32 Short Films About Glenn Gould

Classical musician Glenn Gould was generally considered to be a gifted performer and one of the most brilliant interpreters of Bach. He was also an intensely neurotic man who devoted a good portion of his relatively brief life (he died at the age of 50) to distancing himself from as much direct human contact as possible. Gould retired from live concert performances when he was 32, claiming that audio recording was a more democratic means of reaching a wide audience. But in truth, he was simply happier dealing with machines than with people. Not surprisingly, extreme isolation was a recurring theme both in Gould's music and his life.

That's why the opening shot of 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould is a vista of an icy Canadian field. Gould (Colm Feore) moves through the distance looking like a hobo (his sense of fashion was often appalling) and lost in a state of complete self-absorption. This scene also sets the tone for a movie that avoids the traditional pitfalls of bio-pics by opting for indirect impressions of both the man and his music. The effect is a film that's both fascinating and slow, intellectually incisive and emotionally detached. Much like its own subject, 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould has an impassioned feel for its material, but no direct way to express it.

The 32 sections of the movie range from conventional interviews with people who knew Gould to recreations of odd moments in his life. Some scenes are as brief as "45 Seconds and a Chair" (which is an exact description of the vignette). Others frame strange moments of revelation about Gould, such as his habit of hanging out at truck stops in order to hear the conversations of average people.

Gould loved humankind — it was people he couldn't deal with.