Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts (2007)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Scott Hicks

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Music

Tagline:

In July 2005, filmmaker Scott Hicks started shooting a documentary about the composer Philip Glass to celebrate his 70th anniversary in 2007.

Plot:

Academy Award®-nominated director Scott Hicks ("Shine") documents an eventful year in the career and...

Plot Keywords:

Composer | Collaborator | Australia | Performance | Nova Scotia

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

JoAnne Akalaitis	...	Herself
Woody Allen	...	Himself
Holly Critchlow	...	Herself
Philip Glass	...	Himself
Errol Morris	...	Himself
Nico Muhly	...	Himself
Godfrey Reggio	...	Himself
Dennis Russell Davies	...	Himself
Martin Scorsese	...	Himself
Ravi Shankar	...	Himself

Also Known As:

Glass (International: English title) (short title)
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts (International: English title) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Australia | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Canada:PG | Australia:PG | Australia:M (DVD rating) | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Independent Media

Trivia:

This documentary's director Scott Hicks became a fan of the work of composer Philip Glass after he went to a midnight screening of Koyaanisqatsi (1982) in 1984 at the behest of his son.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "At the Movies: (2008-11-12)" (2008)

Philip Glass is a tremendous composer

I have a huge level of respect and admiration for Philip Glass' musical ability and own a significant portion of his work, most of which makes for great listening, but the man himself really isn't very interesting. He has no secrets, which would be fine if there was anything interesting here. The bottom line is that he's a man devoted to his work, who has an organic, natural musical ability, and a tendency to switch between women and religions like television channels. There's moments where he's really interesting, and for the most part he's affable and fun to watch, but this film, in spite of its mosaic-like structure, is a film about someone whose music is far more interesting than they are. Hicks' cinematography is excellent, but the film is so superficial and bland that I find it amazing to think that anyone was particularly affected by it. There are twelve parts to the film, I'd say about five of those were entertaining.

4/10