music, and the Soviets hadn't yet unbanned it. The music track is a fair-enough sampling of Gould's accomplishments. Sections of the Goldbergs and the Clavier serve as undertracks for some of the films. Gould's intrusive vocalise is present on some recordings. There's even a performance of his lone string quartet, a by-the-numbers twelve-tone piece that he wrote before deciding that composition wasn't his gift. Sadly for me, neither his chamber orchestra nor his piano transcription recording of the "Siegfried Idyll" seemed to be featured. Pity; it's a beautiful, unexpected achievement and it seems like it would have fit in here somewhere. This film is a perfect match of form to subject.
Rating:
Summary: An introduction into the Mind of Gould.
Review: Eccentric, brilliant, paranoid, reclusive, and recording vampire of the night. The words have often described Gould's life. This film weaves documentary pieces, narrative, performances into a quite unusual film.
Rating:
Summary: An insight to Gould's musical personality, not life.
Review: For those who want to learn about the life of Glenn Gould, read a published biography in book form. The film aims to provide glimpses of Glenn Gould's genius--how he viewed, listened, thought about, perceived, and communicated music. For musicians, particularly pianists, the film shows the various aspects of Gould's musical personality and the hallmark of his eccentric performance and interpretation. My personal favorite is the restuarant episode to which the last movement of the Prokofieff Seventh Sonata was played. So many of us only think of him as a Bach specialist!
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating yet mildly unsettling biopic on Glenn Gould
Review: Formalistically, this is an attempt at a fragmented, nonnarrative portrait of the life of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould who is as famous for his eccentricity and his refusal to perform live as for his brilliant if debated recordings of works such as Bach's Goldberg Variations. The Amazon official editorial review wonders if we learn more in this fashion than we would have with a more straightforward biopic and concludes, "Probably not." I would, however, argue that a straightforward narrative probably did not suit the subject as well as the one employed in this film. There is brokenness in Gould's life that a normal narrative would have obscured. I have know a couple of souls who were geniuses in a fashion similar to Gould, and what was most striking about them was how poorly they meshed with greater societal expectations. I think the method for the film was perfect for the subject matter.
This does not, however, mean that this is a perfect film. Too many of the pieces are not especially moving, and I found my attention wandering in some segments while riveted in others. For the most part, I found that I enjoyed any scene in which Colm Feore, who portrayed Gould, appeared. His is always a fascinating presence, and he did a masterful job of projecting someone you feel might have been Gould, though he dispensed with some of Gould's more arresting eccentricities, such as lowering his piano stool to the point where he was nearly sitting on the floor.
Unfortunately, in the end the film fails as a portrayal in any detectable sense of the life of Glenn Gould simply because it omits too much. For instance, the film ignores or mutes many of Gould's less pleasant qualities, such as his notorious habit of simply not showing up for performances. Or the enormous idiosyncrasy of a huge number of performances. Because of the oddness of many of his interpretations, Gould would certainly not be ranked among the very finest pianists of his or any other generation. Certainly he ranks far, far below not merely luminaries such as Rubenstein and Horowitz, but contemporaries such as Alfred Brendel or Byron Janis. Was Gould a great pianist? Possibly not. Was he a fascinating one? Without any question. But I suspect in the end Gould fascinates more because of his personality and the eccentricity of his life than for his brilliance on record or in the concert hall.
This leaves us, finally, with the question of whether 32 SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD is a failed biopic or a successful fiction based on a famous real life musician. I lean towards the latter, but I wouldn't debate too strenuously anyone who insisted on the former.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what its title suggests
Review: Glenn Gould was obviously an astonishing pianist and musician. He was also an isloated person who had difficulty being a social being. He is justly famous for the first fact; the second was a difficulty he had to endure. This film is not about Gould as a musician(there is actually very little music). Rather it is a semi voyeuristic attempt at drawing a picture of his personality using a mixture of acting and interviews with real people. The mixture doesn't work, and is, I believe, pointless and perhaps cruel. It is neither fish nor fowl, but rather, that most misleading of "art forms", the docudrama.If you love Gould's music this will not inspire you.
Rating:
Summary: Non-linear Story Telling at its Best
Review: I doubted that a biography of any pianist, even somebody as eccentric and talented as Gould, could hold my attention for the length of a feature film -- even one that purports to be 32 separate films. I was wrong. Thirty Two Short Films about Glenn Gould is an incredible venture in story telling, in biography, in education, and an heroic attempt to show a story from multiple vantage points, using a varied set of devices. As each of the 32 "short films" evolve, a web develops, connecting details and revealing an incredible life. We get less a biographical theory in this movie, than a larger set of questions than we dared to ask before the film began. I found the experience to be brilliantly artistic and mentally stimulating. The cinematography builds mood and the music is unsurpassed. Definitely not an action movie--most skateboarding teenagers would rather have root canals than sit through this. Let them watch DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS or ORANGE COUNTY. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie without reservation. It earned more than the mere five stars Amazon will let me give it. (If you'd like to discuss this move or review in more detail, please click on the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Docudramas EVer!
Review: I first saw this movie when i was fifteen and studying classical music in High School and i had never heard of Glenn Gould. After seeing this film i fell in love with his recordings and even studied him in college. I even use his music in my classroom for projects with my students. The film shows a beautiful portrait of a man with absolute genius who could not function in the world around him. There are many like him, but we never see such intimate glimpses of these people. This was also the first film i had ever seen Colm Feore in (besides seeing him at Stratford), he is absolutely amazing. He captures Gould in every sense of the word, you think you are watching the real Gould. I have seen everything he has been in ever since. I also enjoyed this glimpse into Canadian History , being of Canadian background and an American and Canadian History teacher. This is the best movie about Classical music i have ever seen. Buy It!!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Introduction to Gould's Work for Students
Review: I first showed this to my students five years ago in one of those "after the holiday concert slump" moments.
At first, the seventh grade students were restless, similar to the German hotel chamber maid whom Gould forces to listen to his newly arrived recording. At the same moment she becomes riveted, the students became riveted. I showed the video over two days. After that, students were curious about Gould and his life and work. With the advent of the suggestion that Gould suffered from Aspberger's Syndrome (a neurological disorder with similarities to autism), some of my students were interested in learning more about people with this disability, especially their afflicted classmates.
I do need to stress, both to my students and even to some adults, that this is not truly a documentary. It is an art film. The man playing Gould is not Gould himself, but the actor Colm Feore. Many of the other people interviewed are truly portrayed by themselves, including Gould's piano technician, friends, and violinist Sir Yehudi Menuhin. Even with its questionable historic accuracy, it is a wonderful introduction to the works of one of the most highly regarded musicians of the last century.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Introduction to Gould's Work for Students
Review: I first showed this to my students five years ago in one of those "after the holiday concert slump" moments.
At first, the seventh grade students were restless, similar to the German hotel chamber maid whom Gould forces to listen to his newly arrived recording. At the same moment she becomes riveted, the students became riveted. I showed the video over two days. After that, students were curious about Gould and his life and work. With the advent of the suggestion that Gould suffered from Aspberger's Syndrome (a neurological disorder with similarities to autism), some of my students were interested in learning more about people with this disability, especially their afflicted classmates.
I do need to stress, both to my students and even to some adults, that this is not truly a documentary. It is an art film. The man playing Gould is not Gould himself, but the actor Colm Feore. Many of the other people interviewed are truly portrayed by themselves, including Gould's piano technician, friends, and violinist Sir Yehudi Menuhin. Even with its questionable historic accuracy, it is a wonderful introduction to the works of one of the most highly regarded musicians of the last century.
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