Some films are so good that they remind us of cinema’s capabilities, by, in a sense, reinventing the medium’s shape and form. This is one of those films. Granted, Gould makes an extraordinary subject. But the masterstroke here is to a cue from Gould’s most famous piece, his interpretation(s) of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and to structure the film as 32 fragments, each revealing a different perspective.
This approach pays off handsomely. We see Gould at various junctures, but while they’re loosely in chronological order, these sequences are not really biographical, but tasters of a strangely distant, always compelling personality. Beyond this, Girard gives us interviews with those who knew Gould, excerpts from radio broadcasts, brief excursions into abstraction, even a segment of Norman McLaren’s animation Spheres. Despite such formal dexterity, however, what’s most impressive is the simplicity and clarity of the enterprise. This absolutely deserves its reputation as one of the greatest accomplishments in Canadian cinema, from the 90s or any other decade.
Girard’s film teems with distinctive ways to evoke Gould’s remarkably creative re-creative genius.
Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Media Partner
François Girard
Colm Feore, Derek Keurvorst, Katya Ladan, Devon Anderson
Canada
1993
English
4 Genie Awards, including Best Film, Best Director
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Indigenous & Community Access
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Credits
Producer
Niv Fichman
Screenwriter
François Girard, Don McKellar
Cinematography
Alain Dostie
Editor
Gaétan Huot
Original Music
Glenn Gould
90s, Baby!
Ten years. 11 weeks. 90 films from the 1990s. This summer, 90’s Baby! takes a deep dive into a defining decade of cinema.
Casino
Revisiting the wise guy milieu for the third (but not the final) time, Scorsese tells the story of Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro (Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci), two New York hoodlums who become major players in the history of Las Vegas.
Andrea Superstein Sings Burt Bacharach + Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Film Screening
Local hero and Anglophile Mike Myers scored a massive comedy hit with this spot-on spoof of James Bond and his many imitators. Before the yucks, Andrea Superstein treats us to a set of timeless Burt Bacharach tunes.
Before Sunrise
An American backpacker (Ethan Hawke) meets a French girl (Julie Delpy) on the train to Vienna. They decide to spend the next 14 hours together until it's time for his flight. They walk and talk. This brief encounter will mark the rest of their lives.
Ghost in the Shell
This seminal anime which inspired James Cameron and the Wachowskis, anticipates how AI technology encroaches on the human domain in ways we can scarcely comprehend. "A work of profound and melancholic beauty." Daily Telegraph
La Haine
This angry French thriller about alienated kids (a skinhead, an Arab, and an African) in the working class outskirts of Paris plays like a cross between Do the Right Thing and Mean Streets. French cops turned their backs on the red carpet at Cannes.
Crash
Sex drive, David Cronenberg-style. The car-crash fetishists who orbit Cronenberg's metrosexual Toronto (they include James Spader, Holly Hunter, and Deborah Unger) obsessively seek a fusion of metal and flesh... Fender bender as the ultimate orgasm.
Trainspotting
Danny Boyle's blistering movie was a sensation in 1996: a kick in the teeth of old school British kitchen sink realism, it fearlessly transformed the dire circumstances of Edinburgh heroin addicts into an experience by turns exhilarating and devastating.
Fargo
Have the Coen brothers ever made a more satisfying movie than Fargo? This grisly comedy pits one of cinema's most pure-hearted cops (Frances McDormand's pregnant cop, Marge Gunderson) against the machinations of weak and mercenary men.
Lone Star
John Sayles's modern day Western is a murder mystery which draws sheriff Chris Cooper to investigate two of his predecessors, the notoriously corrupt Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson), and his own father, Buddy (Matthew McConaughey).
90s Mystery Movie + Trivia Night
And now for a shot in the dark... We're not announcing the Mystery Movie in advance, so you'll have to take a leap of faith. We can say it was released between January 1990 and January 2000, and it's not already showing elsewhere in this series. As an added enticement we're going to throw in a 90s movie trivia night with your ticket — plus prizes!
Princess Mononoke
A mystical fight between humans and the Animal Gods of the forest. Ashitaka, the last prince of a dying race, struggles to find a way for both sides to co-exist. But the fighting only becomes more and more bloody and all hope seems to be lost…
Gummo
Harmony Korine was just 24 when he made Gummo. It's become a cult favourite as much for its singularity as anything else: it's a strange, misshapen beast, a slice of beat poetry translated into experimental film.