Review of Great World of Sound (2007) by Curtis Y — 14 Mar 2008

This small, unassuming movie is what American independent cinema should be all about. Great World of Sound is certainly fun and quirky, but it doesn't enclose itself in its own hermetically sealed indie universe like the Junos and Little Miss Sunshines of the world.

Underneath the nonchalant surface of Craig Zobel's debut runs a very real, very relevant awareness of a contemporary America where racial and class tensions are dissolved in a unifying yet equally destructive hunger for instant celebrity.

And the fact that many of the auditions seen in the film were unscripted and unstaged both heightens the discomfort for the audience and enables the filmmakers to (rather nobly) take part in the guilt over exploiting so many helpless fame seekers.

Intelligently written, beautifully acted, insightful, thought-provoking and aware: I only hope more American indies like this one can find distribution in an increasingly Fox Searchlight-dominated arthouse world.