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In Search Of Beethoven (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:31
Rotten:3
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: With a wealth of insightful talking heads and deft musical performances, In Search of Beethoven is a thorough, thoughtful examination of the great composer's life and times.
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Education/General Interest
Theatrical Release:Sep 23, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: Award-winning filmmaker Phil Grabsky and Seventh Art Productions, the makers of 2007’s arthouse hit In Search of Mozart, are back in theaters with a new feature-length biographical film about the... [More]
Director: Phil Grabsky
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Reviews for In Search Of Beethoven
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 1/4 |
In Search of Beethoven trudges through the composer's life and works, pausing along the way for the usual smorgasbord of talking heads and performance clips. The results are shapeless, drab and mostly predictable. Full Review |
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 4/5 |
With In Search of Beethoven, documentarian Phil Grabsky has created a splendid work that will be a revelation to the uninitiated and a joy to music lovers. Full Review |
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Grabsky’s appreciation of Ludwig van Beethoven follows the familiar contours, but it pays attention to the humanizing specifics that bring us closer to the subject. Full Review |
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Grabsky does manage to convey how shockingly dramatic Beethoven's music seemed to the first people who heard it, and the musicians' sensitivity and articulation--both verbal and musical -- fire this chronicle of one man's extraordinary artistic journey. Full Review |
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3/4 |
There are too many snippets of music, too many talking heads, too little to define that great arc of the composer's life and spiritual development. But no one who cares about the man and his music will miss it. For that I give credit to its subject. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Beethoven's creative life, with all its achievements, cannot easily be reconciled with the image of a difficult, solitary figure, shadowed by depression. Grabsky, to his credit, doesn't try to make one life fit the other, but manages to illuminate both. Full Review |
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4/4 |
As good as the film is, Beethoven remains mysterious. He refuses to roll over, so to speak. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
Despite its excessive length, this reverential doco will enthuse fans, historians and even those, like yours truly, whose familiarity with Beethoven is limited to the opening strains of his 5th Symphony. Full Review |
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It features over sixty live performances, and there are a few pompous musicians and musicologists among the interviewees. But the engaging ones comfortably outnumber them... Full Review |
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Just as Beethoven's composing process is equated to that of a sculptor like Michelangelo, Grabsky has sculpted a mesmerising film ripe with crescendos and modulations that allow us an even greater appreciation of the man's music Full Review |
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8.21/10 |
A well-researched documentary that's equally illuminating and captivating. Full Review |
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3/4 |
After the monotonous guide through history that was In Search of Mozart, Phil Grabsky's follow-up plays like a much-needed shot of adrenaline to the brain. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
A visual biography that employs scores of live performances reimagining the master’s infinite range -- from raging to ethereal. Full Review |
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3/4 |
What made Ludwig such a great musician? The documentary In Search of Beethoven, directed by Phil Grabsky, answers that question reasonably well. Full Review |
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A perfect companion piece to "In Search of Mozart". A fully realized introduction to the man and his music that makes you want to listen to his entire body of work even if you think you have become jaded by one too many performances of the Moonlight Sonat Full Review |
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The film's real resource is its impressive array of talking heads, their intimate familiarity with the music, and their ability to impart graspable insight. Full Review |
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4/5 |
An engrossing documentary on the life and music of the man many consider to be the most important composer of all time. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Beethoven’s painful insecurities and petty squabbles are deftly balanced with generous musical examples. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
The film stretches on too long... But the music soothes away a lot of complaints.
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Beautifully lensed and intelligently crafted. Full Review |
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