[A] fascinating portrait.
Touch the Sound (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 49
Fresh: 43
Rotten:6
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Consensus: Not only does this documentary introduce viewers to Glennie, it gives them a taste of how she perceives the world.
Theatrical Release:Sep 7, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: In RIVERS AND TIDES, German documentarian Thomas Riedelsheimer explored the enchanting and hypnotic "nature" art-installations of Andy Goldsworthy. Now, with TOUCH THE SOUND, he turns his camera on... In RIVERS AND TIDES, German documentarian Thomas Riedelsheimer explored the enchanting and hypnotic "nature" art-installations of Andy Goldsworthy. Now, with TOUCH THE SOUND, he turns his camera on nearly deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie, who experiences sound as a kind of touching or vibration. Using Glennie's unique musical sensibilities as a jumping-off point, Riedelsheimer introduces the viewer to an amazing sonic realm that we all know but rarely appreciate--a world of tapping, sputtering, clanging, rustling rhythms. The drone of a suitcase's wheels on concrete interrupted by the periodic zing of a zipper, the crackling of an icy pond, the echoic clang of metal scaffolding struck by Glennie's shoe--these sounds become, in Riedelsheimer's skilled hands, moments of revelation. Watching this film, viewers will feel like they are hearing the world for the first time. [More]
Director: Thomas Riedelsheimer
Director: Thomas Riedelsheimer
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Reviews for Touch the Sound
A coy yet worthy profile of celebrated Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie.
Thomas Riedelsheimer’s portrait of deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie is an absolute masterwork, both of filmmaking and of musicianship.
It doesn't help when Glennie tries to elucidate her feelings about nature and music in holistic, broad strokes that border on nonsense.
Riedelsheimer sees Glennie as an angel of hyperawareness and possessor of special spiritual wisdom.
Touch the Sound is remarkable not only because of Glennie's story -- a clinically deaf Grammy-winning musician who has played with the world's great orchestras -- but for the way Riedelsheimer uses sound.
It's a contemplative piece of work that will leave you questioning the nature of what is audible -- particularly those parts that 'hearing' people tend to tune out or ignore.
The movie makes an interesting addition to what could become Riedelsheimer's evolving and extraordinary gallery of movies that bring the creative process to life.
It will be frustrating if you expect narrative and linear development. But if you take it on as a new point of view, valuable even if you don't completely comprehend it yet, Touch the Sound is worth the trip.
Touch the Sound is a completely joyful moviegoing experience and, like the best movies, it takes you to a place you've never been.
Riedelsheimer gives the viewer not only Glennie's music, but her own experience of it.
[T]his is a film that leaves strong reverberations and a pleasant, sense-scrambled high.
You may find your own sense of hearing transformed by this global tour of the senses.
They get some amazing sounds from unusual sources... This film is a visual and auditory experience.
Unfortunately, a good deal of Touch the Music is devoted to vacuous interviews with Glennie, who seems positively incapable of saying anything substantial.
You'll either sail along with it contentedly, or you'll start to think halfway through that maybe the movie could have been a lot shorter and made its points just as well.
An often-lovely impressionistic look at the life of a famous avant-garde percussionist who generates a wonderful world of sound, despite being deaf.
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