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Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

Play trailer Poster for Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould 1993 1h 33m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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93% Tomatometer 27 Reviews 87% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
In this episodic fusion of documentary and biographical drama, director François Girard explores the life of 20th-century pianist Glenn Gould through a series of brief fictional reenactments and real interviews with those who knew the musician. After distinguishing himself as a prodigy at a very young age, the enigmatic Gould (Colm Feore) grows up to dissect the accepted rules of musical theory, and eventually refuses to perform before an audience. He also becomes addicted to prescription pills.
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Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

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Critics Consensus

Befitting its singularly brilliant subject, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould captures the essence of a life and legacy while flouting biopic conventions.

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Critics Reviews

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Derek Smith Slant Magazine Jun 26
From its rigorous and deliberately distancing structural gambit to its restless stylistic experimentations, Thirty Two Short Films proves that biopics needn’t color within the lines to effectively portray their subjects. Go to Full Review
Anthony Lane The New Yorker 08/17/2020
Instead of a laborious bio-pic, we get a sly, quick-witted meditation on a character always likely to elude our grasp. Go to Full Review
Mike D'Angelo AV Club 12/12/2018
If only more filmmakers would take the fragmented, kaleidoscopic approach of Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, which captures the essence of the famed pianist (and radio broadcaster) by honoring his unruliness. Go to Full Review
Mattie Lucas From the Front Row Jul 7
3.5/4
Like Gould himself, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould is imbued with a touch of madness, an essential element for any film trying to capture the heart of the creative impulse. Go to Full Review
Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid Jun 21
4/4
It shows a clear example of how those kinds of movies can be made, not only how they can break out of their rut, but how they can be drastically improved upon. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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s r @ScottR 04/11/2022 1001 movies to see before you die. This movie was unique. Telling the story of an amazing musician and his life in a very creatively composed way. Excellent acting, direction and soundtrack make up a good Canadian biopic. At times it was a bit slow, but it made me focus on the music all the more and appreciate it for what it was worth. The animated segment was bizarrely hypnotic, with simple circles moving during a piece, I enjoyed its Pink Floydish feel to it. Some of the details were lacking, but that made it the viewer make the jump to fill in the blanks, and this wasn't entirely unsuccessful. Perhaps a better introduction to the subject at the beginning could have made it more effective. Regardless, it was entertaining and unforgettable. It was on youtube. See more 07/21/2021 To paraphrase the golden boy himself: The prerequisite of contrapuntal art, more conspicuous in this biopic than in those about any other composer, is an ability to conceive a priori of conceptual identities which when transposed, inverted, made retrograde, or transformed rhythmically will yet exhibit, in conjunction with the original subject matter, some entirely new but completely harmonious profile. See more david f 10/05/2020 This is as good a biographical film as is possible, I think. Using Gould's recordings as the soundtrack, and his eccentricities as the subject matter, these 32 brief and desultory films sum up the Canadian character of the great pianist. See more 01/24/2014 An interesting approach to the documentary format. It's also an interesting approach to the feature-length film. See more 06/25/2013 Easily one of the top two or three greatest Canadian films. A portrait of an astonishing artist - quite possibly the finest pianist of the 20th century. Girard's approach was brilliant - to use 32 separate segments to create a mosaic that encapsulates this complex artist. It's also referencing Gould's most famous recording, the 32 Goldberg Variations by Bach. The film may be too esoteric for some audience's tastes but I'm sure Gould would have it no other way. This was a clear influence on Todd Haynes' equally unconventional biopic of Bob Dylan's I'm Not There. See more 03/05/2013 u have to really like classical music and the piano to like this. I had never herd of glenn gould before this. Its an interesting way to do a biopic, half doc have drama. See more Read all reviews
Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

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Movie Info

Synopsis In this episodic fusion of documentary and biographical drama, director François Girard explores the life of 20th-century pianist Glenn Gould through a series of brief fictional reenactments and real interviews with those who knew the musician. After distinguishing himself as a prodigy at a very young age, the enigmatic Gould (Colm Feore) grows up to dissect the accepted rules of musical theory, and eventually refuses to perform before an audience. He also becomes addicted to prescription pills.
Director
François Girard
Producer
Michael Allder, Niv Fichman, Barbara Willis Sweete, Larry Weinstein
Screenwriter
François Girard, Don McKellar
Distributor
Columbia TriStar Home Video
Production Co
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 26, 1993, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 20, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$1.3M
Runtime
1h 33m
Sound Mix
Surround, Stereo
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