TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

CleveMan66 "And now, for a man who needs no introduction – Seymour Bernstein!" While such a statement may be appropriate in some circles, if it were universally true, there might not be a need for the documentary "Seymour: An Introduction" (PG, 1:24). Seymour Bernstein, among fans of classical music, is a well-known New York concert pianist and music teacher. Viewers of this film will get to know him as such and will want to add to that resume "wise man and all-around good guy". Actor Ethan Hawke seems to think so. He was so impressed by meeting Bernstein that he decided to make a documentary about his life. The resulting film was seen on the festival circuit in the U.S. and Canada during the late summer and fall of 2014, received a limited theatrical release in those two countries in March 2015 and appeared at international film festivals throughout the spring of 2015. And if film festival love weren't enough, as of the writing of this review, on the Rotten Tomatoes website, this movie has an 88% rating from audiences and a 100% critics rating! When have 100% of film critics agreed on anything? I try not to be swayed by critics or popular opinion when I write my reviews, so I am now prepared to make my assessment as to whether I agree with the nearly universal acclaim this documentary has received.Seymour Bernstein demonstrated extraordinary talent on the piano as a teenager, grew up to become a world-renown concert pianist and composer, but then suddenly gave up performing at the age of 50 to focus on music education. Bernstein has had remarkable success in many aspects of music and his life is a very interesting story waiting to be discovered. But this documentary doesn't stop there. It reveals Seymour Bernstein as a remarkable person. He has a tremendous passion for classical music and has learned and taught much along those lines, but it's how his love of music has informed his life that is most compelling to those of us who know more about Post-It notes than musical notes.In directing this film, Hawke never gets flashy with his cinematic portrait of Seymour Bernstein, but uses a variety of effective methods to introduce us to the man and his music. We see archival footage of piano concerts and more recent footage of the master teaching his students. As we watch the latter, we are struck by the instructor's perfectly balanced approach – a dogged pursuit of perfection sometimes nearly overshadowed by his generous and encouraging nature. We also learn who Bernstein is as a man and a musician through interviews with his current and former students and conversations with the man himself, as he tells his story and reveals what he learned about life along the way. To illustrate this last point, it may be easiest to give you a sample of Bernstein's pearls of wisdom, in his own words: "The true essence of who we are resides in our talent – whatever talent we have." "The people who don't want me to succeed for their own selfish reasons can't touch me." "The most important thing that music teachers can do for their pupils is to inspire an emotional reaction, not just for the music, but more importantly, for life." "We sense in music a reflection of ourselves, a reminder of our own potential for perfection." "I never dreamt that with my own two hands, I could touch the sky." There's plenty more where that came from, but beyond telling Bernstein's story and encouraging him to reflect back on his 88 years, there's a bit of a real-time drama going on in this movie as well. In the midst of the interviews and the background footage, as the documentary is being filmed, Bernstein is preparing to perform his first public concert in many years. We see him choose his piano like a master chef selects just the right spice and uses just the right amount. Bernstein has the refined ear of a man who has been doing this for decades, but the boyish enthusiasm of someone sitting behind the keys for the first time. As he plays the piano he selected just for this occasion at New York's Steinway Hall Rotunda for an audience consisting of Hawke's theater group, the moment elicits an emotional reaction in Bernstein. The music still touches him, much as his story and his generous and wise spirit touch us."Seymour: An Introduction" is the rare completely non-controversial, heart-felt documentary that you can just sit back and enjoy, but it could have been a little sharper than it was. The bare-bones style of telling its story was generally appropriate for the film, but it wouldn't have distracted from its subject to be just a little more creative in its presentation. In addition, some of the camera work and some of the editing choices came across as slightly amateurish. This documentary isn't as close to perfect as the music that Bernstein plays, but definitely has the power to elicit an emotional reaction of its own. I'm giving this one a "B+". That qualifies as a general recommendation from me and is positive enough to group me together with all those professional critics who favorably reviewed this movie. Count me in, ladies and gentlemen. Seymour Bernstein is a man well worth meeting and I'm glad Ethan Hawke made the introduction.

Film Nut Some very thoughtful and well-written reviews have been posted about this film. Justifiably so!For me the beauty of it is in it's pure portrayal of a regular guy who understood early what captivated him.....and his joy for it and exploration of it has never wavered. He remained a performing musician for as long as it made sense to him and then transitioned to being a valued teacher of other musicians.Seymour is also a thinker and has come to some meaningful and wonderful conclusions about life and purpose. He articulates those in his ever gentle manner. I very much identified with the part where he speaks of looking within for answers and meaning more than looking to external entities or individuals to provide you with those. So, so true.I was quite choked up towards the end but not from sadness; no, quite the opposite. From bearing witness to a life that has been, all of, fulfilling, purposeful, simple, deep, accomplished, stressful, pained from difficult relationships, enlightened and content.Ethan Hawke, who has never really resonated with me (sorry, bro), as writer and director, has produced a fantastic film. I would say this is his calling and I walked out of the movie thinking, 'oh my gosh, I hope he does more films like this.' Go see it.

Victoria Weisfeld This documentary, filled with beautiful music, is an étude of acclaimed concert pianist Seymour Bernstein and a joy, start to finish. Bernstein retired so he could pour his musical ideas into the vessels of his students. And not just musical ideas; his philosophy is that having access to emotion in music encourages access to emotion and satisfaction in other aspects of life. We see him providing pianists of all ages with just the right amount of subtle guidance to dramatically elevate their performances, encourage them to compose as well as play, and, apparently, achieve harmony in life in general. Scenes take place in the one-room apartment he's had for 40 years on the upper East Side of Manhattan, near Central Park, in various venues where former students interviewed him, NYU Master Classes, in the piano testing room of Steinway New York, and finally, its main floor rotunda, where he plays a concert to an audience of former students, colleagues, and fans. The interactions with students, former students, and other musicians are revealing, and none more so than his conversations with the film's director, actor Ethan Hawke. Hawke met Bernstein serendipitously at a dinner and discovered in him a person with whom he could discuss the anxieties of performance, and the disconnect between good work and success and Bernstein, with what seems to be characteristic generosity, shared his insights. He certainly did not reach his current eminence without his own challenges. When he was young, his father would say, "I have three daughters and a pianist," which felt like a rejection of him as a son and pained him mightily. As a young man, he served in the U.S. Army in Korea and teamed up with a talented violinist and a tenor and, despite their commanding officer's skepticism, put on a concert for the troops—most of whom had never heard "serious" or classical music before. "They wouldn't let us off the stage," Bernstein says with glee, even 60 years later. The concert was so successful a tour of front-line camps was arranged. The memory is also bitter, because Bernstein remembers the war dead, and the pain of seeing those body bags has hardly faded. Except for these memories, the movie is strongly up-beat, with a man doing what he loves and people (students, audiences, moviegoers) responding to his skill and passion. As Detroit News critic Tom Long says, "The great joy of the film, whether you know piano or not, is watching Bernstein teach." This is a man you will be glad you got to know. The film ends with a typically modest and inspiring Bernstein statement: "I never thought that, with my two hands, I could touch the sky."

kuhlmawi As a musician of 50 years standing and an international teaching and performing career, I can honestly say, this movie was a "stunner". Professor Bernstein embodies all of those qualities of a teacher, a performer and a wise professor of life and culture that we all emulate and have tried in our careers to articulate. He is more than a "guru" but an icon of performance practice and pedagogy that will stand the test of time in this important and beautiful film.Ethan Hawke should be commended and lauded for bringing this important man and his wisdom to light in this profound way. In my opinion, this film should be "required viewing" for every pedagogue, music lover, and aspiring performer. It should (at least) be in the library of every university, music school and college in the country. Fantastic film and the best music film I have ever seen.