Strange coincidence? First a bloody musical from the Fleet Street, then a videoclip-like Daft Punk vision, and now I have another music-related movie, this time about the eccentric Canadian piano player, Glenn (Herbert) Gould. Or even 32 short films? The title is honest: the film delivers thirty two small pieces from a complex character.
"I didn't want to reduce [him] to one dimension." – said Francois Girard, the director, so he made 32 dimensions, which is six times more how Todd Haynes did last year with Bob Dylan. The idea is the same, but the movies are quite different. Here we have fragments of a character through different genres. Dramatized situations, interviews, animation (by Norman Mclaren!) and experimental stuff.
I've choosen to watch this film not because of Gould, but because of its form. Reading Louis Giannetti (1999, 137) you're getting curious: "The movie's structure is not a straightforward narrative, but series of fragments, loosely based on the thirty-two-part Goldberg Variations of Johann Sebastian Bach – one of Gould's most celebrated virtuoso performances. The film is structured around ideas rather that a linear story, and for this reason, thematic montage is its style of editing." Since I'm interested in every kind of non-linearity in narratives, it was a logical step to watch Girard's film. And the decision was good: Giannetti had right, my interest was fullfilled, but...
... it would have been around twenty stories enough. Let's see:
Twenty Stories About Glenn Gould.
Sounds better isn't it?
I can repeat what I said after watching Electroma on the other day. Even if this is a definitely better try with thick atmosphere around its protagonist's odd personality, better listen Glenn Gould than watch.
By the way, how would you picture the music?
7/10
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