I loved this movie.
One thing that I've found to be so interesting about this film is the very strong emotion that it frequently evokes in the audience. The first time I saw it (opening week in downtown Philadelphia), both my husband and I cried, and so did the friends that came with us, and judging by the sniffling going on around us, so did a number of others. The second time I saw it, I could only find a seat at the end of the back row in a neighborhood art-house theater. When the big Brahms finale came up, the entire back row burst out humming the tune with huge enthusiasm (and yes, you do know it, even if you didn't know it was Brahms). The third time I saw it, I came with my extended family, and we had to sit way down front. When the movie ended, the group of people sitting behind us stood up, leaned over and said with urgency, "Did you LOVE this movie?" They had that blissful look on their faces that said that they had seriously connected with the film and really wanted to feel that others shared that connection.
I think it's not surprising that people who go to see it expecting that it'll be "about" the Philly Orchestra, or that it will somehow reveal the inner mysteries of music, or that it will lay out the back story of professional musicians rehearsing and performing a whole piece, or that it will have a linear narrative structure of, say, a documentary about the Civil War, might feel a bit baffled or restless.
But I do think that the movie uses the music and the musicians' personal stories to illuminate corners of the human experience we all share--which is why so many different kinds of people find it so meaningful. If you listen to what people are talking about after seeing it, they're all responding to different, and elemental, things that music can dig up inside us. Some really respond to the connections that music can make between parent and child; some with the vignettes showing kids laughing like crazy with a violinist playing up the hammy side of a sprightly little bit of a tune; some are teenage boys who don't give a rip about classical music but who completely got the exchanges about teamwork vs. individual effort; and a lot of people just like the joy the musicians find in bluegrass, or salsa, or painting.
The point is not what the music, or the movie, is saying literally; it's what you are open to hearing with your heart. Go see this movie, and listen from the inside out. You'll hear it too.
One thing that I've found to be so interesting about this film is the very strong emotion that it frequently evokes in the audience. The first time I saw it (opening week in downtown Philadelphia), both my husband and I cried, and so did the friends that came with us, and judging by the sniffling going on around us, so did a number of others. The second time I saw it, I could only find a seat at the end of the back row in a neighborhood art-house theater. When the big Brahms finale came up, the entire back row burst out humming the tune with huge enthusiasm (and yes, you do know it, even if you didn't know it was Brahms). The third time I saw it, I came with my extended family, and we had to sit way down front. When the movie ended, the group of people sitting behind us stood up, leaned over and said with urgency, "Did you LOVE this movie?" They had that blissful look on their faces that said that they had seriously connected with the film and really wanted to feel that others shared that connection.
I think it's not surprising that people who go to see it expecting that it'll be "about" the Philly Orchestra, or that it will somehow reveal the inner mysteries of music, or that it will lay out the back story of professional musicians rehearsing and performing a whole piece, or that it will have a linear narrative structure of, say, a documentary about the Civil War, might feel a bit baffled or restless.
But I do think that the movie uses the music and the musicians' personal stories to illuminate corners of the human experience we all share--which is why so many different kinds of people find it so meaningful. If you listen to what people are talking about after seeing it, they're all responding to different, and elemental, things that music can dig up inside us. Some really respond to the connections that music can make between parent and child; some with the vignettes showing kids laughing like crazy with a violinist playing up the hammy side of a sprightly little bit of a tune; some are teenage boys who don't give a rip about classical music but who completely got the exchanges about teamwork vs. individual effort; and a lot of people just like the joy the musicians find in bluegrass, or salsa, or painting.
The point is not what the music, or the movie, is saying literally; it's what you are open to hearing with your heart. Go see this movie, and listen from the inside out. You'll hear it too.