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Movies / Upcoming / The Silence Before Bach
The Silence Before Bach

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The Silence Before Bach (2008)

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85 %
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Reviews Counted: 13

Fresh: 11

Rotten:2

Average Rating: 6.6/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:2008

Synopsis: The Silence before Bach is an approach to music and the trades and subjects that surround it through Bach’s works. A look at the profound dramaturgic relationship between image and music where... The Silence before Bach is an approach to music and the trades and subjects that surround it through Bach’s works.

A look at the profound dramaturgic relationship between image and music where the latter is not merely conceived as subsidiary to the image but as a subject of the narration in its own right.

The film springs from a previously defined musical structure. The soundtrack feeds on works by J.S Bach and two of Felix Mendelssohn’s sonatas to create an architectural vault beneath which the story of the film unfolds ; a promenade through the XVIIIth, XIXth and XXIth centuries led by the hand of J.S. Bach. --© Official Site
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Director: Pere Portabella

Director: Pere Portabella

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Reviews for The Silence Before Bach

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1 - 13 (sorted by date)
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The engaging enigma of The Silence Before Bach demonstrates an artistic wisdom that is as satisfying as it is challenging.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
08/01/08
Ted Fry
Seattle Times

A dog watches its blind master tune a piano. It's only 10 minutes into The Silence Before Bach and already I am bored as that dog.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
08/01/08
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Think of it strictly as a wonderful music video. Hey, Pink Floyd has a movie, so why not Bach?

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
03/03/08
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

Driven solely by the filmmaker's prosaic associations. Portabella does not discover the composer through his music.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
02/05/08
Maria Garcia
Film Journal International

About as far away from a conventional composer biopic as Kraft's products are from real cheese.

Full Review Source: european-films.net | comment Comment
02/03/08
Boyd van Hoeij
european-films.net

The demolition of the music bio-pic as witnessed by Todd Haynes' I'm Not There and the parody Walk Hard continues robustly with this time-tripping melange from Spanish director Pere Portabella.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
01/31/08
Jan Stuart
Newsday
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Provide[s] gorgeous lensing and art direction and some of the world's most beautiful music.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
01/30/08
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
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Like the music it celebrates, this is a film made in glory of the world.

comment Comment
01/30/08
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
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A slippery formal exercise of the kind that divides viewers into the enthralled and the infuriated.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
01/30/08
Maitland McDonagh
Time Out New York

Arguably stronger conceptually than visually, surreal mix of the unexpected and the banal is definitely not to everybody's taste. But the music is inarguably sublime.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
01/29/08
Ronnie Scheib
Variety
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At once cerebral film essay and unsweetened ear candy, Pere Portabella's The Silence Before Bach is nearly as tough to categorize as its maker.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
01/29/08
J. Hoberman
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film swings back through history with its own delicate meshing of enchantment and mystery, contemplating a planet whether before Bach or in our own time 'of emptiness with no resonance.'

Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | comment Comment
01/24/08
Prairie Miller
NewsBlaze

Brings Bach’s music to life with a mysterious, magnificent blend of drama, documentary, and quasi-surrealist whimsy.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
01/24/08
Richard Brody
New Yorker
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Latest News for The Silence Before Bach

January 31, 2008: Critics Consensus: Over Her Dead Body is DOA, Guess The Eye's & Strange Wilderness' Tomatometer!
This week at the movies, we've got creepy visions (The Eye, starring Jessica Alba), haunted romances (Over Her Dead Body, starring Paul Rudd and Eva Longoria Parker), woodland... More...

January 24, 2008: The film swings back through history with its own delicate meshing of enchantment and mystery - even nude cleansing as a musical rite - contemplating a planet whether before Bach or in our own time 'of emptiness with no resonance.' Opens in new window
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