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Review: Pianomania

By BETSY SHERMAN  |  June 23, 2011
3.0 3.0 Stars

You don't need to be knowledgeable about classical music to savor Pianomania any more than you need to know about Donkey Kong to enjoy TheKing of Kong. The Vienna-set documentary burrows into the professional life of Steinway & Sons' chief technician and master tuner Stephan Knüpfer. By necessity, Knüpfer takes an empathetic approach to fulfilling the needs of both pianists (we watch him work with some of the greats) and pianos — which, though massive, are fragile creatures of wood and wire. Directors Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis eschew "How'd you get started?" chitchat and instead observe the lanky, intense Knüpfer during the year-long preparation for a recording session in which Pierre-Laurent Aimard will perform Bach's The Art of the Fugue. Their camera takes a fantastic voyage to the innards of the instrument, as Knüpfer labors to achieve the artist's desired effect with materials as complex as sound reflector panels and as simple as a strategically placed piece of felt.

93 MINUTES | MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

  Topics: Reviews , Movies, Museum of Fine Arts, documentary,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY BETSY SHERMAN
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  •   REVIEW: PIANOMANIA  |  June 23, 2011
    You don't need to be knowledgeable about classical music to savor Pianomania any more than you need to know about Donkey Kong to enjoy The King of Kong. The Vienna-set documentary burrows into the professional life of Steinway & Sons' chief technician and master tuner Stephan Knüpfer.
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    It's fitting that the last image of Cameraman: The Life & Work of Jack Cardiff — a film containing interviews with the great British cinematographer but not released until after his death — is of Cardiff.
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    If movies are our kiss-kiss-bang-bang arenas of desire, then this addictive movie-centric documentary from Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton makes the Library of Congress sound like the Playboy Mansion.
  •   REVIEW: PROM  |  May 06, 2011
    A teen pic aimed at the tween demographic, Prom turns what could have been a string of punch lines and lump-in-the-throat passages into an affecting group portrait.

 See all articles by: BETSY SHERMAN

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