Review of Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (2009) by Alice B — 26 Sep 2010

I walked into this documentary knowing nothing of Glen Gould, there simply to kill some time with a matinee whilst I waited for a friend. Within two minutes, I was intrigued, within five, I was in love, and by the time the film ended, I sat as if mourning the recent death of a life-long friend. To die-hard Gould scholars, this film may well have flaws- was it too reverent? Were parts of his life skimmed over, whilst others were over-stressed? Perhaps. But perhaps too much reverence isn't always a crime; an emotive film, clearly made with love as this was, moved a new-comer to Gould like me more then a cold, factual report ever could have. It viewed him the way his friends did, a little too caught up in his charm, very forgiving of his faults - and why not? It did not ignore his faults, but demonstrated what it was about Gould that made him special, that emotional truth of how damaged yet inescapably compelling he was. I was impressed at the story-telling, taking scraps of writing and footage and comments, and making sense of it, so that the peaks and falls of emotion carried you through the way a good fiction should. Lives are not story books, and so turning one into a successful tale is never an easy thing.

My one criticism is that some footage was used too repeatedly, to the extent that it became as noticeable as Bella Lugosi re-emerging yet again from the woods in Plan 9 From Outer Space, though understandably for the same reasons - they had to work with what they had. Still, this did jar slightly, and at points I found myself thinking "are they STILL talking about that?", but not enough to ruin the overall experience. If Glen were alive to die, I'm sure he'd happily edit it compulsively until he deemed it perfect. As it stands - the piece achieved what it aimed to do - created a comprehensive memorial for the pianist's life, and converted new people to its appreciation.