At a time when the term “cultural archiving” was not in vogue, Peter Greenaway had already done a great job with this film. That is, we get a wonderful opportunity to see four composers who paid tribute to the experimental classics in its various manifestations. This is the eternal fictionalist Cage, and monumentally tautological in his minimalism Glass, and exercises in platical vocalism Monk, and conceptually collage Ashley. Needless to say, each part is executed in its own manner, taking into account the personality of the composer and his creations.
Keep in mind that the term classics should not discourage and adjust to the usual way. None of the protagonists of the film on the conventional classic is not similar. The concept of contemporary classics begins with the author, not precedes him. In this sense, the most important series about Cage is not because he is the most famous in this film, but because each of his works, revising both the reflexive view and the receptive act, is a continuation of a fundamental dispute with the category of reader’s expectation, so we are forced to re-assemble our attitudes and come to a new version of the transcription of what is happening. Cage is a Proteus eluding us and sliding between a few minutes of complete silence and a complete decentralized cacophony of concrete music.
We can say that for all the differences between the authors, the film reveals in them a hereditary feature of the avant-garde, its polymediacy. Therefore, it is pointless to call it a film-concert, as in many annotations. This is a performance film, a performance film, discussing the conditions of the presentation, but also being such. No matter how conspicuous the postmodern signs of musical texture, the very basic contours of polymediacity scream at the beginning of the century, show the achieved shining peaks, thanks to more advanced technologies.
Hence the key aspect of the film. We observe not only musical facts, we have access to autoreference, author's commentary. But that's not all. It would be a cliche to talk about the importance of music in Greenway's films, and it's so clear that he's one of the most thoughtful directors of music, if I may put it that way. So his film is parabolic in relation to the inner form of cinematic expression, by means of music he comments on the art to which Greenway is no less devoted and passionate, as well as composers devoted to their art, in his film.
8 out of 10