72
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerIt's an inescapable fact that Gould's singular musical insights – the way he brought out in Bach a mesmeric unity of sound – could only have arisen from a singular personality.
- 80The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottA tour de force of archival research and dogged interviewing, and the portrait it presents is remarkably complete.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranWhat is most involving about Gould is the extraordinary way he played.
- 75St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsSt. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsPost-Dispatch classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller told me that Gould's music is as divisive today as it was 50 years ago, when the pianist publicly clashed with conductor Leonard Bernstein over the tempo of a performance.
- 70Village VoiceNick PinkertonVillage VoiceNick PinkertonDevotees will perhaps find something new in this deep pool of archival footage, and newcomers will get an appropriate introduction to the beguiling charisma of a most media-savvy isolationist.
- 70NPRMark JenkinsNPRMark JenkinsA fine overview, with enough new material to please Gould buffs. But the film fails to demonstrate that conventional biography is the best path to its subject's inner life.
- 70Chicago ReaderChicago ReaderTruly compelling, however, is the material about Gould's innovative studio recordings and radio documentaries.
- 60Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichGould is as much of a mystery at the end as at the beginning. You get the feeling that's the way he'd have wanted it.
- The film, despite its promise to excavate an inner life, wilts into banality whenever Gould's thorny paranoia and control issues come up.