Opportunity lost


I went into this film knowing nothing about Glenn Gould. I ended the film knowing little more about Glenn Gould. If this was filmed in all out documentary form it might have worked with the most interesting parts being the opinions of former friends and colleagues. What we are left with is a sort of docu-drama which is ostentatious and practically unwatchable. You can call yourself a true film fan if you can sit through this. Criminally lauded by the critics Angela Errigo and David Parkinson, this film is tripe of the highest magnitude.

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[deleted]

My gosh, I feel quite sad for you if you think watching a fantastic piece of film making that represents so many different aspects of an amazing man & the music he plays an Opportunity Lost.

There are many straight biography docs out there, this is something far more special than that.

It's a film not a documentry don't forget.

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Well, there are people who like to learn about a subject by getting the dry facts, and there are people who actually want to "experience" a subject.

The former leads to purely intellectual knowledge with very little actual understanding (contextual and emotional). That knowledge is just good enough to impress friends or win a trivia quiz.

The latter leads to an emotional and intellectual experience of the subject, which does widen one's horizon and makes him/her empathetic for the lives and feeling of others.

The latter is also a better way to memorise history. Narratives and emotional experiences are scientifically proven to cause longer-lasting memories. For instance, if you want to learn about the late middle ages, read Umberto Eco's "Name of the Rose". You will learn and experience the middle ages much more than reading, say, a wikipedia entry. Of course, one needs to be able to distinguish between the facts and the fiction. But that's a different story ...

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I felt it was unnecessarily artsy-fartsy. There is quite a lot of Gould's footage around for a real documentary to be made. I didn't need to see an actor trying to mimic his mannerisms or a director's interpretation of him - I wanted to see the man himself.

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It was one of those movies I needed to see on my list, but I knew nothing of it, didn't even know if this Glenn Gould was real or not. So all I figured was some guy plays a piano, takes lots of pills and then dies. Jep, didn't knew much more about the guy after watching it.

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