Movies about music and musicians

[Harpo]

I recently watched Young@Heart, which is about a chorus of seniors (73+) who sing contemporary rock songs. I thought it would have some cutesy golden agers singing "Le Me Call You Sweetheart," but it's really about relationships and how making music can raise self-esteem and provide a sense of community (which is true of most music, classical, rock. etc.)

[Guido]

The German film Heimat 2 is 25 hours long and centers on some Munich music students in the 60s - one of my favourite films.

[c#minor]

Amadeus is, for all its historical foibles, a really great film - I love it. I'm also a great fan of The Pianist, primarily because I love the work of the original pianist whose life is depicted in the film, but also because Polanski elects to go with no soundtrack whatsoever for a crucial half-hour of the movie, culminating in a brilliant scene in which the pianist is found by the Germans...one of my favorite sequences from any movie, ever.

Great Film, in its content and Chopin works so perfectly for the overall feeling of the movie as well. And i just really really really love Chopin's music..... really really love it.... really

[Novi]

But do check out the resemblance between Julian Sands and the young Franz Liszt.

Your post reminded me of a Russian film about Glinka in which Sviatoslav Richter plays Liszt. I haven't actually seen it, but there's a clip of it in Monsaingeon's Richter documentary. It's hilarious .

[hornteacher]

"Copying Beethoven" is about as historically accurate for Beethoven as "Amadeus" was for Mozart.  BUT, it is a great film, and Ed Harris does LvB extremely well.

[david johnson]

Who danced Larry & Mo?

(Sorry! Couldn't help myself!)

chuckle...

dj

[vandermolen]

We're striking off your Sanity Clause, Jeffrey.

Nice one Karl!

[jochanaan]

Any movie about classical musicians had better get its facts straight or be honest about not knowing--otherwise we'll all be having to correct misconceptions for decades! The film to trash is not Amadeus, which at least is great writing and filmmaking, but Immortal Beloved, a poor attempt to cash in on the fad for Amadeus.

I confess I'm not familiar with many of the other films, although I very much want to check out Music of the Heart.

Re films about music but not famous musicians, one of my favorites is The Piano, directed by Jane Campion and starring Holly Hunter as a mute pianist who finds herself in an arranged marriage to a New Zealand plantation owner.  It's sensual and dramatic and digs deep into the bond between music and a passionate soul...

[petrarch]

Two outstanding movies not yet mentioned are:

Blue (part of the Three Colors trilogy), by Krzysztof Kieslowski
Tous les matins du monde, by Alain Corneau

[Cato]

Hans Conried as the Evil Piano Teacher Dr. Terwilliker in the first live-action Dr. Seuss movie, written for the screen and not adapted from a book, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

A fatherless c. 10 year-old boy is forced to take piano lessons from nasty Dr. Terwilliker: in a dream he imagines Dr. T is the head of an Institute and that the man is trying to marry his (i.e. the boy's) mother.  The "Happy Fingers Institute" has a bizarre piano large enough for 500 little boys (yes, specifically boys, because Dr. Seuss has an agenda here!      ) who will be playing the piano "24 hours a day 365 days per year!!!"

The Orchestra (kept in a dungeon because they do not play the piano!)



The Protagonist


In real life, Tommy Rettig, also known as the original boy Jeff on Lassie, who recently died from drugs and alcohol (Rettig, not Lassie)!

Oh, and that agenda?  It seems that piano teachers are cross-dressing homosexuals!  Visit YouTube and watch one of the greatest paeans to transvestites ever written:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8TQOzyCu8Q&feature=related

And one of the most wonderful songs for children: The Dungeon Song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHVRxzvkJao&feature=related

Music by Frederick Hollander (Friedrich Holländer) and a few others according IMDB.  Great movie, (with only one dead spot: a song section called Dreamboat.)

[snyprrr]

I recall a 70s-80s, maybe Russian film, about Tchaikovsky.

Rubenstein? is listening to Tchai. play the famous part from the piano cto. and tell Tchai., no no no, you MUST do it this way, and Tchai. turns and cries, I CAN do it my way, I CAN, I CAN...
Then, the last scene shows Tchai. looking into the frozen lake he will plunge himself into.

My fav is Death in Venice...didn't like Mahler. Liked Impromptu. Notturno.

Blow Up

oh no.... HEAD!!!!! by the Monkees....yesssssss!!!!!!!

Phantom of the Paradise with my "avatar" (hrmmf) Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith.

Then there's the recent movie about the lesbian rock band with Gina Gershom.

Purple Rain.

Decline of Western Civ. (punk).

what about that movie with George C. Scott as Sibelius?

[Wilhelm Richard]

Richard Burton in the mini-series "Wagner" is excellent. 

[karlhenning]

I recall a 70s-80s, maybe Russian film, about Tchaikovsky.

Yes, very nicely done.

[schweitzeralan]

I recently watched Young@Heart, which is about a chorus of seniors (73+) who sing contemporary rock songs. I thought it would have some cutesy golden agers singing "Le Me Call You Sweetheart," but it's really about relationships and how making music can raise self-esteem and provide a sense of community (which is true of most music, classical, rock. etc.)

"Young Man With A Horn," (1950) with Kirk Douglas is a good film about an artist involved in popular music.

[istanbul]

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (François Girard, 1993)
Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984)
Tous Les Matins du Monde (Alain Corneau, 1991)
Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993)
Kayaanisqatsi-Life out of Balance (Godfrey Reggio, 1982)
-if you interesting jazz
Bird (it's about Charlie Parker / Clint Eastwood, 1988)
Round Midnight (it's about Dexter Gordon / Bertrand Tavernier, 1986)

[mikkeljs]

There has been a film about Nielsens young years called Min Fynske Barndom, so far I remember. But I don´t know if it has english subtitles.

[schweitzeralan]

I am shying away from Shine.

Clint Eastwood's biopic of Charlie Parker, Bird, is handsomely shot, and Eastwood composed his own score, I believe.

Was there not a film about the British composer Peter Warlock? I saw it a long time ago and don't recall details.  Also a sort of TV documentary about Arnold Bax's secret life was aired many years ago. 1992, I believe; and, it was produced by Ken Russell.

[DavidW]

The Red Violin-- Cursed violin sparks wicked emotions and is handed down from generation to generation.

Playing for Time-- Women in a concentration camp are spared death if they perform classical music.  Stars Vanessa Redgrave.

Edit: I'm recing them as they are very good, that might not have been clear.

[Szykneij]

Just watched this on pay-per-view. Heartwarming and well-acted. An orphaned musical prodigy and the events that re-unite him with his birth parents.

[The new erato]

The Piano Teacher.