When it comes to their biography, Complex men deserve/require/cry out for
complex ways of telling their story...its the old dictum: content=form,
and with the Gould film, the creators have made a bold film about a
complex man in a complex, highly stylized and sophisticated way...above
all, the film dares to portray Gould the way Gould would have (did)
portray himself--the abundance of telephoning and telephone interviews in
the film attest to this.
 
...If the film does have an overall theme, one that derives from Gould's
life, and thus is in itself a "representation" of Gould, it would have to
be, in my opinion, "The Idea Of North," both the radio show (which is
presented magically both in the radio station and in the coffee shop
scene, and in the opening and closing shots of the film, infact, I am
hard pressed to think of a "sketch," as I calll them, in which the idea
of north was Not prevelant. So, for me, if the film did any ONE thing
it was try to express Gould's idea of North...
 
On Fri, 22 Jul 1994, Henly Wolin wrote:
 
> I've only seen bits and pieces of the Glenn Gould film..but it occurs to me
> that he exists (for many people) in his recordings. The two recording of
> Bach's Goldberg Variations act as 1st and last chapters to his life. The
> filmakers chose to use his a recordings as a represntation of the person may
> not be the best use of film but in this case it may be effective
> storytelling. I guess I'll have to wait for the film to come out on video to
> find out how far off the mark I actually am...
>
> Henly
>