Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould - Musician reveals himself to camera
Despite his bumpkin attire and oddball affectations, Glenn Gould considered himself a thoroughly modern artist, in tune with the times and with mass media.
Directed by Peter Raymont and Michèle Hozer. 109 minutes. At The Royal Thursday through Sunday.
Despite his bumpkin attire and oddball affectations, Glenn Gould considered himself a thoroughly modern artist, in tune with the times and with mass media.
“I know I would have been very unhappy as a 19th-century man,” he says via voiceover in Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, a documentary revealing the complicated and often engaging human behind the late ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ pianist’s legend.
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It’s one of many eye-opening admissions. The film challenges conventional wisdom about the man whose virtuoso recordings, beginning with his daring take on J.S. Bach’s The Goldberg Variations in 1955, made him a giant of classical music.
Co-directors Peter Raymont and Michèle Hozer dig deep, interviewing members of Gould’s intimate circle and unearthing rare footage of the man at work and play. In scenes from his 20s, rapturously stroking the keyboard, he resembles a young Warren Beatty. A friend compares Gould to James Dean.
Much of the film is told in Gould’s own words, each one spoken eloquently and distinctly.
He is revealed to be a man of many passions, and also as a savvy consumer of media who carefully crafted a public image to suit his desire to keep the world at bay – but also within reach whenever it suited his purposes.
Genius Within is the most complete portrait yet of this complex artist.
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Peter Howell is a ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½-based movie critic and a freelance
contributor to the Star. Follow him on Twitter: .
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